Understanding care options is crucial as we age.
BY FRED NYSTROM
Most of us reading this magazine have likely passed the conventional age of retirement and are feeling positive about our future years. There’s a lot to feel positive about. Some of our current commonalities may include:
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We’re retired or have switched to less-demanding work.
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We are healthy, active, and socially engaged.
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We are married or in a stable relationship, and the kids are (hopefully) out of the house.
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Ninety percent of us want to age in place in our own home for as long as possible.
The flipside is that things can change rapidly during this life stage. We may suddenly find ourselves single or in a caregiving role. Or we may become injured, or chronically or terminally ill. Because of this we need to be aware of our options so we can be prepared. That’s why understanding care options is crucial as we age.
A physician speaking from his wheelchair at a recent Rotary meeting I attended kept referring to the audience as “TABs.” When asked what he meant he explained that “TAB” stands for Temporarily Able Bodied, and that none of us know when we or a loved one will have an EVENT. An event is something that will profoundly change us from who we are today, to who we will be after such an event.
The event could be a bad fall, significant surgery, car accident, heart attack, cancer diagnosis, or the onset of dementia. Don’t think it will happen to you? Statistics show that two-thirds of us will become physically or cognitively impaired before death.
That’s why it is imperative each of us know the structure of the care industry and how to receive the services we may need following our own event.
It may come as a surprise to learn that hospitals focus on performing operations and only serving those with acute care needs. As soon as medically feasible, patients who require prolonged recovery time or convalescence are transferred to a skilled nursing facility. This is where people recover while receiving 24-hour monitoring and skilled care from nurses and doctors. If physical or occupational therapy is needed to aid recovery it can be provided as well.
The average cost for a stay in a skilled nursing facility in the Seattle Metro area is $13,000 to $16,000 a month. Fortunately, most of the costs are covered by insurance.
As patients get close to being discharged from a skilled nursing facility, doctors and others on the care team confer to make a very impactful decision: Can this patient be released to return to their own home? And if they are released to their home, does their condition require some level of in-home care? Or is returning home no longer an option? In that case the patient or family must find long-term assisted living or memory care designed to handle their ongoing physical, emotional, and/or cognitive needs.
This discharge “gateway” is designed to make sure patients receive the level of care the medical staff believes is critical to their safety and well-being after leaving the skilled nursing facility. Unfortunately, in-home and long-term care are generally not covered by Medicare insurance. Without advance planning, not only will this change be physically and emotionally difficult, but it could also be financially devastating.
Therefore, it’s imperative to consider your preferences and options before a lifechanging event happens. In our new column, “Planning for Change,” we will step you through the options currently available—expanding your knowledge and understanding of choices with each issue. But don’t wait for us, start investigating these options for yourself today so you are ready if an unexpected event happens to you.
Fred Nystrom’s media and publishing experience include starting a tabloid on outdoor recreation and growing it to a national circulation, a decade with Sunset magazine, publishing the Special Places travel guides, plus local magazines and contributing editor for a local newspaper. He is now focused on the issues and challenges of aging.