Wisdom Wednesday: Aging Wisdom's Podcast
Welcome to Wisdom Wednesday, a short, bite-size podcast offering weekly wisdom and insights for aging well, caring well, and living well.
You’ve reviewed senior housing options, narrowed down the choices, toured your short list, then toured with your parents, enjoyed meals, taken notes and pictures, asked questions of staff and residents, and you’ve made your decision. Now what?
Our tour tips guide you in through the process of identifying a senior care community that is the right fit for your loved one at this time. We’re here to save you time and money and provide you with the tools to not get hooked in by the “chandelier effect.” Our goal is to provide you with information that will help bring you hope, peace, and strength.
In this episode we cover the importance of getting the full tour, understanding the longevity of staff, and clarity on all costs. This is a lot of information, but we have included worksheets and tips from prior episodes to help you prepare for touring communities and narrowing down your options.
You’ve done your homework, perhaps even received some brochures in the mail. And now you’ve narrowed down the field of possibilities to 3 to 5 communities. This next series of tips will help as you tour communities in person. These Tips will also help you recognize the “Chandelier Effect.”
If you’re on a mission to find the right senior living community for your parents, you’ve come to the right place. Our Aging Wisdom logo is a ginkgo biloba leaf, an ancient symbol of wisdom and resilience in aging. The ginkgo is also a symbol of strength, hope, and peace. We understand how important it is to come to a place of strength, hope, and peace.
In this series of episodes, we’ve explored what senior and long-term care housing will cost, the unexpected costs to prepare for, as well as who pays. Who can help you make sense of all the senior and long-term care housing options? Making a decision can be overwhelming but you don’t have to make these difficult decisions alone.
Most senior and long-term care housing is paid for through personal finances such as savings, investments, pensions, assets, and Social Security income.
It’s not uncommon for people to assume that Medicare will pay for these services, but it does not. As Lisa explains, Medicare is health insurance, which covers medical expenses.
The costs of care include assistance with medications, dressing, showering, and reminders to go to meals or activities, and those costs will be in addition to the monthly rent. When formulating a budget, you must take into consideration that the costs will increase over time as care needs change.
Knowledge is power. Being prepared matters, especially since seven in ten people will need some form of long-term services and supports during their lifetime. It’s also important to plan for our own future needs.
It’s essential you understand what you will pay for senior housing and long-term care communities. That is why we cover the breakdown of costs in this episode. An informed consumer is a wise consumer. And housing and care can be filled with added costs and fees that may catch you off-guard if you aren’t aware of them ahead of a move.