The Perfect Senior Residence

As I have mentioned, upon moving to Portland, Oregon, our family had the task of finding the right assisted living situation for our 99 year old auntie. With the amazing women of Golden Placements we found the perfect place. The Heights At Columbia Knoll was our choice. Many factors went into deciding upon this particular place. First was the level of professionalism and care that Aunt Ruth would get. Services, cost, cleanliness, and location were all important as well. The location was perfect as it is less than 10 minutes from my home and about the same for my daughter. So this insured that Auntie would have visits from us frequently. It is also a beautiful facility. It is situated on 9 acres, with soaring Doug Fir trees and a view of Mt. St. Helens, and the Cascade Range. My aunts apartment has a view of the "dog play" area, so she can enjoy the antics of the resident pooches. The food is incredibly good, in fact Auntie says that the clam chowder is the best she has ever had! A big plus for us that she can get her meals "to go" or even order them delivered to her room. There are so many amenities that have made it the perfect place for us as a family and also our dear aunt. The website is www.TheHeightsatCK.com There are many things to consider when choosing a facility such as this, and especially for a member of the family that is frail, or quite elderly, as moving is a huge stress, so avoid the need to do that and make sure you do your homework before making the final choice. I just want to say one more thing about The Heights, and that is the professionalism and kindness of the staff. they truly go out of their way to accommodate the resident.

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

Moving During Retirement Years

One year ago, I wrote that I had my house for sale and I was planning to move out of town. that was sometime ago, so I will refresh your memory. I am retired, and realized that I really wanted to spend this last third of my life closer to my daughter and my family. I have lived in beautiful Ashland Oregon for nearly 40 years now, so it was a big decision. Well, now I am living in Portland, Oregon and am so happy that I decided to go ahead with it.

In the 14 months that my home was on the market, (yep, 14 long months) I learned so many things about moving as an older person, (not ancient, older.............) and in the next few weeks I would like to share those things with you. The emotional, physical, and spiritual sides of us will be effected by this huge change. Oh, in case you forgot, I also moved my 99 year old aunt. I asked her of course if she was interested and she, like me, wanted to be closer to loved ones for whatever time she has left. So, along with all my personal growth, pain, joy and new understandings, I got to look into the world of Senior Assisted Living, and all that goes along with that.

So, stay tuned my friends, more on the move of Karen and Ruth to the Rose City!

Keeping your retirement home safe

Some of us retirees have lived in our family home for 30 years. Others have opted for a more carefree lifestyle in one of the many types of resort-style retirement communities or some variation of a continuing care retirement community (See April 5, 2009 post). If you're one of the former group of retirees who just can't let go of the big family home and yard, then you need to think about keeping your retirement environment safe.

As a Home Health Physical Therapist, I have gathered up a lot of ideas for home safety for seniors, and will share some of them with you in the next several blogs. While retirement communities and assisted living apartments have often designed their units with home safety for seniors in mind, many of these principles can also be applied. These may seem like pure common sense, but if you gain even one bit of knowledge that will prevent a fall, I have done my job!

The first area I will address is the bathroom. This is probably one of the most common places that falls occur.

1) Make sure bathroom rugs are securely attached to the floor or have rubberized non-slip backing.

2) Install grab bars in the shower. Make sure they are anchored into studs.

3) Use a tub transfer bench or a shower chair if appropriate.

4) Put non-skid tape or decals on the floor of your tub or shower.

5) Install night lights in hallways, bathrooms, and bedrooms.

6) Keep trash receptacles emptied so debris does not accumulate and spill over onto the floor.

7) Keep shower curtains inside the tub so water doesn’t spill out onto the floor.

8) Wipe up spills promptly.

9) Keep soap within easy reach while you are in the tub or shower, and make sure soap dish is located so soap does not fall out of tub or shower stall onto the floor.

10) Install a fan in the bathroom so steam from the bath or shower does not build up.

11 Organize cabinets so you don’t have to stretch and reach overhead.

12) Use non-skid floor wax, or none at all.

13) Consider using a bedside commode if you have to get up frequently in the night to go to the bathroom.

14) Use a toilet riser or install grab bars if you have difficulty arising from a low toilet seat. Make sure they are securely installed.