Mary Grosserode, a Senior Living Advisor at Clare Senior Advisors, has helped hundreds (if not thousands) of seniors and their families with this question over her 20+ year career in Senior Living. Her advice to clients is "if you look before you have to and move before you need to, the decision will always be yours." In other words, don't let a future medical event determine where/how you live.
"If you look before you have to and move before you need to, the decision will always be yours." -Mary Grosserode, Senior Advisor at Clare Senior Advisors
At their core, Mary and the other Senior Living Advisors at Clare Senior Advisors, want their clients to be in control of their own destiny. This often means having honest conversations about a client's needs, their support system, and the ways a support system could become stressed and/or break. Most families set up a support network based on their loved one's "average" or even "good" days. If the plan doesn't include practical interventions for someone's "worst" day, it will fail to keep the individual safe. At Clare Senior Advisors, we urge our clients to plan for their worst day.
Understanding your, or a loved one's, needs is critical to determining when a move to Assisted Living is needed and appropriate. Planning for scheduled needs is easy, whereas being realistic and pragmatic about unanticipated needs is difficult. Any good plan includes an analysis of the person's living situation, location/availability of caregivers, layout of their home/apartment, frequency of in-person/virtual caregiver check-ins, the individual's willingness to ask for and accept help, a review of current and projected health needs, etc.... Nolan Clare, Founder of Clare Senior Advisors, often says "when making a plan to care for a loved one, people should turn to trusted professionals who are experienced in the field of senior health. These professionals will have the experience, training, and knowledge to help you consider things that hadn't crossed your mind."
"When making a plan to care for a loved one, People should turn to trusted professionals who are experienced in the field of senior health. These professionals have the experience, training, and knowledge to help you consider things that hadn't crossed your mind." -Nolan Clare, Founder of Clare Senior Advisors
An experienced and knowledgeable Senior Health professional will help you identify risks and potential solutions to mitigate them. A good plan will include a discussion about senior living options and when a move to Assisted Living may be appropriate. This conversation should center around your current and anticipated needs as well as your wishes. For many people, services can be brought into the home so a move to Assisted Living can be delayed. For others, they may need to move into Assisted Living in the near future or simply decide that it's the right time for them because they want an improved lifestyle.
Thoughtful planning and research will help you and your family determine the "right" time to move to Assisted Living. The Advisors at Clare Senior Advisors are always ready to have a conversation. We have helped hundreds of seniors in the Omaha, NE area plan for their current and future care needs. Our services are free to seniors in Omaha, Bellevue, Elkhorn, La Vista, Papillion, Ralston, and Gretna, NE as well as in Council Bluffs, IA.
