Ed,
Thanks so much for the letter, the update, and the inquiry
in Assisted Living.
I’ve been able to come up with some “shards of wisdom” regarding
Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Nursing Homes. I don’t know if any of this will help you,
but here goes.
I find it a problem with a lot of people not know the
differences between Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Nursing
Homes. Most people, when they hear any
of the three, have in their minds Nursing Homes and an immediate reaction that
it should be “avoided at all costs”. But
when the distinction is made, they are able to consider Independent Living
and/or Assisted Living as being much more tolerable. (Smile)
I also have mobility problems (balance) that makes it necessary
to use a walker. I appreciated the Independent
Living facility where my meals, my friends, and my activities were all within a
“walker’s” distance. Even with a cane, I
was falling almost once a month. But in
an environment where I could use my walker all the time, I never fell down.
My space was spacious.
It was about 1,000 square feet (about the size of my condo at Vista Royale). I found the food good. After being here a few weeks, I made a comment
at our table (of four) that I liked the food here in that I was afraid it was
going to be bland. A woman, sitting
across from me, made a face as if to communicate, “How can anyone like the food
here?” I looked at her said, “Look, for
15 years I have been a bachelor and this food is definitely better than
bachelor food. (Smile) Your monthly lease here includes weekly “light
housekeeping”. The “housekeeper” comes
in and gives a quick sweep of the floors, cleans the bathrooms and kitchen,
etc. I got to know my housekeeper and
her military son better than I did the other residents.
Because I wanted to be on a strict diet, I opted out of the
meal plan (3 meals a day) and was given a $400.00 a month credit. However, I was the last resident able to use
that option. In fact, had I remained
under my next lease, I would have had to have paid that $400 and also the
amount of the annual lease. (I’ve lost
over 40 pounds since I went there.)
I was a little disappointed with the activities,
though. I would have preferred a few
more activities that were more intellectually challenging. Most of the activities were for Bingo, or
board games (including Mexican Train).
They had, I felt, good professional musicians in here performing to a
non-interested crowd. (I felt sorry for
some of the performers.) One time
Virginia and I went to The Villages to consider those places. I looked at the “daily catalog” of activities
and events, and found the same thing.
One big problem I felt that you probably wouldn’t mind was
social. There were a lot of social
activities, but socially, one only dealt with others on a superficial
level. People were friendly, but not to
the point of developing a “friend” relationship. I find this more a product of our society
than the problem of one institution. I
found it at UUFVB, I found it at Rotary, and other places. You would meet people in the halls, greet
them, talk about the weather or what you did last week, and then the planned
event would begin and so you never conversed more deeply than that.
If your problem is mobility/walker, I would recommend
Independent Living. I sold my car after
being here one month because I realized I wouldn’t need it. I order my food from WalMart and everything else
from Amazon and everything is delivered to my door. The only thing I miss with not having a car
is going to events like concerts, or plays.
(Or Friday mornings at Panera.) I
thought I would develop “friends” who had car and I could go with them. But that was not to be.
Discovery Village has both Independent Living and Assisted
Living in two separate wings. Other than
that, all activities and events are mixed so you don’t know if someone is
Independent or Assisted. The difference
is that the people in Assisted Living require some form of assistance and their
rate will be determined by the level of assistance. One of the most common needs for Assisted
Living is bath. If you require
assistance to take a bath/shower, then you would be an AL. Other assistances would include the taking of
your medicines, memory problems, etc.
Some of the people in AL have their own caregivers come in to give them
assistance. (Some people in IL will also
have caregivers come in for a few hours now and then.) jThis might include people who are wheelchair-bound.
If you were to look into different Independent Living
facilities, my regrets would include questions I’d be unable to research. Like Reserves. Just as condos need Reserves to handle
capital assets like roofing, pavement, pool, etc. Independent Living facilities
are not regulated much at all. As a
result, you cannot view their Reserves although you should be able to.
Discovery Village is having a lot of problems now with their
infrastructure – heating, hot water, air conditioners, pool, etc. I’m sure that when Discovery Village bought
it from Isles of Vero three years ago that no on did a Due Diligence. I’m sure the DV people thought they would
save money by not having a DD or by having their paper-pushers from Corporate
do it rather than spend money on an engineering firm. And now, with all their problems, Corporate
is expecting the local facility to take care of all of these issues through
their annual budget rather than from their Reserves. As a result, band-aids are being applied
where they need surgery.
But as far as I know, there is nothing you can do to spot a
problem area like this in your searching.
I don’t know if these thoughts have been instruction to you
at all, but if they raised more questions than they have answered, please feel
free to write me back and ask.
David