Have you noticed on your daily drives around the Portland metro area how much we are being reminded that we are indeed a Graying America? Besides the billboards promoting the latest medications or remedies for our aging bodies are the increasing amount of signs promoting another Assisted Living Senior Community. Even in our stressful economic times, senior facilities continue to enter into our neighborhood districts and change our Portland area skylines. How will these new communities impact us now and in the future? Will our kids one day suggest one of these places as our new home?
Numerous questions arise in my mind as I drive by these senior communities - where are the corporations and investors coming from? Are they really able to fill up all those suites and remain financially sound? Who are they employing? How will my kids, or my spouse, decide when I need to move out of my comfortable home and into one of these places? How will they choose? Will they get help from an experienced senior placement specialist or will they simply pick the one closest to them out of convenience? What will these places cost us not only financially but as a society? These and other questions drum out the radio news of our economic downturn.
In the coming weeks and months I will be exploring answers to some of my questions and hopefully also yours. As I passed by one newer communities this morning next to a Retirement Home I stopped in and picked up a glossy brochure from the adjoining for that new assisted living next door. As I waited for someone to help with my inquiry and glanced around the lobby filled with seniors waiting to get on an elevator, I wondered how many of them would be “aging in place” across the street. How many of them will even be able to move next door? Will their retirement income and social security survive long enough?
What are your thoughts and experiences of Assisted Living in our community? How has it impacted you or your friends or family members? I am anxious to hear from you as I explore and ponder the many questions of what may end up a part of my future.
Assisted Living Placement Assistance