What's involved in finding the right retirement residence
February 28, 2023
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5
minutes
Until now, your aging parents may have been coping well in their own home with professional in-home care and a medical alert system. But you’ve become increasingly worried about their safety. You’re wondering whether it’s time to start considering assisted living in a retirement residence.
Before having “the talk” with your parents, you decide to research assisted living, partly to be prepared for the pushback you expect from them and partly to reassure yourself that a retirement residence is a reasonable option.
You start your research online, reading different articles about assisted living and checking out the websites of a few local retirement residences. You discover a few things:
There are more retirement residences in your parents’ area than you anticipated. You begin to worry how long it will take you to sort through them all and find the right one.
Some retirement residences have slicker websites than others, but you’re having a hard time distinguishing one place from another. They all seem to offer similar services.
Retirement residences don’t list their prices online. They want you to contact them directly, maybe even come for a tour, before revealing that information to you.
Some of the articles you’ve read say that the only way to get a true sense of a retirement residence is to go and see it with your parents. You wonder how many places you should visit. You’re also not sure how you’re going to get your parents to agree to come with you.
On average, it can take families 80 hours to research and select a retirement residence.
You’re not quite sure how to move forward. You realize it could take you hours upon hours to find the right retirement residence. You’re also still not sure about how to manage discussions on the topic with your parents.
Your concerns are justified. On average, it can take families 80 hours to research and select a retirement residence. That’s the equivalent of working two weeks at a full-time job. And that’s on top of any job or family responsibilities you already have.
And navigating discussions with your parents can certainly be tricky. It’s a fine balance, ensuring their safety without “taking over”.
That’s why you might want to consider enlisting the help of a senior living advisor.
For example, our senior living advisors at Tea & Toast help families search for the right retirement residence in the Ottawa area. Here are some of the ways we simplify the process:
Greatly reduce the time you spend doing your own research. That’s because we have in-depth knowledge of retirement residences in the area (well beyond what you’ll find on their websites), which allows us to quickly come up with a shortlist of places that aligns with your parents’ needs and preferences.
Consider price up front. We already know what each retirement residence charges, so we can immediately focus on places that meet your parents’ budget.
Save you calls to individual retirement residences. We can provide you with a lot of information about individual retirement residences without you having to contact them directly. We can recommend which places to visit – keeping the number of visits reasonable – and arrange the tours on your behalf.
Help you and your parents weigh options. One retirement residence may tick all the boxes and emerge as the best choice. But if the choice isn’t that obvious, we can help you and your parents arrive at a decision by comparing different criteria.
Facilitate discussions with your parents. Because we’ve helped hundreds of families, we can act as a trusted mediator and guide.
