continuum – Beatitudes Community

Helping Keep Aging Couples Together

Tue, June 18, 2019 Published by Beatitudes Campus

One of the things that we are so often asked about by couples visiting Beatitudes Campus and considering their future is about what the future may look like as the years go by. About 70 percent of people over the age of 65 will need some type of long-term care during their lifetime, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). On average, women will need care for a longer period of time (3.7 years), compared to men (2.2 years), and 20 percent of those age 65 and older will need care for more than five years.

An active, healthy lifestyle can help protect your mind and body from disease and injury—which often leads to a need for long-term care. This is why we offer such a wide range of opportunities through the Life Enrichment department.Mike Smallwood and Jon Schilling are always eager to help you put together individual plans to support that healthy lifestyle. However, there are no guarantees in life and the question of whether—and how long—you or your spouse may need care remains unknown.

Since aging is an individual thing, a couple should not expect that both partners will have the same needs throughout retirement. As a couple ages, one partner may require assisted living or skilled nursing services, while the other partner remains able to live independently.

A continuing care retirement community (CCRC)/lifeplan community can help couples prepare for the challenges that an unknown future may offer. CCRCs provide a continuum of services—from independent living to nursing-home level health care—that is available if and when needed. I often hear Becky Black, our Director of Sales & Marketing, refer to it as “peace of mind” in your back pocket. If, after moving onto the campus, one spouse eventually needs a higher level of health care services, the couple can still be together here at Beatitudes.

Here is an example of how a lifeplan community such as Beatitudes Campus can meet the needs of both partners over time:

Jim and Jane move into an independent living apartment or patio home here at the campus. A few years later, Jane is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The couple continues to live together for a couple of years, but as Jane’s needs change, she moves into another section of the campus to receive additional care and support. Jim continues to enjoy the social benefits of living within the retirement community and can visit with Jane, who is just a short walk away, whenever he wants.

Those of you who are reading this article as residents – congratulations! You took one of the most significant steps you could in planning for your future. Those who are reading and still considering—our residency counselors can help you take a look at all of the variables and help you develop a plan. Couples who seek peace of mind in the face of uncertainty may want to consider a lifeplan community/CCRC as a viable retirement living choice to ensure that both partners will be taken care of now and in the future. And residents, don’t forget that you can be financially rewarded for sharing the good news with friends and family – your first successful referral will earn you $1,000 and the amounts go up from there. Stop by the sales center to get your referral form and begin earning!

Meeting Your Needs, Whatever They May Be

Mon, February 6, 2017 Published by Cheryl Knupp

As you know, living at Beatitudes Campus has many benefits. Did you know that one of the most important is that you have a full continuum of care services available to you should you ever need them? We would like you to be aware of what is available to you prior to you possibly needing the services.

Recently, while taking part in The Design Studio, I was asked if I could explain what is needed or how we determine what level of care or services someone needs. That was the perfect time for me to give a shameless plug for a presentation which will be given on Tuesday, February 14th. I shared that myself and the Directors of these areas on campus will discuss this information and much more and encouraged everyone to attend. I am sure there’s many of you with questions like—how many of you are wondering what services are provided on each floor of the Health Care Center? What is the difference between Independent Living and Assisted Living? What services are offered on campus that may help support you in staying in your apartment longer? Also, have you been curious as to what Medicare services are available on campus? How about the cost of services? You will find out these answers plus a whole lot more if you join us for this informative presentation in the Agelink Great Room on Tuesday, February 14th at 3PM.

During this 90 minute presentation—graciously sponsored by The Health and Wellness Committee and Lifelong Learners—you will hear from not only me, but also Teresa Borton, Health Care Center Director of Nursing; Elizabeth Kerr, Administrator/Clinical Director of Beatitudes Home Health and Beatitudes at Home; and Ron Ingram, Director of Assisted Living and Early Memory Support.

Please don’t miss out on this great opportunity to learn about what care services the campus offers in what is sure to be a fun and interactive way. Hope to see you on the 14th at 3PM.

It’s All On A Continuum

Mon, October 31, 2016 Published by Rev. David Ragan, Sr. VP Resident Services

You made a beautiful decision. Maybe one of the best decisions you could have made for this time in your history. You had choices, but you chose, brilliantly, to live in a community where, if your living situation should become less than optimal with your quality of life decreasing – you have wonderful choices. That is because you chose to live in a community that offers you a continuum of increasing possibilities. Change is hard, but you made a hard choice that I believe guarantees the highest quality of life possible for you.

The definition of continuum, according to Merriam-Webster, is a range or series of things that are slightly different from each other and that exist between two different possibilities. As I see it, if a resident wants to maintain a high quality of life, even as some abilities decrease, because they live at Beatitudes Campus they have the beautiful option available to them to enter into an environment of support that will return that quality of life right back to them with one move along the continuum.

Every day I give thanks that we have options for our residents so as to enable them to live life to the fullest. However, a phenomenon takes place, in more instances than not, that so often breaks my heart when it occurs. That is when by all educated observations, a resident who would greatly benefit from utilizing the continuum by flowing through it to a higher level of assistance, would rather stay where they are often risking so much physically and emotionally. The benefit of all that Beatitudes Campus has to offer seems to be wasted and worthless. We often say it, “We will always defend the right of our residents to make their own choices – right choices and wrong choices. But it is heartbreaking to those who know what a difference it would make if only the continuum was embraced as a positive hope for the future.

Being a minister serving churches and visiting multiple communities like ours, I saw my parishioners and listened to them while there. After doing so, I am not naïve as to the many fears and reasons for resisting moving to higher levels of care. Because I am aware I, and my colleagues who feel similarly here at Beatitudes Campus, have worked hard to obliterate the stereotypes that plague higher levels of care feeding into unnecessary resistance. It often starts when considering moving to a community like ours and dreading the move and then, after doing so wishing one had moved “ten years earlier”. I can’t even count the number of times I have heard this.

The same is so true for accepting the opportunity to move to higher assistance apartments. It seems to be so dreaded and, upon finally doing so, life suddenly gets so much better when compared to the months leading up to the move. I have said it a 1000 times, the same Campus, the same dining venues, the same friends, the same activities and events. Nothing changes except for the building one now lives in. One can still do everything they want to do with a little added help available to do so. It is not a decline at that point, it is a step forward toward being safer and freer to not have to worry about the many little things when one was without assistance. Those little things prior to the move and no longer being able to do them were, in almost every case, diminishing the quality of life prior to moving.

If I could, I would remove all of the stigmas and fears and open up everyone’s eyes to all of the continuing possibilities in the continuum

If I could, I would remove all of the stigmas and fears and open up everyone’s eyes to all of the continuing possibilities in the continuum. For now, I hope you might have opened your eyes and, if not for you right now, at least help one of your neighbors see that when the time is right, there is no greater gift to self, family and friends than that of accepting the care and assistance that will truly lift you to a higher level of success. It is a great choice. It is really why you chose to live here. Take advantage of it. After all, we are all on a continuum when it comes to life and there is no end when it comes to the highest quality you deserve.

Tag: continuum