by Diane Masson | Jan 31, 2016
Or is it easier to say, “I am too busy!” And you work through lunch again?
Burnt out employees in senior living can become cranky and irritable. It can affect the quality of service to senior residents. The grouchiness can wash into home life too.
Do yourself a favor and invest in yourself and your team.
Start a new book review with your senior living sales or operations team. Read one chapter a week or two chapters a month. Select a book and have each person apply the principles in each chapter to his or her senior living position.
One of my teams is reading, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full.” Its focus is written for retirement communities, but the principles can easily be converted to assisted living, skilled nursing or memory care communities. Feedback from teams on a nationwide basis has insisted this book has helped their occupancy grow.
My sales teams are currently reading, “How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling,” and, “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” book has you read a scroll three times a day for one month before you move onto the subsequent scroll with the next principle. This is the third time in my life reading this book daily for 10 months. Each time it changed my life in a positive significant way.
Start growing yourself and your team! Watch your attitude soar! The occupancy will follow in an upward direction. It is guaranteed!
Diane Masson has worked in senior housing for 18 years and is the regional marketing director for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern CA (Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). Her first book “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is being utilized by senior housing professionals across the country. Both her first book and second book, “Your Senior Housing Options,” have 5-star ratings on Amazon.com.
by Diane Masson | Nov 22, 2015
What should this senior couple do? They sold their home that they could not manage any more and decided to move into an independent rental retirement community in Orange County, California. The couple has an income of $3,600 a month, but their monthly rent is $5,200. (The senior couple’s rent includes three meals a day, wellness classes, entertainment, housekeeping, transportation and etc.) So $1,600 is taken out of their savings for rent on a monthly basis, plus they still have to pay for telephone, Internet, hair styling, car bills, pharmaceuticals, insurances and possibly even gifts and travel.
This senior couple is just one example. Their plight is not uncommon. Thousands of seniors are concerned that their meager savings are eroding too quickly.
What happens when a senior needs assisted living? How will they afford it? What if one of them has a debilitating stroke and needs long-term skilled nursing? On a nationwide basis, it averages $80,000 a year.
Are you aware that board and care homes in Orange County California recently went up $1,000 to $1,500 a month because of the increase to minimum wage? Board and cares are the least expensive options for seniors needing assisted living type care. How will seniors afford the care now?
Social security is not increasing for seniors in 2016.
Costs for independent living, assisted living, memory care and Continuing Care Retirement Communities will continue to rise as food, utilities and minimum wage goes up. Most of these retirement communities are saddled with a 50 to 100 million mortgage. The residents will be making those interest payments too.
Here’s a tip: Ask what the history of the year-over-year monthly fee increases have been. What will it be in 2016? Some predictions are 5 – 8 percent increases? What have you heard?
It is getting tougher for seniors to make decisions and plan for their future.
Here’s another tip: Sometimes that one time investment at a Continuing Care Retirement Community ends up costing you less in the long run. Figure out the break-even point for you. Many offer you support if you outlive your resources. Ask lots of questions and do not rely on verbal promises of senior living sales people.
News Flash: Diane Masson’s new interview on Generation Bold Radio will broadcast on Sunday, December 6th on the BizTalkRadio Network syndicated to 33 stations across the country.
Diane Masson is a senior living expert who has authored two 5-star rated books sold through Amazon. Her new book is an all-encompassing answer guide for seniors called, “Your Senior Housing Options,” designed to help seniors navigate choices quickly. The second book was written for senior living professionals called, Senior Housing Marketing – How To Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full. Reach out to her through her website: Tips2Seniors.com and read the weekly blog.
by Diane Masson | Oct 25, 2015
Residents and staff from Freedom Village in Lake Forest walking for Alzheimer’s!
If enough of us keep walking and raising funds for Alzheimer’s we will eventually find a cure for this detrimental disease that affects so many seniors including my mother-in-law.
Almost $110,000 was raised by 741 walkers at the Laguna Niguel Alzheimer’s Walk on October 24, 2015. It was my first time raising awareness for Alzheimer’s in California. I was part of team Freedom Village (a Continuing Care Retirement Community in Lake Forest) who came in seventh for fundraising.
My mom had dementia for nine years and died in April. I watched the disease rob her of the ability to communicate. Her last and final roommate in skilled nursing was a wonderful woman who is still battling Alzheimer’s. I rode the bus to and from the Alzheimer’s walk with her husband. He shared the struggle of trying to keep his wife independent as long as possible. He had alarms on the doors to wake him if she tried to wander off in the night. Eventually, those alarms where not enough to contain her at night. He had to find her a safer home.
This brilliant husband took his wife one day a week to Silverado memory care to participate in activities. After several months he increased it to two times a week. She was so comfortable there that she would walk in and immediately be engaged with a staff person and walk to an activity. Then the decision was finally made to make it a permanent move. This time the community recommended that he not return for one week, so that his wife could adjust. She did adapt. In her three years at the community, she never asked once to go home.
At the walk, I learned that Alzheimer’s affects more women than men. It was a beautiful experience to walk side-by-side with other people that have been touched by this mind-altering disease. People carried blue flowers if they had Alzheimer’s. I carried a purple flower because my mom died from dementia. Other colors of flowers that people carried signified being a caregiver or financial supporter of Alzheimer’s.
All the Freedom Village residents and staff had a blast. Imagine what we can do next year in group participation and fund raising. We will build on our momentum and team enthusiasm from our first annual walk for Alzheimer’s.
How have you raised awareness for Alzheimer’s? Let’s keep this conversation going on social media to find a cure soon.
#Walk2EndALZ #freedomvillagelakeforest #silverado
Diane Masson is a sought after author, blogger, speaker and regional marketing director. She is very passionate about advocating for seniors on a nationwide basis and educating them about their future choices. She just published a book to help seniors take the guess work out of selecting senior housing options or staying home. It is called, “Your Senior Housing Options.” Her other book has been popular with senior housing professionals on a nationwide basis. It is called, “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full.” You can contact her through her website at tips2seniors.com.
by Diane Masson | Aug 9, 2015
My seatmate flying up to Seattle shared that his mom can no longer prepare her own meals. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about one year ago. She is currently living in Washington State and can no longer drive. The local family needs to bring her meals to sustain her.
Is it fair to rely on your family to keep you at home?
The mom refused to move to California to live with one of her sons. He specifically bought a home with a “mother-in-law apartment” for her. But she did not want to leave her home or local friends.
Another adult child comes monthly to take her to doctor appointments. My seatmate, her son, visits her about every six months because he lives 1000 miles away.
The family is getting together from all over the country to celebrate her milestone birthday. They are going to discuss future care options, because she is not safe living alone.
I suggested he read my new book to help him with his dilemma. He learned that the assisted living community under consideration is about $5,000 a month. He didn’t know that transitioning to skilled nursing care at some point could cost the family around $90,000 a year on a national basis. The family figured all the children could chip in to support mom to live in a higher level of care. So they want to check out her possible VA Benefits as the spouse of a deceased Veteran. So I shared with him that for VA Benefits to begin, three keys need to happen:
- The mom needs to spend down her assets.
- She will require a certain amount of care dictated by the VA. (These are called ADLS or activities of daily living. Such care includes: bathing, dressing, three meals a day, transportation assistance, medication management and etc.)
- She or her spouse will have needed to serve during one day of active war.
A Veteran gets about $2,000 a month and a spouse gets approximately half of that. The paperwork is complicated, so it is best to have someone who specializes in VA Benefits fill out the paperwork.
His mom still has a house to sell. Some assisted living communities who offer Medicaid require a senior to private pay for a year or two before needing Medicaid. So I suggested the family plan ahead now while she still has a house to sell. Then when she runs out of money, she could be at a community that will transition her onto Medicaid.
Some states like California do not offer Medicaid assistance to those needing assisted living. It is important to plan ahead now.
Any other suggestions for this family? What have you experienced? For more information on VA Benefits go to: http://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/ Photo credit: http://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/
Your Senior Housing Options,” has a simplistic title, but what’s inside this new book can save a you months of research time. Hear Diane Masson’s interview of how her mother and in-law’s faced the pivotal decision to plan ahead or wait until a crisis. Learn the pitfalls from transitioning from your home to senior housing. Understand what questions to ask, insider tips and dirty secrets revealed. The decision to stay home requires caregivers. Prevent elder abuse by determining if a home care agency is reputable, before they move into your home. You are just not looking for today’s needs, but for your future care. Discover key differences between rental facilities vs Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Do you have enough financial resources if you need to be in a higher level of care for an extended period of time? For weekly tips join at: Www.Tips2Seniors.com
Diane Masson has worked in senior housing for 17 years and is the regional marketing director for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern CA (Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). Her first book “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is being utilized by senior housing professionals across the country. Both her first book and second book, “Your Senior Housing Options,” have a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
by Diane Masson | Jul 19, 2015
End of life decisions are so difficult for an advocate to make for his or her’s senior parent. A few months ago, I had to make tough choices for my mom before she passed. A month ago, my husband and his family faced difficult choices for his dad.
My father-in-law, Bill, had been on home hospice with 24/7 care for about three months. He was frail (worn out from being a caregiver for his wife who had Alzheimer’s), had inoperable blockages in his heart, had four small strokes that my sister-in-law witnessed and was frustrated with early dementia.
He was reaching for the cat when he fell.
The hospital determined that his pelvis was fractured in multiple locations and his femur (thigh bone) was broken. So Bill would be bed ridden the rest of his life. Sigh…he was in so much pain.
They were turning Bill every two hours to prevent bedsores. He could only be on his back and the side without the broken femur. He was a two-person transfer.
The fall that sent him to the hospital was a non-hospice related incident so it was covered by insurance. With no hope of improvement the hospital determined that he was once again comfort care. So according to the hospital, he was a hospice patent who needed to move out of the hospital or pay privately.
The only skilled nursing care facility in the area was not an option (bad reputation). There were no hospice facilities in the local area.
So the only two choices were:
- Stay in the hospital for a cost of $48,000 a month.
- Go home with two around-the-clock caregivers for a cost of $32,000 a month (because he was a two person transfer). The going home option would require my sister-in-law to stay home (she works full time) and manage the caregivers. The family would have to reimburse her normal salary.
My wonderful but exhausted sister-in-law found a temporary solution, which she badly needed. It is called hospice respite care, which includes a 5-day stay. Medicare Part A will pay for up to five days of respite care for a hospice patent who is otherwise cared for in the home. It gives a break to the caregiver. It can be provided in a hospice facility, nursing home or hospital. So we started the 5-day clock and didn’t have to move Bill. He was so frail and moving him would have been horrible painful. He died about three days later, pain free, with family at his side.
He worked hard his whole life and the family agreed upfront to pay the $48,000 a month after the respite 5-day stay.
What if a senior does not have this kind of money or a home to sell?
My own 92 year old mother died in skilled nursing care on Medi-cal. It was in a caring compassionate 5-star rated skilled nursing community called Freedom Village in Lake Forest, CA. My mom was lucky. Many skilled nursing facilities that offer Medicaid assistance are not wonderful experiences.
Families need to research choices, advocate and make the best end of life decisions possible at the time.
Hospice Note: Our family’s goal was for Bill to die at home. My sister-in-law was fully prepared through hospice to make this happen. Bill’s devastating fall that required a two person transfer changed the situation. Just shifting him in his hospital bed was horribly painful. We could not imagine moving him in a ambulance at this point to any another location.
This situation is still very raw for me and it has taken me over a month to be able to write about this topic in my blog.
Your Senior Housing Options,” has a simplistic title, but what’s inside this new book can save a you months of research time. Hear Diane Masson’s interview of how her mother and in-law’s faced the pivotal decision to plan ahead or wait until a crisis. Learn the pitfalls from transitioning from your home to senior housing. Understand what questions to ask, insider tips and dirty secrets revealed. The decision to stay home requires caregivers. Prevent elder abuse by determining if a home care agency is reputable, before they move into your home. You are just not looking for today’s needs, but for your future care. Discover key differences between rental facilities vs Continuing Care Retirement Communities. Do you have enough financial resources if you need to be in a higher level of care for an extended period of time? For weekly tips join at: Www.Tips2Seniors.com
Diane Masson has worked in senior housing for 17 years and is the regional marketing director for two debt-free Continuing Care Retirement Communities in Southern CA (Freedom Village in Lake Forest and The Village in Hemet). Her first book “Senior Housing Marketing – How to Increase Your Occupancy and Stay Full,” is being utilized by senior housing professionals across the country. Both her first book and second book, “Your Senior Housing Options,” have a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
