Hello again, KCIW
listeners, and welcome to Curry Cafe.
I'm volunteer Rick McNamer.
Every Sunday from three to four, your host,
Ray Gary, and I put together a panel
of guests to discuss various topics of interest
that impact our wonderful community.
And we have a topic that is very
impactful in this community today.
Listeners can participate by texting questions or comments
to
(541)
661-4098.
Again, that number, text comments or questions is
(541)
661-4098.
Now here's Ray to tell us about today's
show. Yeah. We have an interesting show today,
interesting guest, and a topic that's probably spoken
about in this community an awful lot.
Due to all the advances in modern science
or whatever, people are living longer.
I was diagnosed
about fifteen years ago with a heart problem
that would have killed me within a year,
except I had this new med, and here
I am still, like it or not. Oh,
we like it, Ray. Okay.
So I'm gonna introduce I'm not I'm not
gonna I'm gonna let our guest introduce herself
and tell you exactly what it is she's
did I say what we're gonna talk about?
No. No. Anyway, we're gonna talk about assistive
work. I'm sure our guests both will. For
for those for those of us who are
having memory problems and can't keep a thought
straight,
this this might be us. I don't know.
So Okay. Here's our guest. She'll tell you
who she is and introduce the person she
brought along electronically.
Well, thank you so much for having me,
you guys. I am Sarah Dodson. I am
the regional community relations director for Azalea Gardens
Senior Living, Monarch Gardens Memory Care,
and Shore Pines Senior Living up in Gold
Beach. And I also have Tony Whitcomb, the
administrator for Monarch Gardens Memory Care,
joining us today as well.
Hello, Tony.
Hello, everybody.
Good afternoon.
We're glad both of y'all were here to
tell us about like I said, we talked
we've been talking a lot about it before
the show. Yes. But it's very, very important
to deal with the we live in a
senior community,
and,
it's,
a lot of people need these services. It's,
it's definitely a very important topic, especially,
like I was saying,
before the show, we are the second
highest senior citizen populated county in Oregon. So,
senior living
and senior services and everything that comes along
with it is definitely a high priority in
the area. Yeah. And we're happy to provide
those services.
Well. Okay. So every time the subject of,
assisted living comes up, I know a couple
of people that
could use that,
they throw their hands up and say, oh,
that's what that's way too expensive. I there's
no way we can afford that.
So is there a way people I mean,
I'm sure most of us
I I happen to have insurance for that,
but I'm I doubt very many people do.
What do you do? I mean, even if
you're alone or whatever, what is what is
the cost? What can you what can you
get by with? So there are a few
different ways to pay for it. There if
you're a veteran, they have you can contact
the VA, and they have,
benefits and stuff that they can assist in
paying for it. There's also long term care
insurance,
and we work closely with the Department of
Human Services.
So if there is any issues with financials,
then those definitely would be three
very good places to start.
Now this long term care insurance, this is
something you have to have before your in
long term situation, I guess. Yeah. You kind
of gotta be a little proactive.
Yeah.
And I
I hate to admit this, but I'll admit
it. I had it at one time. My
wife and I had that way back when,
but
whatever happened in our life, it became on
a not quite unaffordable,
but we ended up drop.
That's shiny. I bet you that's a common
problem. It definitely is.
Yeah. It definitely is. And we are very
fortunate in Oregon where
we have we're able to,
have the state. We have Medicaid that we
are able to accept within our communities if
for some reason if you qualify, of course,
through the Department of Human Services to assist
with that. Yeah. Okay. So I'll give you
an example. We have a a woman who's,
it doesn't matter how old she is, but
she obviously needs some help. Mhmm. She can't
cook for herself and that type of thing.
And she doesn't have any of those things.
She doesn't have, like, a retirement or,
obviously, she has social security,
but none of those other,
things that shouldn't have a lot of money
on top of it.
So
what can happen to this woman?
So my
suggestion
and my I would encourage her to contact
the Department of Human Services and see if
there's anything that they can do
on their end to help,
get her established and and see what the
eligibility
requirements are for Medicaid.
If for some reason there's any type of
financial
concern for assisted living, they are typically, if
they're not a veteran, they're who I would
encourage them to call is our local DHS
office. I'm not familiar with Medicaid.
What what does that cover?
So Medicaid is a state insurance. I it's
not necessarily my forte, so I can't go
into too much of it. You know more
than I do, though. But
And and probably fool most of the people
listening. So just go ahead.
Tony, do you wanna jump in and talk
about Medicaid?
I know that what I can say about
Medicaid is that
it's a great benefit that we offer from
our communities is that we take both private
pay,
long term care,
Medicaid,
and and veterans services benefits. A lot of
communities
just take private pay. We just want everyone
in the Kearny,
Curry County area to know that, you know,
no no matter what the individual's insurance type
is, I know that that we most likely
will take, you know, if it's long term
care
or Medicaid or veteran services or a private
pay. There's a lot of different options to
pay for it. And,
we also
some places only take private pay, pay, so
we just want everyone to know that we
really do take multiple insurance types, and we
wanna be be able to provide a home
for for everybody who needs the services in
the area.
That that's good because I think the number
one issue you hear when you mentioned,
need to go someplace or something like that
is over the course of fortune.
Yeah. Well and also, you have to think
about
moving into a
senior living community, whether it be assisted living
or memory care.
Once you move in, I mean, everything is
covered. The food is covered. We offer dining
services. So breakfast, lunch, dinner, everything in between,
is all covered. So the food cost would
not be there. Utilities would not be an
issue because that would be covered by us.
Wi Fi, we love Beacon,
of course. But that we had it where
I'm at. But yeah. Go ahead. They,
that's all covered within it along with housekeeping
services,
laundry services.
We'll go in and wash your linens, and
then all of the cares that we accommodate.
So anywhere up to just needing a little
bit of assistance with the
day to day activities of daily living from
cooking, cleaning,
we can accommodate that all the way up
to end of life or any cognitive issues
that,
seem to be coming along with Alzheimer's or
dementia. That's also something that we,
really
take pride in enriching their quality of life
because we're able to provide those services. Everything
you just mentioned is something I can use.
I got you, Ray. Yeah.
Come see me. Yeah. Ray's on the list.
Yeah. Jody, I wanna jump back. You said
something about some places being private pay only.
Is that correct?
Yeah. I know. A a lot of different
communities,
they they really differentiate between pair types. Some
will only offer rooms to individuals who can
pay privately or apartments. Mhmm. I know. That's
one of the great things about our communities
is is that whether someone, you know, was
a millionaire
or they were on state Medicaid services,
as long as we can meet their care
needs in our community, then they're always welcome
to have a home here. Well, I tell
you what, Ben. That's a big that's a
powerful thing to offer people.
And I had no idea.
I did my dad passed away. Let's see.
He my dad lived lived up in The
Dalles, Oregon, and I was trying to get
him down here. And I,
at the time, I do remember and I'm
sorry. I forgot if it was Monarch Gardens
or but
I wanted him closer if I could. Mhmm.
But I was talking to those people, and
they were telling me, yeah, because I was
worried about
how to pay. And, basically,
once he got down here, they would just,
I think, monitor his income or if,
it it was easier than I thought. Let
me just say that without going and boring
people with all the all the facts, if
you will. And but it was, it never
reached that point,
but I was glad to have that option
if it would have come up. Yes. That
is something that we definitely deal with quite
regularly.
Very often coming over,
people don't realize that we
accept
Medicaid. And so whenever they
come and they're worried about the pricing or
moving their loved one closer,
that is something that we're able to do
is move them in as a private pay,
establish residency,
and then
our residents or the family members taking care
of them can start the process with DHS
to get them established with Medicaid.
Wow. So people shouldn't be afraid of this
big call.
My cousin was in one of those, and
it cost 9,000 a month and this kind
of thing. They should go and talk
to you. Yes. I would always encourage them
to come in and talk to me because
we have
there's a lot of different ways that we
can go about it. And with knowing exactly
what their care needs are and how we
can help
is
exactly
what we're looking for.
Just how can I help you? Well, there's
there's the other thing left now. Okay. We
gotta pay it forward. It's
the idea of putting mom in a home.
And Well, that you know, to use that
term. I had to put a relative in
one of those places for a very temporary
period of time, and it was a beautiful
place in Florida,
Arizona.
And it it just tore me up. I
it was so hard for me to do
that. And I knew it was only gonna
be for three or four months.
So I can imagine
putting mom in there, especially if you don't
live close. I
Tony and I and I think that he
can he would agree with me.
We see it every single day.
I always tell people, once you
move a loved one in, there's gonna be
that adjustment period. Not only for the resident
moving in,
because there's always gonna be that adjustment period,
getting
a routine down, getting used to their surroundings,
to,
having that twenty four hour care, kind of
knowing what to do, getting used to the
community.
But not a lot of people tell you
there's also an adjustment period for the families.
Oh, absolutely.
100%.
And it, oftentimes,
depending, of course, on the situation, it's a
lot harder on the families.
You feel good. And that's what my job
that's what I love so much about my
job is not only am I able
to assist with these seniors finding the care
that they need, but I get to be
that support for the families who are going
through that hard time and having a rough
time coming to terms with, you know, maybe
I can't take care of my wife anymore.
Yeah. And, you know, she needs memory care
services.
And that is
something that I really take a lot of
pride in is that I'm able to to
be that support. The families know that they
can call me anytime.
And Monarch Gardens, specifically, we offer a dementia
support group so we can be there to
support our families
that are moving their loved ones in with
dementia because that,
more than anything,
is
a lot harder for the families Oh, yeah.
For the residents.
Well, I tell you what you've been talking
about is it kinda buoyed my spirits already
because
I'm I'm the only one that my family's
down around Sacramento.
Mhmm. And,
I'm not gonna go back down there.
But and I think about this, of course.
We all older we get, but it sounds
like now I'm in California. I'm in Smith
River, but if I could still
come up and ask to use these services
if that time starts to happen. Is that
correct? Absolutely. Because the California resident doesn't really
matter?
Absolutely. Wow. You can always come in and
talk to me, and we can come up
with a game plan
Mhmm. If the services are needed.
I I always encourage to schedule a meeting
with me, come in and check out the
communities for yourself.
Do your research, of course. We,
I always encourage to check out every community
because we
really strive to
fit the resident with the best community for
them. And I know the families are
are the same way and Tony and I
were actually just talking this morning
and different communities are are better for different
residents. It all kind of depends on their
preferences, what they're most comfortable with,
such as Azalea Gardens. It's assisted living and
it's memory care, so it's more of a
transitional community.
It's a smaller community where there are some
very large assisted living communities that offer multiple,
different services, but we are very
home homey.
Yes. That's the feeling I get. We're very
homey. We're very I'm sure everybody out there
is getting that same feeling. Yeah. We we're
like a big family no matter what community
it is. That's some some beautiful stuff. Yes.
That and,
by the way, y'all can text in if
you like. Questions or comments, (541)
661-4098.
You know, I had
now this is down around Sacramento area, actually,
Roseville.
My my mom reached that point, and we
had to put her in a place. Now
this was called board and care.
I don't know. I'm assuming it's kind of
like assisted living,
But this place was and, again, when,
the doctor that made that
assessment, she couldn't live alone anymore.
And,
they
got us to the right place. The it
was a house, basically, that had,
oh, I think there were about maybe eight
residents there.
But does that similar to the assisted living?
Because she she didn't require memory care at
that time.
It sound that sounds more like an adult
foster home. What do you think, Tony?
Yeah. I know they make smaller assisted livings
as well to try to create a little
bit more of a home like environment.
I know that
the two types of assisted
or the two types of,
living,
community based care types that we provide in
the area would be assisted living or memory
care.
Whenever an individual determines for themselves or for
their loved ones
that they can no longer live safely or
appropriately in home alone,
then that's when it would be the best
fit to take a look at an assisted
living or a memory care.
If an individual has a diagnosis of Alzheimer's
or dementia
or another related form of dementia,
then it may be the most appropriate fit
for them to take a look at a
memory care.
I'd say outside of safety and appropriateness, there
are a lot of people living,
a home alone.
That can also create,
isolation,
which can lead to depression and anxiety. So
one thing that we can also provide in
an assisted living for an individual who doesn't
quite need help with some of those activities
of daily living, like bathing or toileting or
ambulation,
mobility,
They can, get into a community where they
can live in, their own apartment with friends,
make friends, be a part of a family,
attend activities within the community,
at large, attend activities within the building,
and it really creates an environment of socialization
for people that they may not be able
to get in their own home even if
they're receiving, you know, in home care or,
friends and family coming periodically. This just creates
a scenario for them to be able to
have quality of care and quality of life
all in the same place. Yeah.
Socialization
and life enrichment,
all I have
just through my experience, I have seen do
absolute wonders
with some of the residents coming in. A
lot of them coming from home,
do feel isolated. They do have that sense
of depression.
They're they're not around a lot of people.
A lot of families come in, and they're
like, oh, my my dad's just gonna be
sitting in front of the TV. He's not
really a social guy or,
you know, he's gonna spend a majority of
time in his room. And then the next
week, I go to that community
and he's doing woodworking.
He's out there enjoying the live music, dancing
with the other residents. It it all
kind of falls hand in hand with getting
that life enrichment and that socialization
and just a change of environment. Yeah.
Well, that's yeah. I I I have to
assume you
probably a lot of great situations, but there's
probably some sad situations in there where the
family dynamic is maybe not the best for
that person that's going through. Yes. And then
that who, who makes that decision to say,
hey.
We need to get
your mom or dad
into this and not living alone.
So that would be
the family
or if the doctor recommends it.
Tony, do you have anything to say on
that matter
who would make that call? That
yeah. For an individual
who isn't living with cognitive decline,
that could be a decision that they can
make on their own. They'd be they'd be
first in charge with making that that that
final decision.
And then with their friends and family and
their doctor, they can get together and make
a decision and and determine if that would
be the best fit for them. And then
if an individual is living with cognitive decline
and they've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia,
those decisions would be most appropriate for whomever
they've in place as their guardian
and, their power of attorney
and also in association with the resident themselves
too,
just based on their, cognitive ability
to continue to make determinations
for themselves in that regard.
Boy, you'd you touched on something pretty important,
I guess.
And my sister and I, who we did
take care of that before my mom reached
a certain level about power of attorney, medical
power of attorney. There's some plans
that, hopefully, the families and the people that
are listening are getting that
together. I don't pea I don't think I
don't feel like a lot of people understand
the importance of that until they're actually in
the situation.
But anybody that I meet, I highly, highly,
highly encourage them to get that paperwork in
place. Get pick out
get your advance directive done. Get your power
of attorney done. Get your pulse form done
so they know exactly how to accommodate you
just in case something does happen.
You're preaching to the choir, of course, because,
who's not listening?
Advanced director? Advanced director. I said, yes. It's
it's sitting right on the coffee table right
where it was when the doctor gave it
to me five years ago.
You didn't fill it out? No. Oh, right.
Well, get to get to questions. I don't
wanna
They're they're difficult questions.
Well, they're difficult, but,
they're necessary.
Abs I have Absolutely. I belong to the
tribal health down below, and they have some
it's it's a it's considered an advanced directive,
and it was called five wishes.
And there was a lot of stuff in
there. And, I mean, it it was just
great. I did that five or six years
ago.
And I,
well, anyway, I think I'm prepared, but you
said POLST, and I didn't. I kinda forgot
about that until two weeks ago. I was
at my doctor, and we were talking about
the advanced directive.
And she says, what and you have your
POLST?
I think that's right. Yeah. Physician order for
life's
life sustaining treatment. Yep. And I said, nope.
I don't.
So I filled that out, and then I
had to go,
see her again to make sure I guess,
they've assessed disguise of right mind doing the
right thing. Yeah. And now it's the the
pink sheet, and it's on my refrigerator,
and it's filed away. Well, filed. Good job,
Ray. That's See see, Ray? Yeah. Yeah. But
wait a minute. I've spent a lot of
a lot of a lot of money to
get black appliances and
have at least that much of my kitchen
looking good. Now you want me to put
a day glow pink thing on? No way
gonna happen.
I did. When when I was a cop,
though, I did come across one of those.
Unfortunately, it looked like I was already dead,
but
it taped on the on his refrigerator, and
it had all the pills and things and
Right. Yeah. And that's exactly what it's for.
I mean, just in case
nobody ever knows what's gonna happen. No.
And the majority of the time, it happens
unexpectedly.
And just to have the advance directive, the
post form,
the power of attorney stuff just in place
just so people know your wishes, know
how if you want to be resuscitated,
if you stop breathing. Right. That's that's that's
one of the questions I had. I was,
sitting and trying again to fill it out
with my girlfriend, and it gets to that.
Do you wanna be resuscitated? Well, that's
that's not giving you enough information. You wanna
be resuscitated because you had an electric shock,
which you can be resuscitated and live a
perfectly normal life, or you wanna be resuscitated
because your heart went into defib or something.
I believe
that. I I wanna be I wanna be
resuscitated if I'm gonna come back and be
normal.
She seemed to think that never happens. I
I think it does. Well and it it
there's different
sections
on it with the advance directive and with
the post form
to go over exactly
what you would want done. So,
if you wanted CPR,
it wouldn't if you were to stop breathing,
then absolutely, I would check that one. But
there's also,
like, a portion on there. But the but
I don't wanna be
resuscitated if I I just
Like, eat fade away and died, and
and CPR could possibly bring it back to
life as a vegetable, and you'll live another
three or four years. I wish now I
would've bought because I've got copies of it
also. I wish I would have brought that
I know. I'm trying to think of exactly
what it covers right now. It covers a
lot of it. Stuff. It goes through details,
and then you can check exactly,
what you want them to do if this
situation happens or if this situation happens. Yeah.
Okay. Again, I've,
I should give the phone number. Yes. Go
ahead. (541)
661-4098.
If you have any questions or comments,
send us a text. We have operators standing
by
waiting. Moi.
So we'll see.
Well and, again, you talked about so many
different levels of care that you guys cover.
You know, some of the places, it's almost
like, I think, kinda live in in your
own apartment Yes.
Where you can cook for yourself if if
you so desire. And then, obviously, the cost
vary in all of that. But
no matter the cost, it sounds like what
you were talking earlier about,
you pay what you I that's gonna sound
funny. You pay what you can. But you
y'all can work it out with people and
their families. Yes.
Yes. So what happens is after somebody comes
in to,
do a tour, they decide that they wanna
move forward with one of our communities.
And then what happens is we do
a initial evaluation
to go over how we can accommodate. And,
Tony, if you wanna get into a little
bit about the evaluation and what that entails.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The evaluations that we provide
can be done in our communities or in
the privacy
of the individual's home.
We get together, and we try to determine
a personalized
care plan for them just based on their
care needs.
We go through a few activities of daily
living. Some of the examples of that would
be like showering,
toileting, mobility,
things like that. And then we also go
through
asking care,
questions regarding instrumental activity of the, day, activities
of daily living.
Those would consist of things like housekeeping and
meal preparation
and laundry.
And once we,
go through the evaluation,
we're able to determine the care need and
assistance type for the individual,
and that's where we create the personalized care
plan for them. The assessments or evaluations
are typically done by an administrator, a registered
nurse,
or a resident care coordinator. So we always
make sure that there's
a qualified individual who comes out, meets with
the family,
and goes over, personalized questions, not just about
caring. He's also about things like life history,
where they were born,
spiritual preferences, cultural preferences,
things to be able to get to know
who they are as from a holistic approach
as a person,
not only just to provide their care, but
to be able to provide a good source
of quality of life for them.
And, it's it's a it's a great process.
It typically takes about an hour. And like
I was mentioning before, there's no commitment to
move in, and there's no, no cost or
anything associated with an evaluation.
Well, that's that's huge. It it goes over
exactly how you would like to be accommodated
or how say that somebody has a certain
way,
that they
get their loved ones in the shower, for
instance. Yeah.
Some are a little resistant and maybe a
little bribery works, or
maybe they go in and they set up
the shower exactly how getting everything kind of
ready for them, help them in the shower.
But we just we want our residents to
feel comfortable
and be accommodated for the way that they
want to be. Yeah.
One of the biggest parts would be promoting
their and maintaining their current independence.
Yeah. So assistance looks different for an individual.
That's really what we always wanna keep in
mind and try to promote is assist them
with maintaining
their independence first and foremost. Some people need
setup.
Some people need queuing.
Some people need hands on assistance. Some people
need
reminders. Some people need standby assistance.
We really wanna be there to be able
to provide the right assistance type for the
individual
in the moment when they need it and
if they transition
into a higher level of care. We just
want everyone to know that we provide
basic entry level services like housekeeping, laundry, and
meals all the way up through end of
life,
home health, hospice,
OT, PT.
Everybody's welcome in just like they would be
in your home. OCPT?
Occupational
therapy and physical therapy.
So with home health services,
that is something that they come in and
they're able to do physical therapy and occupational
therapy with our residents a few days a
week.
And then with hospice,
of course,
if they are on hospice, they have nurses
or
physicians that come into our communities a few
times a week or as needed to see
our residents.
Boy, and a shout out to,
I used hospice
with my,
dear late departed wife, and,
that was one of the
best things to have. They're wonderful.
I I I really appreciated everything that they
did. They're they're pretty amazing. They are. Yes.
We are very happy to be partners with
them and to have the relationship
that we do. Right. Well, and and, like,
you and Tony sound like special people, and
they are special people to to be able
to do that kind of thing. Well, thank
you. We
it it takes a special type of person
to work in this field.
The things that
that we see and we do might not
be for everybody,
But we are just happy to provide the
service for our community.
Is
so everything sounds
so wonderful, and it does.
Is, is there there waiting list for people?
Are are
the facilities that we have, or do you
think that's enough? Do we need more?
Because we're a big senior community. It's rural.
We don't have a lot of people. Right.
But
most of them are seniors.
Yes. I
I feel I mean, it kind of depends.
It it all varies.
So with the waiting list, I mean, sometimes
we do have a waiting list. K. Sometimes
we go through the waiting list quite quickly.
It all kind of
I can't really set a timeline No. Well
if you know if not. Yeah. Well, I
mean in the nicest way possible. Well yeah.
But, generally,
there's if somebody wants to come in, it
doesn't sound like it's gonna be,
like, a two year window list or something.
Okay.
Okay. Because I'm sure it No. Not at
all. No. I know currently, we have openings
in all three of our communities in the
area right now. Really? Yeah. Wow. And we've
actually
I think Tony and I set the record
for our company
in getting somebody,
assessed and admitted. It was an emergency situation,
and it took, what, four hours, Tony?
Yeah. It's it's pretty unbelievable start to finish,
but a lot of it is just about
serving the individual,
meeting their sense of urgency,
and really just trying to find
the right environment, make sure that things are
developed safely and appropriately, but just
really trying to assist any way we can
by serving the public, serving the individuals, and
and making sure that that's how we lead
and and that's how we provide for them
by serving them. Okay. What would an emergency
situation consist of?
That's a tough one, Ray. I've seen I've
seen quite a few,
and I'm sure Tony has as well. But
we work very closely with, like, the hospitals
in town.
Skilled nursing, we work very closely with the
doctor's offices in town,
from Crescent City all the way up to
Coos Bay all over Oregon. So there's a
lot of hospitals that, I mean, like I
was saying, you never you can never really
expect
when something happens. Uh-huh. A majority of the
time, it's unexpected. And you land in the
hospital, and then all of a sudden,
they
tell you, you know, you're not safe to
be discharged home. Mhmm. And that's whenever they
get a hold of us. We get a
hold of the family members, and we just
kind of work through the process that way.
But this the one that we were speaking
about,
for memory care
is with the cognition decline,
it
it sets a a much higher sense of
urgency
Yeah. For it. Because we have
seniors in the area with dementia and Alzheimer's
who sometimes wander and they can't find their
way back home. So they're walking into the
street or
walking down into the harbor and they can't
find their way back.
And so that's where we're able to provide
a secured environment where they're able to really
thrive in our community.
And that is that's one of the instances.
Tony, do you have any examples of, like,
a emergency situation?
Yeah. I would say similar to that example,
if if somebody
particularly is living with cognitive decline and they're
alone in their own home,
and it's been turn it's been determined that
they can no longer,
make certain safe decisions, like cooking on their
own by themselves, taking their medications on their
own by themselves.
The individual may wander,
and that's a really fancy way of saying
that they they exit the home, can leave
the home, go to a destination, and and
not remember how to get back home or
forget the intent and purpose for for taking
that trip.
And that's what I mean when I say
safe and appropriate. Certain situations like that are
are neither safe nor appropriate.
And sometimes we'll get calls from family members
who've who've come to town to visit their
loved ones for a holiday or for a
vacation, and,
they've seen a a drastic decline
in in their ability to be able to
provide for themselves. And and that's a situation
where I would say it'd be a pretty
immediate need. And sometimes we have people coming
in, flying in for the weekend to visit
their family members, and then by the time
they leave that weekend, they've already made the
decision to move forward with the process.
And that's really what we wanna try to
do. If someone needs it to take a
couple of days, then we wanna meet them
in where where they're at with their sense
of urgency, if they need a little bit
of time to think about it, Sometimes to
answer questions and and go through the process,
then we want them to be able to
we wanna meet them where we can in
the process. But in those immediate emergent situations,
we really wanna try to
go through the process and meet the need
of the individuals just so they can be
in a safe environment and just know that
they're well protected.
Is there such a thing as a,
a court order or something like a court
order that that people require to go?
I have never heard of a court order
to go into an assisted living room memory
care. Have you, Tony?
No. I I I don't believe those are
the things that are done through court orders.
They're, a I know. Court order was a
bad term, but it was the best I
could come up. Somebody being forced to live
there, in other words. Yeah. I I I
know that
once
it's been determined
by a medical professional
that an individual can no longer safely or
appropriately live alone in their own home, there
are a lot of decisions to make.
But, realistically,
the the resident themselves still has rights, whether
the individual's living with
dementia or or or or no cognitive decline.
They're involved with their family
and friends or loved ones, whomever they'd like
to be in involved in the process. They
can drive the decision making process. Or if
an individual is living with cognitive decline, they'll
have their guardian
or the power of attorney or another individual
assisting them with guiding them through the process,
and they can ultimately
make
the final decision. But I know that once
that determination has been made
and, it it's been stated, the conversation has
been had with the individual and our families,
that it's no longer safe
and no longer appropriate to live at home,
that's when there are a lot of decisions
to be made.
Yeah.
I I wanna touch on that a little
more, but, I wanna we do have a
text come in. Thank you, Texer. And the
question is,
is there a limit on the percentage of
Medicaid residents you are able to serve?
I know at our communities, we try not
to put any cap
or percentages
on the amount of residents we serve. I
know that that's a really good question. Unfortunately,
some communities may put a certain percentage or
a certain cap on the number of a
live individuals they're willing or able to serve
as it pertains to Medicaid residents. But like
I was saying before, we really do wanna
provide a home for any individual who qualifies
for our services
and is a good fit for our community.
So whether they're a millionaire
or they're on this the state's Medicaid long
term care program, we, we don't differentiate between
payer types. Why did I think that was
gonna be the answer? I wonder.
Honestly honestly, it's just fantastic. I want I
do wanna get back. I had a we
had an incident about with one of,
our neighbors that was found. She lived alone.
We
both felt she was having issues, and,
she got caught out on the road a
couple times.
She had a relative that we were able
to contact, but the relative didn't seem to
be
concerned?
At what point
I'm trying to think.
What would you all suggest to I mean,
do you call the police in a situation
like that where you feel this this person
is in danger and you're going beyond the
family
to do? Have have you had any cases
like that?
Yes. Okay. Yes. We have. So in cases
like that,
I mean, of course, you definitely can call
the police, but what they're gonna do is
they have adult protective services. That's okay. That's
Adult protective services, we also work very close
with. We have a lot of seniors that
are in
incredibly bad situations
that we work with APS to get them
out of and get them moved into our
home, whether,
it I mean, there's so many different kinds
of cases that we have seen and experienced,
and,
not all
are great experiences for them. Unfortunately,
we're a lot of them, we are getting
them out of some very, very bad scenarios,
especially with Alzheimer's and dementia.
And with working with APS, they are so
incredible. The
case the case managers with DHS and all
of the investigators
with APS, they
they really put their heart and soul into
their work. And so then they contact me
immediately, and then they work with
the individual. They work with me. They work
with Tony, the administrator,
or one of the other administrators at the
buildings, and we just do whatever we can
to assist to the best of our ability.
And not to
go too negative, but I can only assume
too that there's some some battles that you
guys must have had with family members and
Yeah. You know? I mean, not all family
dynamics are great. No. We I think we
all know that. Wow. I I I never
even thought of that. What a Awesome. But
but you you you all are such advocates
for these people, the people in need. And
I I I know you, you know, fight
that fight that battle pretty hard. We are
advocates for our residents,
and we will always continue to be. And
usually, it just takes a conversation.
It just takes a conversation with a loved
one to
really explain
the
situation at hand. What if it's a a
very bad situation that they're in, we just
need to explain it. There's a lot of
misconceptions
about assisted living and memory care communities,
especially with a lot of the generation that
I work with now. I mean, they have
it in their in their mind. I can't
tell you how many home visits I have
made
to explain that we're not a convalescent home.
The horror stories that you've heard in the
past, it's not
it's not
realistic now. We are assisted living communities, and
we want you to have the best quality
of life that you can while you're here
with us.
And we'll do whatever we can to make
that. Yeah. Yeah. I think we can feel
that, what's going on.
I know. I understand that, a lot of
times people when they're,
in dementia get very violent at times. So
you can you take people like that?
That get very violent? Yeah.
Tod, do you wanna take this one on
the clinical side?
I know. We
never want to decline anyone,
based on
what we prefer to do is,
not automatically
decline any individual.
We wanna take a look at every scenario
on a case by case basis.
Sometimes the reason for violent outbursts and behaviors
can be, it can be as simple as
a change in environment. Sometimes it can be,
a change in medications.
Sometime it can be Yes, ma'am. Bringing in
other community providers. We really wanna take a
look at each person as an individual,
trying to bring in an approach from the
assessment, the care planning process, friends, family,
providers,
medication services, just to be able to see.
And we really do try to make a
final determination that's the best fit for the
community, the safety of the staff and the
residents,
and then also for the potential resident as
well.
We, we leave no stone unturned before we
ever make a decision to select or decline
someone. And I'd say if anything, as a
general rule, we try not to,
do a automatic
decline on individuals just based on certain circumstances
without taking that
real holistic approach and and looking into it
a little bit further.
But I know,
that we really do serve
all different types of individuals in memory care.
There's a lot of different
parts of the disease
and the progression of of the illness, and
some some are, negative.
Many, I'd say, excuse me, all all of
them are negative, but some of them manifest
themselves negatively
in in that regard, and we like to
take a look at those individuals on a
case by case basis. Mhmm. Yeah.
You've impressed me today with, with your attitudes
about actually
being interested in in,
in helping people. I
I've never given a real lot lot of
thought, but I always thought that, you know,
we come with drop I have grandma around.
Visit her once a week, and she makes
it. She makes it. But do people really
seem to care about Yeah. You providing a
quality of life for your residents? We definitely
do. Right. That's what we're here for.
Boy, that's just it it really is wonderful.
And speaking of wonderful, I'll go touch we
talked about a little bit the entertainment
that local people have come around and Yes.
And
one of our friends at the station, I
hope he's out there listening, Bobby Joe Holman.
Thank you, Bobby Joe.
I I saw the little thing on Facebook.
It went and
gave his performance and had the people up
and moving and dancing. And and you get
a lot of local people to do that.
We definitely do from,
live music
to
I mean, we had Bruce Ellis come and
do his comedy skit.
Really? Yeah. We did that a a few
weeks ago. We
do all kinds of events,
resident events. We do a resident birthday party
each month. We want to acknowledge all of
the residents, not just on their birthday, but
we wanna celebrate with all of them together.
Oh, boy.
Holidays.
We just did our Valentine's Day brunch
last week, which was amazing. And it's giving
that opportunity for the families to come in
and spend those holidays with their loved ones
even if they can't take them home. Yeah.
Now,
now you did say occasionally then there are
people that you might have to
not accept once in a great while. That
does happen. It does happen. If they are
a too high a level of care.
And did you wanna get into this one,
Tony, or would you like me to
Yeah. What I can say is that
there we're all licensed
communities through the state of Oregon. There are
a couple of different types of community based
care settings,
and it all really depends on what the
best fit is for the individual
within the licensing ability of the community.
So assisted living and memory care are very
similar. One of the only real differentiating
factors would be is if someone had a
diagnosis of Alzheimer's or dementia,
and it was no longer safe or appropriate
to them to live at home, and they
would need to live in a secured memory
care community.
I would say that a lot of individuals
fit that description, but if someone's care needs
were so significant
or or so intense
that they required a skilled nursing facility, then
that may be a more appropriate type of
care. Right. They also have behavioral
type
facilities for individuals who
continue to demonstrate
violent
behaviors towards other individuals. There's multiple facilities available
like that in the state of Oregon.
But the community based care types,
they really range between assisted livings,
memory cares, and skilled nursing facilities. In order
to qualify for a skilled nursing facility, you
have to have some pretty significant needs,
and, that that would be the higher the
higher level of care above a memory care
or an assisted living.
Yeah. So,
like
feeding tubes, for example. Oh, yeah. Feeding tubes
or or something along those lines that would
require skilled nursing. That's just something that we're
not qualified
for.
Do you take people to dial
not dialysis,
therapy?
We have. Yes.
We we have I've yes. Carson City is
the closest place I understand.
As far as I'm aware, yeah. Yeah.
That is and that's there's another question about,
we all have to go for
our medical
our warm medical needs. Like, I travel to
Eureka, some travel to Grans Pass Right.
Medford.
What about if your,
one of your residents needs that? Does does
the family take them up there?
Or there? If the family wants to take
them, then absolutely.
And if they can't But if they cannot
take them, then we have our a bus
at all three communities,
and we are able to provide transportation. We
send a caregiver with them or a resident
care coordinator,
and they go to the appointments with our
residents. So then we know exactly how to
accommodate their care after their appointment.
Can't ask for much more than that, can
you? Wow. I already have my room picked
out.
Wow.
And well, back and then the other thing
we were talking about, you
and this is for even seniors not that
need that much care. The you've got some
high school kids that were are helping seniors
navigate the and probably the your residents too.
I'm assuming some of your residents are computer
savvy and and Some of them are. Yes.
Probably more than me. But,
So Beacon Broadband actually does the connected senior
program. And,
Trish Iverson,
they are
all absolutely incredible. But we did an event,
last year
on tech savvy seniors where we had seniors
from the high school come in and assist
some of the seniors at our communities with
technology
Yeah. Which is amazing.
Yeah.
When you said tech savvy seniors, I was
thinking our brand of seniors, but that
it's a contradiction in terms. It's seniors helping
seniors. Got it. I gotta figure out how
to
operate the remote on my television.
I have three different remotes and sometimes it
works and sometimes it doesn't. I got rid
of my television. That's how I dealt with
it. Probably be a smart move.
Gosh.
Wow.
Well, I tell you,
it's just it's overwhelming
the good feelings that I have that that
you and Tony and others, the
staff
deal with. Oh, thank you. Really. It's
it's wonderful.
Now are there other well, I was gonna
say volunteers to help out. Do you want
volunteers to do different things? And I think
of what Bobby Joe did and and Bruce,
that's kind of volunteering with them. We love
working with the community.
Yeah.
We we work with all kinds of members
of the community,
from live music to hosting
educational
events each month.
Yeah. Yes. The Wild Rivers Film Festival, of
course, comes in and does screenings for Thank
you.
You work pretty close with Wild Rivers.
I am actually on the board of the
Wild Rivers Film Festival as well. That's
Sarah has a quite busy schedule. Yes.
I sure do. That's great. But we're very
grateful to be able to partner with people
like the Wild Rivers Film Festival
and coming in and providing that for our
residents and making them feel special and getting
to see these screenings firsthand.
Yeah.
You know,
can you
you talked about other
other,
facilities,
not only the ones that you deal with
here,
but
it could would you recommend
somebody to say go to if you knew
a facility that would suit them better in
Portland or I'll say Roseburg
where Tony
is, have you done that also?
I have
I mean, each resident or each prospect that
I come across, each each everybody is different.
Sure. So depending on their wants and their
needs, I always encourage them to check out
everywhere so you can find
where really fits you best. Okay.
So, on a personal question, I guess, how
did you get into this business?
So I actually
I was an in home caregiver back in
Redding,
kind of part time.
And then I moved over to Crescent City
with my husband to help take care of
my mother-in-law.
And in doing that, I wasn't working at
the time. It was right in the middle
of COVID.
And my friend was the administrator
at Shore Pines Senior Living, and she needed
some help really bad with caregiving.
And so I decided, okay. I'll go ahead
and help you out. And I made the
commute from Crescent City up to Gold Beach
to Shore Pines, and I was a caregiver
up there.
I then moved into
the resident care coordinator role,
which
oversees the,
medication technicians and the caregivers
and
makes the schedules and builds the care plans
and kind of oversees all of the care
for our residents. So you have people that
administer or bring meds around?
Yes. We administer medications.
So is this The individual is assessed to
do them themselves.
Is is this, is this a
I wanna say a thing.
An an example, I recently found out that
the person that draws your blood when you
go into,
the hospital is
that's that's a job. That's a phlebotomist?
Yes. Yeah. And I had no idea that
that was the case. But it's so is
this person that administers drugs,
same type of thing? Yep. We call them
a med tech. Our med techs are the
ones that administer the medications to the residents.
Boy, that
that alone, I remember dealing with my mom
at the boarding care and the amount of
medications.
Well, heck, and I'm I gotta watch my
two
separating her, but that's
that's a big job. Yes. To try to
cover one person covering everybody in the in
the facility
pretty much.
Tony, do can you,
chime in on this one?
Yeah. I know, depending on the community
and depending on the acuity levels of the
current residents,
that will determine and how many meds are
being passed, that really determines how many medication
technicians we have on each shift. In a
typical situation, it would be two depending on
the size of a building for us, larger
sized building for a smaller sized community.
Depending on the amount of meds, there could
be one medication aid on the shift, but
it truly does depend on the number of
residents, the size of the community, and
the acuity of the residents, which is just
a really fancy way of saying how much
care each resident needs collectively.
Or if there's, like, a complex medication regimen
or if we have diabetics,
that require insulin.
It all kind of goes hand in hand
with how many med techs we have on.
Okay.
But and also there are some residents depending
on the level that they can administer their
own meds? Absolutely. We always encourage them to
be as independent
as possible until they're not able to. Yeah.
And then that's whenever we step in and
keep up to date on their care. I
would be faking it.
Oh, right. No. I can't do that.
You end up with another breakfast in here.
I can't make it to the dining room.
You'd be a little on the needy side
telling
That's okay. We have to be It'd be
the lazy side. I grew up getting away
with stuff.
You press the pendant and our care staff
will come running.
Okay.
Well, we are kinda running. We got a
little less than five minutes left, and, we
had a little background for Sarah. Tony, what
about you? How how did you get into
all of this?
I know that I've always felt that I've
been called to lead.
I've been called to serve,
and I really was just looking for the
type the right type of career or environment
where I'd be able to accomplish both. And
I know that that's what led me into
the senior living industry,
An opportunity to be able to get into
a management position and lead others,
but while also at the same time serving
individuals,
vulnerable individuals of a population,
aged
and disabled population.
If anything, it just it really does. It
it meets both of those two things that
I feel like I'm driven and most passionate
about is serving other individuals and leading others.
And I'd say senior living in in it
in and of itself is just a perfect
environment to be able to,
fulfill both of those career goals or aspirations
that I've had for myself.
Well,
it's good to know that both you and
Sarah are,
I would say, in charge of the seniors
here in this in this area.
I'm telling you, man, I it's I've sensed
just so much compassion about what you both
do. You really fall in love with the
end well,
I really fell in love with the industry
whenever I became a caregiver
up at Shore Pines. That's kind of what
trickled the effect. I was the administrator up
there for a little bit, and then I
got offered the regional sales and marketing director
role. And,
it's definite I finally found my niche.
That's good.
I'm still looking for mine even in retirement.
Oh, I think you're doing great, Rick.
God.
Well, I tell you, it was
wonderful having you guys both here with this
very important topic because, like, we had talked
about
a lot of times,
this is the senior community. People, oh, I
wanna retire to come here, and I don't
blame them. That's what I did too.
And,
but then there comes a time when we
might be a little more needy and need
some more help. Call me. And
yeah. So I I guess the bottom line
to the to this whole thing is if
you have a question
and you think maybe you know somebody or
maybe you know yourself or whatever,
go in and ask these people and they
will be very helpful, very friendly, and tell
you what they can provide.
Yeah. Maybe how you can help yourself without
using them. Absolutely.
You can visit our websites to schedule a
tour if you want a specific community,
or you can reach out to me directly,
and I'd be more than happy to walk
anybody through the process or answer any questions
that they might have. And, Sarah, go ahead
and give out your
your personal info there. Yeah. No problem. About
how it yeah.
You can call any of the communities, Monarch,
Azalea, or Shore Pines, or you can call
me directly at (530)
691-2988,
and I would be more than happy to
answer any questions or
walk you through the process or do what
I can to help assist you with whatever
you need.
Wow. Okay. And if you are listening and
you say, gee, I wish Susie or somebody,
knew about that, you can you can play
this program on You bet. Online.
Yeah. Well, listen. Again, I wanna thank both
of you. Tony, thank you for chiming in
from, beautiful Roseburg, Oregon.
Of course. It was my pleasure. Thank you
for having me. Okay. Alright. And, hopefully, we'll
have you all on again because this, again,
this is an ongoing topic. This this never
ends at all. It's an important topic, and
I'm so grateful that you guys had us
on the air to talk about it. Well,
we we definitely enjoyed it and had a
good time talking about it. So
okay, y'all. Thank you, Sarah, and thank you,
Tony.
And you're all listening to KCIW
one hundred point seven FM in beautiful Brookings,
Oregon.