Finding the Right Assisted Living Facility

After finding out that we could afford an assisted living facility for my aunt (thanks to the veterans widow benefits) I faced the problem of how to find and select one. Since we were moving from Ashland, Oregon to Portland, Oregon, I was not familiar with our new destination. The wonderful women at Care Options Resources (who did the paper work for our veterans application) suggested I call Golden Placements. They explained that they are two women who have a business that specializes in helping families find an appropriate placement for their loved one. They offer their services free of charge to the family and receive a payment from the facility that the family chooses. A real win, win for everyone. Well, these two delightful people are really angels dressed up like ordinary women. Cherie became our go to person and she started the process by interviewing me thoroughly about my aunt. Asking what things she like, disliked, her body size, her personality traits, her interests, and on and on. It was so impressive to me that they were really interested in a good match. So, I traveled to Portland when they had lined up 4 facilities for me and my daughter to look at. As Cherie accompanied us through the apartments, dining rooms, beauty shops and all the various services that were offered, she asked very good questions of the staff, and pointed out things to us that we may have overlooked. After a long day, we finally chose a place for Aunt Ruth, and made the deposit. You will have to wait until tomorrow to find out where Auntie is living now, but I want to emphasize the fantastic service we received from Golden Placements. Go to www.goldenplacement.com to learn more about this respectful, helpful, nearly life saving business.

Financial Assistance for Widows of Veterans

Yesterday I told you that my 99 year old aunt agreed to move to Portland with me. So, during the months to sell my house I kept exploring possible housing ideas for her. We had thought I would make enough from the sale of my home to buy something in Portland that would have a mother-in-law unit or some kind of separate living quarters for her at my new place. Well, the real estate market did not cooperate with me, and my home sold for much less than we had expected. My auntie lives on social security, so there were really no funds for us to pay for an assisted living facility. I applied to many HUD funded senior apartments, but the waiting list was one to five years! That could be a deal breaker for a 99 year old! So, through a very kind person who works for a high end Senior Retirement facility, I found an amazing, life saving organization. It is called Care Option Resources in Portland, OR. www.careoptionsresources.com When I called them to ask for any ideas about adequate housing for my dear elder, they asked me the question "Was she married to a Veteran?" And I told them yes, she was, and he had passed about 10 years ago. They asked some more questions about her income, health needs, etc. And, the good, actually GREAT news, is that it looked like she was eligible for financial assistance for housing. And the amount would be around $1000 a month! I could hardly hold back the tears of joy when I heard this. With her social security, and this assistance, she could live in an assisted living facility and be very well taken care of.

Care Options does the paper work, and of course with the government, there are stacks of it. They charge a very reasonable fee for this, and I would have paid twice the amount for the service. I want to share this information with as many people as I can, as this is not well known and I think of all the men and women who could have lived in a much more secure and healthy place had they been aware. I am sure that there are other non-profit organizations like Care Options in other states. You might contact them to get some referrals.

OK................more of the moving adventures tomorrow.

Karen