Learn free tips and advice from a senior living expert who has walked the journey with thousands of seniors in four states. Diane Masson’s professional and personal senior living experience includes:
Identifying the important considerations of staying home versus moving to a retirement community.
Helping her own mom plan ahead and move to a Continuing Care Retirement Community, before she had dementia.
Supporting her in-laws when they were simultaneously in hospitals and had to be put into different facilities (assisted living and skilled nursing).
A staff talent show for the residents. The Human Resources Director organized the the talent show and the Activity Director invited the residents. The admission ticket was any donation to Alzheimer’s. Both the dress rehearsal at the all staff meeting and the main show for the residents were full houses.
The Sunshine Group at Freedom Village had been making adult coloring placemats for skilled nursing resident’s food trays. Select drawings were shrunk down, shellacked onto tiles and sold in four packs with stickers notating the resident artist.
Third, residents, staff and a Girl Scout troop proudly arrived at the walk wearing “Freedom to Thrive” T-shirts.
The Community Relations Director was interviewed on local TV discussing the walk.
This is a simple recipe for PR success, but it took a lot of teamwork. This project was overseen by a very creative community relations director, Stephanie Riggs.
This video will explain the three levels of care in senior housing. It identifies health requirements to move into an independent retirement community. Learn what happens if a senior or couple qualify to move into a retirement community, then change their mind(s). Can the senior or couple still qualify one year later if their health worsens? When does a senior with memory loss or dementia bypass their opportunity to move into an independent setting at a retirement community? These are expert answers by award winning author Diane Masson. She has written two books about senior housing: “Your Senior Housing Options” for seniors and “Senior Housing Marketing” for professionals.
Diane Masson is the regional marketing director of two Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern California, Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet. Connect with her at tips2seniors.com
Your Senior Housing Options book was a winner in the 25th annual National Mature Media Awards Program. The program, presented by the Mature Market Resource Center, a national clearinghouse for the senior market, recognizes the nation’s best marketing, communications, educational materials, and programs designed and produced for older adults. Your Senior Housing Options written by Diane Masson received an award for the Book Category. Those involved with the design and production of “Your Senior Housing Options,” are author Diane Twohy Masson and illustrator Steve Hartley. Editors included Kim E. Kimmy, Jeannette Acheson, Suzanne Kaye, Stefan Moses, and Joyce Ball.
“We were delighted to take part in the Mature Media Awards Program this year, and were honored to be selected as a winner,” says Diane Twohy Masson. The book was written to help seniors and adult children understand future housing needs, options and costs. Masson has worked in senior housing for 18 years and helped thousands of seniors plan ahead. She has also witnessed the negative consequences and costs of procrastinating until a crisis through her in-laws and other seniors in denial of needing future care.
The entries were judged by a distinguished panel of mature market experts from across the United States for overall excellence of design, content, creativity and relevance to the senior market.
Self-driving cars are here. The first self-driving taxi was launched in Singapore, only navigating in a limited portion of the city. Google has logged more than 1.5 million miles in self-driving cars in four states here in America. The Ford Company announced its plan to have a driverless car by 2021. USA Today, stated experts believe that driverless cars will be available to the public in 2020. We are just a few years away – wow!
Seniors who have vision or other health challenges can become independent again with these state-of-the-art cars. But with 50% of seniors having dementia at age 85, a driverless car may strand disoriented seniors who can’t remember the make and model of their car or where they parked it.
Some seniors base their decision to move into a retirement community on when they can’t pass the driver’s license exam.
At first glance, it seems that retirement communities that offer transportation will be able to eliminate the driving staff. Right? Wrong!! Don’t be so fast to downsize these crucial senior assistants.
Can a driverless car at a retirement community help seniors:
In and out of the cars and buses as a senior becomes more frail?
Load and unload groceries?
Locate their doctor’s office in the medical building if the senior has dementia?
Make sure he/she can return safely to their home after an appointment?
Only drivers at retirement communities can help with all of the above scenarios.
Join the conversation and share your Tips2Seniors here through comments.
Diane Masson is an award winning author who passionately educates seniors about senior housing options through television, radio, a Tips2seniors.com blog and Southern California seminars (at 55-plus retirement communities, churches and Continuing Care Retirement Communities like Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). “Your Senior Housing Options,” just won the 2016 Mature Media Award.
Learn valuable tips to differentiate quality retirement communities from mediocre ones in an interview with author and senior housing expert, Diane Masson.
Answers for seniors, adult children and family members in “Your Senior Housing Options,”authored by Diane Masson. It’s available on Amazon.com with a 5-star rating.
