It can be quite overwhelming to make the big decision of choosing a retirement home for yourself or your loved one. A variety of options for retirement homes to suit various needs are growing by the day, unlike in the past when one size fits all. Modern senior living providers understand the importance of a well-rounded lifestyle and personalized. Senior Living now offers luxury amenities and lifestyle services well beyond basic senior care. When looking for a suitable retirement home, you should evaluate it based on factors like access to health care, location, security, accessibility, cost, lifestyle, and more. With the plethora of options available today, finding a retirement home best suited to your needs can be quite overwhelming. Where do you even begin? Given below are the steps to go about it and the factors to consider, to choose comfort and care for yourself or your loved one.
Steps to Find a Suitable Retirement Home
- Consult a Family Advisor
Being trained experts in senior care, Family Advisors have the resources to do an in-depth search of retirement homes in every state of the country. They offer free service to seniors and their families and will let you know of benefits, like Veterans Benefits, that you may be eligible to avail of. So, consult a family advisor to start the process.
- Determine the Level of Care Needed
Retirement homes offer a wide range of care, from Independent Living for active seniors to Assisted Living with varying degrees of care, to facilities that specialize in Memory Care, and more. Since. within each of these levels of care, there are varying types of communities and amenities available, you must know which type is suitable to your needs. The Family Advisor will ask you questions to determine the right level of care for yourself or a loved one to help you whittle down your search to the best options for your needs.
- Decide on Your Budget
Retirement homes cater to a variety of budgets, from affordable to very expensive for luxury communities. Hence, you need to establish a realistic budget that is based on your available resources. Here a Family Advisor will help you to explore all of the potential sources of money to pay for senior living, including Veterans Benefits, Social Security, Long-term care insurance, Family contributions, Life insurance, Local government programs Pensions, annuities, and other retirement income, Real estate assets and other assets that can be sold or leveraged, Medicare and Medicaid.
- Shortlist Retirement Homes in the Target Areas
With the help of your family advisor, you can shortlist the communities that meet your desired care level and amenities, are within your budget, and are in the desired locations considering the distance from your loved ones. Your family advisor will provide you with details such as features and amenities, pictures, prices, consumer reviews, and more. They will also fix a suitable time to tour the shortlisted communities in your area.
- Tour the Shortlisted Retirement Homes
Seeing is believing! Whatever the information regarding the retirement communities available online, there is no substitute for touring. It is essential to see the environment for yourself, enjoy the amenities, experience the atmosphere, meet the staff and the residents, taste the food, and visualize what it will be like to live there. If you are unable to visit the retirement community in person for any reason, set up a live virtual tour, where you can see the community in real-time and ask questions to community staff.
- Know what to ask
Visiting communities or doing a virtual live tour is a great opportunity to get the essential information you need to make the right decision. Your questions may be regarding the availability of medical help in an emergency, staffing, nutrition, healthcare, living spaces, activities, or any other concerns you might have. Also keep your eyes and ears open for what the current residents have to say about the facilities and services, watch for maintenance and feel the vibes. Your faculties would not lie to you!
- Select the Most Suitable Retirement Home
After touring the shortlisted communities, take the time to decide. Sometimes your gut feeling may guide you. Otherwise, contemplate what is most important to you and base your decision on that. If you need to make frequent doctor’s or hospital visits, choose a community that they are most readily accessible from. If you need frequent help with activities of daily living, choose a community that is well-staffed or has the highest caregiver-to-care recipient ratio. If you love outings, choose a community close to movie theatres, shopping malls, restaurants, playhouses, etc.
Considerations for Choosing a Retirement Home
- Location
Your choice of location should be guided by the accessibility and distance from your loved ones, whether the weather round the year is to your preference, how close the medical and entertainment facilities etc.
- Medical care
At this stage of life, the availability of medical care should be of prime importance to you. The standard of medical care available to you near the retirement community or within the community should be an important consideration. Are there specialists nearby accepting new patients? You must take detailed information from the retirement home about the local, reputable medical practitioners including a primary care physician, eye doctor, dentist, and more. Moreover, there should be great hospitals nearby, as they could make the critical difference between life and death in the event of an emergency. Some retirement homes may also offer on-site medical care.
- Installation of Safety Features
Details like accessibility, safety features, and maintenance can reveal a lot about the retirement home. Details like walkability, elevators, biking paths, stairlifts, widened doors, and wheelchair ramps should be compared apart from other safety features like grab bars, handrails, and zero-threshold showers.
- Consider the Housing Options Available
You need to ensure that your new retirement home is as comfortable as your own home, if not more. Consider the various housing options available, like apartments or cottages, or suites. Whether they are comfortable, have the right amount of space, enough storage, and you can bring your furnishings and decorations? Does the layout suit your lifestyle and activities and more importantly, can you picture yourself living there?
- Security Measures
A retirement home is a safe place to spend your relatively vulnerable years if the security measures are in place. The environment should be safe for you to enjoy activities and take walks without any fear. Whether there is a check-in area for visitors, working security cameras, security lighting, emergency response systems, and a nearby emergency room to ensure your safety and security, is important to note.
- Recreation
Recreation is as vital in this stage of life as it gives you something to look forward to each day, as well as new activities to try. Not only are social activities fun, but they are also an excellent opportunity to make new friends. Communities that emphasize compassionate active senior care often prioritize recreational engagement as a way to support emotional, physical, and social well-being. Speak with residents and learn more about the activity schedule and the recreational amenities available on-campus, such as a fitness center, woodshop, library, and craft areas.
- Lifestyle and culture
Your quality of life very often depends on where you live. Your new retirement home should be close to nearby activities, libraries, beauty salons, shopping, entertainment, cultural events, continuing education opportunities, and more. If you have pets, want to grill or barbecue outside, plant a small garden, or need someone to live with you long-term, you should be aware of any restrictions or rules before you join.
- Food, dining, and socialization
Whether you are a gourmand or just enjoy eating out occasionally, ensure that your new retirement home has plenty of food options. A variety of options, from a formal dining room with sit-down meals to takeaway parcels, to small 24/7 on-site cafes, to small grocery stores, are offered at Retirement homes. You must have a meal at the places you are considering to taste the food for yourself. Not only that, you must find out if you can have a midnight snack if you wish to because hypoglycemia can be deadly for diabetics because the disease is common at this age, or have food delivered to your room should the need be.
- Levels of Care Offered
Some retirement homes offer various services and levels of care as the residents’ needs tend to change over time, allowing them to age in place, while others may offer only one level of living. Communities offering multiple levels of care are known as life plan communities or continuing care communities. While independent living offers apartments and cottages for active self- dependent seniors, assisted living facilities provide additional services and levels of care to seniors who need more assistance with activities of daily living like eating, dressing, showering, and medicine reminders. Memory care facilities are designed to assist seniors who are challenged by memory loss while long-term care facilities offer skilled nursing for short-term rehabilitation or long-term care. Though you may presently not need higher levels of care, you can relax in the knowledge that they are at hand, should the need be. When exploring the levels of care offered, do enquire if that community accepts Medicaid, Medicare, supplemental Medicare plans, and long-term care insurance.
- Cost and value of a retirement community
Cost is an essential factor to consider when choosing a retirement home. Consult a trusted professional along with your family to discuss your finances, especially your long-term savings. Review your monthly bills and compare them to the retirement community cost and services included. Every community could have a different rate card for amenities and services. You might be surprised to find that your monthly fees in retirement home independent living are lower than what it costs to maintain your home when you consider utilities, property taxes, and other upkeep.
At the end of the day the quality of life in your golden years depends greatly on where you choose to live. So do your research and take an informed decision to make that choice carefully. You will thank yourself for it!
