Retirement lifestyles reinvented

Nobody likes the term nursing home. Least of all, not surprisingly, the members of what now is called the senior-living industry.

Nursing homes at worst are thought of as places to be feared, places where people are warehoused in their final stages of life. At best, they are perceived as institutional — more like hospitals than like homes.

Well, not anymore. The senior-living industry rapidly is reinventing itself in anticipation of a huge increase in the 85-plus age demographic in the United States. For those who plan to reach that golden age, this is a very good thing.

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Experts on aging say most people begin to consider moving to a retirement community when they reach their 80s. Experts project that octogenarians will reach this late stage of life either much healthier or much sicker than their counterparts of 30 or 40 years ago.

Healthy 80-plus seniors will be more active than ever, continuing to push themselves physically, mentally and spiritually. Eighty-plus seniors who are not well will likely be sicker than their counterparts of the past, largely because modern medicine keeps people alive longer. But don’t expect to be in the latter category. Senior-living executives say only 5 percent to 6 percent of the elderly population in the United States currently reside in that category.

As a result, the senior-living industry is offering a smorgasbord of housing options to fit the needs of a large spectrum of seniors. It still will include nursing homes, which now are called critical-care facilities. But senior-living options increasingly will include so-called independent-living and assisted-living communities. Indeed, a new breed of senior-living centers offer all three levels of care, so residents can transition to the level that fits their circumstances without having to move out of the community. These new centers are referred to as continuing-care communities. Right now there are only 315 accredited continuing-care communities in the United States, but the good news is that one of them is in Boulder.

“We’re definitely seeing a change in the culture of retirement,” says Gina Basha, marketing director at The Academy, a senior-living community in Boulder. “People are looking at (senior-living centers) as an option to enhance their retirement life rather than as putting one foot in the grave.”

To cater to its residents’ needs, the Academy offers both independent and assisted living in stand-alone bungalows, built in the style of the University Hill neighborhood in which the Academy is located, and in apartments.

At the Academy, residents can expect to spend many a fall and winter evening enjoying chamber music played by members of the Boulder Philharmonic. At Sunrise Assisted Living, an 84-unit community in north Boulder, residents can take yoga in the morning and enjoy wine and cheese at a bistro social during cocktail hour. At Boulder’s Frasier Meadows, one of only two certified continuing-care communities in Colorado, residents can play golf, via a simulator, or garden in the community’s greenhouse when the weather outside is dreary.

Simply put, this isn’t your father’s senior-living industry. The amenities senior-living centers now provide are tantalizing: on-site swimming pools; individual garden plots; yoga classes; on-site symphonic musicales; gourmet meals; individualized exercise programs; movie theaters; beer and wine bistros; chauffeured trips to Colorado resorts and entertainment venues; the list goes on.

Clearly, senior-living centers have changed to meet new market demands. But so has the cost to the consumer. Right now assisted-living accommodations in Boulder County, designed for seniors who no longer can live independently but are not yet in need of skilled nursing care, generally start at about $3,500 a month. For seniors who need 24-hour care and supervision, nursing homes start at about $5,000 a month and move up rapidly from that base.

Some senior-living centers bundle their services into one overall monthly rate; others have a base rate and add costs depending on the services needed. Most often, the base rate includes room, board, housekeeping and some utilities. Virtually all the senior-living industry executives interviewed for this story say planning in advance for the cost of senior-living centers is crucial. Long-term care insurance, they say, is something everyone should at least consider, because the cost of care will go nowhere but up.

“If you’ve hit 50 and haven’t yet looked into long-term care insurance, you better,” says Amy Mann, health relations manager and marketing director at Boulder Manor, a skilled-care nursing home in Boulder. “In 10 years we’ll be looking at nursing home costs of about $200 a day.”

Indeed, planning for senior-living expenses should be tackled using the same kind of long-term horizon as planning for a child’s college expenses, says Linda Chavez, director of administration at the Academy. That means looking into long-term care insurance relatively early on.

“The optimum time to buy long-term health-care insurance is in your 50s and 60s,” says Lynne Foley, director of marketing at Frasier Meadows. “When you get into your late 70s, it gets very expensive, and you can’t buy it after age 80.”

Scott McCutcheon, executive director at Sunrise Assisted Living, says purchasing long-term care insurance even in your 40s is not too early.

Long-term care insurance is virtually the only way to prepay your senior-living expenses. There are no prepayment plans for senior living in existence that local senior-living industry executives know of.

Local industry executives also say don’t count on Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare, the federal government’s health plan for seniors, pays for hospitalization and rehabilitation only. It doesn’t pay for living accommodations. Medicaid, the state-funded health-care plan for low-income residents, does cover senior-housing expenses, but to qualify for the aid requires a substantial sell-off of personal assets. In addition, according to Sunrise Living’s McCutcheon, 90 percent of for-profit assisted-living facilities don’t accept Medicaid payments. Nonprofit centers, such as Frasier Meadows, do. As does Boulder Manor.

But cost is but one factor to consider when deciding on where and how to live in the golden years. Local industry executives say the intangibles, like whether a place just feels like home, play a huge role in making a senior-living decision.

“Its not so much the bricks and sticks that sell,” Chavez says. “It’s the heart and soul of a place.”