Posts Tagged ‘Seniors’ Housing Menus’

Americans Moving to Canada in Search of More Affordable Seniors’ Housing and Health Care?

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

I read a comment about this recently. The writer was hypothesizing that as costs for seniors’ housing and health care rise in the US, Americans might move to Canada or Mexico in search of more affordable alternatives.

In both cases (i.e. Canada and Mexico) the fly in the ointment for Americans actually contemplating such a move would be health care and immigration policies, but aside from that, are costs really cheaper in Canada? My first reaction was scepticism but upon re-reading a few brochures I picked up at the recent ALFA conference in Phoenix, I thought: “well, maybe it IS cheaper in Canada, at least for some types of housing and health care”.

For example, at the Forum at Desert Harbor, the daily rate for a private room in the long term care component of the campus is $280, which is to say just over $100,000 per year. There aren’t many private pay long term care facilities in Canada that are charging $280 per day.

But at the same time, the rate at the Forum for a two bedroom 922 square foot independent living apartment is only $2,868 per month (the meal package includes breakfast and one other meal). The Forum is an upscale project with lots of amenities including a lakefront location, a pool, and a grapefruit tree, to say nothing of that desert climate.

Americans would have a tough time finding a similar value in Canada. The trick at the Forum is obviously to stay out of long term care!

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What you could do if you had 808 units

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

I toured Friendship Village in Tempe, AZ while attending the recent ALFA conference in Phoenix. It’s spread over 43 acres and has 575 independent living units (bungalows and apartments), 91 assisted living units, and 142 care beds. There’s a pool, a fully equipped fitness facility (very busy when we popped in at 10:30am), an auditorium, a library, woodworking shops, a billiards room, a 9,000 square foot recreation centre featuring rooms for dancing, weaving, ceramics, video editing, and stained glass, and three dining areas: a cafe that is open all day and looks exactly like a real cafe, a large buffet that’s likewise open all day, and a formal dining room that is open on a reservation basis at dinner time.

The first time I saw a buffet in operation at a new upscale project in Red Deer I was taken aback because of what I assumed would be the difficulty of dealing with a buffet if you had a walker or were just generally unsteady on your feet. But people at Friendship Village seemed to manage just fine – they put their food on the seat of the walker, or staff there was around to help. And it’s worth noting that at breakfast or lunch it’s the buffet or the café and that’s it – no table service is available, which is interesting in itself. Do people stay independent longer if you force them to retrieve their own breakfast and lunch from a buffet?

Aside from the array of amenities you can offer if you have 808 units, the other advantage is that there are people everywhere – in the cafe, in the buffet, in the pool, in the fitness centre. It’s lively! It’s hard to achieve the same ambience if you’ve only got 100 units or so and it’s impossible to offer the same array of amenities. But that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to sepulchral silence and meals in the dining room at precisely 11:30 and 4:30. Au contraire – stay tuned for ideas.

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Fine Dining in Long Term Care: A Contradiction in Terms?

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Not in Phoenix! Or indeed all over the USA where fine dining in long term care is a definite trend. I toured a state-of-the-art not-for-profit skilled nursing facility in nearby Tempe AZ on Monday. I was profoundly impressed. The goal of the owner of the facility, Friendship Village, was to retain the ambience of a residential environment and avoid any feel of the institutional. Without question they achieved the goal. The hallways are gorgeous—no other word will do although it seems odd to describe a hallway as gorgeous. Unlike every other hallway I have seen in a care facility, they undulate. They are also carpeted, painted in beautiful colors, and highlighted with artwork and furniture at appropriate intervals.  Doorways are recessed. The contrast with many independent living communities I am familiar with could not be starker.

The dining rooms blew me away too— linen tablecloths and napkins! And menu choices! And open eating hours! I don’t like to overdo the exclamation marks but the facility was really unlike anything I have ever seen.

“Ah but what does all this cost?” you are no doubt thinking. Friendship Village is a life care community—residents buy in at the independent living stage and whatever care they need beyond that stage is provided at the same monthly cost. For example, a one bedroom unit may cost $160,000 (assuming no return of capital) plus monthly fees of $2,300 (meals, housekeeping, laundry etc). If someone buying in at this level were ever to require skilled nursing care, they would continue to pay the same monthly fee they paid in independent living (adjusted for inflationary increases).

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