November 3, 2025 • 42 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, reviews the levels of care and types of care available in senior care communities including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Long Term Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Don’t miss the Consumer Alert regarding a recent major price increase in the Kansas City marketplace. #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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 (00:24):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today if you're new to the program. The mission
of Senior Care Live is to provide information, education and
resources for seniors and their caregivers. We have an excellent
program for you here today. I'm going to be talking
(00:46):
about something really really important and frankly, it can be
very very confusing, and the topic of the day we'll
deal with all of the different levels of care that
you can find out in the market, whether that's independent living,
assisted living, long term care. We're going to get into
all of that today. I'm also going to cover the
(01:08):
average monthly costs. So if you're driving and listening to this,
I don't want you. I don't want you to jerk
the wheel when I go through some of the pricing
because it might be a little bit shocking to you.
So look hands at ten to two. If you're driving,
and if you're drinking your coffee, you might want to
(01:29):
just set the coffee cup down so you don't spill
it on yourself. So anyway, all right, it's probably a
little probably a little overly dramatic on that, but it is.
It's getting expensive, and frankly, I'm going to have kind
of a highlight on a particular level and type of
care that has gone up a ton just in the
(01:51):
last few months. So stay tuned for that, all right,
So let's kick off the discussion of level of care
at that entree point. And so let's uh, we'll start
off with independent living. Independent living. You are on your own,
you're completely independent, but you're not alone. You're around a
(02:15):
lot of other other people. And the reason that you
might want to consider moving from your home to an
independent living community is really more of a lifestyle change.
So you're in the big house, your kids have been
gone for a long time. I've had so many people say, Steve,
we use about twenty percent of this house and the
(02:36):
rest of it will visit occasionally, you know, we'll make
sure the lights are still working in the in the
basement and the upstairs or in all you know, the
spare bedrooms, et cetera, et cetera. We use about twenty
percent of our house and it's getting to be a
lot our house. Our home has become a burden. Frankly,
it's been this beautiful place we've raised our kids, we
(02:57):
have grand kids over here, and it's been fantastic. But
now it's become a burden, and it's time to move
to that next step. So you choose that lifestyle change
of downsizing to a smaller, more manageable space and then
having some amenities and not having to deal with paying
(03:21):
utilities and the roof is leaking and you just drop
twelve hundred bucks because you call the plumber out for
a new water heater, and you know, all of this stuff.
You don't have to mow anymore. I enjoy mowing, so
I'm gonna I'm not going to give that one up
for a while. But you could scoop my snow all
day long if you'd like to. I actually do like
(03:42):
to get out with my snowblower. Bit I could be
talked out of that one, but anyway, So, and in
independent living, they provide at least your main meal per day,
maybe a couple of meals a day. However, your apartment
is fully equipped, so you can make anything you want
(04:03):
any time you want. So you have this apartment. Some
places do offer some villas or duplexes or four plexes.
I would say the majority of inventory in the Kansas
City area at least would be made up of apartments.
And these are nice apartments. Some of these apartments are
nicer than my house. So you can get pretty pretty fancy,
(04:27):
or you can get a little more basic and everything
in between. But you're moving into this space. You're using
all of the space eight hundred oney twelve hundred and
sixteen hundred square feet, maybe even a couple of thousand
square feet. A lot of them will have a patio
or a deck. Some of these places have garages. Some
(04:47):
of the newer ones have underground parking. That is awesome. Okay,
so you move into independent living. Again, you have at
least your main meal, you have activities. They'll have transportation
to run out to the grocery store once a week,
then maybe run out to just kind of a general
shopping trip once a week, and then they'll have some activities.
(05:11):
So that is the first stop in this continuum. And
again that's really more of a lifestyle change. Now there
are free standing independent living communities where that's all they offer,
and you're moving again for that lifestyle change. Most of
(05:32):
the time, when my firm, Senior Care Consulting is working
with an individual or a couple or a family, they're
choosing to move to independent living. That's part of a
continuing care retirement community where assisted living is available, long
term care is available, maybe memory care is available, and
(05:53):
it's a move to your final home where you can
safely and comfortably age in place. And if that's the case,
when you're doing that and it's part of a continuing
care retirement community, many times you'll have what's called an
entrance fee. Now a lot of people will call that,
(06:14):
refer to that, Oh, that's a buy in, we have
a buy in. Well, it's not really a buy in.
It's an entrance fee. That entrance fee could be anywhere
from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to upwards of
over nine hundred thousand dollars. That's in the Kansas City area.
If you're in one of the other larger metro areas,
(06:38):
maybe in California or Boston, New York, Chicago, et cetera.
It could easily be a lot more than that. In fact,
I've priced out some of these for clients and they
are there. Some of them are into the millions. But
in Kansas City, one hundred and fifty thousand to maybe
(06:58):
a little over nine hundred thousand. Now, why do you
write that check? I had one guy say, why would
I want to do that? And so what comes with
writing that check? Well, first of all, it's tied to
a contract. Typically that contract is what's called a ninety
(07:22):
ten contract, meaning ninety percent of that entrance fee is refundable.
Oh well, see that doesn't sound too bad. It only
costs me ten percent. So if I write a check
for five hundred thousand dollars, I'm going to get four
to fifty of that back. Okay. So you also have
(07:42):
to keep in mind, No, there's also the opportunity cost,
because it's five hundred thousand that your financial advisor lost
the opportunity to invest for you and make you money. Okay,
So there's more of a cost than that hard ten percent.
Just keep that in mind. I'm not saying it's a
bad thing, saying just keep that in mind. Now, some
(08:02):
of these places have different types of contracts. I've seen
eighty twenty seventy five, twenty five, sixty forty, I've seen
a fifty to fifty, and then I've seen a life
care life plan type of a contract that advertizes, say
two percent per month, so in fifty months, there is
no refund. What they do so, well, Steve, what do
(08:25):
I get for that? What do I get for my money?
What they do in particular is they lock your fee
in for life. So an independent living, let's say you're
spending five thousand dollars a month for your independent living apartment.
If you need assistant living, you're paying five thousand. If
you need long term care, you're paying five thousand, and
you're getting some big discounts in the future for your
(08:46):
health care needs. So it's all over the board. So
if you or your family, your loved one, anyone you know,
if they're considering moving into one of the continuing care
retirement communities, I would strongly encourage you to reach out
to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We are experts in
(09:07):
this space. Period. We provide a premium placement service with integrity.
We can walk you through all of this, help you
understand it, and show you all of your options, because
guess what, there are also fine, fine continuing care retirement
communities that don't have an entrance fee at all. Well, Steve,
(09:32):
is it as good as the place that I have
to write a six figure check for? Yes, absolutely, they're
fantastic places. They just believe that their model. They like
their model better. They don't believe in having someone tie
up all of that money, and they don't want to
be They don't want to have anything to.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Do with it.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They just have a different business model where you pay
for what you need as you go. Okay, so that's
independent living. It's a fantastic option. Again, it's that lifestyle
change where you're moving from your home to one of
these senior care communities. You get to let your hair down.
You never have to worry about mowing, scooping, snow, home
(10:13):
repair issues, you're not paying personal property tax, homeowners tax,
all that stuff is gone right, and you just get
to relax and enjoy yourself. And coming up next, I'll
go to the next level of care, which is the
assisted living level of care. But first let's not forget
senior care Live Question of the week. All assisted living
(10:36):
communities provide memory care? Does this statement 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 (10:50):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live
dot com. Back to the Senior Care Live Question of
the week. All assisted living communities provide memory care? Is
this say true or false? And the answer is true.
(11:35):
The answer is true. You're like, wait a minute, you've
talked on this program before if not all places have
a memory care unit or neighborhood. That's true, but every
single assisted living community does provide care for a resident
with cognitive impairment, every single one of them. You'll you'll
(11:56):
have sometimes a large percentage of residents living in an
assistant living community will have some some memory related issues.
But the challenge is if you should develop some issues
that require a separate part of the building often referred
(12:18):
to as the memory care program, memory care unit, memory
care neighborhood, and a lot of a lot of these
places have reminiscence. They have different names for these things,
but it's a separate part of the building offering a
special type of care for residents with cognitive impairment. So
not all of them have that, but every single one
of them does provide memory care care for someone and
(12:41):
God bless them with you know, maybe maybe early early on,
early stages dementia or one of the different types of
dimension like Alzheimer's et cetera, et cetera. Okay, let's get
back to the levels of care that you can find
available in our community. We've talked about that lifestyle change,
downsizing from your home moving to an independent living apartment.
(13:07):
Meals available at least at least the main meal, if
not a couple of them, some limited transportation for outings
and go shopping a couple times a week, and you're
doing your thing. You're doing your thing. The cost of
that that it's going to depend on the size of
the apartment and how nice the place is. But you're
(13:30):
looking at you know, forty five hundred to maybe fifty
five hundred dollars a month, which is pretty common. There
are some places, I mean, you could go up into
seven and eight thousand dollars a month, which is really
on the high end, forty five hundred fifty five hundred
and six thousand dollars. That's going to cover I think
the majority of places per month. You may or may
(13:54):
not have an entrance fee. We talked about that in
the first in the first segment. If you're just joining us,
check out the podcast. It'll be you up Monday or
Tuesday and you can go back and listen to that
part of it. All right, so let's move to that
center lane. We're gonna spend a little bit of time
here this center lane. If I wish you could see
my graphic, Darre, we need to get some TV cameras
(14:16):
in here. This thing needs to be on television, by golly,
but so that way I could share some graphics. So anyway,
So the assisted living level of care is a social model,
is not a medical model. It's a social model that
provides a tremendous amount of support relative to your activities
(14:41):
of daily living, so they can help you minimally or fully.
They're bathing, dressing, grooming, and toileting. And it seems kind
of kind of weird. You're like, well, wait a minute,
I've always been able to get myself dressed. Well, what
if you get older and you have some back issues,
(15:03):
maybe some flexibility issues. What if you can't bend all
the way over to tie your shoes or get your
socks on, and all of a sudden you're like, oh
my gosh, I'm going to need some help to do
that all right? Or what if there could be a
lot of different reasons. Maybe you need help getting into
the shower, but I could shower myself perfectly, well, thank you,
(15:25):
But could you please just kind of stay close in
case I need anything, or in case I have a
little bit of a fear of falling in here. I
just don't want to be alone. I want somebody to
be nearby. So we would call that stand by assistance
for your showering, your bathing needs help you get in,
we'll stand by. We'll give you your privacy, let you
(15:46):
take care of you know, all the scrub a dub dub, right,
and then maybe when you're done, maybe hand you a towel,
help you get out of the shower safely so you
don't slip, and it just just kind of that extra
security and safety if you will. Maybe you need full
assistance on some of these things, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting.
(16:08):
They also distribute all of your medications. They manage your meds,
they'll order them, get them in. If there's a change,
they'll they'll phone that in and they'll change your medications
on the spot. They'll take care of all of that
for you, and they'll help you with your incontinent support
to a point to a point okay, So there are
(16:31):
also are there's some other things that you're going to
love about it at this point and assisted living. They
will make all of your meals, snacks, hydration that they
provide all of those sort of things. There's a full
slate of activities for meaningful social engagement. There are doctors
that actually make house calls. So typically you're going to
(16:54):
have a gerontology specialist and there are several different physicians
groups in the area and they have all of the
different disciplines that are available to all of the residents
in most of our communities here. So you'll have a
primary care physician if you will, and you can choose
(17:15):
to see your own doctor, but if you'd like the
convenience of a doctor making a house call, you can
choose that. And that's that's a big deal. That's really
really nice. And again a lot of these other pediatrist, optimologists,
dental usually it's a dental hygienist. If you need a toothpold,
you're typically going to have to go out for something
(17:36):
like that. Okay, a lot of folks will come in
your audiology, psychiatry, psychologist, neurologist, I mean, and they may
not have all of these, but they'll have some of
them that are coming in. But the main thing is
doctors make house calls. They have transportation available so that
you can go out to see your doctor and maybe
see a specialist. Okay. So there there's just there's so
(18:01):
much to like about the assisted living level of care.
But here's the catch. Assisted living is not a standardized model,
and what that means is there is a lot of
leeway and that assisted living level of care. So some
places are a little bit lighter on the care and
(18:24):
they'll their marketing is we have a lively and vibrant
community and we're on the go and we're doing all
these things. Well, that's a more independent group of residents
than that. They just don't need nearly as much care
as maybe a lot of others some assisted living communities
say hey, we've got you. You probably never need to
(18:45):
move again. We can provide a two person transfer, we
can provide lifts with mechanical lifts, we can provide a
specialized diet and they bend over backwards to keep you
from having to move to long term care, and oh,
by the way, everything else in between. So I would
(19:06):
say the second most difficult search that you would do
on your own would be for an assisted living community,
because you could hear five different stories from five different
places and they would all be true. Again, if you
are in the market for assisted living, or you think
you're going to need assisted living in the near future,
give us a call at Senior Care Consulting. We can
(19:28):
help at nine one three, nine four five twenty eight
hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. And coming
up next, I have a consumer alert that it just
may knock your socks off.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
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
(20:24):
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 4 (20:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
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
(20:56):
Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts to the program, visit
seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
And you know I was speaking with a group earlier
this week and everyone says, well, you know, how's your
podcast doing? And I always I know, I understand podcasts
(21:31):
are super popular. I have a podcast, okay. But and
then they asked, well, you know, can you stream it?
And this and that and the other. Yes, all the above.
This is a radio broadcast. It's heard on two different
stations in the Kansas City area and around the country,
by the way, and it goes out through the radio.
(21:54):
It's over the air. It's an actual radio program. And
then after that weekend it's turned into a podcast where
you can download it, stream it, listen to it anytime
you'd like on any of the any of the major
podcast platforms out there. And if you're not, if you're
(22:14):
not near a radio, you can go to Senior Care
Live dot com and then you can click the button
and then just stream it while it is live on
the radio. Okay. So for example, locally here in Kansas City,
it's on Saturday mornings at eleven am on the AM
side of Odyssey so Talk nine to eighty am. See
(22:35):
you click the blue button and it'll stream straight to
your electronic device. And then at three in the afternoon
in Kansas City it's on the FM side of Odyssey.
It's ninety eight point one FM KNBZ. You click it, boom,
it'll stream right to your electronic device. So it's a
kind of an all of the above kind of a program.
How about that? All right? So I talked about assisted
(22:59):
living memory care, and you're gonna have to hear this.
Oh boy, hang on, hands at ten and two drop.
Put your coffee down, because here we go.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer alert,
consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
All right. So we have the assisted living level of care.
And then again, if there is a memory care unit,
a memory care neighborhood, a separate part of the building
dedicated to caring for resonance with memory issues cognitive impairment,
the reason that you would have that, the first reason
(23:38):
you would need that type of care in that space
would be if you are an elopement risk, meaning you're
a flight risk. Okay, so and God bless you. If
you have dementia or one of the many forms of dementia,
it's pretty common to wander about, just go you're just
cruising around, you're not trying to problems at all, and
(24:02):
you're looking at how You're like, hey, what's what's going
on out there. I'm going to go check it out.
You'll walk outside. It's zero degrees, it's one hundred degrees.
You're walking out and there's a whole bunch of traffic
over there, and you don't under God bless you, you
don't understand these are bad things that you could unintentionally
(24:22):
put yourself in harm's way. So these places are responsible
for you, so they have to keep you safe. So
if you have proven to become an elopement risk through wandering,
then you're going to get a quick ticket to the
memory care unit, the memory care neighborhood. You could also
be exit seeking just from confusion. So you're looking around,
(24:42):
You're like, you know, it's a pretty nice place. I
like this hotel, but it's not where I live. I'm
going home. You're out of there, and you're trying to
leave because you're going to walk home. Are you gonna
call a cab or whatever? And so and again, God
bless you. You're conf used. But that's a much higher
level of elopement risk because you're actively literally trying to
(25:05):
get the heck out of there. They're responsible for you
and your safety. That's a quick ticket to the memory
care unit the memory care neighborhood. They have codes on
the doors so that you can leave the area. You
just need to be accompanied for your own safety and security.
But if you have dementia, you're probably not going to
(25:27):
remember the code. Now, once in a while, i've heard
of people who could remember the code, but usually you're
not going to remember the code, and they change it
usually monthly. And then if you're over stimulated and you're
just you just can't filter out. It's just too much noise,
too much light, too many people, it's too much everything,
(25:48):
and you're starting to wind up tight and you might
just kind of lash out and become agitated or belligerent
or just high anxiety. That's not good for you either,
And so that would be I think the second most
common need to move to memory care is just for
that smaller environment. It's a smaller area, fewer residents. Everything's
(26:09):
just dialed down to keep you eyes and calm and
cool and collected. Okay, so here's what I learned recently.
I was pretty surprised to see this. So I'm doing
a search for some wonderful clients of mine. They flew
in town. We worked together. We turned this around very quickly.
(26:31):
We were out touring, you know, a couple of days
later on behalf of their mom who does have dementia,
and they wanted to be proactive. They said, we don't.
We live out of state. We don't want any last
second surprises. I mean, we know this is coming, so
we want to get ahead of this. We want to
(26:52):
get our name on some waiting lists, and we want
to have our plan ready to go for the next step.
We're not exactly sure when that will be, but we
know for sure it's coming. Well, let me say they're really, really,
really smart because a lot of the best places have
a waiting list right now and we're not even we're
(27:14):
approaching it, but we are not in the peak demand,
the peak season for senior care that's January, February March.
That's when they think they may be wanting to move her.
And so by going out now, we went out and
we've got their name on a couple of waiting lists,
and then they're just going to figure out the timing
(27:37):
and when their name rises to number one, they're going
to get a call. Are you ready to move your mom?
We have an apartment available. No, we're not ready to
call me the next time an apartment is available. Okay,
they stay at number one, and then the community will
call number two, three, four, five, six. They'll call down
the wait list until someone takes the apartment, and then
(27:58):
everyone moves up underneath that. In a couple of weeks
or a month, they're going to call them back. Are
you ready for that apartment? Nope, not quite ready, not
quite ready for that yet, call us the next time.
We're getting real close though, right. And they'll do this
over and over and over again until the timing is right,
and then they choose to move their mother when the
(28:20):
time is right for them. But they have that option
because we went out early. We were proactive, We did
our search and selection process. They chose a couple of
great places. They love both of them equally. Now they
have some options. That's a smart thing to do, by
the way. So when I was doing the homework for them,
(28:42):
I was caught a little bit off guard, and I
don't usually get caught off guard. So I was calling
around all of these assisted living level memory care programs,
and I was asking the cost, because typically assisted living
is somewhere in the six thousand to eight thousand dollars
(29:03):
a month range hands attended to two for assisted living
memory care, it could be just a little more than that,
but I was very surprised to see prices of ninety
eight hundred dollars a month, eighty nine hundred dollars a month.
(29:25):
One of them had three different tiers, three different levels
of care, if you will, peeking out at about eleven
five hundred dollars a month. All that caught me off guard.
So I thought, now, wait a minute, there's been a
big jump here recently. And I thought, well, wait a minute.
I was at this particular place just about six months ago.
(29:47):
So I went back and I checked the rates from
six months ago, and they had had a and this
isn't a normal price increase, this is a market adjustment.
They increased their cost by eleven hundred dollars a month.
And now it's just like whoa, whoa. That is how
did that happen? I have my theory on how and
(30:07):
why that happened, but the point is it did happen.
So if you are in the market for the assisted
living level of care in you're needing memory care, okay,
just expect that the prices for that, for that exact
fit have gone up pretty dramatically at least in the
(30:29):
Kansas City area over the last six months.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert brought
to you by Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
All right, so again your traditional assisted living apartment. Of course,
you know, a studio apartment is less than a one bedroom,
is less than a two bedroom. And then typically if
you need a little bit of help with that level
of care, there's a little bit added on to it.
If you need a lot of help, there's a lot
(31:02):
added on to it. That's where you get that six
to eight thousand dollars average amount, and then you might
as well add a thousand. I used to say, add
five hundred bucks a month for memory care. Now we're
gonna add one thousand to two or three thousand dollars
to that for the assistant living memory care. So again,
if this is making your head spending, you're like, well,
(31:22):
wait a minute, I think we're gonna need some help
with this. I would invite you, it would be my
honor to serve you and your family through my firm,
Senior Care Consulting nine to one, three, nine four five,
twenty eight hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
and coming up next, we're going to talk about long
term care.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest of his show.
This is Seniorcare Live dot Com. We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare live
dot com. All right, today it's all about the different
levels of care, the costs, what they do, what they provide.
When a little consumer alert, I'm still surprised there was
(32:30):
a significant market adjustment. Just happened, had to have happened
over the past few months, and just just amazing, amazing.
So anyway, let's move on to the highest level of care.
I refer to that as long term care. A lot
of folks still call that nursing home, which is okay,
(32:51):
I'm not mad at you. That's what has been called
for decades. I'll tell you the business, the industry, they
don't like that nursing home term because it comes with
a stereotype and a lot of negative baggage. So I
would remind them it's well earned negative baggage, but noneth
(33:12):
but there is nothing like that today. So to be
fair about it, it was really bad back in the
dark days, and now it's so much better. There's so
much more regulation and oversight. You could you can never
get away with that today. Plus you wouldn't be competitive.
So anyway, let's not get too far off on that,
all right, long term care long at the long term
(33:36):
care level of care, I call that it is the
medical model, and they provide everything that assisted living does
plus full medical care. So what you would add there
some of these assisted living I mean you have a
little bit of gray, you might have just a tiny
bit of crossover. But in long term care diabetic management
(34:01):
with insulin injections, most assisted living communities can't do that
because if you need them to manage the glucose and
then do the injections, you have to have at least
an LPN overnight r twenty four hours a day. Most
of them do not. They have one on call. Most
of them do not. Now some of them do, okay,
(34:22):
and that's that assisted living level of care that is
not this standardized, uniform model. Okay, you've got a lot
of leeway there. Most of them are not going to
be able to do that. So long term care, so
the medical side of things, diabetic management with insulin injection,
wound care, urinary catheter care, feeding tubes, full physical care,
(34:49):
two person transfer, maybe even using a mechanical lift to
help a person from point A to point B. There
is a tremendous amount of care and a lot of
that is going to be on the medical side of things,
which is going to require more r ends and LPNs.
Now what happens when you get to long term care
is this is the most restrictive level of care. It's
(35:11):
not much about your personal space and it's mostly about
the care that you receive. You could get two or
three or four hours of hands on care per day
in long term care level. All right, See, you have
a couple of different options. You'll have a shared room.
I've generally been calling it a shared room. At most
(35:32):
in the industry is still call it a semi private room.
But it's you have a roommate. Okay, So you're sharing
a room and the cost of that is going to
be somewhere between about eighty five hundred dollars a month
to you know, maybe around ten thousand dollars per month.
Every month they provide everything for you, and that's that's
(35:55):
a shared situation. And again, your space comes at a premium.
So if you want on a private room, hold on
to your checkbooks. Eleven or twelve thousand dollars a month
to maybe fifteen sixteen thousand dollars a month, super super expensive.
Now I'm not going to get into Medicaid today, but
(36:15):
one of the questions that I ask all of my
clients is there a chance that you may outlive your assets.
If the answer is yes, then some part of our
equation needs to be long term care that is Medicaid certified.
And these are all the things that we think through,
we think ahead, and we really have an excellent and
(36:38):
solid plan when we're working with our clients with Senior
Care Consulting, this is a premium placement service with integrity.
It's a premium service. Again. If this is all making
your head spend a little bit and you're like, oh
my gosh, I didn't even know about any of this stuff,
We're going to need some help. We're in over our heads.
(37:00):
We could use experts helping us so that we don't
make a mistake. Give us a call at Senior Care
Consulting at nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred.
It's nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred,
or you can visit us online. It's an excellent website
Senior Care Consulting dot com. And recently, I'll tell you
(37:24):
what I worked with. Just the nicest lady. She was
so sweet, she was also really just. She was tired,
she was pretty spent, and she cares for her husband
and God bless him. Super nice guy, just just the
nicest guy.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
He's a ten year stroke survivor, and so you know,
he's been learning how to do things, you know without
you know, one side which is partially paralyzed. That that's
very common in a stroke. And he's done a good
job and he's pretty darn independent. But his wife helps
him with a lot of a lot of things, a
lot of things around the house. And she asked me
(38:05):
to come over and we chatted, and she shared with
me that she's been contacted by a couple of these
free referral services. She said, they drugged me all over
town and they're trying, she said, really really hard. They're
trying to get me to move into a continuing care
retirement community with her husband. But and I said, well, so,
(38:28):
I mean, did you choose one or how can I
help you? She said, I just don't know. And so anyway,
long story short, that's not for her. The independent living
part of it is absolutely not for her and her husband.
It is not a good fit. And she said, I mean,
I don't know. Do you want to work with me
and we'll just go out and maybe you know, you
can show me you know, something different or whatever. And
(38:50):
I said, ma'am, with all due respect, I don't it
doesn't sound because we had a lengthy conversation about this.
I said, it just doesn't sound like that's a fit
for you. You are living in independent living right now, in
your beautiful home, so don't move. And she was just shocked.
(39:11):
She said, well, you mean you're not trying to make
a sale and get me to move somewhere. And I'm like, no, no,
this is about what's doing right, understanding what you need
and then I can help, you know, basically figure out
the right fit and then the best place available. But
I would stay home right now you are living in
independent living. I would bring in some support from a
(39:33):
non medical in home assistance program I generally call it
home care. I would bring someone in two or three
times a week to give you a break, let you
do some of your stuff, that can help out your husband,
help you out around the house. That would be a
tremendous support. I would stay home. Your house is paid off.
I'd stay home. And then when you need to move
(39:54):
to assistant living connected to long term care, I'm your guy.
I will help you vet that, I'll help you find
your your top options and we will take care of
that for you, and we'll do that together. And she
was just relieved that we have a plan available. If
you want that level of consulting and consistency, and if
you appreciate someone who knows what they're doing, a professional
(40:18):
in this area of expertise here, and if you appreciate
a premium service, give us a call at Senior Care
Consulting nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred
or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. All right, I'm
Steve Keeker, and I wish you grace and peace. May
(40:38):
God bless you and your family on this day and
always join me next week right here on Senior Care Live. 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
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Speaker 1 (41:52):
There are hundreds of thousands of people either receiving or
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A unique and sycts zessful radio program called Senior Care
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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 (00:24):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today if you're new to the program. The mission
of Senior Care Live is to provide information, education and
resources for seniors and their caregivers. We have an excellent
program for you here today. I'm going to be talking
(00:46):
about something really really important and frankly, it can be
very very confusing, and the topic of the day we'll
deal with all of the different levels of care that
you can find out in the market, whether that's independent living,
assisted living, long term care. We're going to get into
all of that today. I'm also going to cover the
(01:08):
average monthly costs. So if you're driving and listening to this,
I don't want you. I don't want you to jerk
the wheel when I go through some of the pricing
because it might be a little bit shocking to you.
So look hands at ten to two. If you're driving,
and if you're drinking your coffee, you might want to
(01:29):
just set the coffee cup down so you don't spill
it on yourself. So anyway, all right, it's probably a
little probably a little overly dramatic on that, but it is.
It's getting expensive, and frankly, I'm going to have kind
of a highlight on a particular level and type of
care that has gone up a ton just in the
(01:51):
last few months. So stay tuned for that, all right,
So let's kick off the discussion of level of care
at that entree point. And so let's uh, we'll start
off with independent living. Independent living. You are on your own,
you're completely independent, but you're not alone. You're around a
(02:15):
lot of other other people. And the reason that you
might want to consider moving from your home to an
independent living community is really more of a lifestyle change.
So you're in the big house, your kids have been
gone for a long time. I've had so many people say, Steve,
we use about twenty percent of this house and the
(02:36):
rest of it will visit occasionally, you know, we'll make
sure the lights are still working in the in the
basement and the upstairs or in all you know, the
spare bedrooms, et cetera, et cetera. We use about twenty
percent of our house and it's getting to be a
lot our house. Our home has become a burden. Frankly,
it's been this beautiful place we've raised our kids, we
(02:57):
have grand kids over here, and it's been fantastic. But
now it's become a burden, and it's time to move
to that next step. So you choose that lifestyle change
of downsizing to a smaller, more manageable space and then
having some amenities and not having to deal with paying
(03:21):
utilities and the roof is leaking and you just drop
twelve hundred bucks because you call the plumber out for
a new water heater, and you know, all of this stuff.
You don't have to mow anymore. I enjoy mowing, so
I'm gonna I'm not going to give that one up
for a while. But you could scoop my snow all
day long if you'd like to. I actually do like
(03:42):
to get out with my snowblower. Bit I could be
talked out of that one, but anyway, So, and in
independent living, they provide at least your main meal per day,
maybe a couple of meals a day. However, your apartment
is fully equipped, so you can make anything you want
(04:03):
any time you want. So you have this apartment. Some
places do offer some villas or duplexes or four plexes.
I would say the majority of inventory in the Kansas
City area at least would be made up of apartments.
And these are nice apartments. Some of these apartments are
nicer than my house. So you can get pretty pretty fancy,
(04:27):
or you can get a little more basic and everything
in between. But you're moving into this space. You're using
all of the space eight hundred oney twelve hundred and
sixteen hundred square feet, maybe even a couple of thousand
square feet. A lot of them will have a patio
or a deck. Some of these places have garages. Some
(04:47):
of the newer ones have underground parking. That is awesome. Okay,
so you move into independent living. Again, you have at
least your main meal, you have activities. They'll have transportation
to run out to the grocery store once a week,
then maybe run out to just kind of a general
shopping trip once a week, and then they'll have some activities.
(05:11):
So that is the first stop in this continuum. And
again that's really more of a lifestyle change. Now there
are free standing independent living communities where that's all they offer,
and you're moving again for that lifestyle change. Most of
(05:32):
the time, when my firm, Senior Care Consulting is working
with an individual or a couple or a family, they're
choosing to move to independent living. That's part of a
continuing care retirement community where assisted living is available, long
term care is available, maybe memory care is available, and
(05:53):
it's a move to your final home where you can
safely and comfortably age in place. And if that's the case,
when you're doing that and it's part of a continuing
care retirement community, many times you'll have what's called an
entrance fee. Now a lot of people will call that,
(06:14):
refer to that, Oh, that's a buy in, we have
a buy in. Well, it's not really a buy in.
It's an entrance fee. That entrance fee could be anywhere
from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to upwards of
over nine hundred thousand dollars. That's in the Kansas City area.
If you're in one of the other larger metro areas,
(06:38):
maybe in California or Boston, New York, Chicago, et cetera.
It could easily be a lot more than that. In fact,
I've priced out some of these for clients and they
are there. Some of them are into the millions. But
in Kansas City, one hundred and fifty thousand to maybe
(06:58):
a little over nine hundred thousand. Now, why do you
write that check? I had one guy say, why would
I want to do that? And so what comes with
writing that check? Well, first of all, it's tied to
a contract. Typically that contract is what's called a ninety
(07:22):
ten contract, meaning ninety percent of that entrance fee is refundable.
Oh well, see that doesn't sound too bad. It only
costs me ten percent. So if I write a check
for five hundred thousand dollars, I'm going to get four
to fifty of that back. Okay. So you also have
(07:42):
to keep in mind, No, there's also the opportunity cost,
because it's five hundred thousand that your financial advisor lost
the opportunity to invest for you and make you money. Okay,
So there's more of a cost than that hard ten percent.
Just keep that in mind. I'm not saying it's a
bad thing, saying just keep that in mind. Now, some
(08:02):
of these places have different types of contracts. I've seen
eighty twenty seventy five, twenty five, sixty forty, I've seen
a fifty to fifty, and then I've seen a life
care life plan type of a contract that advertizes, say
two percent per month, so in fifty months, there is
no refund. What they do so, well, Steve, what do
(08:25):
I get for that? What do I get for my money?
What they do in particular is they lock your fee
in for life. So an independent living, let's say you're
spending five thousand dollars a month for your independent living apartment.
If you need assistant living, you're paying five thousand. If
you need long term care, you're paying five thousand, and
you're getting some big discounts in the future for your
(08:46):
health care needs. So it's all over the board. So
if you or your family, your loved one, anyone you know,
if they're considering moving into one of the continuing care
retirement communities, I would strongly encourage you to reach out
to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We are experts in
(09:07):
this space. Period. We provide a premium placement service with integrity.
We can walk you through all of this, help you
understand it, and show you all of your options, because
guess what, there are also fine, fine continuing care retirement
communities that don't have an entrance fee at all. Well, Steve,
(09:32):
is it as good as the place that I have
to write a six figure check for? Yes, absolutely, they're
fantastic places. They just believe that their model. They like
their model better. They don't believe in having someone tie
up all of that money, and they don't want to
be They don't want to have anything to.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Do with it.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They just have a different business model where you pay
for what you need as you go. Okay, so that's
independent living. It's a fantastic option. Again, it's that lifestyle
change where you're moving from your home to one of
these senior care communities. You get to let your hair down.
You never have to worry about mowing, scooping, snow, home
(10:13):
repair issues, you're not paying personal property tax, homeowners tax,
all that stuff is gone right, and you just get
to relax and enjoy yourself. And coming up next, I'll
go to the next level of care, which is the
assisted living level of care. But first let's not forget
senior care Live Question of the week. All assisted living
(10:36):
communities provide memory care? Does this statement 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 (10:50):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live
dot com. Back to the Senior Care Live Question of
the week. All assisted living communities provide memory care? Is
this say true or false? And the answer is true.
(11:35):
The answer is true. You're like, wait a minute, you've
talked on this program before if not all places have
a memory care unit or neighborhood. That's true, but every
single assisted living community does provide care for a resident
with cognitive impairment, every single one of them. You'll you'll
(11:56):
have sometimes a large percentage of residents living in an
assistant living community will have some some memory related issues.
But the challenge is if you should develop some issues
that require a separate part of the building often referred
(12:18):
to as the memory care program, memory care unit, memory
care neighborhood, and a lot of a lot of these
places have reminiscence. They have different names for these things,
but it's a separate part of the building offering a
special type of care for residents with cognitive impairment. So
not all of them have that, but every single one
of them does provide memory care care for someone and
(12:41):
God bless them with you know, maybe maybe early early on,
early stages dementia or one of the different types of
dimension like Alzheimer's et cetera, et cetera. Okay, let's get
back to the levels of care that you can find
available in our community. We've talked about that lifestyle change,
downsizing from your home moving to an independent living apartment.
(13:07):
Meals available at least at least the main meal, if
not a couple of them, some limited transportation for outings
and go shopping a couple times a week, and you're
doing your thing. You're doing your thing. The cost of
that that it's going to depend on the size of
the apartment and how nice the place is. But you're
(13:30):
looking at you know, forty five hundred to maybe fifty
five hundred dollars a month, which is pretty common. There
are some places, I mean, you could go up into
seven and eight thousand dollars a month, which is really
on the high end, forty five hundred fifty five hundred
and six thousand dollars. That's going to cover I think
the majority of places per month. You may or may
(13:54):
not have an entrance fee. We talked about that in
the first in the first segment. If you're just joining us,
check out the podcast. It'll be you up Monday or
Tuesday and you can go back and listen to that
part of it. All right, so let's move to that
center lane. We're gonna spend a little bit of time
here this center lane. If I wish you could see
my graphic, Darre, we need to get some TV cameras
(14:16):
in here. This thing needs to be on television, by golly,
but so that way I could share some graphics. So anyway,
So the assisted living level of care is a social model,
is not a medical model. It's a social model that
provides a tremendous amount of support relative to your activities
(14:41):
of daily living, so they can help you minimally or fully.
They're bathing, dressing, grooming, and toileting. And it seems kind
of kind of weird. You're like, well, wait a minute,
I've always been able to get myself dressed. Well, what
if you get older and you have some back issues,
(15:03):
maybe some flexibility issues. What if you can't bend all
the way over to tie your shoes or get your
socks on, and all of a sudden you're like, oh
my gosh, I'm going to need some help to do
that all right? Or what if there could be a
lot of different reasons. Maybe you need help getting into
the shower, but I could shower myself perfectly, well, thank you,
(15:25):
But could you please just kind of stay close in
case I need anything, or in case I have a
little bit of a fear of falling in here. I
just don't want to be alone. I want somebody to
be nearby. So we would call that stand by assistance
for your showering, your bathing needs help you get in,
we'll stand by. We'll give you your privacy, let you
(15:46):
take care of you know, all the scrub a dub dub, right,
and then maybe when you're done, maybe hand you a towel,
help you get out of the shower safely so you
don't slip, and it just just kind of that extra
security and safety if you will. Maybe you need full
assistance on some of these things, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting.
(16:08):
They also distribute all of your medications. They manage your meds,
they'll order them, get them in. If there's a change,
they'll they'll phone that in and they'll change your medications
on the spot. They'll take care of all of that
for you, and they'll help you with your incontinent support
to a point to a point okay, So there are
(16:31):
also are there's some other things that you're going to
love about it at this point and assisted living. They
will make all of your meals, snacks, hydration that they
provide all of those sort of things. There's a full
slate of activities for meaningful social engagement. There are doctors
that actually make house calls. So typically you're going to
(16:54):
have a gerontology specialist and there are several different physicians
groups in the area and they have all of the
different disciplines that are available to all of the residents
in most of our communities here. So you'll have a
primary care physician if you will, and you can choose
(17:15):
to see your own doctor, but if you'd like the
convenience of a doctor making a house call, you can
choose that. And that's that's a big deal. That's really
really nice. And again a lot of these other pediatrist, optimologists,
dental usually it's a dental hygienist. If you need a toothpold,
you're typically going to have to go out for something
(17:36):
like that. Okay, a lot of folks will come in
your audiology, psychiatry, psychologist, neurologist, I mean, and they may
not have all of these, but they'll have some of
them that are coming in. But the main thing is
doctors make house calls. They have transportation available so that
you can go out to see your doctor and maybe
see a specialist. Okay. So there there's just there's so
(18:01):
much to like about the assisted living level of care.
But here's the catch. Assisted living is not a standardized model,
and what that means is there is a lot of
leeway and that assisted living level of care. So some
places are a little bit lighter on the care and
(18:24):
they'll their marketing is we have a lively and vibrant
community and we're on the go and we're doing all
these things. Well, that's a more independent group of residents
than that. They just don't need nearly as much care
as maybe a lot of others some assisted living communities
say hey, we've got you. You probably never need to
(18:45):
move again. We can provide a two person transfer, we
can provide lifts with mechanical lifts, we can provide a
specialized diet and they bend over backwards to keep you
from having to move to long term care, and oh,
by the way, everything else in between. So I would
(19:06):
say the second most difficult search that you would do
on your own would be for an assisted living community,
because you could hear five different stories from five different
places and they would all be true. Again, if you
are in the market for assisted living, or you think
you're going to need assisted living in the near future,
give us a call at Senior Care Consulting. We can
(19:28):
help at nine one three, nine four five twenty eight
hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. And coming
up next, I have a consumer alert that it just
may knock your socks off.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
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
(20:24):
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 4 (20:32):
You'll spend just a.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
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
(20:56):
Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts to the program, visit
seniorcare live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts.
And you know I was speaking with a group earlier
this week and everyone says, well, you know, how's your
podcast doing? And I always I know, I understand podcasts
(21:31):
are super popular. I have a podcast, okay. But and
then they asked, well, you know, can you stream it?
And this and that and the other. Yes, all the above.
This is a radio broadcast. It's heard on two different
stations in the Kansas City area and around the country,
by the way, and it goes out through the radio.
(21:54):
It's over the air. It's an actual radio program. And
then after that weekend it's turned into a podcast where
you can download it, stream it, listen to it anytime
you'd like on any of the any of the major
podcast platforms out there. And if you're not, if you're
(22:14):
not near a radio, you can go to Senior Care
Live dot com and then you can click the button
and then just stream it while it is live on
the radio. Okay. So for example, locally here in Kansas City,
it's on Saturday mornings at eleven am on the AM
side of Odyssey so Talk nine to eighty am. See
(22:35):
you click the blue button and it'll stream straight to
your electronic device. And then at three in the afternoon
in Kansas City it's on the FM side of Odyssey.
It's ninety eight point one FM KNBZ. You click it, boom,
it'll stream right to your electronic device. So it's a
kind of an all of the above kind of a program.
How about that? All right? So I talked about assisted
(22:59):
living memory care, and you're gonna have to hear this.
Oh boy, hang on, hands at ten and two drop.
Put your coffee down, because here we go.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is a consumer alert,
consumer alert.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
All right. So we have the assisted living level of care.
And then again, if there is a memory care unit,
a memory care neighborhood, a separate part of the building
dedicated to caring for resonance with memory issues cognitive impairment,
the reason that you would have that, the first reason
(23:38):
you would need that type of care in that space
would be if you are an elopement risk, meaning you're
a flight risk. Okay, so and God bless you. If
you have dementia or one of the many forms of dementia,
it's pretty common to wander about, just go you're just
cruising around, you're not trying to problems at all, and
(24:02):
you're looking at how You're like, hey, what's what's going
on out there. I'm going to go check it out.
You'll walk outside. It's zero degrees, it's one hundred degrees.
You're walking out and there's a whole bunch of traffic
over there, and you don't under God bless you, you
don't understand these are bad things that you could unintentionally
(24:22):
put yourself in harm's way. So these places are responsible
for you, so they have to keep you safe. So
if you have proven to become an elopement risk through wandering,
then you're going to get a quick ticket to the
memory care unit, the memory care neighborhood. You could also
be exit seeking just from confusion. So you're looking around,
(24:42):
You're like, you know, it's a pretty nice place. I
like this hotel, but it's not where I live. I'm
going home. You're out of there, and you're trying to
leave because you're going to walk home. Are you gonna
call a cab or whatever? And so and again, God
bless you. You're conf used. But that's a much higher
level of elopement risk because you're actively literally trying to
(25:05):
get the heck out of there. They're responsible for you
and your safety. That's a quick ticket to the memory
care unit the memory care neighborhood. They have codes on
the doors so that you can leave the area. You
just need to be accompanied for your own safety and security.
But if you have dementia, you're probably not going to
(25:27):
remember the code. Now, once in a while, i've heard
of people who could remember the code, but usually you're
not going to remember the code, and they change it
usually monthly. And then if you're over stimulated and you're
just you just can't filter out. It's just too much noise,
too much light, too many people, it's too much everything,
(25:48):
and you're starting to wind up tight and you might
just kind of lash out and become agitated or belligerent
or just high anxiety. That's not good for you either,
And so that would be I think the second most
common need to move to memory care is just for
that smaller environment. It's a smaller area, fewer residents. Everything's
(26:09):
just dialed down to keep you eyes and calm and
cool and collected. Okay, so here's what I learned recently.
I was pretty surprised to see this. So I'm doing
a search for some wonderful clients of mine. They flew
in town. We worked together. We turned this around very quickly.
(26:31):
We were out touring, you know, a couple of days
later on behalf of their mom who does have dementia,
and they wanted to be proactive. They said, we don't.
We live out of state. We don't want any last
second surprises. I mean, we know this is coming, so
we want to get ahead of this. We want to
(26:52):
get our name on some waiting lists, and we want
to have our plan ready to go for the next step.
We're not exactly sure when that will be, but we
know for sure it's coming. Well, let me say they're really, really,
really smart because a lot of the best places have
a waiting list right now and we're not even we're
(27:14):
approaching it, but we are not in the peak demand,
the peak season for senior care that's January, February March.
That's when they think they may be wanting to move her.
And so by going out now, we went out and
we've got their name on a couple of waiting lists,
and then they're just going to figure out the timing
(27:37):
and when their name rises to number one, they're going
to get a call. Are you ready to move your mom?
We have an apartment available. No, we're not ready to
call me the next time an apartment is available. Okay,
they stay at number one, and then the community will
call number two, three, four, five, six. They'll call down
the wait list until someone takes the apartment, and then
(27:58):
everyone moves up underneath that. In a couple of weeks
or a month, they're going to call them back. Are
you ready for that apartment? Nope, not quite ready, not
quite ready for that yet, call us the next time.
We're getting real close though, right. And they'll do this
over and over and over again until the timing is right,
and then they choose to move their mother when the
(28:20):
time is right for them. But they have that option
because we went out early. We were proactive, We did
our search and selection process. They chose a couple of
great places. They love both of them equally. Now they
have some options. That's a smart thing to do, by
the way. So when I was doing the homework for them,
(28:42):
I was caught a little bit off guard, and I
don't usually get caught off guard. So I was calling
around all of these assisted living level memory care programs,
and I was asking the cost, because typically assisted living
is somewhere in the six thousand to eight thousand dollars
(29:03):
a month range hands attended to two for assisted living
memory care, it could be just a little more than that,
but I was very surprised to see prices of ninety
eight hundred dollars a month, eighty nine hundred dollars a month.
(29:25):
One of them had three different tiers, three different levels
of care, if you will, peeking out at about eleven
five hundred dollars a month. All that caught me off guard.
So I thought, now, wait a minute, there's been a
big jump here recently. And I thought, well, wait a minute.
I was at this particular place just about six months ago.
(29:47):
So I went back and I checked the rates from
six months ago, and they had had a and this
isn't a normal price increase, this is a market adjustment.
They increased their cost by eleven hundred dollars a month.
And now it's just like whoa, whoa. That is how
did that happen? I have my theory on how and
(30:07):
why that happened, but the point is it did happen.
So if you are in the market for the assisted
living level of care in you're needing memory care, okay,
just expect that the prices for that, for that exact
fit have gone up pretty dramatically at least in the
(30:29):
Kansas City area over the last six months.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert brought
to you by Senior Care Live.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
All right, so again your traditional assisted living apartment. Of course,
you know, a studio apartment is less than a one bedroom,
is less than a two bedroom. And then typically if
you need a little bit of help with that level
of care, there's a little bit added on to it.
If you need a lot of help, there's a lot
(31:02):
added on to it. That's where you get that six
to eight thousand dollars average amount, and then you might
as well add a thousand. I used to say, add
five hundred bucks a month for memory care. Now we're
gonna add one thousand to two or three thousand dollars
to that for the assistant living memory care. So again,
if this is making your head spending, you're like, well,
(31:22):
wait a minute, I think we're gonna need some help
with this. I would invite you, it would be my
honor to serve you and your family through my firm,
Senior Care Consulting nine to one, three, nine four five,
twenty eight hundred or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
and coming up next, we're going to talk about long
term care.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest of his show.
This is Seniorcare Live dot Com. We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare live
dot com. All right, today it's all about the different
levels of care, the costs, what they do, what they provide.
When a little consumer alert, I'm still surprised there was
(32:30):
a significant market adjustment. Just happened, had to have happened
over the past few months, and just just amazing, amazing.
So anyway, let's move on to the highest level of care.
I refer to that as long term care. A lot
of folks still call that nursing home, which is okay,
(32:51):
I'm not mad at you. That's what has been called
for decades. I'll tell you the business, the industry, they
don't like that nursing home term because it comes with
a stereotype and a lot of negative baggage. So I
would remind them it's well earned negative baggage, but noneth
(33:12):
but there is nothing like that today. So to be
fair about it, it was really bad back in the
dark days, and now it's so much better. There's so
much more regulation and oversight. You could you can never
get away with that today. Plus you wouldn't be competitive.
So anyway, let's not get too far off on that,
all right, long term care long at the long term
(33:36):
care level of care, I call that it is the
medical model, and they provide everything that assisted living does
plus full medical care. So what you would add there
some of these assisted living I mean you have a
little bit of gray, you might have just a tiny
bit of crossover. But in long term care diabetic management
(34:01):
with insulin injections, most assisted living communities can't do that
because if you need them to manage the glucose and
then do the injections, you have to have at least
an LPN overnight r twenty four hours a day. Most
of them do not. They have one on call. Most
of them do not. Now some of them do, okay,
(34:22):
and that's that assisted living level of care that is
not this standardized, uniform model. Okay, you've got a lot
of leeway there. Most of them are not going to
be able to do that. So long term care, so
the medical side of things, diabetic management with insulin injection,
wound care, urinary catheter care, feeding tubes, full physical care,
(34:49):
two person transfer, maybe even using a mechanical lift to
help a person from point A to point B. There
is a tremendous amount of care and a lot of
that is going to be on the medical side of things,
which is going to require more r ends and LPNs.
Now what happens when you get to long term care
is this is the most restrictive level of care. It's
(35:11):
not much about your personal space and it's mostly about
the care that you receive. You could get two or
three or four hours of hands on care per day
in long term care level. All right, See, you have
a couple of different options. You'll have a shared room.
I've generally been calling it a shared room. At most
(35:32):
in the industry is still call it a semi private room.
But it's you have a roommate. Okay, So you're sharing
a room and the cost of that is going to
be somewhere between about eighty five hundred dollars a month
to you know, maybe around ten thousand dollars per month.
Every month they provide everything for you, and that's that's
(35:55):
a shared situation. And again, your space comes at a premium.
So if you want on a private room, hold on
to your checkbooks. Eleven or twelve thousand dollars a month
to maybe fifteen sixteen thousand dollars a month, super super expensive.
Now I'm not going to get into Medicaid today, but
(36:15):
one of the questions that I ask all of my
clients is there a chance that you may outlive your assets.
If the answer is yes, then some part of our
equation needs to be long term care that is Medicaid certified.
And these are all the things that we think through,
we think ahead, and we really have an excellent and
(36:38):
solid plan when we're working with our clients with Senior
Care Consulting, this is a premium placement service with integrity.
It's a premium service. Again. If this is all making
your head spend a little bit and you're like, oh
my gosh, I didn't even know about any of this stuff,
We're going to need some help. We're in over our heads.
(37:00):
We could use experts helping us so that we don't
make a mistake. Give us a call at Senior Care
Consulting at nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred.
It's nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred,
or you can visit us online. It's an excellent website
Senior Care Consulting dot com. And recently, I'll tell you
(37:24):
what I worked with. Just the nicest lady. She was
so sweet, she was also really just. She was tired,
she was pretty spent, and she cares for her husband
and God bless him. Super nice guy, just just the
nicest guy.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
He's a ten year stroke survivor, and so you know,
he's been learning how to do things, you know without
you know, one side which is partially paralyzed. That that's
very common in a stroke. And he's done a good
job and he's pretty darn independent. But his wife helps
him with a lot of a lot of things, a
lot of things around the house. And she asked me
(38:05):
to come over and we chatted, and she shared with
me that she's been contacted by a couple of these
free referral services. She said, they drugged me all over
town and they're trying, she said, really really hard. They're
trying to get me to move into a continuing care
retirement community with her husband. But and I said, well, so,
(38:28):
I mean, did you choose one or how can I
help you? She said, I just don't know. And so anyway,
long story short, that's not for her. The independent living
part of it is absolutely not for her and her husband.
It is not a good fit. And she said, I mean,
I don't know. Do you want to work with me
and we'll just go out and maybe you know, you
can show me you know, something different or whatever. And
(38:50):
I said, ma'am, with all due respect, I don't it
doesn't sound because we had a lengthy conversation about this.
I said, it just doesn't sound like that's a fit
for you. You are living in independent living right now, in
your beautiful home, so don't move. And she was just shocked.
(39:11):
She said, well, you mean you're not trying to make
a sale and get me to move somewhere. And I'm like, no, no,
this is about what's doing right, understanding what you need
and then I can help, you know, basically figure out
the right fit and then the best place available. But
I would stay home right now you are living in
independent living. I would bring in some support from a
(39:33):
non medical in home assistance program I generally call it
home care. I would bring someone in two or three
times a week to give you a break, let you
do some of your stuff, that can help out your husband,
help you out around the house. That would be a
tremendous support. I would stay home. Your house is paid off.
I'd stay home. And then when you need to move
(39:54):
to assistant living connected to long term care, I'm your guy.
I will help you vet that, I'll help you find
your your top options and we will take care of
that for you, and we'll do that together. And she
was just relieved that we have a plan available. If
you want that level of consulting and consistency, and if
you appreciate someone who knows what they're doing, a professional
(40:18):
in this area of expertise here, and if you appreciate
a premium service, give us a call at Senior Care
Consulting nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred
or online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. All right, I'm
Steve Keeker, and I wish you grace and peace. May
(40:38):
God bless you and your family on this day and
always join me next week right here on Senior Care Live. 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
(41:02):
the right senior care community, including assisted living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
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
(41:23):
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
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
(41:47):
dot com. Does your business serve the elderly and their
caregivers in our area?
Speaker 1 (41:52):
There are hundreds of thousands of people either receiving or
providing senior care, and they need to know about you.
A unique and sycts zessful 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 currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and
(42:13):
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
(42:34):
has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities, so call
now at nine one three nine four five twenty eight
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