September 3, 2025 • 44 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, welcomes 2 new affiliates to the Senior Care Broadcasting Network (Ashville, NC) and reviews what to determine BEFORE beginning your search for a senior care community. This information could save you dozens of hours of time! Steve defines the consistently misused term “memory care” and explains that it is NOT a level of care, but a type of care that can be found at 4 different levels of care! Don’t miss the Consumer Alert where Steve shares the story of 2 completely botched placements by one of the “free” referral services and warns to not fall for the “F” word… “free”. If it’s free to you, they’re getting paid thousands of dollars in a commission, some call that a kickback, which is not objective or unbiased in any way. The good news, Senior Care Consulting was able to help both families get it right, saving them tens of thousands of dollars each by offering their “placement service with integrity”. #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior Care consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your Senior Care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. This is going to be the fire hose
open the fire hose type of a program. Have a
lot of information to cover, but first let's just celebrate
a little bit. Here the Senior Care Broadcasting Network, we
(00:44):
have added two new affiliates or a new affiliate broadcasting
partner with two different stations. I guess that's the better
way to say that. WZGM AM and ninety six point
one FM in Ashville, North Carolina. I spent a little
bit of time in Nashville with an n and if
(01:04):
you live there, it was Nashville. You kind of got
rid of the eye in there. So I don't know
if it's Asheville. Someone from Asheville or Asheville give me
a call, because I want to. I want to pronounce
that right.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I lived in Knoxville.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's Asheville.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Oh it's Asheville. Yeah, so you just there's no Ville.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I think I think either or is fine. If you
say Ashville, people are cool with it. If you say Asheville,
it's hard. But the Biltmore Castle is there, the very
famous nice.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The giant cat. I've heard about that. It's gorgeous. I've
seen pictures when I was in Nashville or Nashville.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I guess that tells you if you're an out of
town or It'sville. If you're in towner, it's Ville.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah. How do you feel about New Orleans?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
New Orleans or New Orleans? Oh boy? Yeah, see there
we go. But to all of our new friends in Asheville,
I'm gonna say Asheville, North Carolina, welcome. I really appreciate it.
And Brian Sebol, thank you for adding Senior Care Live
to your station's programming and and and I really hope
that everyone is enjoying the program we started there earlier
(02:03):
this month, So thank you very much. All Right, So again,
it's a fire hose kind of a program today, and
I'm going to cover a lot of stuff and then
later on I'm going to provide some stunning information about
a couple of my clients who originally worked with the
(02:24):
free one of these free referral services, and then they
quickly found out you get what you pay for and
then called me to bail them out and actually fix
it and do it right. So you don't want to
miss that. But first, what to determine before ever beginning
your search for a senior care community. Don't go out
(02:44):
and just do this shotgun approach. This it's the shotgun approach.
And look, I'm making fun of it. People are doing
the best that they know how to do, but they
just don't know how to do this. I'm going to
save you at least fifty percent of your time if
you follow these ups. Okay, if you choose to do that,
but on average, folks are spending fifty to one hundred
(03:06):
hours running around searching for a senior care community for
their loved one. And my clients was senior care consulting.
They spend three to four hours and they're done. You
talk about it a time saver, It's unbelievable. But if
you're going to do it on your own, what to
determine before ever even thinking about doing your search. This
(03:30):
will save you a ton of time. Number one, what
level of care do you need? So if you're taking notes,
that's the first one we need to know that. The
shotgun approach is, well, I saw this place over there,
and well, you know, so and so said this place
was pretty good, and their aunt was there and they
thought it was okay, and so we're going to go
(03:50):
check that one. Now we're going to drive to this one.
There's a new one on the way to work, and
we saw them build that building last year. We're going
to go check that out. That's the shotgun approach. Fifty
two hundred hours. If you know your level of care,
you're only going to go to the places that meet
your level of care, not gonna waste nearly as much time. Okay,
so your level of care is related. This is how
(04:14):
I look at it. I like to say that I
speak in English and I look at things just very
black and white. I try to make this very very simple.
There are other folks out in the market that try
to make it overly complicated so that you kind of
depend on them for the information. I don't work that way.
I think it's kind of a lousy sales ploy and
(04:34):
I like to make things just as clear and as
simple as I can. So what is the level of
care that is related to your licensure? Okay? So your
licensure is in every single state, if you provide a
business that provides care, that lays a hand on a resident.
(04:57):
To provide care, you must eat licensure requirements. Okay. And
that's just the fact. So your licensure says what you
must do, what you you know, what you shouldn't do,
et cetera, et cetera. But it says this is your
this is your operating manual. Essentially, you have to do
these things. So your levels of care could be long
(05:18):
term care. Some people still refer to that as a
nursing home. But that's the highest level of care. That
is the medical level of care. I've covered that many
many times on the program before. Sorry, Asheville, I'll cover
it again for you sometimes soon, I promise. But long
term care, another very popular level of care is called
(05:39):
assisted living and assisted So long term care is that
medical model. Assisted living I like to refer to that
is just really more of a social model. There's a
tremendous amount of support with your activities, of daily living, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting,
and continent support, medication management, on and on and on.
It's just not a lot about medical support, okay, but
(06:02):
there's a tremendous amount of support. See have. Long term
care is a level of care. Assisted living is a
level of care. And then in Kansas, in a lot
of states, you have what's called residential care or an
RCF residential care facility. And on the Missouri side, at
least of the Kansas City metro, they even break it
(06:23):
down a little further than that RCF one and RCF two,
so getting a lot more complicated. I don't know if
it's necessary, but that's what we've got here on the
Kansas sidy. It is just an RCF residential care facility.
Generally speaking, that's a little bit like assisted living light
if you will, not always, but generally that's what you see.
(06:44):
Home plus is basically the assisted living level of care
on the higher end of it, but it's provided for
residents living literally in a house. So you have like
a traditionally you'll see a ranch style house. You can
provide care for, you know, maybe four to six residents
(07:06):
all the way up to twelve residents typically is what
you might see there. So that is you talk about
a home like setting. They got that one down right,
so that that's home plus. And then not too many
of these, but in intermediate care facility ICF. Basically that's
long term care without the medicare, skilled nursing and rehab
(07:28):
offering or service if you will. All right, so what
level of care do you need? If you don't know
that before you begin your search, you're going to waste
a lot of time. I just saved you. I don't
know how many hours a lot right there, So determine
your level of care. The next big one the type
(07:51):
of care. Well, what do you mean a level and
type of care? This sounds like it's getting a little
bit complicated. Well, yeah it is. If you do this right,
it's very complex. That's why so many people rely on
senior care consulting to walk with them alongside them through
(08:13):
this search and selection process in an effort to get
it right the first time. So have a level of
care and then a type of care. What do you
mean by that? Okay, so I don't get too fancy
in my terminology here. General care, just general everyday care.
That's a type of care memory care, Well, Steve, isn't
(08:36):
that a level of care? Nope, it is not. And
I'll explain that in a second. Memory care is a
special type of care for a resident with cognitive impairment. Period,
It's that simple. Memory care is a special type of
care for a resident with cognitive impairment. And you can
(08:59):
find me memorycare in all of those different levels of care.
And again I'm going to unpack that a little bit
more a little bit later on. All right, what if
you need skilled nursing and rehab. You know, we talked
about that last week with Zach Cram from Rehab Strategies.
We talked about that a little bit. Skilled nursing and rehab.
What is that? And typically that's going to be a
(09:24):
relatively short stay in long term care community that's licensed
by Medicare to provide that rehabilitation therapy after you get
out of the hospital. Basically it's one hundred days maximum.
Most folks don't get anywhere close to that. I see
a lot of three to four weeks and maybe four
to six weeks days. But once you are back to
(09:46):
your baseline or back to your original capabilities, or maybe
you've plateaued, you can only get back so far, and
then that's kind of your new norm at that point.
Then you're going to be discharged. But skilled nursing and rehab.
Guess what level of care you're going to find that in.
You'll only find it in long term care. It's not
offered anywhere else. You have to know this stuff again,
(10:08):
otherwise it's the shotgun approach and you're wasting lots and
lots of time. And then we may need mental health care,
we may need hospice care, we may need respite care.
So again, what to determine before ever beginning your search.
We have to know our level of care and our
type of care. All right, now to the Senior Care
(10:30):
Live question of the week, assisted living and memory care
are considered levels of care. Does that stay me? True
or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on
average you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to
find a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
(11:24):
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Few hours of your time finding the best place available,
and you can trust us to be objective because we
don't receive reimbursement from any provider. We work for you.
To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine three
nine four five twenty eight hundred N three nine four
five twenty eight hundred, a placement service with integrity at
(11:56):
Seniorcareconsulting dot.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Com and welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go
to seniorcare Live dot com. All right, back to the
Senior Care Live question of the week. We'll see if
(12:18):
you're listening closely, assisted living and memory care are considered
levels of care. Is that sta a true or false?
And the answer is false? The answer is false. And again,
(12:39):
assisted living as a level of care that is dictated
by licensed, by your licensure. Okay, it's just as simple
as that. Memory care is a special type of care
for residents with cognitive impairment, and that can be found
at multiple levels of care, including residential care, home plus
(13:00):
to living, and long term care. How about that? So,
my gosh, I talked to this off the subject a
little bit, but I talked to so many people and
they're just so confused because they've talked to all kinds
of people out in the market and they're all saying
something different and they're like, well, Steve, when you explained
(13:20):
it to me, it makes perfect sense. I'm like, well,
thank you very much. I speak in English. And again
I don't try to make this complicated at all, because
it does not need to be. It just doesn't need
to be, all right, So what to determine before ever
beginning your search for a senior care community. I had
(13:42):
someone the other day say, here's what you need to determine.
You need to determine the phone number for senior care
consulting and have them do it, because right because they're
going to save you an unbelievable amount of time three
to four hours. Our clients are done. We're usually done
same day by one o'clock, maybe a little bit earlier
than that. We are completely done with the search and
(14:02):
selection process. And the average person is spending fifty to
one hundred hours. It's unbelievable. Okay again, So if that's
getting your attention, it's the absolute truth. Nine four five
twenty eight hundred. We're online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
Request a free consultation and we'll visit about it. We'll
(14:25):
let you know how we can help see if we
might be a good fit for you. We're a really
good fit for a lot of folks, all right. So
we now know our level. We've determined our level of care,
our type of care. Now, the big elephant in the room,
sitting over there in a corner, how are we going
to pay for Well, see you heard the elephant. There
(14:46):
really is an elephant right here in the room. It's
a big, old trunk and really loud. So how are
we going to pay for this? I mean, seriously, how
this stuff is expensive? And I've talked, you know, time
and time again about the costs and all of that,
and it's you know, it's big time expensive. How are
(15:08):
we going to pay for it? So, if you hear
the term private pay, what that means is you're writing
a check every month for your care. That means you're
using your own resources to pay for your care privately.
So that's what it means by the term private pay.
So what about Medicare. What does Medicare cover? What will
(15:31):
it pay for? And unfortunately, I mean Medicare is great,
but it's your health insurance, so it pays for health
or medical related stuff. It will pay for your stay
in a skilled nursing community to receive skilled nursing and
rehab therapy services after a hospital stay of at least
(15:54):
three midnights where you have a physician's order and you
go to get your rehab therapy be physical therapy, occupational therapy,
speech therapy, and maybe some skilled skilled nursing as well,
maybe some patient education for new but diabetic or whatever
the case may be. All right, but that's what Medicare
is going to pay for it. They're not going to
pay for your stay in long term care. They're not
(16:15):
going to pay for assisted living, They're not going to
pay for any of that stuff. Right, and you have
to know that, and unfortunately, I've had a lot of
people over the year. Steve, I've got the best Medicare
policy and money can buy, And I'm like, I hate
to be the bearer of bad news, but that's not
going to pay for all this stuff that we're talking about.
It just doesn't. I'm sorry. What about Medicaid? What is it?
(16:37):
What does it pay for? How do you qualify for it?
How does this stuff work? One of the questions that
I ask all of my clients, every single one of them,
is there a chance that we could outlive our assets?
And if the answer is yes, then we need to
have a thorough discussion and review on Medicaid and how
it works, how you qualify all of the rules and
(17:00):
regulations and all of that stuff, and exactly what will
it pay for and how do you get there? So
we have that conversation with every single one of our clients. See,
we are true consultants. We're not one of these free
referral services out here trying to hustle a sale to
get our six to eight thousand dollars kickback. We are
actual consultants educating our clients. I've got a story on
(17:23):
that a little bit later, what about long term care
insurance as a way to pay for long term care.
It's fantastic, but only about seven percent or so of
us own a long term care insurance policy, and with
over seventy percent of us will require and pay for
long term care at some point in our lifetime. Right, So,
(17:47):
if you have one of those, and if you can
still afford it, because I know the premiums go up
when you need it, that thing is worth its weight
in gold, maybe even platinum. And then if you're a
veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran, we have
the Vaaid and Attendance benefit that might be able to
help in a big way to help you pay for
your senior care. So we have our level of care,
(18:08):
type of care, payment methods, and then location. Obviously we
all want to be close. We want to be as
close as possible. We want it to be convenient, but
don't let that be your driving factor. I cannot tell
you how many times someone said, oh, well, we don't
want to drive very far, so this place down the road. Yeah,
it'll work, it'll be fine, And more often than not,
(18:30):
that ends up not being so fine. Maybe a much
better fit would have been five or ten minutes away.
So my question to my clients is how far are
you willing to drive to find the best care for
your loved one. So we have a talk about that. Okay,
So for example, Johnson County, closer to Overland Park is better,
but we'll go out all the way through Johnson County,
(18:53):
which could be you know, thirty minutes away potentially, right,
So we have that conversation and then last but not least,
person old preferences in needs. We may not have anything
that is that specific that we need, but if we do,
Like mothers play piano for sixty years, it's hardwired into
her DNA at this point, it's super important. It's a
(19:13):
huge part of her life. It'd be great, Steve, if
we can find a community that has a piano there
where she would be welcome to play. And I'm a musician,
so I get it. I don't think that's a it
would be nice to have. I think that's a gotta have,
So that that would fall into that category of personal
preferences and needs something very very specific. Okay, So again,
(19:34):
what to determine before ever even thinking about beginning your search.
Don't do the old shotgun approach. You're going to spend
fifty to one hundred hours running around and the more
you look, the more confused you'll be. I'm just telling
you it's a disaster. So get focused and get prepared.
Know your level of care, your type of care, your
(19:56):
payment method, location parameters, and any personal references and needs,
and that will save you at least fifty percent of
the time that it would have. If you want someone
to take this over and help you walk alongside you
during one of the most difficult times in anyone's life
and maybe one of the most important and significant decisions
(20:19):
that you'll ever make, you feel free to reach out
to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We offer replacement service
with integrity one three, nine, four five twenty eight hundred.
We can absolutely help you do this get it right
the first time. Nine one three, nine four five twenty
eight hundred are online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. We'll
(20:39):
have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Hello, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(21:22):
not another run of the mill, free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy. Operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(21:45):
owning a senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six or visit Seniorcareconsulting
dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(22:10):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program,
visit seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts,
and we're on a whole bunch of podcast platforms, and
we're probably on your favorite one out there. Just do
a quick search for Senior Care Live and it should
come up. Be sure to download it, subscribe, visit with
(22:31):
visit us on social media. Okay, Senior Care Live and
Senior Care Consulting. I would love to have a larger
presence and just interact that way. It's a lot of fun.
It's really an inefficient way to do that. So feel
free to visit both of those areas. All right. So,
like I said, today's a little bit of a fire
hose type of a program. I want to shift gears.
(22:53):
You know, we just talked about what to determine before
beginning your search, and I touched on the term memory care,
and it is that's a term that's just so misused
out in the marketplace. Well, Steve, we have assisted living
and we have memory care. And I'm like, okay, well
(23:14):
you have assisted living level of care offering memory care
in part of the building. Yeah. Yeah, we have assisted
living and memory care. Well the whole building, for example,
is assisted living. They just mean that they provide general
care throughout maybe three fourths of the building and memory
(23:34):
care and maybe a fourth of the building in a
smaller part of the building. That's what that means. A
lot of times out in the market people are kind
of implying that that's a higher level of care, but
it's not. So Again, let me speak in English and
very plainly. So, someone who would be an assisted living
(23:59):
candidate may need you know, a little bit of help
or maybe full assistance in bathing, dressing, grooming, and using
the toilet. They may have some incontinence issues in occasional
accident or maybe you know, full time incontinence. Maybe they
need some help managing their incontinence. At the assisted living
(24:22):
level of care, they fully manage your medications at this point,
so they will distribute your medications, make sure you get
the right meds on time. They'll manage the inventory, they
will reorder the medications. They take the whole thing over, okay.
(24:44):
At this point, they provide all of your meals, your snacks,
your hydration, all of those sort of things. They're fully
covered and provided for you. They help you take you know,
your showers and get dressed, all the things. I guess
I just touched on that. Doctors make house calls, so
(25:05):
generally speaking, you'll have one or two physicians typically that
will make a visit to you in your apartment at
that assisted living community very nice that that's essentially a
doctor making a house call if you want to keep
your doctor no worries. Typically they'll have they'll provide transportation
directly through their own van or their own personnel, or
(25:28):
they'll sub that out to a transportation company and have
them provide that. But they can provide transportation out to
see your doctor or maybe specialized physicians, specialty services. There's
a full slate of activities for meaningful social engagement. There
(25:49):
is a lot to like about assisted living. But if
you are that person who would benefit from that, you
don't really have any major medical needs that would exceed
the assisted living level of care. That's a good that's
a good level of care for you. So that addresses
your activities of daily living and all that other support.
(26:11):
What if you have Alzheimer's or dementia on top of
all of that, that person would need the assisted living
level of care, and then the type of care would
be memory care. Now, memory care again is a special
type of care for a resident with cognitive impairment. Maybe
(26:33):
early on you just have just be pleasantly confused and
forget some things, or you may be well into the
disease process and need a tremendous amount of help. You
may not be able to speak anymore. I mean, it's
it's a it's a it's a devastating disease for sure, okay,
and God bless these people who are dealing with this.
(26:56):
So when do you need memory care? So I think
the number one issue would be if someone becomes and
the business calls this an elopement risk. Elopement risk or
flight risk, if you will. There are a couple of
different levels of that. So the first one is just wandering,
just wandering around, and you're looking around outside and you're like, oh,
(27:20):
what's going on out there? And you walk outside it's
zero degrees, it's one hundred degrees. You walk out into traffic,
and you're just not able. Again, God bless you. You're
not able to comprehend that, to understand that these are
bad things and they can be harmful to you. So
they have to keep you safe, okay, And so if
(27:40):
you're wandering about that that could be a major issue.
The second level of elopement risk is a much higher
level of risk, and that would be referred to as
exit seeking. So again, you're confused, you have Alzheimer's dimension
another form of cognitive impairment, and you'll looking around, You're like,
(28:01):
it's a pretty nice place, but this isn't where I live.
I'm out of here. I'm going home, right, and you're out.
You're trying the doors, you're trying the windows. One fella again,
God bless him. One fella. He was in a long
term care community. I have no clue how in the
world he got this done. He uninstalled a window from
(28:24):
the inside. I am not kidding. It's in black and white,
it's in the it's in the reports. I don't know
how you do that, because these things are secured from
the outside and they have tram all. I don't know
how he did it. He didn't break the window, he
took it out, So I guess maybe he was a
window man in his career. He knew what he was doing,
(28:46):
and he stepped out of the window. Now, thank goodness,
Thank the Lord above. The ground was about two feet
below the bottom of that window. It was not a
second floor, second story, Otherwise that would have been disastrous. Okay,
But so elopement risk, you've got to manage that. So
in the memory care area, you have codes on the doors,
(29:09):
and if you have dementia or Alzheimer's et cetera. Up,
you're probably not going to remember the code to get out. Now,
it's not prison, you can leave the area. You just
need to be accompanied for your own safety and security.
And this place you're staying at, they're responsible for your safety,
they're liable for this stuff. Okay, So this is a
real serious issue. So if you become an elopement risk,
(29:32):
you're going to get a quick ticket to memory care
just to make sure that they can keep you safe.
The next reason I think that you would need memory
care is if you're being overstimulated. So normally, you know,
we can be around a lot of people, a lot
of people talking, and there's noise, and like in the
dining room, you have clinking of the of the glasses
and the ice and the glass and the silverware on
(29:55):
the plates and all the stuff that could be music
going on, and you just start to whi tight Because
with Alzheimer's dementia, you're not able to handle all of
that stimulation like you once and so you become overstimulated.
You may lash out, become verbally aggressive, you may even
become physically aggressive or combative even and that's not good
(30:18):
for anyone. So they want to keep you calm, cool
and safe, and so in the memory care portion of
the community is typically a much smaller area. They may
have sixty or eighty or one hundred people in the
other part of the building in the general care part.
In memory care, they may have fifteen, twenty, maybe thirty
(30:39):
is usually a small number. Everything's quiet, there's less stimulation.
Maybe half the lights are kind of turned off or
kind of dimmed, so it's just calm and cool, smaller space,
fewer residents. Activities are more activities for shorter timeframes. Typically
you're going to see a little more athing and memory care.
(31:01):
They're trained in redirection. They understand sundowning and what to
do with the resident to help them through sundowning. So
there there's a lot that goes into it. And guess what,
not every place offers a memory care unit or neighborhood
or portion of the building like I just described. Now,
a lot of places you can live in their general
(31:23):
care you know, part of the building and have early
you know, early dementia. Maybe you're again you're pleasantly confused.
You're not an elopement risk, You're you're not being overstimulated.
It's you can get along just fine. But at some
point when when this decline hits a point to where
all of a sudden, you're not an elopement risk until
the very second that you are okay, And it's usually
(31:45):
a sudden thing like whoa, he's never done that before,
and now we've got a problem. All of a sudden,
you lash out, and that's something that's a kind of
a new behavior. So so if you're in a place
that does not offer a memory care of the building, memorycare,
neighborhood memorycare program, whatever you want to call it, you're
going to have to move at some point. That's a
(32:07):
major issue. Okay, what if you have you know, higher needs,
So what if you have medical issues along with needing
help with those daily activities, and you have cognitive impairment,
that person may be a much better fit in the
long term care, the nursing home level of care, in
the memory care unit. So hopefully that helps to understand
(32:30):
memory care and how it is a type of care
that can be found in different levels of care. And
I'm just getting started. Hang on, I've got some more.
You don't want to miss what's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show.
This is Seniorcare Live dot com. We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So you've been living independently at home, but now it's
not working out. It's time to begin searching for a
senior care community. But with hundreds of independent living, assisted living,
long term care, and memory care options, how are you
supposed to determine the best place for you? Hello, I'm
Steve Keeker, and this is exactly why I created my firm,
(33:22):
Senior Care Consulting. I help my own grandparents through this
difficult process, so I know how overwhelming this can be.
Our business model ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly
for you and we never receive reimbursement from any provider.
We've helped hundreds of family since two thousand and two,
(33:42):
and we can help you and your family as well.
Call today for a free consultation at nine one three
nine four five twenty eight hundred nine one three nine
four five twenty eight hundred A placement service with integrity
at Seniorcareconsulting dot com and welcome back. You're listening to
(34:12):
Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have
a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer
alert consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
All right. I'm pretty fired up about this when I'm
a little hot under the collar. It keeps happening time
and time again. I just can't believe people continue to
take the bait free. I call it the F word.
Free is a powerful, powerful word. But didn't your mother
ever tell you, honey, nothing in life is for free.
(34:46):
There's got to be a catch to it. The free
referral services are free to you because if you choose
one of their partners, one of their partner providers that
they have a contract with, you choose that place you
move into it. Guess what, that's where they get paid
and they're paid handsomely. And what I've seen for assisted
(35:09):
living at least six thousand to eight thousand dollars to
convince you to oh this one really is that's your
best choice? Okay, I am, I'm so tired of it.
Let's just jump into this right now.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer
alert consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
All right, So I spoke with a really nice lady
and actually we spoke last year, and but you know,
the timing wasn't quite right, et cetera, et cetera. And
then her sister ended up getting connected with one of
these free referral services. Again, free is a powerful word, wonderful,
glossy advertising. Oh, it's just wonderful, et cetera, et cetera. Oh,
(35:52):
I have so many stories like this, it just wears
me out. If you would, if you could just see
what I see and know what I know, you'd never
ever use one of these That free referral services service
highly recommended this particular sisted living community. Oh great, Oh
this is wonderful, had a great experience. Blah blah blah.
(36:13):
Moved their mother into this particular assisted living community where
the where the free referral service got about eight thousand
bucks in a lovely commission. Some would call that a kickback,
and guess what. That place was not able to deliver
(36:34):
a high enough level of care. They just couldn't do it.
Every single assisted living community has a threshold. If you
exceed that threshold, they're not staffed like long term care. Right,
some of them may provide more care than others. But
the bottom line is they all have a threshold. If
you exceed that threshold, you have to move. Shortly after
(36:55):
they moved in, they had to move their mother out because,
guess what, they couldn't meet their mother's needs. And after
they told me this, they said, would you have recommended that?
I'm like, heck, no, that's not a fit for you.
That's not a fit. But ching ching chu ching eight
(37:16):
grand commission not free at all. Folks don't fall for it.
So then the family was really frustrated. They had to
choose another place fairly quickly. They did it on their own.
They chose another assistant living community. This place ended up
charging them. Now, keep in mind, the average assisted living
(37:39):
community is running somewhere about six thousand to eight thousand
dollars a month, okay, and if you need a lot
of extra care, it might be a little bit higher
than that. They were charging over thirteen thousand dollars a month.
I about fell out of my chair. I don't think
I've ever heard that before. And on top of that,
(38:04):
they're not doing their job. She complained about forty five
to sixty minute call lite response times for their mother.
Can you imagine that being in your nineties needing to
use the restroom and someone doesn't return your call to
come into your room to see how they can help
(38:25):
you forty five to sixty minutes later, Are you kidding me?
They were supposed to offer a two person transfer, that
was part of the reason for charging them over thirteen
thousand dollars a month, but they consistently saw one person
(38:45):
doing the transfer, which frankly was unsafe for their mom.
Starting to get the picture on this right, So now
they've reached out Senior Care Consulting and we are going
to get it right. We're going to help them because
we've made two huge mistakes. And they said, we regret
not calling you and using you the first time around.
(39:06):
We apologize. I'm like, hey, don't worry about it. Let's
just get this taken care. Let's get your mom into
the place where she needs to be. Neither place was
a proper fit, neither one of them, and I can
tell you that right now, and I didn't even do
a formal assessment. But then again, I'm a true consultant.
I'm not trying to hustle a sale. Another client that
(39:28):
I'm working with, she worked with one of these free
referral services. And then her financial advisor said, look, this
doesn't sound right. It sounds very confusing. Call Steve Keeker
with Senior Care Consulting. He'll straighten it out. He's a
great guy, he knows what he's doing. You can trust him.
(39:52):
I am honored to receive that referral, by the way.
So I talked to her and we started unpacking this,
and the bottom line is they threw out a list
of places where they receive again ninety to one hundred
percent of the first month's cost in a kickback and
just barked it out. They didn't try to help her
(40:13):
or answer any of these other questions, and they had
her spending all of her money. When I worked with her,
we talked about working within the rules and the limitations
of Medicaid. They live on the Missouri side. If we
go to the Kansas side, she will preserve over well,
(40:36):
I don't want to say, but hundreds of thousands of
dollars of her retirement account that does not have to
be spent down. So it saved her all of that
money and we could get him qualified fairly quickly. And
then I did. I asked more questions and discovered that
this gentleman is a veteran. So we started talking about
(40:59):
I talked to all my clients about all of this,
by the way, and I said, does he have any
service connected disabilities? Well, as a matter of fact, he
has an eighty percent service connected disability. And I said,
you know what that means for you? What if we
work with a long term care community that has a
(41:20):
contract with the VA, You're as long as it's over
seventy percent, the VA will pay one hundred percent of
his cost. We're looking at about ten thousand dollars a month,
they'll pay one hundred percent of it. You don't even
need to qualify for Medicaid, and he gets to keep
(41:41):
his monthly income, which was around two thousand dollars a month.
She said, Steve, my head is just just swimming. Why
didn't that free referral service tell me any of this.
I'm definitely going with you. You are really looking out
for my interest. You're educating me. And look, so I
go on and on and on and on about that,
(42:02):
but here's the bottom line, Folks, don't fall for the
F word. The free word is in free referral services,
you get what you pay for.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert brought
to you by Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
All right, man, I get I get so fired up
about this stuff. These are just two of maybe hundreds
of examples. If if this is catching your attention, you're like, hey, yeah,
we all right, you got our attention, Steve. We want
to we want to talk nine one three, nine four
five twenty eight hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
(42:40):
Let's have a free consultation and see how we can
help you and your family. All right, I'm Steve Keeker
and I wish you grace and peace. May God bless
you and your family on this day and always join
me next week right here on Senior Care Life.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Does your business sir, thely and their caregivers in our area?
There are hundreds of thousands of people either receiving or
providing senior care and they need to know about you.
A unique and successful radio program called Senior Care Live
is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience know
about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live is
(43:19):
currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and if
you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk to you.
They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups, home
care providers, estate planning and older law practices, financial advisors,
insurance companies, real estate brokers, home health agencies, and other
providers serving the elderly and their caregivers. Senior Care Live
(43:44):
has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities, so call
now at nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
or visit seniorcare Live dot com seniorcare live dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Quid pro quo Latin phrase that means an exchange of
goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon the other.
Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care community if
you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral. The
free referral services have a vested interest in you choosing
one of their business partners. That's how they make their money.
(44:22):
Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible? Of course not.
I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting. I'm so proud
to say we have never received a single penny from
any provider ever. We offer a placement service with Integrity
for help finding the right senior care community without conflict
(44:42):
of interest and without the quid pro quo called nine
one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred nine one
three nine four five twenty eight hundred replacement service with
Integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior Care consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your Senior Care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. This is going to be the fire hose
open the fire hose type of a program. Have a
lot of information to cover, but first let's just celebrate
a little bit. Here the Senior Care Broadcasting Network, we
(00:44):
have added two new affiliates or a new affiliate broadcasting
partner with two different stations. I guess that's the better
way to say that. WZGM AM and ninety six point
one FM in Ashville, North Carolina. I spent a little
bit of time in Nashville with an n and if
(01:04):
you live there, it was Nashville. You kind of got
rid of the eye in there. So I don't know
if it's Asheville. Someone from Asheville or Asheville give me
a call, because I want to. I want to pronounce
that right.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I lived in Knoxville.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's Asheville.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Oh it's Asheville. Yeah, so you just there's no Ville.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I think I think either or is fine. If you
say Ashville, people are cool with it. If you say Asheville,
it's hard. But the Biltmore Castle is there, the very
famous nice.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The giant cat. I've heard about that. It's gorgeous. I've
seen pictures when I was in Nashville or Nashville.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I guess that tells you if you're an out of
town or It'sville. If you're in towner, it's Ville.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah. How do you feel about New Orleans?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
New Orleans or New Orleans? Oh boy? Yeah, see there
we go. But to all of our new friends in Asheville,
I'm gonna say Asheville, North Carolina, welcome. I really appreciate it.
And Brian Sebol, thank you for adding Senior Care Live
to your station's programming and and and I really hope
that everyone is enjoying the program we started there earlier
(02:03):
this month, So thank you very much. All Right, So again,
it's a fire hose kind of a program today, and
I'm going to cover a lot of stuff and then
later on I'm going to provide some stunning information about
a couple of my clients who originally worked with the
(02:24):
free one of these free referral services, and then they
quickly found out you get what you pay for and
then called me to bail them out and actually fix
it and do it right. So you don't want to
miss that. But first, what to determine before ever beginning
your search for a senior care community. Don't go out
(02:44):
and just do this shotgun approach. This it's the shotgun approach.
And look, I'm making fun of it. People are doing
the best that they know how to do, but they
just don't know how to do this. I'm going to
save you at least fifty percent of your time if
you follow these ups. Okay, if you choose to do that,
but on average, folks are spending fifty to one hundred
(03:06):
hours running around searching for a senior care community for
their loved one. And my clients was senior care consulting.
They spend three to four hours and they're done. You
talk about it a time saver, It's unbelievable. But if
you're going to do it on your own, what to
determine before ever even thinking about doing your search. This
(03:30):
will save you a ton of time. Number one, what
level of care do you need? So if you're taking notes,
that's the first one we need to know that. The
shotgun approach is, well, I saw this place over there,
and well, you know, so and so said this place
was pretty good, and their aunt was there and they
thought it was okay, and so we're going to go
(03:50):
check that one. Now we're going to drive to this one.
There's a new one on the way to work, and
we saw them build that building last year. We're going
to go check that out. That's the shotgun approach. Fifty
two hundred hours. If you know your level of care,
you're only going to go to the places that meet
your level of care, not gonna waste nearly as much time. Okay,
so your level of care is related. This is how
(04:14):
I look at it. I like to say that I
speak in English and I look at things just very
black and white. I try to make this very very simple.
There are other folks out in the market that try
to make it overly complicated so that you kind of
depend on them for the information. I don't work that way.
I think it's kind of a lousy sales ploy and
(04:34):
I like to make things just as clear and as
simple as I can. So what is the level of
care that is related to your licensure? Okay? So your
licensure is in every single state, if you provide a
business that provides care, that lays a hand on a resident.
(04:57):
To provide care, you must eat licensure requirements. Okay. And
that's just the fact. So your licensure says what you
must do, what you you know, what you shouldn't do,
et cetera, et cetera. But it says this is your
this is your operating manual. Essentially, you have to do
these things. So your levels of care could be long
(05:18):
term care. Some people still refer to that as a
nursing home. But that's the highest level of care. That
is the medical level of care. I've covered that many
many times on the program before. Sorry, Asheville, I'll cover
it again for you sometimes soon, I promise. But long
term care, another very popular level of care is called
(05:39):
assisted living and assisted So long term care is that
medical model. Assisted living I like to refer to that
is just really more of a social model. There's a
tremendous amount of support with your activities, of daily living, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting,
and continent support, medication management, on and on and on.
It's just not a lot about medical support, okay, but
(06:02):
there's a tremendous amount of support. See have. Long term
care is a level of care. Assisted living is a
level of care. And then in Kansas, in a lot
of states, you have what's called residential care or an
RCF residential care facility. And on the Missouri side, at
least of the Kansas City metro, they even break it
(06:23):
down a little further than that RCF one and RCF two,
so getting a lot more complicated. I don't know if
it's necessary, but that's what we've got here on the
Kansas sidy. It is just an RCF residential care facility.
Generally speaking, that's a little bit like assisted living light
if you will, not always, but generally that's what you see.
(06:44):
Home plus is basically the assisted living level of care
on the higher end of it, but it's provided for
residents living literally in a house. So you have like
a traditionally you'll see a ranch style house. You can
provide care for, you know, maybe four to six residents
(07:06):
all the way up to twelve residents typically is what
you might see there. So that is you talk about
a home like setting. They got that one down right,
so that that's home plus. And then not too many
of these, but in intermediate care facility ICF. Basically that's
long term care without the medicare, skilled nursing and rehab
(07:28):
offering or service if you will. All right, so what
level of care do you need? If you don't know
that before you begin your search, you're going to waste
a lot of time. I just saved you. I don't
know how many hours a lot right there, So determine
your level of care. The next big one the type
(07:51):
of care. Well, what do you mean a level and
type of care? This sounds like it's getting a little
bit complicated. Well, yeah it is. If you do this right,
it's very complex. That's why so many people rely on
senior care consulting to walk with them alongside them through
(08:13):
this search and selection process in an effort to get
it right the first time. So have a level of
care and then a type of care. What do you
mean by that? Okay, so I don't get too fancy
in my terminology here. General care, just general everyday care.
That's a type of care memory care, Well, Steve, isn't
(08:36):
that a level of care? Nope, it is not. And
I'll explain that in a second. Memory care is a
special type of care for a resident with cognitive impairment. Period,
It's that simple. Memory care is a special type of
care for a resident with cognitive impairment. And you can
(08:59):
find me memorycare in all of those different levels of care.
And again I'm going to unpack that a little bit
more a little bit later on. All right, what if
you need skilled nursing and rehab. You know, we talked
about that last week with Zach Cram from Rehab Strategies.
We talked about that a little bit. Skilled nursing and rehab.
What is that? And typically that's going to be a
(09:24):
relatively short stay in long term care community that's licensed
by Medicare to provide that rehabilitation therapy after you get
out of the hospital. Basically it's one hundred days maximum.
Most folks don't get anywhere close to that. I see
a lot of three to four weeks and maybe four
to six weeks days. But once you are back to
(09:46):
your baseline or back to your original capabilities, or maybe
you've plateaued, you can only get back so far, and
then that's kind of your new norm at that point.
Then you're going to be discharged. But skilled nursing and rehab.
Guess what level of care you're going to find that in.
You'll only find it in long term care. It's not
offered anywhere else. You have to know this stuff again,
(10:08):
otherwise it's the shotgun approach and you're wasting lots and
lots of time. And then we may need mental health care,
we may need hospice care, we may need respite care.
So again, what to determine before ever beginning your search.
We have to know our level of care and our
type of care. All right, now to the Senior Care
(10:30):
Live question of the week, assisted living and memory care
are considered levels of care. Does that stay me? True
or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on
average you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to
find a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
(11:24):
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Few hours of your time finding the best place available,
and you can trust us to be objective because we
don't receive reimbursement from any provider. We work for you.
To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine three
nine four five twenty eight hundred N three nine four
five twenty eight hundred, a placement service with integrity at
(11:56):
Seniorcareconsulting dot.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Com and welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go
to seniorcare Live dot com. All right, back to the
Senior Care Live question of the week. We'll see if
(12:18):
you're listening closely, assisted living and memory care are considered
levels of care. Is that sta a true or false?
And the answer is false? The answer is false. And again,
(12:39):
assisted living as a level of care that is dictated
by licensed, by your licensure. Okay, it's just as simple
as that. Memory care is a special type of care
for residents with cognitive impairment, and that can be found
at multiple levels of care, including residential care, home plus
(13:00):
to living, and long term care. How about that? So,
my gosh, I talked to this off the subject a
little bit, but I talked to so many people and
they're just so confused because they've talked to all kinds
of people out in the market and they're all saying
something different and they're like, well, Steve, when you explained
(13:20):
it to me, it makes perfect sense. I'm like, well,
thank you very much. I speak in English. And again
I don't try to make this complicated at all, because
it does not need to be. It just doesn't need
to be, all right, So what to determine before ever
beginning your search for a senior care community. I had
(13:42):
someone the other day say, here's what you need to determine.
You need to determine the phone number for senior care
consulting and have them do it, because right because they're
going to save you an unbelievable amount of time three
to four hours. Our clients are done. We're usually done
same day by one o'clock, maybe a little bit earlier
than that. We are completely done with the search and
(14:02):
selection process. And the average person is spending fifty to
one hundred hours. It's unbelievable. Okay again, So if that's
getting your attention, it's the absolute truth. Nine four five
twenty eight hundred. We're online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
Request a free consultation and we'll visit about it. We'll
(14:25):
let you know how we can help see if we
might be a good fit for you. We're a really
good fit for a lot of folks, all right. So
we now know our level. We've determined our level of care,
our type of care. Now, the big elephant in the room,
sitting over there in a corner, how are we going
to pay for Well, see you heard the elephant. There
(14:46):
really is an elephant right here in the room. It's
a big, old trunk and really loud. So how are
we going to pay for this? I mean, seriously, how
this stuff is expensive? And I've talked, you know, time
and time again about the costs and all of that,
and it's you know, it's big time expensive. How are
(15:08):
we going to pay for it? So, if you hear
the term private pay, what that means is you're writing
a check every month for your care. That means you're
using your own resources to pay for your care privately.
So that's what it means by the term private pay.
So what about Medicare. What does Medicare cover? What will
(15:31):
it pay for? And unfortunately, I mean Medicare is great,
but it's your health insurance, so it pays for health
or medical related stuff. It will pay for your stay
in a skilled nursing community to receive skilled nursing and
rehab therapy services after a hospital stay of at least
(15:54):
three midnights where you have a physician's order and you
go to get your rehab therapy be physical therapy, occupational therapy,
speech therapy, and maybe some skilled skilled nursing as well,
maybe some patient education for new but diabetic or whatever
the case may be. All right, but that's what Medicare
is going to pay for it. They're not going to
pay for your stay in long term care. They're not
(16:15):
going to pay for assisted living, They're not going to
pay for any of that stuff. Right, and you have
to know that, and unfortunately, I've had a lot of
people over the year. Steve, I've got the best Medicare
policy and money can buy, And I'm like, I hate
to be the bearer of bad news, but that's not
going to pay for all this stuff that we're talking about.
It just doesn't. I'm sorry. What about Medicaid? What is it?
(16:37):
What does it pay for? How do you qualify for it?
How does this stuff work? One of the questions that
I ask all of my clients, every single one of them,
is there a chance that we could outlive our assets?
And if the answer is yes, then we need to
have a thorough discussion and review on Medicaid and how
it works, how you qualify all of the rules and
(17:00):
regulations and all of that stuff, and exactly what will
it pay for and how do you get there? So
we have that conversation with every single one of our clients. See,
we are true consultants. We're not one of these free
referral services out here trying to hustle a sale to
get our six to eight thousand dollars kickback. We are
actual consultants educating our clients. I've got a story on
(17:23):
that a little bit later, what about long term care
insurance as a way to pay for long term care.
It's fantastic, but only about seven percent or so of
us own a long term care insurance policy, and with
over seventy percent of us will require and pay for
long term care at some point in our lifetime. Right, So,
(17:47):
if you have one of those, and if you can
still afford it, because I know the premiums go up
when you need it, that thing is worth its weight
in gold, maybe even platinum. And then if you're a
veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran, we have
the Vaaid and Attendance benefit that might be able to
help in a big way to help you pay for
your senior care. So we have our level of care,
(18:08):
type of care, payment methods, and then location. Obviously we
all want to be close. We want to be as
close as possible. We want it to be convenient, but
don't let that be your driving factor. I cannot tell
you how many times someone said, oh, well, we don't
want to drive very far, so this place down the road. Yeah,
it'll work, it'll be fine, And more often than not,
(18:30):
that ends up not being so fine. Maybe a much
better fit would have been five or ten minutes away.
So my question to my clients is how far are
you willing to drive to find the best care for
your loved one. So we have a talk about that. Okay,
So for example, Johnson County, closer to Overland Park is better,
but we'll go out all the way through Johnson County,
(18:53):
which could be you know, thirty minutes away potentially, right,
So we have that conversation and then last but not least,
person old preferences in needs. We may not have anything
that is that specific that we need, but if we do,
Like mothers play piano for sixty years, it's hardwired into
her DNA at this point, it's super important. It's a
(19:13):
huge part of her life. It'd be great, Steve, if
we can find a community that has a piano there
where she would be welcome to play. And I'm a musician,
so I get it. I don't think that's a it
would be nice to have. I think that's a gotta have,
So that that would fall into that category of personal
preferences and needs something very very specific. Okay, So again,
(19:34):
what to determine before ever even thinking about beginning your search.
Don't do the old shotgun approach. You're going to spend
fifty to one hundred hours running around and the more
you look, the more confused you'll be. I'm just telling
you it's a disaster. So get focused and get prepared.
Know your level of care, your type of care, your
(19:56):
payment method, location parameters, and any personal references and needs,
and that will save you at least fifty percent of
the time that it would have. If you want someone
to take this over and help you walk alongside you
during one of the most difficult times in anyone's life
and maybe one of the most important and significant decisions
(20:19):
that you'll ever make, you feel free to reach out
to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We offer replacement service
with integrity one three, nine, four five twenty eight hundred.
We can absolutely help you do this get it right
the first time. Nine one three, nine four five twenty
eight hundred are online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. We'll
(20:39):
have more coming right up.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Hello, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(21:22):
not another run of the mill, free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy. Operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(21:45):
owning a senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six or visit Seniorcareconsulting
dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live
(22:10):
on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program,
visit seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts,
and we're on a whole bunch of podcast platforms, and
we're probably on your favorite one out there. Just do
a quick search for Senior Care Live and it should
come up. Be sure to download it, subscribe, visit with
(22:31):
visit us on social media. Okay, Senior Care Live and
Senior Care Consulting. I would love to have a larger
presence and just interact that way. It's a lot of fun.
It's really an inefficient way to do that. So feel
free to visit both of those areas. All right. So,
like I said, today's a little bit of a fire
hose type of a program. I want to shift gears.
(22:53):
You know, we just talked about what to determine before
beginning your search, and I touched on the term memory care,
and it is that's a term that's just so misused
out in the marketplace. Well, Steve, we have assisted living
and we have memory care. And I'm like, okay, well
(23:14):
you have assisted living level of care offering memory care
in part of the building. Yeah. Yeah, we have assisted
living and memory care. Well the whole building, for example,
is assisted living. They just mean that they provide general
care throughout maybe three fourths of the building and memory
(23:34):
care and maybe a fourth of the building in a
smaller part of the building. That's what that means. A
lot of times out in the market people are kind
of implying that that's a higher level of care, but
it's not. So Again, let me speak in English and
very plainly. So, someone who would be an assisted living
(23:59):
candidate may need you know, a little bit of help
or maybe full assistance in bathing, dressing, grooming, and using
the toilet. They may have some incontinence issues in occasional
accident or maybe you know, full time incontinence. Maybe they
need some help managing their incontinence. At the assisted living
(24:22):
level of care, they fully manage your medications at this point,
so they will distribute your medications, make sure you get
the right meds on time. They'll manage the inventory, they
will reorder the medications. They take the whole thing over, okay.
(24:44):
At this point, they provide all of your meals, your snacks,
your hydration, all of those sort of things. They're fully
covered and provided for you. They help you take you know,
your showers and get dressed, all the things. I guess
I just touched on that. Doctors make house calls, so
(25:05):
generally speaking, you'll have one or two physicians typically that
will make a visit to you in your apartment at
that assisted living community very nice that that's essentially a
doctor making a house call if you want to keep
your doctor no worries. Typically they'll have they'll provide transportation
directly through their own van or their own personnel, or
(25:28):
they'll sub that out to a transportation company and have
them provide that. But they can provide transportation out to
see your doctor or maybe specialized physicians, specialty services. There's
a full slate of activities for meaningful social engagement. There
(25:49):
is a lot to like about assisted living. But if
you are that person who would benefit from that, you
don't really have any major medical needs that would exceed
the assisted living level of care. That's a good that's
a good level of care for you. So that addresses
your activities of daily living and all that other support.
(26:11):
What if you have Alzheimer's or dementia on top of
all of that, that person would need the assisted living
level of care, and then the type of care would
be memory care. Now, memory care again is a special
type of care for a resident with cognitive impairment. Maybe
(26:33):
early on you just have just be pleasantly confused and
forget some things, or you may be well into the
disease process and need a tremendous amount of help. You
may not be able to speak anymore. I mean, it's
it's a it's a it's a devastating disease for sure, okay,
and God bless these people who are dealing with this.
(26:56):
So when do you need memory care? So I think
the number one issue would be if someone becomes and
the business calls this an elopement risk. Elopement risk or
flight risk, if you will. There are a couple of
different levels of that. So the first one is just wandering,
just wandering around, and you're looking around outside and you're like, oh,
(27:20):
what's going on out there? And you walk outside it's
zero degrees, it's one hundred degrees. You walk out into traffic,
and you're just not able. Again, God bless you. You're
not able to comprehend that, to understand that these are
bad things and they can be harmful to you. So
they have to keep you safe, okay, And so if
(27:40):
you're wandering about that that could be a major issue.
The second level of elopement risk is a much higher
level of risk, and that would be referred to as
exit seeking. So again, you're confused, you have Alzheimer's dimension
another form of cognitive impairment, and you'll looking around, You're like,
(28:01):
it's a pretty nice place, but this isn't where I live.
I'm out of here. I'm going home, right, and you're out.
You're trying the doors, you're trying the windows. One fella again,
God bless him. One fella. He was in a long
term care community. I have no clue how in the
world he got this done. He uninstalled a window from
(28:24):
the inside. I am not kidding. It's in black and white,
it's in the it's in the reports. I don't know
how you do that, because these things are secured from
the outside and they have tram all. I don't know
how he did it. He didn't break the window, he
took it out, So I guess maybe he was a
window man in his career. He knew what he was doing,
(28:46):
and he stepped out of the window. Now, thank goodness,
Thank the Lord above. The ground was about two feet
below the bottom of that window. It was not a
second floor, second story, Otherwise that would have been disastrous. Okay,
But so elopement risk, you've got to manage that. So
in the memory care area, you have codes on the doors,
(29:09):
and if you have dementia or Alzheimer's et cetera. Up,
you're probably not going to remember the code to get out. Now,
it's not prison, you can leave the area. You just
need to be accompanied for your own safety and security.
And this place you're staying at, they're responsible for your safety,
they're liable for this stuff. Okay, So this is a
real serious issue. So if you become an elopement risk,
(29:32):
you're going to get a quick ticket to memory care
just to make sure that they can keep you safe.
The next reason I think that you would need memory
care is if you're being overstimulated. So normally, you know,
we can be around a lot of people, a lot
of people talking, and there's noise, and like in the
dining room, you have clinking of the of the glasses
and the ice and the glass and the silverware on
(29:55):
the plates and all the stuff that could be music
going on, and you just start to whi tight Because
with Alzheimer's dementia, you're not able to handle all of
that stimulation like you once and so you become overstimulated.
You may lash out, become verbally aggressive, you may even
become physically aggressive or combative even and that's not good
(30:18):
for anyone. So they want to keep you calm, cool
and safe, and so in the memory care portion of
the community is typically a much smaller area. They may
have sixty or eighty or one hundred people in the
other part of the building in the general care part.
In memory care, they may have fifteen, twenty, maybe thirty
(30:39):
is usually a small number. Everything's quiet, there's less stimulation.
Maybe half the lights are kind of turned off or
kind of dimmed, so it's just calm and cool, smaller space,
fewer residents. Activities are more activities for shorter timeframes. Typically
you're going to see a little more athing and memory care.
(31:01):
They're trained in redirection. They understand sundowning and what to
do with the resident to help them through sundowning. So
there there's a lot that goes into it. And guess what,
not every place offers a memory care unit or neighborhood
or portion of the building like I just described. Now,
a lot of places you can live in their general
(31:23):
care you know, part of the building and have early
you know, early dementia. Maybe you're again you're pleasantly confused.
You're not an elopement risk, You're you're not being overstimulated.
It's you can get along just fine. But at some
point when when this decline hits a point to where
all of a sudden, you're not an elopement risk until
the very second that you are okay, And it's usually
(31:45):
a sudden thing like whoa, he's never done that before,
and now we've got a problem. All of a sudden,
you lash out, and that's something that's a kind of
a new behavior. So so if you're in a place
that does not offer a memory care of the building, memorycare,
neighborhood memorycare program, whatever you want to call it, you're
going to have to move at some point. That's a
(32:07):
major issue. Okay, what if you have you know, higher needs,
So what if you have medical issues along with needing
help with those daily activities, and you have cognitive impairment,
that person may be a much better fit in the
long term care, the nursing home level of care, in
the memory care unit. So hopefully that helps to understand
(32:30):
memory care and how it is a type of care
that can be found in different levels of care. And
I'm just getting started. Hang on, I've got some more.
You don't want to miss what's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show.
This is Seniorcare Live dot com. We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So you've been living independently at home, but now it's
not working out. It's time to begin searching for a
senior care community. But with hundreds of independent living, assisted living,
long term care, and memory care options, how are you
supposed to determine the best place for you? Hello, I'm
Steve Keeker, and this is exactly why I created my firm,
(33:22):
Senior Care Consulting. I help my own grandparents through this
difficult process, so I know how overwhelming this can be.
Our business model ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly
for you and we never receive reimbursement from any provider.
We've helped hundreds of family since two thousand and two,
(33:42):
and we can help you and your family as well.
Call today for a free consultation at nine one three
nine four five twenty eight hundred nine one three nine
four five twenty eight hundred A placement service with integrity
at Seniorcareconsulting dot com and welcome back. You're listening to
(34:12):
Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have
a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer
alert consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
All right. I'm pretty fired up about this when I'm
a little hot under the collar. It keeps happening time
and time again. I just can't believe people continue to
take the bait free. I call it the F word.
Free is a powerful, powerful word. But didn't your mother
ever tell you, honey, nothing in life is for free.
(34:46):
There's got to be a catch to it. The free
referral services are free to you because if you choose
one of their partners, one of their partner providers that
they have a contract with, you choose that place you
move into it. Guess what, that's where they get paid
and they're paid handsomely. And what I've seen for assisted
(35:09):
living at least six thousand to eight thousand dollars to
convince you to oh this one really is that's your
best choice? Okay, I am, I'm so tired of it.
Let's just jump into this right now.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer
alert consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
All right, So I spoke with a really nice lady
and actually we spoke last year, and but you know,
the timing wasn't quite right, et cetera, et cetera. And
then her sister ended up getting connected with one of
these free referral services. Again, free is a powerful word, wonderful,
glossy advertising. Oh, it's just wonderful, et cetera, et cetera. Oh,
(35:52):
I have so many stories like this, it just wears
me out. If you would, if you could just see
what I see and know what I know, you'd never
ever use one of these That free referral services service
highly recommended this particular sisted living community. Oh great, Oh
this is wonderful, had a great experience. Blah blah blah.
(36:13):
Moved their mother into this particular assisted living community where
the where the free referral service got about eight thousand
bucks in a lovely commission. Some would call that a kickback,
and guess what. That place was not able to deliver
(36:34):
a high enough level of care. They just couldn't do it.
Every single assisted living community has a threshold. If you
exceed that threshold, they're not staffed like long term care. Right,
some of them may provide more care than others. But
the bottom line is they all have a threshold. If
you exceed that threshold, you have to move. Shortly after
(36:55):
they moved in, they had to move their mother out because,
guess what, they couldn't meet their mother's needs. And after
they told me this, they said, would you have recommended that?
I'm like, heck, no, that's not a fit for you.
That's not a fit. But ching ching chu ching eight
(37:16):
grand commission not free at all. Folks don't fall for it.
So then the family was really frustrated. They had to
choose another place fairly quickly. They did it on their own.
They chose another assistant living community. This place ended up
charging them. Now, keep in mind, the average assisted living
(37:39):
community is running somewhere about six thousand to eight thousand
dollars a month, okay, and if you need a lot
of extra care, it might be a little bit higher
than that. They were charging over thirteen thousand dollars a month.
I about fell out of my chair. I don't think
I've ever heard that before. And on top of that,
(38:04):
they're not doing their job. She complained about forty five
to sixty minute call lite response times for their mother.
Can you imagine that being in your nineties needing to
use the restroom and someone doesn't return your call to
come into your room to see how they can help
(38:25):
you forty five to sixty minutes later, Are you kidding me?
They were supposed to offer a two person transfer, that
was part of the reason for charging them over thirteen
thousand dollars a month, but they consistently saw one person
(38:45):
doing the transfer, which frankly was unsafe for their mom.
Starting to get the picture on this right, So now
they've reached out Senior Care Consulting and we are going
to get it right. We're going to help them because
we've made two huge mistakes. And they said, we regret
not calling you and using you the first time around.
(39:06):
We apologize. I'm like, hey, don't worry about it. Let's
just get this taken care. Let's get your mom into
the place where she needs to be. Neither place was
a proper fit, neither one of them, and I can
tell you that right now, and I didn't even do
a formal assessment. But then again, I'm a true consultant.
I'm not trying to hustle a sale. Another client that
(39:28):
I'm working with, she worked with one of these free
referral services. And then her financial advisor said, look, this
doesn't sound right. It sounds very confusing. Call Steve Keeker
with Senior Care Consulting. He'll straighten it out. He's a
great guy, he knows what he's doing. You can trust him.
(39:52):
I am honored to receive that referral, by the way.
So I talked to her and we started unpacking this,
and the bottom line is they threw out a list
of places where they receive again ninety to one hundred
percent of the first month's cost in a kickback and
just barked it out. They didn't try to help her
(40:13):
or answer any of these other questions, and they had
her spending all of her money. When I worked with her,
we talked about working within the rules and the limitations
of Medicaid. They live on the Missouri side. If we
go to the Kansas side, she will preserve over well,
(40:36):
I don't want to say, but hundreds of thousands of
dollars of her retirement account that does not have to
be spent down. So it saved her all of that
money and we could get him qualified fairly quickly. And
then I did. I asked more questions and discovered that
this gentleman is a veteran. So we started talking about
(40:59):
I talked to all my clients about all of this,
by the way, and I said, does he have any
service connected disabilities? Well, as a matter of fact, he
has an eighty percent service connected disability. And I said,
you know what that means for you? What if we
work with a long term care community that has a
(41:20):
contract with the VA, You're as long as it's over
seventy percent, the VA will pay one hundred percent of
his cost. We're looking at about ten thousand dollars a month,
they'll pay one hundred percent of it. You don't even
need to qualify for Medicaid, and he gets to keep
(41:41):
his monthly income, which was around two thousand dollars a month.
She said, Steve, my head is just just swimming. Why
didn't that free referral service tell me any of this.
I'm definitely going with you. You are really looking out
for my interest. You're educating me. And look, so I
go on and on and on and on about that,
(42:02):
but here's the bottom line, Folks, don't fall for the
F word. The free word is in free referral services,
you get what you pay for.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert brought
to you by Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
All right, man, I get I get so fired up
about this stuff. These are just two of maybe hundreds
of examples. If if this is catching your attention, you're like, hey, yeah,
we all right, you got our attention, Steve. We want
to we want to talk nine one three, nine four
five twenty eight hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
(42:40):
Let's have a free consultation and see how we can
help you and your family. All right, I'm Steve Keeker
and I wish you grace and peace. May God bless
you and your family on this day and always join
me next week right here on Senior Care Life.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Does your business sir, thely and their caregivers in our area?
There are hundreds of thousands of people either receiving or
providing senior care and they need to know about you.
A unique and successful radio program called Senior Care Live
is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience know
about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live is
(43:19):
currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and if
you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk to you.
They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups, home
care providers, estate planning and older law practices, financial advisors,
insurance companies, real estate brokers, home health agencies, and other
providers serving the elderly and their caregivers. Senior Care Live
(43:44):
has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities, so call
now at nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
or visit seniorcare Live dot com seniorcare live dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Quid pro quo Latin phrase that means an exchange of
goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon the other.
Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care community if
you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral. The
free referral services have a vested interest in you choosing
one of their business partners. That's how they make their money.
(44:22):
Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible? Of course not.
I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting. I'm so proud
to say we have never received a single penny from
any provider ever. We offer a placement service with Integrity
for help finding the right senior care community without conflict
(44:42):
of interest and without the quid pro quo called nine
one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred nine one
three nine four five twenty eight hundred replacement service with
Integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
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