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Ugh, I would not want to be in a nursing home unless I didn't know where I was! Nope, I hope I am in the ground before that!
This would require "memory-care."
The cost of this care is double/triple the cost of assisted-living.
Be advised that many things are "ala-carte" and cost add'l. Things like "dispensing" meds, comes to mind. (This service is $900 per month, where I just retired from.) This does NOT include the cost of the prescripts. Only the administration of meds.
The cost of memory-care was $7500-$11,000 per month, depending upon how much care is required.
Assisted living is about half that. Just so you know...
I am moving into an ALF next month although I need very little, if any, care. I want to be where I can call for help if I happen to fall on the floor. Took me 2 hours to get back up onto my feet a few months ago. My housemates were of no use, they are older than me!!!
I chose one without all the bells and whistles, like a pool and gym. I have a pool now and in 5 years, I think I have gone in maybe a dozen times. It doesn't have a big communal dining room. Each floor has 4 "neighborhoods" each with their own dining room. They seat 10 people. I think it's great. I like my studio apartment. It's on the backside away from the traffic so it's quieter. I think my love bird and I will be happier. I am looking forward to this.
You make it sound nice, what's the minimum age requirement?!
You can enter into an assisted living even if you are completely independent. I have worked in assisted-living facilities where a lot of the residents still drive. We had one resident who wasn’t really sure he wanted to move in permanently, so he kept his home down the street and would go home for the day and come back to sleep at night. When my mother moved into an assisted living facility, she was completely independent including taking her own medicines. However, 10 years later she died there on hospice. She had declined through the years with the last few requiring extensive assistance and was able to stay in the same apartment she moved into throughout.
Of course, as you need more help your monthly fee goes up. She paid $3000 a month or so when she first moved in, but her bill was up to $9000 a month when she died. Because she had paid privately for three years though, she was allowed to stay there once she ran out of money and was then on Medicaid.
There really isn’t that much difference between moving into an assisted living facility as an independent person, and moving into a continuing care retirement community, in my opinion.
However, I know with 100% certainty, if she had been in a CCRC, they would have moved her to the nursing home level several years ago. While the assisted living facility did not have a nursing home level, so they just let her stay in her apartment with more help. That’s the drawback of moving to a place that has levels, they are quick to downgrade you when you start to need help. And the papers you sign when you move in give them the right to do so. I worked for 8 years at a very nice facility that had assisted living and attached nursing home. When ALF patients were in the skilled nursing part for rehab, we were often fighting for the ALF to take them back after their rehab was done. They just wanted the person to stay in the skilled nursing part if they required more care than before. This was especially true if they considered the person difficult in general. So make sure they like you if you’re in a CCRC, lol.
Continuing care requirement communities also often require huge fees upfront, while assisted living facilities do not.
Not every state requires ALFs to keep residents in place when they exhaust their assets. In MO that was required, at least at least earlier in this century; but in CO, you could get booted out when you ran out of money. Thing might have changed. But before making decisions, you need to know up front what to expect.
Attitude is key, when it comes to satisfaction, living in an ALF.
Hope you enjoy your stay.
One of the largest "adjustments" to living in an ALF is that it can be reminiscent of "Payton Place." (If you know what I mean...)
At least that's how the one I recently retired from is...
I agree! When my mom moved into her place, there was a man there who was a "couple" with a woman who lived there. Months later, he dumped her for another woman who moved in. I felt awful for her that she had to watch them together at meals, activities, etc.
Not every state requires ALFs to keep residents in place when they exhaust their assets. In MO that was required, at least at least earlier in this century; but in CO, you could get booted out when you ran out of money. Thing might have changed. But before making decisions, you need to know up front what to expect.
I don't think any state requires it. We hired a geriatric care manager in our area, who knew all the admissions directors (geriatrics is a pretty small world) and called them, gave them my mom's asset and financial numbers. then gave us a list of half a dozen or so that agreed ahead of time to accept my mom and let her stay after she ran out of money. Then we toured only those places. My mom's place required the person pay privately for at least 18 months, then they could stay once on Medicaid. She ended up paying for 3 years. Many many facilities, even some that seem too fancy to, will do this. There are a LOT of empty apartments in ALFs especially now when so many took parents out of them and home because of COVID. My mom's sister facility in a wealthier town about 20 minutes away closed down permanently because they lost so many residents. Some money is always better than an empty apartment. Many facilities will allow residents to stay on Medicaid after a period of private pay. A lot of people don't have the money to pay for 10 or 15 years at $9000 a month.
I kept expecting them to boot her out, not because of money, but because her care needs got so extensive (she really was more appropriate for nursing home level care the last year or so). She was a 2-person transfer the past 6 months or so. Everytime she went to the hospital and rehab, I waited for the facility to say "your mom is no longer appropriate for ALF" but each time they took her back. I think even the Medicaid money was better than another empty apartment, and she had been there almost 10 years by then, and they aren't heartless, they do consider that it's her home.
I've been waiting to see Alf on here. Surprised it took so long!
Lmao at prison. Kinda.
Anyone ever hear the saying "GOD laughs while (wo)men make plans"? Hmmmm, so much for my plans.
I got the package from the VA with papers I, my doctor and the administrator of the ALF need to fill out...2" thick of papers! Plus I need certified copies of our marriage license, his death certificate, his discharge papers...send it all in, then wait for an appointment to go to an office. Then wait to see if I get approved. All this rigamarole wouldn't be so daunting if I was still in my own home. I don't have any of that stuff with me anymore. I told the administrator what was going on and I told her Feb 1st was not doable. I told her that when I get the ducks in a row, if there is an apartment available, I will come. She says okay, fine and we hang up. A couple of hours later she calls back. What if she doesn't charge me for the first 15 days of Feb., no buy-in fee? Oh, and the VA would be easier if I was already "in place".
I felt like I was being dragged into something I was not prepared for now. I felt like she was hard selling me. She was wrong about the VA being a piece of cake and I would not even have to see them, why should I trust her with this "in place" stuff?? I go there and get denied maybe? I don't have the money without that VA money! No, I can't let myself be pushed into something.
Sorry "our" journey has come to an abrupt end.
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Plus I need certified copies of our marriage license, his death certificate, his discharge papers...send it all in, then wait for an appointment to go to an office. Then wait to see if I get approved. All this rigamarole wouldn't be so daunting if I was still in my own home. I don't have any of that stuff with me anymore. 
