Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everyone, and if you're expecting to hear Joe
Gallagher's voice, this is not it. I am Lou Piro,
your host for this morning, and we are now on
the nine o'clock slot with Life Happens Radio. We hope
that you'll stay with us. We're sitting here at Joe
Gallagher Boulevard in the WGY studios and it's you know,
it's kind of following a legend, big big shoes to
(00:23):
fill here in Joe's nine o'clock hour, but we hope
we can do that for you, and we hope we
can bring you information, ideas, and current thoughts on how
to plan, how to protect yourself. We are sandwiched between
two titans of the financial industry, Dave Kopeik, who just
left you from the seven to nine hours, and Steve Bouchet,
who picks up after us at ten o'clock. We are
(00:44):
a legal show and we have attorneys, guests and others
who will bring you information, bring you ideas, and help
you plan legally, financially and from the perspective of planning
for life. And life happens all around us every day.
We have to be prepared. That's the theme. So today
We're going to tackle an issue that we all face.
(01:05):
And our law firm is here in Latham, New York
or in New York City. We have offices in Lake Placid, Hudson,
Gordon City, and we take care of clients.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Of all ages.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We take care of people who are planning for college education.
And we have a regular guest on the show, doctor
Dean Scarlets, the College Advisor of New York, who has
wonderful insights on how to prepare yourself and your children
for that college experience. We look at planning for your
own retirement, how to put money away wisely, the legal
structures in combination with those financial structures to help you
(01:38):
build your nest egg protect it. And as you go
through life, as you go through the different phases, and
you have your children first and you have to prepare
for them and buy life insurance and have a will
and point guardians and then get them educated. You'll launch
the ship and hope it's sales right. And then you
have to prepare yourself for that retirement. And how how
(02:00):
do you protect yourself your life savings, your iras, four
one k's your home. Those are the themes of the
show today. We're going to focus on the later stage
of life, and we're going to look at issues that
we will all face. And when I started this show,
I wasn't as old as I am now. We've been
doing this now for thirteen years, and so at age
(02:22):
sixty six, I'm looking at Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So when I.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Retire, I have a big, old house. It's one hundred
and sixty years old. Do I want to be taking
care of that house when I'm eighty six? Do I
want to be mowing the lawn? I don't know alaw now,
but it's three acres, so I'm not going to mow
the lawn. And I just can't do the things that
I would need to do just to take care of
that home. Do I want to look at downsizing? Do
(02:46):
I want to move into a new home or do
I want to look for some of the creative housing
options that are out there? And I speak all around
the country and particularly around the Capitol region on aging
issues and legal planning. And I've toured some of the
most beautiful facilities with a chef and a pool and
a gym and trips to the track and people the
(03:09):
happy hour at five o'clock on a Friday isn't that.
It's like country club living. And some of those independent
living facilities are right here in our own capital district.
And we're very fortunate today to have a special guest,
Andrea Hebert from the Eddie Senior Living. She's the vice
president there and she is part of that network, that
fabric of senior living, and she's going to talk all
(03:32):
about the Eddie facilities locally. And the Eddie is one
of the iconic companies. It's part of now Trinity Health,
Saint Peter's Hospital, all under the Trinity umbrella. But the
Eddie has been here for a very long time, based
out of Troy, New York.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We've worked with them.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I've worked with them for forty years, and they have
wonderful opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They have wonderful.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Facilities and places all away from those luxury apartments to
a nursing home.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We call it the continuum of care.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And we also have with us another very special guest,
Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski, who is with ever Home Care Advisors,
and ever Home is a company that guides people through
this process. If you want to try to hunker down
in your own home, if you want to try to
look for the best options for you to transition into
a new living arrangement and when health fails, and this
(04:23):
is really all about being prepared. And if you live
long enough, you're likely to have a chronic illness or
a health issue that's going to require some help. And
so how do you prepare yourself in your own home
or how do you look for that ultimate living arrangement
where you want to age and be able to be
(04:45):
cared for throughout the rest of your lifetime. So with that,
I want to introduce our guests, Andrea Hebert, Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski. Andrea,
good morning, Good morning, So talk about your role at
the Eddie and what the Eddie is.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Sure. I am both an executive director of one of
our retirement communities, the one up in Queensberry, but also
the vice president and Eddie Senior Living encompasses independent living,
assisted living, and memory care at the assisted living level.
And then of course, as you mentioned, we do have
nursing homes as well, so we try to keep our
(05:23):
residents doing what they'd love to do and as independent
as possible.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So start with that.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Most people say, oh, I'm never going to go to
a nursing home, and you know, God help us if
we do, because they're not fun. You're not there because
you're looking to have a good time and live.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
A nice lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But the independent living places are so just talk about
what that lifestyle is and what the facilities are locally,
what the communities are I'll call it communities, not facilities,
what the communities are locally and how that works.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Sure, so within the Eddie we have multiple communities within
the area throughout the Capital district and independent living I
think you mentioned it. It's kind of that country club
lifestyle a little bit. People have independent apartments like you
would anywhere else. They have full kitchens, you can do
(06:16):
one bedroom, two bedroom, two bedroom with den, so they
can be as small or as large as you'd like,
and you decorate your own apartment just like you would
any place else. We just provide a little bit of
that extra support so you can stay independent and do
what you want to do, so you know, have the
(06:37):
time to do the things that you love instead of
the things that you have to do, like the snow
removal and like the you know, even cleaning, making meals.
You know, we have full service dining. There's a lot
of choice and so activities, transportation if you can no
longer drive, that's a huge thing for some folks, people
(07:02):
your own age to socialize with. It's really wonderful.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So I'll tell a little anecdote about one of my
experiences at the Beverwick, which is one of the Eddy
independent living communities, and I was asked to do a
talk there, which I talk at a lot of different places,
a lot of them for the Eddie. And I went
in and I was going to talk about healthcare proxies
and powers of attorney and being prepared for all the
things that we have to do. And I got there
(07:27):
and it was an afternoon and it was about five
o'clock and there were two people and I'm thinking, wow,
usually there's a pretty good crowd that shows up. And
I said, no, what's going on? Oh oh sorry, they're
all at the track. It was bus day to the track.
So the whole place was up in Saratoga and I
was there talking to two people. We sat down, huddled
(07:48):
and talked about healthcare proxies and powers of attorney.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So the lifestyle there is meals. Just talk about the
day to day.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
What is that daily routine like when you're in an
independent apartment and you've got this enriched living arrangement.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Sure, So I'm honestly it can be whatever you'd like
it to be. So people get engaged at a lot
of different levels. But you might come out and have
coffee with a neighbor in one of our community's bistros,
for instance, there's coffee. There's continental breakfast every day, so
you might do that, and then you might go to
(08:24):
an exercise class at in the morning because you want
to stay active absolutely, and then you know, you might
do some errands. We have our buses go to different
shopping areas. You might come back for lunch, join some
of your neighbors for lunch, and then afternoon we have
(08:45):
a whole host of activities. Could be musical performance, could
be lecture series, could be another exercise class if you
really want to be active. Dinner again we have full
service dining in like a restaurant style dining. And then
the evening sometimes we have people playing games together. There's
(09:06):
a lot of resident run activities and then there's some
that we run as well, so just lots of things
to choose from.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and how many of those are there in this area?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So we have six communities in this area, but four
of that or five of them are independent living, including
independent living, so Niskayuna, slinger Lends or Albany area, mine
up in Queensberry, East green Bush and then Troy.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So you're independent, you're living life, having a very good
experience without a lot of stress of home maintenance. You've
got neighbors, you've got friends, you make friends, you've got
a routine. You can live a healthy lifestyle. You can
live your best life in a very independent setting. What
(09:57):
happens then if you do have a crime illness, If
something happens and your health changes, and this is very important,
We're going to come to Diane for this too. What
happens when that illness sets in, how does the EDDY
treat that? And then what are your options?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Sure, well, you know, we are very lucky to have
a resident service Advisor program excuse me, staff by social
workers who really help make that process easy. So if
you need home health aid, if you need just some
additional assistance at home, they can help arrange for that.
(10:36):
But if you do happen to need so, we also
have respite care within our assisted livings, and sometimes that's
just a really short term stay until you're strong enough
to go back home to your independent apartment. In assisted living,
we provide a little extra service than we do in independence,
so that would be we provide three meals a day
in that area, as well as personal care and medication assistance.
(11:00):
And then we even go further than that if need be,
in our enhanced assisted livings. But sometimes people just need
a quick respite day. Sometimes that say needs to be
a little bit more permanent, and that is fine. I
think there's a misconception that when you go to assisted living, okay,
that's it. You no longer have choice, You no longer
(11:20):
you know can do what you'd like to do, and
nothing can be furtherest from the truth.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And that's a great point, certainly depending upon what illness.
And I call it the the lottery, the disease lottery.
If you get certain conditions, you're in one track and yes,
you can be independent, and it's going to be a
lot of choice.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
If you go down the memory track and you have.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Dementia, Alzheimer's, and we've had people from the Alzheimer's Association
on every year talking about the disease and the prevalence
of it, then you're in a different facility. Just talk
a little bit about the memory care you mentioned that earlier.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, sure, So our memory care celebrate life and independence
as much as possible as well too. Excuse me. We
have outdoor spaces and indoor community spaces. That what's nice
about our memory care and our residents can be still
independent and make their choices. They can go outside if
(12:16):
they'd like, because we have secure areas that are safe
for them. They can do activities, they can wander along
our hallways and find things that they'd like to do
or socialize with the folks that they like to socialize with.
So if someone were at home, they might not have
that wandering ability, it might not be quite as safe, right,
(12:39):
So we try to celebrate that person's life and make
it very individualized to the person.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So the Eddie again is one of the leading agencies
companies locally providing housing at all levels. So we talked
about independent, we talked about assisted. We're going to come
back and talk to Diane mikkelg Gottabiowski from ever Home
Care Advisors and they work with families trying to replicate
this continuum of care in their own homes. And that's
(13:05):
ninety percent of the people I talk to. I want
to be in my home. Not always the right option,
but if it is, you need to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Stay with us. More to come right after this short break,
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Another shout out to Joe Gallagher. This was his hour
and I'm taking it. Sorry, Joe. If you're out there listening,
congratulations on a fabulous, fabulous career. And I know you
had a lot of faithful listeners, so we are hopeful
if they stick with us. I'm Lupiro, your host from
Pierre Connor and Strauss. We are live in studio today
with Andrea Hebert, vice president at Eddie Senior Living, and
(13:45):
Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski, vice president of Client Services at Everhome
Care Advisors. And we started with the Eddies services and
independent living onto assisted living. Diane, you work more with
families they may be transitioning into that and guiding them
and counseling them and leading them to a place like
the Eddie and finding the right fit. But more often
(14:06):
than not, it's people who want to stay in their
own home. So just contrast that experience with trying to
build this plan in your own home.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Sure, and and I guess I'm going to step back
for a second and say that if someone lives or
any independent living situation.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
That becomes their home. But I think what you're talking
about is the home that they've lived in all their lives,
the home that maybe maybe the huge home with three
acres that they're still mowing, that they are never going
to leave, or we know other situations where people say
this is where I'm staying. So we want to look
at what are their needs versus what are their goals,
(14:48):
and we will we the Eddie to Eddie. I worked
for the Eddie by the way, for.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I worked for the Eddie for twelve years prior to
coming to Ever Home Care Advisors.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's a little crackle on the other microphone, so we
just did a little shift.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, we're going to share the bike today.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Fluid. We have to be fluid in this industry, that's right.
So I worked for the Eddie visiting nurse. So I
went into people's homes. I went into Eddie senior living
facilities to help people advance this care plan. So we
employ social workers, therapists, We have occupational therapists, myself as
(15:33):
a physical therapist. We will go in and assess a
client We're not doing a physical therapy assessment or an
occupational therapy assessment. We're doing a life care plan assessment.
What are your goals, what do you need to be
able to do, what are the barriers? And we will
help put a plan together to hopefully advance that to
(15:54):
keep them in their home, so that might be connecting
them with other eddie services or you know, there are
short term plans and long term plans. So you want
to stay here as long as you can, but if
that becomes maybe not the safest, what would be your
options there? So you start laying that plan out as
far in advance as you can, and who are your caregivers,
(16:17):
who are the people that are supporting you. Just putting
that whole puzzle together, if you will, and then deciding
how you're not going to navigate that.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, I talk about my mom all the time on
the show Geneva, and Geneva was a heck of a lady.
She was the rock of our family and she developed
Alzheimer's and she lived down in Hudson, New York, and
there were very few services available. This is twenty five
years ago to my mom in Hudson, New York. So
we hired a geriatric care manager who came in and
(16:49):
helped us build a plan and find care. And very
often the family members are the ones that are called
upon in christ and they're the ones that are called
upon to provide care. Now, and I'll go through the
litany of why care is just degrading in our state
and in our country. There just aren't enough people. There
(17:11):
aren't enough caregivers. There's not enough money in the system
to pay for all the care that people need. We
have an aging society. New York State is one of
the fastest growing aging populations in the country, and we're
just unprepared for that phenomenon, that dynamic of the age
wave taking over. So Diane pulling the pieces together. And
(17:34):
then at home, it isn't like you have a system
like the Eddie where Okay, they've done this a thousand
times in these apartments and this is how it works
in everyone's home.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It's unique.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Absolutely. People live in town homes that are three levels
and they are bathrooms on the middle floor, of their
kitchens on the lower You know, they're all different things.
We need to look at that, or it's too big.
The home is too big to get from one place
to the other, or it's too cluttered or whatever. The
(18:06):
situation is too many steps. And then if you're a homeowner,
you know that as you get older sometimes keeping up
with the maintenance is difficult too. So we go to
a home and can't use the front porch the front
door because the porch fell off, And you know, these
are real things that people deal with. So we try
to help people. Okay, if you're going to stay here,
(18:29):
maybe we need to look at a ramp, or we
need to look at fixing that, maybe moving a bedroom,
getting help in what kind of help do they need?
Is it professional help or you know, is the neighbor helping?
You know, adequate pulling all of that together, But we
do a lot of investigating and knowing those resources, and
I think that's one of the strengths of ever home
(18:51):
care advisors is the people that are involved. The professionals involved,
myself included, have very long careers. We have met with
and we know about those resources and how to say,
you know, have you considered contacting this agency or look
at this or that, So you know, connections is a
(19:12):
really important part of all of this.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And you know, the people on the other side of
the phone. So when you pick up the phone you
call the Eddie. You get somebody that knows you, that
you know, and you can give them your assessment and
they know that you've done the work, that you're behind
that person and that family, and that you have put
this plan together for them, and you know that they're
the right fit because that's what you do. And in
(19:34):
full disclosure, Diane, you used to work for the Eddie,
I did, and just tell us what you did there
and you were there for.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
A bit sure, twelve years as a physical therapist in
the field. I started out in the field one percent
of the time doing home visits, going to people's homes
wherever they were, whether they were twenty miles out down
a dirt road or in the middle of the city,
or in the Beverwick or another independent living or at
(20:05):
times assisted living situation, and I helped them if they
had physical difficulties, we look at their environment and then
work through that to get them to the next level
of care, the more independent care. And then I continued on.
I became the chronic disease management chronic disease management something
(20:28):
I don't remember what my title was. I led the
chronic disease management.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Had a long career, well it's been really a.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Long time, and I was the lead for chronic disease
management programming and so with that dealt with providers in
the area. We did remote patient monitoring. We did a
lot of different programs out in the community as well
to help people with manage chronic diseases, whether it be
(20:56):
heart failure, COPD, uncontrolled die, these things like that, helping
them find out what was the best management plan for
them wherever they were.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
We work at our law firm, pier O'Connor and Strauss,
very closely with ever home care advisors.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Because we're lawyers, we're.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Not physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, registered nurses, but
they are and we work with the Eddie and it's
very nice to be able to pick up the phone
as an attorney and say I have this client who
needs this service, and to be confident that you can
make that handoff, which is so critical in what we do.
We do a lot of medicaid applications and asset protection
(21:37):
planning and then getting the services and coordinating the services
is critical. And Diane, your company is part of a
technology that's very new and just talk a little bit
about how some of the gaps that exist in home
care are being bridged by technology today.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Sure, So we have a sister company, if you will,
called Viva Links, and Viva Links is our technology division.
We talk about the human touch and technology coming together,
so or technology enabled care coordination, and what that means
is the individual has a device in their home. So
(22:20):
if you're the older person, the older American and you
need to be connected to some people, you would get
a device in your home. If you're the caregiver like
I was and Lou with our moms, we have a
handheld device on our phone or our iPad or whatever
which has an app on it which communicates with the
(22:40):
home and we can do anything from help with med
managing schedule appointments to actually have a view into the
home looking through you know, with cameras, there can be
motion sensors. We have fall detection PERRS, personal emergency response services,
and bed sensors, chair sensor. So again it's a very
(23:03):
individualized plan and not everyone needs everything. Some people only
need one component of that. But I know from caring
for my mom, being you know, remote from her, I
could still know what was going on or get some
real time information that could determine what I needed to
do to support and to act to help her.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And as a caregiver child, a lot of people don't
even realize their caregiver children, but they're providing services and
some cases it's time and in other cases it's money.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
They're paying for things for their parents.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
That app, the Viva Links app, connects them not only
to the to the home, but also to the other
providers because there's a network within that app, right.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
You can have as many people connected to it, and
it's again who you wish to and who is important
to be connected. It's all secure, it's all hippocompliant. It's
not you know, people can't you know, just log into
it without permissions.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So, okay, so we're going to take a break for
the news and when we come back, Andre Hebert from
the Eddie Senior Living and Diane Miklgottabiowski are going to
talk more about how to plan.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
How to prepare yourself.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're going to talk about money, folks, because it costs
money for any of these services. So how does the
financing work? How do the families pull together to make
sure that their loved ones are taken care of and
that it's not going to end badly.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
So stay with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Welcome back to Life Happens Radio. I'm your host Lupiro
for this morning from Pierre, Connor and Strauss. We're talking
about finding the right place to live. Where do you
call home and the place you call home today? Will
that be the place you call home tomorrow? Will you
be able to age in place? Do you want to
age in place? Or do you want to find an
alternative living arrangement while you still can? And this is
(25:04):
part of being prepared. Before we dig in, I do
want to alert you all, as we do very often
to an upcoming educational opportunity. We do a trust administration
workshop every quarter for all of our clients who do
trust planning and for those that are interested in trust planning,
we do a trust administration workshop that really opens the
(25:24):
hood and looks at the engine. How does a trust work?
What does a trustde do? What are their duties? If
your beneficiary of a trust, what are your rights? If
you're creating a trust, how do you do it so
it maximizes value for you and ultimately for your beneficiaries?
The trust Administration Workshop is going to be Tuesday, February eleventh.
Market on your calendar Tuesday February eleventh, from twelve to
(25:47):
one point thirty. It is a very intense, not intense,
every educational program. It's not a sales program, folks is
we're not selling trusts. We're teaching you how to use
trusts and how they work. We have guest speakers, we
have accountants, we have trust officers, and you would like us.
We'd like you to join us on February eleventh from
(26:08):
twelve to one thirty. It's at Trustcoebank Center, six Metro
Park Road in Albany, and you can register as always
on our website, which is pyrolaw dot com. That's p
I e r r l a w dot com. Go
to events and register for the February eleventh Trust Administration Workshop.
Today we're talking about aging and aging in the place
(26:31):
of your choice, and that's such an important concept, finding
and being prepared. If you'll live long enough, you're gonna
need some help. That's just the way it is. If
you get to be one hundred. And we celebrate my aunt.
We had a big dinner Christmas Eve dinner. She's one
hundred and two, so she celebrated her one hundred and
second Christmas. And she's been very independent all her life,
(26:55):
but over time, at age one oh two, her needs
and her her ability to be independent in her home
became too difficult, so she had to find a right
place for her to live. And she's still flourishing and
sharp as attack. So say hi to Anne Neddie And
if you want to be have that longevity, if it's
(27:17):
something that you aspire to, is to live a long time.
And as my father used to say, son, it's hell
getting old, but the alternatives ain't good. So when you
live long, you need to be prepared. And finding the
right place to live and finding a place to live
that fits you and suits you is today's topic. If
you have a question, we'll open up a phone line
(27:39):
eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine again eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine. Andrea Hebert from the Eddie Senior Living,
Diane Mikkelgottabiowski from Everhome Care Advisors. Andrea, I want to
come back to you because I opened the door to
family discussion with Diane. It isn't always just the residents,
(28:01):
family members way in here and you have to deal
with them. So just talk a little bit about that dynamic.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Sure, even in independent living, we find more and more
that family members are so involved, which is wonderful really.
I mean, as you both were involved in your parents'
lives and especially as they got older, many people out
there are doing the same, and so we love to
see families come in and participate. The more communication, the better,
(28:30):
and so whether it's independent living or assisted living, or
memory care or even nursing home that they need, we
try to guide everyone, the whole family together to the
right place for them.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And Diane, we talked about this and opened up the
topic of ever Home and a lot of times it's
the family members who are contacting you saying, you know,
we just had Christmas at mom's house and boy, things
have gone downhill and we need help. How do people
start the process when they call your number, we'll give
(29:02):
that out in a minute. When they call ever Home
care advisors, how do they start the process.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
It's either by connecting through our website or through just
calling our phone number and telling us what the problem is.
We let them talk. I heard someone say earlier on
the show before that it's a conversation. It always starts
with a conversation what are you looking to accomplish. Sometimes
(29:31):
the concerns are episodic and are not long term, and
we can help connect them to either medical providers or
or someone that can help. And other times we can
see that it's a path that someone is going down
and their needs are changing, and what are the resources.
So it's very important to note what are the resources,
(29:52):
what are the availabilities of caregivers, what is the wish
of the individual. So if you're the older person out
there listening, make sure your wishes are known, because we
had a client who used to say, very appropriately, if
you wait until you need something, you've waited too long.
It's too late. You don't want to be making decisions
(30:15):
in crisis, trying to find a new place to live,
trying to get rid of your furniture, deciding what all
of that being done when somebody is sick or there's
a lot of angs going on is difficult. So start
letting people know what your plans are and we can
take people through all those different It might be very
(30:36):
simple intervention at the beginning and things stay where they
are with a little support or it might be a move.
So it's taking them down that path.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
And the resources are different in every household. And when
I say resources, it's human resources. Because some people have
children that are very involved, some people do not.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
There is a.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Growing phenomenon of women in their eighties nineties aging alone
in their own home and trying to find service for
those individuals. And there are people who have their relatives,
they have children, but they're in Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California,
and Hong Kong and nobody local and no ability to
(31:19):
have a local child who has input into the home
and can monitor conditions and could communicate. And I think
this is where that Vivlinks technology is especially helpful.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Sure, we had a client who lived in Columbia County
whose son lived in Houston, Texas, and we stayed with
her through our system, through our technology. He was connected
through that technology. He had a forty five minute to
(31:50):
one hour conversation with her multiple days of week through
our technology through a video call that she was able
to use. Even as maybe her memory decline advanced, she
was still able to do that. He had a view
into the home from Houston, and then he could get
engage local people if needed. And she was I say
(32:13):
she was able to die in her own home, And
that may sound like a strange statement, but that's what
many people wish is to read.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
That's the dream is to be in your own bed,
close your eyes and go to sleep. And not everybody
gets that dream.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
And so she was able to be supported and eventually
passed in her home. And the first thing that her
son said to us was how grateful he was to
you know, he was here. He physically came here at
the very end, but to be connected to her as
closely as he was through that whole process gave him
(32:50):
such peace of mind as well. And in my mom's case,
I was only forty minutes away when I was at work,
but this technology helped make that forty forty miles or
forty minutes.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
And I was in the same distance as you, forty
five minutes from my mother, but it was an eternity
because anything happened, I had to drive that forty five
minutes every three little kids they were going to concerts,
going to school, all of their activities, and a caregiver
has their own life, a relationship, children of their own,
so being able to do this remotely. Being able to
(33:23):
just look to your phone and say, Okay, it's all green,
it's all good. Mom's okay would have been I didn't
have it would have been a godsend. And then if
things weren't right, okay mom, and have her on a
video screen and be able to chat, Okay, let's look
at your meds. Let's talk to the doctor. And I
know that because I've worked with Viva Links there's telemedicine
(33:45):
involved as well, So just talk a little bit about
that resource. When things do get to the critical point,
there is another intervention.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Sure, people that have our services with Viva Links have
access twenty four to seven to tell a medicine, whether
it be a video hotel amedicine or a telephonic intervention
with a provider, a physician, a nurse practitioner, or a
physician's assistant. And they are part of our system and
there's no charge to them at all. They call up,
(34:12):
they give their data, birth say they're a Viva Links
client and they're connected to a provider who might look
at their med lists, ask them some questions, and I
go back to this. A lot decisions are made based
on information, not wondering not, Oh my goodness, what should
we do? This provider can ask those questions, look at
(34:33):
health information that they have access to and say, you
know what, you do need to go to an urgent
care or a hospital. This is something we can't do.
Over tell amedicine or they can put a person's mind
at ease. They can give them advice about their medication.
They could order a test or do a referral and
encourage them to see their primary care physician. But they
can put people's minds at ease, so that telemedicine can
(34:57):
really prevent a transport, finding somebody to do the transport
and taking some of the stress out of that. I
don't know if anybody's been to an emergency room lately,
you don't want to go if you can help.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It, for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So anything we can put into place, decide to try
to stay out of the emergency room and leave the
emergency room for true emergency.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Nine to one one is overused and ambulances. We have
articles in the newspaper about ambulances backed up in the
parking lot waiting to discharge patients, and patients sitting for
hours and hours and hours and days sometimes waiting to
be seen waiting to be admitted. And when you're in
the EDDY system, Andrea, you kind of have a network
(35:38):
of professionals.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Within that system.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
So just talk a little bit about that and how
that care is brought to them in their independent living apartments.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Sure. Yeah, so Diane mentioned, you know our home care,
so Eddie home Care can come in. We also have
a lot of services on site within the Eddie community.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So you let me.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Stop you right there, because this is kind of a
misconception I think a lot of people have. If I
have an independent apartment and I need to bring a
little extra help in, ye, can I do that?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I mean that's your independent apartment.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Right, So it's just like you're at home and you
can bring caregivers in to supplement the care. It's an
independent living apartment. You're not in assisted living where there
are other services. We'll talk a little bit about that
in a minute. But in independent living you can do
whatever you need to do to sustain that independence.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Correct. So a lot of folks do bring in home
health aids to help with some of the things. So
we certainly provide housekeeping, maintenance, We provide twenty four to
seven security dining as I mentioned activities and transportation, but
if you need a little bit more than that, bring
in a home health aid to help you out. There's
certainly a lot of our residents who do that. We
(36:55):
also have on site physical therapy, occupational therapy, we have
on site pedietrist that comes in, so we have a
lot of services on site. And then if you need
a little bit more, our resident service advisor is there
to help you find the right service for you.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
So it takes the pressure off the kids.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
It most certainly does. And Diane mentioned peace of mind,
So that is really what we want to give the
adult children of our residents, is that peace of mind
to know we're there, we're seeing them every day. If
there's something that we need to alert the adult children,
we do that, of course with the permission of our residence.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
So let's talk money, because nothing is free and everything
has a cost. In our firm, we try to prepare
people legally and financially. God bless those that have purchased
long term care insurance and they have that in their
portfolio and they can tap that when that need arises,
and they have a financing stream to pay for those
(37:57):
home health aids and the other service or assisted living
or nursing home at the end of the chain. But
most people don't have long term care insurance. So how
does the financing work in the various living arrangements?
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sure, so independent living, first of all, there's a confidential
data application that needs to be filled out for any
level of care. But independent living we are an entry
fee community system. However, that entry fee you kind of
equate it to if someone has a home to sell, right,
And we do have different refundabilities, So seventy five percent
(38:35):
is our standard, but there's one hundred percent refundable options.
There are also some limited rental options, so I think
we kind of have you know, coming in and seeing
what choices there are and matching that to your own
financial situation is the best thing to do. In assisted living,
(38:55):
there is no entry fee. It's just a monthly service
fee that pays for basically room and board so to speak,
but also the care.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Now are those upfront fees refundable any portion of them? Right?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
So we talked about seventy five percent refundable as our standard,
but there we have one hundred percent refundable option. There's
lower options with less refundability as well as potentially you know,
some limited rental options with no entry fee as well.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
So we talk a lot about medicaid and medicaid planning
in our firm, because that's the only way you avoid
spending down all of your assets before you get to medicaid.
And then if you spend down all your assets and
you're in a place that doesn't take Medicaid, what happens.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Well, So that is honestly what I'm most proud of
with Eddie Senior Living. We do not make people leave
if they spend down their assets and they can no
longer for the full monthly service fee. So there is
an application process for this discount, but we do discount
folks if they spend down. Of course, there's a certain
(39:59):
number of years that you know, we expect that they
would be able to pay.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Sure sure, yeah, yep. And you know at home, you're
looking at bringing care into the home. And we've had
the New York State Officer Aging, Rebecca Prevy from the
Area Agencies on Aging and Greg Olsen from NISOFA. They've
been on the show and they have a very rich
bundle of services that I think goes untapped in many
(40:23):
cases in the community.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
And Diane.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
We work very closely with Becky and Greg and making
sure that our clients know what's out there. So just
talk a little bit about what people can get to
without going to Medicaid and what kinds of services are
available based upon just aging and needing service.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Sure, every county has it's an Area Association on Aging.
They have an Office for the Aging here. It referred
to in different ways, and there's a program called ISIP
which the acronym is EI SEP, which has expanded in service.
And that's as far as I'm going to get on
(41:02):
that acronym. But it's their subsidized services. It's a sliding
fee scale and they provide they can provide home health aids,
they can provide some respite services, and that's all through
the Office for the Aging. But the Office for the
Aging does many many other things and as well as
home delivered meals, you've heard of meals on wheels, home
(41:24):
delivered meals, whatever we're calling them. They have nutrition sites
at their senior centers where people can go to get
a meal in a social environment or they can be
delivered to their home. They can help with applications, they
can help navigate the system, and this is all except
(41:46):
for the AIDS and the ISUP services free. You go
to these events that the Office for the Aging sponsors
and they're there to support the aging individuals in their communities.
We work very closely with them and connect people to
those services. They have community events. They work closely as
we do with the other community based organizations that are
(42:09):
out there.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yeah, and Greg and Becky are big advocates of innovation
and technology. And Greg has an animatronic pet program which
is not real pets, but pets that.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Have some.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Connectivity to people who have dementia and need something to
replace that touch. And they have another product that communicates
and actually talks to people in their own home. And
so there's a whole host of things that they have
brought into New York State that are very very innovative.
And you should go to the NISOFA website or your
(42:45):
County Office for Aging and you can see all of
the different things that they have brought into New York.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
We have to take a short break.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
We're gonna we'll talk about the cats and dogs in
a minute, but we're gonna come back and talk about
the choices. What happens when you get up the latter
a little bit, and how do we manage all of
this as we go through this aging process.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
And folks, it's not easy, but it's doable if you
are prepared. We'll be right back and we're back.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Lupiro live in studio with Andre Hebert from the Eddie,
and the Eddie has a vast array of different resources
and communities and places to live. It is one of
the premier providers of services to seniors. And we have
Diane Miklel Gottabiowski from ever Home Care Advisors, a very
unique agency that combines human care care coordination with technology.
(43:45):
And Andrea, I'm going to come back to you because
we talked about the animatronic pets and shout out to
Greg Olsen for proliferating cats and dogs that are not
real cats and dogs all across New York State for
people who in the statistics and what they find from
the coming back from people who use these is it
reduces stress, It improves their outlook, it gives them a
(44:06):
comfort level. Can people bring their pets into any of
these places?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Independent living. We have many cats and dogs sometimes other
pets as well. Assisted living. We have some cats a
little more difficult as you age to take care of
a dog in particular, and then we also have some
of those animatronic pets in our memory care. So you do, yeah,
(44:34):
we absolutely do.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
And that's the New York State Office for Aging. Along
with the whole they have twenty two technology companies that
they have partnered with to bring those services and resources
into New York State.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
And we talked about wellness, and we talked about health
and how do you make sure that your residents are
maximizing their functionality, let's.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Say absolutely so a little earlier we did talk about
some of our fitness programs. So several of our communities
have pools and extensive fitness areas, but we also have classes.
So we have our wellness coordinators in each building do classes.
They also hold, you know, talks on dietitian you know
(45:19):
what your diet should be, for instance, especially if you
have certain chronic illnesses. So we try to support our
residents in whatever way they need.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
And going back to our initial discussion of the independent
living the community, you meet your neighbors, you meet your friends,
you make friends, and you have a life that goes
way beyond that community and you go to trips and
all kinds of things. But then you get to the
next level of assisted living and you maybe lose some
of that independence. What happens when you get to the
(45:51):
point where you just can't cope in any of those
other settings.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Sure, so you know, we obviously see that coming over time,
and we help folks bridge the gap between that and
maybe what they do need. So if it comes time
to move on to a nursing home, then our resident
service advisor or a case managers do assist with that process.
So we try to make it, especially if they're going
(46:16):
to an Eddie senior living an Eddie nursing home, we
try to make that process as seamless as possible.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yeah, and folks, trust me, I go to a lot
of nursing homes. Some you don't want anyone that you
know in, others that are really very very comfortable. In
one locally that everybody tries to get into, and that's
Eddie Village Green, which is a whole different concept. Is
there any kind of priority for people in the EDDY system.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Yes, so we do prioritize our own residents to move
on to our nursing homes. It does depend obviously on
if there are any empty spaces for them. Sure, but yes,
Eddie Village. We also have a small greenhouse model nursing
home on our Beverwet campus as well.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
It The difference is startling. And why there aren't more
of these, I just don't know. And it's it's a
community based program. I think there are sixteen people per unit.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
A little bit less. So we have twelve in our
Beverwick community. Twelve per house.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay I was talking about Village Green, yes, yes, okay,
So twelve people and there's a big kitchen and a
big table and everybody eats at the same table and
they cook, you can bake, you can do the things
that you used to do, and it is again bringing
back community. And most nursing homes are rooms that are
institutional looking and it's old school, but the Eddie Village
(47:45):
Green is very different.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
So I give you kudos for that. I want to
get your contact information before we run out of time.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Under absolutely so Eddieseniorliving dot com. If you'd like to
call one number, it's five one eight to eight zero
eight three eight five and you'll be connected with one
of our senior living specialists.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
All right, one more time because people are fumbling right
now to get their pencils and their classes out so
they can see what they're writing.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Eddieseniorliving dot Com five one eight two eight zero eight
three eight five.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
And the continuum of care Diane and Diane's with Ever
Home Care Advisors. The continuum of care is part of
the landscape that we navigate as attorneys, and Medicaid is
only really at the back end of this where you
have nursing homes or home health care and you want
to bring that into the home. But that continuum of
(48:36):
care is daunting for families. So how do you triage
a case and how do you determine the right levels
of care in which of the facilities might be appropriate
for them?
Speaker 4 (48:47):
Well, with our background and with this assessment, and again
I can't overstress what the goals are looking geographically and financially,
you have to look at pull that out all together
and see what the services are and what's available and
encouraging family members caregivers to visit facilities, tour facilities. We
(49:12):
can help with that, we can set that up for
them and at times taking the perspective resident if it's
physically possible to look you know, look at the facilities
as well, and then helping them with the application process,
talking to people that are there and working through that
process if that's where we need to go. We've also
(49:32):
helped move people from out of state into state into
nursing homes where you know, they needed that level of care,
but they were miles away from their families, so we
can you know, help navigate that system and know there's
a lot of paperwork required, there's a lot of documentation required,
and we can help them gather that information.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
And sometimes the two spouses in a married couple are
at different levels, so trying to find facilities that can
accommodate one person and insisted living in one person at
the nursing home level that they can see each other.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
The Eddie has some.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Of that, We absolutely do, and we have a couple
of campuses that have all three levels of care. So
our original Eddie Memorial Geriatric Center is one of them.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And in fact, we moved a couple from Florida up
into the Eddie facility and it worked out extremely well.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
They were very very happy. Dane. How do they contact you.
Speaker 4 (50:24):
On the web? Ever? Homecare Advisors all one word dot
com ever Homecareadvisors dot com, or you can call eight
four four six three three three eight five two eight
four four six three three three eight five two.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
All right, that hour goes so quickly. Thank you ladies, Andrea,
thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Diane, Thank
you for joining us live here in studio.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Not snowing yet. Hunker down, folks, get ready, I hear
the snow is coming. We want to thank you for
joining us in Joe Gallagher's Hour. Here. We're Pierre O'Connor
and Strauss. I'm Lupiro, your host for this morning. We
hope you can join us every Saturday morning at nine
am now right here.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
On talk radio WGY.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
We hope you can join us at our Trust workshop
on February eleventh, and always go to pyrolaw dot com
for your resources
Good morning everyone, and if you're expecting to hear Joe
Gallagher's voice, this is not it. I am Lou Piro,
your host for this morning, and we are now on
the nine o'clock slot with Life Happens Radio. We hope
that you'll stay with us. We're sitting here at Joe
Gallagher Boulevard in the WGY studios and it's you know,
it's kind of following a legend, big big shoes to
(00:23):
fill here in Joe's nine o'clock hour, but we hope
we can do that for you, and we hope we
can bring you information, ideas, and current thoughts on how
to plan, how to protect yourself. We are sandwiched between
two titans of the financial industry, Dave Kopeik, who just
left you from the seven to nine hours, and Steve Bouchet,
who picks up after us at ten o'clock. We are
(00:44):
a legal show and we have attorneys, guests and others
who will bring you information, bring you ideas, and help
you plan legally, financially and from the perspective of planning
for life. And life happens all around us every day.
We have to be prepared. That's the theme. So today
We're going to tackle an issue that we all face.
(01:05):
And our law firm is here in Latham, New York
or in New York City. We have offices in Lake Placid, Hudson,
Gordon City, and we take care of clients.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Of all ages.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We take care of people who are planning for college education.
And we have a regular guest on the show, doctor
Dean Scarlets, the College Advisor of New York, who has
wonderful insights on how to prepare yourself and your children
for that college experience. We look at planning for your
own retirement, how to put money away wisely, the legal
structures in combination with those financial structures to help you
(01:38):
build your nest egg protect it. And as you go
through life, as you go through the different phases, and
you have your children first and you have to prepare
for them and buy life insurance and have a will
and point guardians and then get them educated. You'll launch
the ship and hope it's sales right. And then you
have to prepare yourself for that retirement. And how how
(02:00):
do you protect yourself your life savings, your iras, four
one k's your home. Those are the themes of the
show today. We're going to focus on the later stage
of life, and we're going to look at issues that
we will all face. And when I started this show,
I wasn't as old as I am now. We've been
doing this now for thirteen years, and so at age
(02:22):
sixty six, I'm looking at Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So when I.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Retire, I have a big, old house. It's one hundred
and sixty years old. Do I want to be taking
care of that house when I'm eighty six? Do I
want to be mowing the lawn? I don't know alaw now,
but it's three acres, so I'm not going to mow
the lawn. And I just can't do the things that
I would need to do just to take care of
that home. Do I want to look at downsizing? Do
(02:46):
I want to move into a new home or do
I want to look for some of the creative housing
options that are out there? And I speak all around
the country and particularly around the Capitol region on aging
issues and legal planning. And I've toured some of the
most beautiful facilities with a chef and a pool and
a gym and trips to the track and people the
(03:09):
happy hour at five o'clock on a Friday isn't that.
It's like country club living. And some of those independent
living facilities are right here in our own capital district.
And we're very fortunate today to have a special guest,
Andrea Hebert from the Eddie Senior Living. She's the vice
president there and she is part of that network, that
fabric of senior living, and she's going to talk all
(03:32):
about the Eddie facilities locally. And the Eddie is one
of the iconic companies. It's part of now Trinity Health,
Saint Peter's Hospital, all under the Trinity umbrella. But the
Eddie has been here for a very long time, based
out of Troy, New York.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We've worked with them.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I've worked with them for forty years, and they have
wonderful opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
They have wonderful.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Facilities and places all away from those luxury apartments to
a nursing home.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We call it the continuum of care.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And we also have with us another very special guest,
Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski, who is with ever Home Care Advisors,
and ever Home is a company that guides people through
this process. If you want to try to hunker down
in your own home, if you want to try to
look for the best options for you to transition into
a new living arrangement and when health fails, and this
(04:23):
is really all about being prepared. And if you live
long enough, you're likely to have a chronic illness or
a health issue that's going to require some help. And
so how do you prepare yourself in your own home
or how do you look for that ultimate living arrangement
where you want to age and be able to be
(04:45):
cared for throughout the rest of your lifetime. So with that,
I want to introduce our guests, Andrea Hebert, Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski. Andrea,
good morning, Good morning, So talk about your role at
the Eddie and what the Eddie is.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Sure. I am both an executive director of one of
our retirement communities, the one up in Queensberry, but also
the vice president and Eddie Senior Living encompasses independent living,
assisted living, and memory care at the assisted living level.
And then of course, as you mentioned, we do have
nursing homes as well, so we try to keep our
(05:23):
residents doing what they'd love to do and as independent
as possible.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So start with that.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Most people say, oh, I'm never going to go to
a nursing home, and you know, God help us if
we do, because they're not fun. You're not there because
you're looking to have a good time and live.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
A nice lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But the independent living places are so just talk about
what that lifestyle is and what the facilities are locally,
what the communities are I'll call it communities, not facilities,
what the communities are locally and how that works.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Sure, so within the Eddie we have multiple communities within
the area throughout the Capital district and independent living I
think you mentioned it. It's kind of that country club
lifestyle a little bit. People have independent apartments like you
would anywhere else. They have full kitchens, you can do
(06:16):
one bedroom, two bedroom, two bedroom with den, so they
can be as small or as large as you'd like,
and you decorate your own apartment just like you would
any place else. We just provide a little bit of
that extra support so you can stay independent and do
what you want to do, so you know, have the
(06:37):
time to do the things that you love instead of
the things that you have to do, like the snow
removal and like the you know, even cleaning, making meals.
You know, we have full service dining. There's a lot
of choice and so activities, transportation if you can no
longer drive, that's a huge thing for some folks, people
(07:02):
your own age to socialize with. It's really wonderful.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So I'll tell a little anecdote about one of my
experiences at the Beverwick, which is one of the Eddy
independent living communities, and I was asked to do a
talk there, which I talk at a lot of different places,
a lot of them for the Eddie. And I went
in and I was going to talk about healthcare proxies
and powers of attorney and being prepared for all the
things that we have to do. And I got there
(07:27):
and it was an afternoon and it was about five
o'clock and there were two people and I'm thinking, wow,
usually there's a pretty good crowd that shows up. And
I said, no, what's going on? Oh oh sorry, they're
all at the track. It was bus day to the track.
So the whole place was up in Saratoga and I
was there talking to two people. We sat down, huddled
(07:48):
and talked about healthcare proxies and powers of attorney.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So the lifestyle there is meals. Just talk about the
day to day.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
What is that daily routine like when you're in an
independent apartment and you've got this enriched living arrangement.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Sure, So I'm honestly it can be whatever you'd like
it to be. So people get engaged at a lot
of different levels. But you might come out and have
coffee with a neighbor in one of our community's bistros,
for instance, there's coffee. There's continental breakfast every day, so
you might do that, and then you might go to
(08:24):
an exercise class at in the morning because you want
to stay active absolutely, and then you know, you might
do some errands. We have our buses go to different
shopping areas. You might come back for lunch, join some
of your neighbors for lunch, and then afternoon we have
(08:45):
a whole host of activities. Could be musical performance, could
be lecture series, could be another exercise class if you
really want to be active. Dinner again we have full
service dining in like a restaurant style dining. And then
the evening sometimes we have people playing games together. There's
(09:06):
a lot of resident run activities and then there's some
that we run as well, so just lots of things
to choose from.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and how many of those are there in this area?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So we have six communities in this area, but four
of that or five of them are independent living, including
independent living, so Niskayuna, slinger Lends or Albany area, mine
up in Queensberry, East green Bush and then Troy.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So you're independent, you're living life, having a very good
experience without a lot of stress of home maintenance. You've
got neighbors, you've got friends, you make friends, you've got
a routine. You can live a healthy lifestyle. You can
live your best life in a very independent setting. What
(09:57):
happens then if you do have a crime illness, If
something happens and your health changes, and this is very important,
We're going to come to Diane for this too. What
happens when that illness sets in, how does the EDDY
treat that? And then what are your options?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Sure, well, you know, we are very lucky to have
a resident service Advisor program excuse me, staff by social
workers who really help make that process easy. So if
you need home health aid, if you need just some
additional assistance at home, they can help arrange for that.
(10:36):
But if you do happen to need so, we also
have respite care within our assisted livings, and sometimes that's
just a really short term stay until you're strong enough
to go back home to your independent apartment. In assisted living,
we provide a little extra service than we do in independence,
so that would be we provide three meals a day
in that area, as well as personal care and medication assistance.
(11:00):
And then we even go further than that if need be,
in our enhanced assisted livings. But sometimes people just need
a quick respite day. Sometimes that say needs to be
a little bit more permanent, and that is fine. I
think there's a misconception that when you go to assisted living, okay,
that's it. You no longer have choice, You no longer
(11:20):
you know can do what you'd like to do, and
nothing can be furtherest from the truth.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And that's a great point, certainly depending upon what illness.
And I call it the the lottery, the disease lottery.
If you get certain conditions, you're in one track and yes,
you can be independent, and it's going to be a
lot of choice.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
If you go down the memory track and you have.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Dementia, Alzheimer's, and we've had people from the Alzheimer's Association
on every year talking about the disease and the prevalence
of it, then you're in a different facility. Just talk
a little bit about the memory care you mentioned that earlier.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, sure, So our memory care celebrate life and independence
as much as possible as well too. Excuse me. We
have outdoor spaces and indoor community spaces. That what's nice
about our memory care and our residents can be still
independent and make their choices. They can go outside if
(12:16):
they'd like, because we have secure areas that are safe
for them. They can do activities, they can wander along
our hallways and find things that they'd like to do
or socialize with the folks that they like to socialize with.
So if someone were at home, they might not have
that wandering ability, it might not be quite as safe, right,
(12:39):
So we try to celebrate that person's life and make
it very individualized to the person.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So the Eddie again is one of the leading agencies
companies locally providing housing at all levels. So we talked
about independent, we talked about assisted. We're going to come
back and talk to Diane mikkelg Gottabiowski from ever Home
Care Advisors and they work with families trying to replicate
this continuum of care in their own homes. And that's
(13:05):
ninety percent of the people I talk to. I want
to be in my home. Not always the right option,
but if it is, you need to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Stay with us. More to come right after this short break,
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Another shout out to Joe Gallagher. This was his hour
and I'm taking it. Sorry, Joe. If you're out there listening,
congratulations on a fabulous, fabulous career. And I know you
had a lot of faithful listeners, so we are hopeful
if they stick with us. I'm Lupiro, your host from
Pierre Connor and Strauss. We are live in studio today
with Andrea Hebert, vice president at Eddie Senior Living, and
(13:45):
Diane Mikkel Gottabiowski, vice president of Client Services at Everhome
Care Advisors. And we started with the Eddies services and
independent living onto assisted living. Diane, you work more with
families they may be transitioning into that and guiding them
and counseling them and leading them to a place like
the Eddie and finding the right fit. But more often
(14:06):
than not, it's people who want to stay in their
own home. So just contrast that experience with trying to
build this plan in your own home.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Sure, and and I guess I'm going to step back
for a second and say that if someone lives or
any independent living situation.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
That becomes their home. But I think what you're talking
about is the home that they've lived in all their lives,
the home that maybe maybe the huge home with three
acres that they're still mowing, that they are never going
to leave, or we know other situations where people say
this is where I'm staying. So we want to look
at what are their needs versus what are their goals,
(14:48):
and we will we the Eddie to Eddie. I worked
for the Eddie by the way, for.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I worked for the Eddie for twelve years prior to
coming to Ever Home Care Advisors.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's a little crackle on the other microphone, so we
just did a little shift.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, we're going to share the bike today.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Fluid. We have to be fluid in this industry, that's right.
So I worked for the Eddie visiting nurse. So I
went into people's homes. I went into Eddie senior living
facilities to help people advance this care plan. So we
employ social workers, therapists, We have occupational therapists, myself as
(15:33):
a physical therapist. We will go in and assess a
client We're not doing a physical therapy assessment or an
occupational therapy assessment. We're doing a life care plan assessment.
What are your goals, what do you need to be
able to do, what are the barriers? And we will
help put a plan together to hopefully advance that to
(15:54):
keep them in their home, so that might be connecting
them with other eddie services or you know, there are
short term plans and long term plans. So you want
to stay here as long as you can, but if
that becomes maybe not the safest, what would be your
options there? So you start laying that plan out as
far in advance as you can, and who are your caregivers,
(16:17):
who are the people that are supporting you. Just putting
that whole puzzle together, if you will, and then deciding
how you're not going to navigate that.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, I talk about my mom all the time on
the show Geneva, and Geneva was a heck of a lady.
She was the rock of our family and she developed
Alzheimer's and she lived down in Hudson, New York, and
there were very few services available. This is twenty five
years ago to my mom in Hudson, New York. So
we hired a geriatric care manager who came in and
(16:49):
helped us build a plan and find care. And very
often the family members are the ones that are called
upon in christ and they're the ones that are called
upon to provide care. Now, and I'll go through the
litany of why care is just degrading in our state
and in our country. There just aren't enough people. There
(17:11):
aren't enough caregivers. There's not enough money in the system
to pay for all the care that people need. We
have an aging society. New York State is one of
the fastest growing aging populations in the country, and we're
just unprepared for that phenomenon, that dynamic of the age
wave taking over. So Diane pulling the pieces together. And
(17:34):
then at home, it isn't like you have a system
like the Eddie where Okay, they've done this a thousand
times in these apartments and this is how it works
in everyone's home.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It's unique.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Absolutely. People live in town homes that are three levels
and they are bathrooms on the middle floor, of their
kitchens on the lower You know, they're all different things.
We need to look at that, or it's too big.
The home is too big to get from one place
to the other, or it's too cluttered or whatever. The
(18:06):
situation is too many steps. And then if you're a homeowner,
you know that as you get older sometimes keeping up
with the maintenance is difficult too. So we go to
a home and can't use the front porch the front
door because the porch fell off, And you know, these
are real things that people deal with. So we try
to help people. Okay, if you're going to stay here,
(18:29):
maybe we need to look at a ramp, or we
need to look at fixing that, maybe moving a bedroom,
getting help in what kind of help do they need?
Is it professional help or you know, is the neighbor helping?
You know, adequate pulling all of that together, But we
do a lot of investigating and knowing those resources, and
I think that's one of the strengths of ever home
(18:51):
care advisors is the people that are involved. The professionals involved,
myself included, have very long careers. We have met with
and we know about those resources and how to say,
you know, have you considered contacting this agency or look
at this or that, So you know, connections is a
(19:12):
really important part of all of this.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And you know, the people on the other side of
the phone. So when you pick up the phone you
call the Eddie. You get somebody that knows you, that
you know, and you can give them your assessment and
they know that you've done the work, that you're behind
that person and that family, and that you have put
this plan together for them, and you know that they're
the right fit because that's what you do. And in
(19:34):
full disclosure, Diane, you used to work for the Eddie,
I did, and just tell us what you did there
and you were there for.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
A bit sure, twelve years as a physical therapist in
the field. I started out in the field one percent
of the time doing home visits, going to people's homes
wherever they were, whether they were twenty miles out down
a dirt road or in the middle of the city,
or in the Beverwick or another independent living or at
(20:05):
times assisted living situation, and I helped them if they
had physical difficulties, we look at their environment and then
work through that to get them to the next level
of care, the more independent care. And then I continued on.
I became the chronic disease management chronic disease management something
(20:28):
I don't remember what my title was. I led the
chronic disease management.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Had a long career, well it's been really a.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Long time, and I was the lead for chronic disease
management programming and so with that dealt with providers in
the area. We did remote patient monitoring. We did a
lot of different programs out in the community as well
to help people with manage chronic diseases, whether it be
(20:56):
heart failure, COPD, uncontrolled die, these things like that, helping
them find out what was the best management plan for
them wherever they were.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
We work at our law firm, pier O'Connor and Strauss,
very closely with ever home care advisors.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Because we're lawyers, we're.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Not physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, registered nurses, but
they are and we work with the Eddie and it's
very nice to be able to pick up the phone
as an attorney and say I have this client who
needs this service, and to be confident that you can
make that handoff, which is so critical in what we do.
We do a lot of medicaid applications and asset protection
(21:37):
planning and then getting the services and coordinating the services
is critical. And Diane, your company is part of a
technology that's very new and just talk a little bit
about how some of the gaps that exist in home
care are being bridged by technology today.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Sure, So we have a sister company, if you will,
called Viva Links, and Viva Links is our technology division.
We talk about the human touch and technology coming together,
so or technology enabled care coordination, and what that means
is the individual has a device in their home. So
(22:20):
if you're the older person, the older American and you
need to be connected to some people, you would get
a device in your home. If you're the caregiver like
I was and Lou with our moms, we have a
handheld device on our phone or our iPad or whatever
which has an app on it which communicates with the
(22:40):
home and we can do anything from help with med
managing schedule appointments to actually have a view into the
home looking through you know, with cameras, there can be
motion sensors. We have fall detection PERRS, personal emergency response services,
and bed sensors, chair sensor. So again it's a very
(23:03):
individualized plan and not everyone needs everything. Some people only
need one component of that. But I know from caring
for my mom, being you know, remote from her, I
could still know what was going on or get some
real time information that could determine what I needed to
do to support and to act to help her.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And as a caregiver child, a lot of people don't
even realize their caregiver children, but they're providing services and
some cases it's time and in other cases it's money.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
They're paying for things for their parents.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
That app, the Viva Links app, connects them not only
to the to the home, but also to the other
providers because there's a network within that app, right.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
You can have as many people connected to it, and
it's again who you wish to and who is important
to be connected. It's all secure, it's all hippocompliant. It's
not you know, people can't you know, just log into
it without permissions.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So, okay, so we're going to take a break for
the news and when we come back, Andre Hebert from
the Eddie Senior Living and Diane Miklgottabiowski are going to
talk more about how to plan.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
How to prepare yourself.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're going to talk about money, folks, because it costs
money for any of these services. So how does the
financing work? How do the families pull together to make
sure that their loved ones are taken care of and
that it's not going to end badly.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
So stay with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Welcome back to Life Happens Radio. I'm your host Lupiro
for this morning from Pierre, Connor and Strauss. We're talking
about finding the right place to live. Where do you
call home and the place you call home today? Will
that be the place you call home tomorrow? Will you
be able to age in place? Do you want to
age in place? Or do you want to find an
alternative living arrangement while you still can? And this is
(25:04):
part of being prepared. Before we dig in, I do
want to alert you all, as we do very often
to an upcoming educational opportunity. We do a trust administration
workshop every quarter for all of our clients who do
trust planning and for those that are interested in trust planning,
we do a trust administration workshop that really opens the
(25:24):
hood and looks at the engine. How does a trust work?
What does a trustde do? What are their duties? If
your beneficiary of a trust, what are your rights? If
you're creating a trust, how do you do it so
it maximizes value for you and ultimately for your beneficiaries?
The trust Administration Workshop is going to be Tuesday, February eleventh.
Market on your calendar Tuesday February eleventh, from twelve to
(25:47):
one point thirty. It is a very intense, not intense,
every educational program. It's not a sales program, folks is
we're not selling trusts. We're teaching you how to use
trusts and how they work. We have guest speakers, we
have accountants, we have trust officers, and you would like us.
We'd like you to join us on February eleventh from
(26:08):
twelve to one thirty. It's at Trustcoebank Center, six Metro
Park Road in Albany, and you can register as always
on our website, which is pyrolaw dot com. That's p
I e r r l a w dot com. Go
to events and register for the February eleventh Trust Administration Workshop.
Today we're talking about aging and aging in the place
(26:31):
of your choice, and that's such an important concept, finding
and being prepared. If you'll live long enough, you're gonna
need some help. That's just the way it is. If
you get to be one hundred. And we celebrate my aunt.
We had a big dinner Christmas Eve dinner. She's one
hundred and two, so she celebrated her one hundred and
second Christmas. And she's been very independent all her life,
(26:55):
but over time, at age one oh two, her needs
and her her ability to be independent in her home
became too difficult, so she had to find a right
place for her to live. And she's still flourishing and
sharp as attack. So say hi to Anne Neddie And
if you want to be have that longevity, if it's
(27:17):
something that you aspire to, is to live a long time.
And as my father used to say, son, it's hell
getting old, but the alternatives ain't good. So when you
live long, you need to be prepared. And finding the
right place to live and finding a place to live
that fits you and suits you is today's topic. If
you have a question, we'll open up a phone line
(27:39):
eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine again eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine. Andrea Hebert from the Eddie Senior Living,
Diane Mikkelgottabiowski from Everhome Care Advisors. Andrea, I want to
come back to you because I opened the door to
family discussion with Diane. It isn't always just the residents,
(28:01):
family members way in here and you have to deal
with them. So just talk a little bit about that dynamic.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Sure, even in independent living, we find more and more
that family members are so involved, which is wonderful really.
I mean, as you both were involved in your parents'
lives and especially as they got older, many people out
there are doing the same, and so we love to
see families come in and participate. The more communication, the better,
(28:30):
and so whether it's independent living or assisted living, or
memory care or even nursing home that they need, we
try to guide everyone, the whole family together to the
right place for them.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And Diane, we talked about this and opened up the
topic of ever Home and a lot of times it's
the family members who are contacting you saying, you know,
we just had Christmas at mom's house and boy, things
have gone downhill and we need help. How do people
start the process when they call your number, we'll give
(29:02):
that out in a minute. When they call ever Home
care advisors, how do they start the process.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
It's either by connecting through our website or through just
calling our phone number and telling us what the problem is.
We let them talk. I heard someone say earlier on
the show before that it's a conversation. It always starts
with a conversation what are you looking to accomplish. Sometimes
(29:31):
the concerns are episodic and are not long term, and
we can help connect them to either medical providers or
or someone that can help. And other times we can
see that it's a path that someone is going down
and their needs are changing, and what are the resources.
So it's very important to note what are the resources,
(29:52):
what are the availabilities of caregivers, what is the wish
of the individual. So if you're the older person out
there listening, make sure your wishes are known, because we
had a client who used to say, very appropriately, if
you wait until you need something, you've waited too long.
It's too late. You don't want to be making decisions
(30:15):
in crisis, trying to find a new place to live,
trying to get rid of your furniture, deciding what all
of that being done when somebody is sick or there's
a lot of angs going on is difficult. So start
letting people know what your plans are and we can
take people through all those different It might be very
(30:36):
simple intervention at the beginning and things stay where they
are with a little support or it might be a move.
So it's taking them down that path.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
And the resources are different in every household. And when
I say resources, it's human resources. Because some people have
children that are very involved, some people do not.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
There is a.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Growing phenomenon of women in their eighties nineties aging alone
in their own home and trying to find service for
those individuals. And there are people who have their relatives,
they have children, but they're in Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California,
and Hong Kong and nobody local and no ability to
(31:19):
have a local child who has input into the home
and can monitor conditions and could communicate. And I think
this is where that Vivlinks technology is especially helpful.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Sure, we had a client who lived in Columbia County
whose son lived in Houston, Texas, and we stayed with
her through our system, through our technology. He was connected
through that technology. He had a forty five minute to
(31:50):
one hour conversation with her multiple days of week through
our technology through a video call that she was able
to use. Even as maybe her memory decline advanced, she
was still able to do that. He had a view
into the home from Houston, and then he could get
engage local people if needed. And she was I say
(32:13):
she was able to die in her own home, And
that may sound like a strange statement, but that's what
many people wish is to read.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
That's the dream is to be in your own bed,
close your eyes and go to sleep. And not everybody
gets that dream.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
And so she was able to be supported and eventually
passed in her home. And the first thing that her
son said to us was how grateful he was to
you know, he was here. He physically came here at
the very end, but to be connected to her as
closely as he was through that whole process gave him
(32:50):
such peace of mind as well. And in my mom's case,
I was only forty minutes away when I was at work,
but this technology helped make that forty forty miles or
forty minutes.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
And I was in the same distance as you, forty
five minutes from my mother, but it was an eternity
because anything happened, I had to drive that forty five
minutes every three little kids they were going to concerts,
going to school, all of their activities, and a caregiver
has their own life, a relationship, children of their own,
so being able to do this remotely. Being able to
(33:23):
just look to your phone and say, Okay, it's all green,
it's all good. Mom's okay would have been I didn't
have it would have been a godsend. And then if
things weren't right, okay mom, and have her on a
video screen and be able to chat, Okay, let's look
at your meds. Let's talk to the doctor. And I
know that because I've worked with Viva Links there's telemedicine
(33:45):
involved as well, So just talk a little bit about
that resource. When things do get to the critical point,
there is another intervention.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Sure, people that have our services with Viva Links have
access twenty four to seven to tell a medicine, whether
it be a video hotel amedicine or a telephonic intervention
with a provider, a physician, a nurse practitioner, or a
physician's assistant. And they are part of our system and
there's no charge to them at all. They call up,
(34:12):
they give their data, birth say they're a Viva Links
client and they're connected to a provider who might look
at their med lists, ask them some questions, and I
go back to this. A lot decisions are made based
on information, not wondering not, Oh my goodness, what should
we do? This provider can ask those questions, look at
(34:33):
health information that they have access to and say, you
know what, you do need to go to an urgent
care or a hospital. This is something we can't do.
Over tell amedicine or they can put a person's mind
at ease. They can give them advice about their medication.
They could order a test or do a referral and
encourage them to see their primary care physician. But they
can put people's minds at ease, so that telemedicine can
(34:57):
really prevent a transport, finding somebody to do the transport
and taking some of the stress out of that. I
don't know if anybody's been to an emergency room lately,
you don't want to go if you can help.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It, for sure.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
So anything we can put into place, decide to try
to stay out of the emergency room and leave the
emergency room for true emergency.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Nine to one one is overused and ambulances. We have
articles in the newspaper about ambulances backed up in the
parking lot waiting to discharge patients, and patients sitting for
hours and hours and hours and days sometimes waiting to
be seen waiting to be admitted. And when you're in
the EDDY system, Andrea, you kind of have a network
(35:38):
of professionals.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Within that system.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
So just talk a little bit about that and how
that care is brought to them in their independent living apartments.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Sure. Yeah, so Diane mentioned, you know our home care,
so Eddie home Care can come in. We also have
a lot of services on site within the Eddie community.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So you let me.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Stop you right there, because this is kind of a
misconception I think a lot of people have. If I
have an independent apartment and I need to bring a
little extra help in, ye, can I do that?
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I mean that's your independent apartment.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Right, So it's just like you're at home and you
can bring caregivers in to supplement the care. It's an
independent living apartment. You're not in assisted living where there
are other services. We'll talk a little bit about that
in a minute. But in independent living you can do
whatever you need to do to sustain that independence.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Correct. So a lot of folks do bring in home
health aids to help with some of the things. So
we certainly provide housekeeping, maintenance, We provide twenty four to
seven security dining as I mentioned activities and transportation, but
if you need a little bit more than that, bring
in a home health aid to help you out. There's
certainly a lot of our residents who do that. We
(36:55):
also have on site physical therapy, occupational therapy, we have
on site pedietrist that comes in, so we have a
lot of services on site. And then if you need
a little bit more, our resident service advisor is there
to help you find the right service for you.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
So it takes the pressure off the kids.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
It most certainly does. And Diane mentioned peace of mind,
So that is really what we want to give the
adult children of our residents, is that peace of mind
to know we're there, we're seeing them every day. If
there's something that we need to alert the adult children,
we do that, of course with the permission of our residence.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
So let's talk money, because nothing is free and everything
has a cost. In our firm, we try to prepare
people legally and financially. God bless those that have purchased
long term care insurance and they have that in their
portfolio and they can tap that when that need arises,
and they have a financing stream to pay for those
(37:57):
home health aids and the other service or assisted living
or nursing home at the end of the chain. But
most people don't have long term care insurance. So how
does the financing work in the various living arrangements?
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sure, so independent living, first of all, there's a confidential
data application that needs to be filled out for any
level of care. But independent living we are an entry
fee community system. However, that entry fee you kind of
equate it to if someone has a home to sell, right,
And we do have different refundabilities, So seventy five percent
(38:35):
is our standard, but there's one hundred percent refundable options.
There are also some limited rental options, so I think
we kind of have you know, coming in and seeing
what choices there are and matching that to your own
financial situation is the best thing to do. In assisted living,
(38:55):
there is no entry fee. It's just a monthly service
fee that pays for basically room and board so to speak,
but also the care.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Now are those upfront fees refundable any portion of them? Right?
Speaker 3 (39:07):
So we talked about seventy five percent refundable as our standard,
but there we have one hundred percent refundable option. There's
lower options with less refundability as well as potentially you know,
some limited rental options with no entry fee as well.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
So we talk a lot about medicaid and medicaid planning
in our firm, because that's the only way you avoid
spending down all of your assets before you get to medicaid.
And then if you spend down all your assets and
you're in a place that doesn't take Medicaid, what happens.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Well, So that is honestly what I'm most proud of
with Eddie Senior Living. We do not make people leave
if they spend down their assets and they can no
longer for the full monthly service fee. So there is
an application process for this discount, but we do discount
folks if they spend down. Of course, there's a certain
(39:59):
number of years that you know, we expect that they
would be able to pay.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Sure sure, yeah, yep. And you know at home, you're
looking at bringing care into the home. And we've had
the New York State Officer Aging, Rebecca Prevy from the
Area Agencies on Aging and Greg Olsen from NISOFA. They've
been on the show and they have a very rich
bundle of services that I think goes untapped in many
(40:23):
cases in the community.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
And Diane.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
We work very closely with Becky and Greg and making
sure that our clients know what's out there. So just
talk a little bit about what people can get to
without going to Medicaid and what kinds of services are
available based upon just aging and needing service.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Sure, every county has it's an Area Association on Aging.
They have an Office for the Aging here. It referred
to in different ways, and there's a program called ISIP
which the acronym is EI SEP, which has expanded in service.
And that's as far as I'm going to get on
(41:02):
that acronym. But it's their subsidized services. It's a sliding
fee scale and they provide they can provide home health aids,
they can provide some respite services, and that's all through
the Office for the Aging. But the Office for the
Aging does many many other things and as well as
home delivered meals, you've heard of meals on wheels, home
(41:24):
delivered meals, whatever we're calling them. They have nutrition sites
at their senior centers where people can go to get
a meal in a social environment or they can be
delivered to their home. They can help with applications, they
can help navigate the system, and this is all except
(41:46):
for the AIDS and the ISUP services free. You go
to these events that the Office for the Aging sponsors
and they're there to support the aging individuals in their communities.
We work very closely with them and connect people to
those services. They have community events. They work closely as
we do with the other community based organizations that are
(42:09):
out there.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yeah, and Greg and Becky are big advocates of innovation
and technology. And Greg has an animatronic pet program which
is not real pets, but pets that.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Have some.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Connectivity to people who have dementia and need something to
replace that touch. And they have another product that communicates
and actually talks to people in their own home. And
so there's a whole host of things that they have
brought into New York State that are very very innovative.
And you should go to the NISOFA website or your
(42:45):
County Office for Aging and you can see all of
the different things that they have brought into New York.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
We have to take a short break.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
We're gonna we'll talk about the cats and dogs in
a minute, but we're gonna come back and talk about
the choices. What happens when you get up the latter
a little bit, and how do we manage all of
this as we go through this aging process.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
And folks, it's not easy, but it's doable if you
are prepared. We'll be right back and we're back.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Lupiro live in studio with Andre Hebert from the Eddie,
and the Eddie has a vast array of different resources
and communities and places to live. It is one of
the premier providers of services to seniors. And we have
Diane Miklel Gottabiowski from ever Home Care Advisors, a very
unique agency that combines human care care coordination with technology.
(43:45):
And Andrea, I'm going to come back to you because
we talked about the animatronic pets and shout out to
Greg Olsen for proliferating cats and dogs that are not
real cats and dogs all across New York State for
people who in the statistics and what they find from
the coming back from people who use these is it
reduces stress, It improves their outlook, it gives them a
(44:06):
comfort level. Can people bring their pets into any of
these places?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Independent living. We have many cats and dogs sometimes other
pets as well. Assisted living. We have some cats a
little more difficult as you age to take care of
a dog in particular, and then we also have some
of those animatronic pets in our memory care. So you do, yeah,
(44:34):
we absolutely do.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
And that's the New York State Office for Aging. Along
with the whole they have twenty two technology companies that
they have partnered with to bring those services and resources
into New York State.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
And we talked about wellness, and we talked about health
and how do you make sure that your residents are
maximizing their functionality, let's.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Say absolutely so a little earlier we did talk about
some of our fitness programs. So several of our communities
have pools and extensive fitness areas, but we also have classes.
So we have our wellness coordinators in each building do classes.
They also hold, you know, talks on dietitian you know
(45:19):
what your diet should be, for instance, especially if you
have certain chronic illnesses. So we try to support our
residents in whatever way they need.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
And going back to our initial discussion of the independent
living the community, you meet your neighbors, you meet your friends,
you make friends, and you have a life that goes
way beyond that community and you go to trips and
all kinds of things. But then you get to the
next level of assisted living and you maybe lose some
of that independence. What happens when you get to the
(45:51):
point where you just can't cope in any of those
other settings.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Sure, so you know, we obviously see that coming over time,
and we help folks bridge the gap between that and
maybe what they do need. So if it comes time
to move on to a nursing home, then our resident
service advisor or a case managers do assist with that process.
So we try to make it, especially if they're going
(46:16):
to an Eddie senior living an Eddie nursing home, we
try to make that process as seamless as possible.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yeah, and folks, trust me, I go to a lot
of nursing homes. Some you don't want anyone that you
know in, others that are really very very comfortable. In
one locally that everybody tries to get into, and that's
Eddie Village Green, which is a whole different concept. Is
there any kind of priority for people in the EDDY system.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Yes, so we do prioritize our own residents to move
on to our nursing homes. It does depend obviously on
if there are any empty spaces for them. Sure, but yes,
Eddie Village. We also have a small greenhouse model nursing
home on our Beverwet campus as well.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
It The difference is startling. And why there aren't more
of these, I just don't know. And it's it's a
community based program. I think there are sixteen people per unit.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
A little bit less. So we have twelve in our
Beverwick community. Twelve per house.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay I was talking about Village Green, yes, yes, okay,
So twelve people and there's a big kitchen and a
big table and everybody eats at the same table and
they cook, you can bake, you can do the things
that you used to do, and it is again bringing
back community. And most nursing homes are rooms that are
institutional looking and it's old school, but the Eddie Village
(47:45):
Green is very different.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
So I give you kudos for that. I want to
get your contact information before we run out of time.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Under absolutely so Eddieseniorliving dot com. If you'd like to
call one number, it's five one eight to eight zero
eight three eight five and you'll be connected with one
of our senior living specialists.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
All right, one more time because people are fumbling right
now to get their pencils and their classes out so
they can see what they're writing.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
Eddieseniorliving dot Com five one eight two eight zero eight
three eight five.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
And the continuum of care Diane and Diane's with Ever
Home Care Advisors. The continuum of care is part of
the landscape that we navigate as attorneys, and Medicaid is
only really at the back end of this where you
have nursing homes or home health care and you want
to bring that into the home. But that continuum of
(48:36):
care is daunting for families. So how do you triage
a case and how do you determine the right levels
of care in which of the facilities might be appropriate
for them?
Speaker 4 (48:47):
Well, with our background and with this assessment, and again
I can't overstress what the goals are looking geographically and financially,
you have to look at pull that out all together
and see what the services are and what's available and
encouraging family members caregivers to visit facilities, tour facilities. We
(49:12):
can help with that, we can set that up for
them and at times taking the perspective resident if it's
physically possible to look you know, look at the facilities
as well, and then helping them with the application process,
talking to people that are there and working through that
process if that's where we need to go. We've also
(49:32):
helped move people from out of state into state into
nursing homes where you know, they needed that level of care,
but they were miles away from their families, so we
can you know, help navigate that system and know there's
a lot of paperwork required, there's a lot of documentation required,
and we can help them gather that information.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
And sometimes the two spouses in a married couple are
at different levels, so trying to find facilities that can
accommodate one person and insisted living in one person at
the nursing home level that they can see each other.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
The Eddie has some.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Of that, We absolutely do, and we have a couple
of campuses that have all three levels of care. So
our original Eddie Memorial Geriatric Center is one of them.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And in fact, we moved a couple from Florida up
into the Eddie facility and it worked out extremely well.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
They were very very happy. Dane. How do they contact you.
Speaker 4 (50:24):
On the web? Ever? Homecare Advisors all one word dot
com ever Homecareadvisors dot com, or you can call eight
four four six three three three eight five two eight
four four six three three three eight five two.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
All right, that hour goes so quickly. Thank you ladies, Andrea,
thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Diane, Thank
you for joining us live here in studio.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Not snowing yet. Hunker down, folks, get ready, I hear
the snow is coming. We want to thank you for
joining us in Joe Gallagher's Hour. Here. We're Pierre O'Connor
and Strauss. I'm Lupiro, your host for this morning. We
hope you can join us every Saturday morning at nine
am now right here.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
On talk radio WGY.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
We hope you can join us at our Trust workshop
on February eleventh, and always go to pyrolaw dot com
for your resources
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