October 10^th is World Mental Health Day which raises awareness of mental health issues and aims to support those struggling with their mental health.

Mental health in senior living is critically important and Heron’s Key makes it a top priority to ensure residents are fulfilled mentally, spiritually and physically.

While statics show an increase in mental health issues, feelings of isolation and overall loneliness in individuals who retire, there are many ways to mitigate these emotions.

Socialization

Socialization is one of the most important ways to support mental wellbeing. Daily interaction with friends, family, staff members and neighbors can greatly increase a sense of belonging.

Heron’s Key also has dozens of resident-led interest groups that connect residents with neighbors who have similar hobbies. Groups meet regularly to participate in activities with one another which makes this a great way to form meaningful connections.

There are also daily activities, classes, spiritual programs, fitness opportunities and more for residents who prefer a pop-in activity.

Whether it is a group, an activity, inviting a neighbor to have a meal, or smiling at a staff member in the community, social interaction makes a positive impact on mental health.

Physical Activity

Daily physical activity is also a great way to support mental health especially for those who deal with anxiety and depression. Exercise can increase endorphins, reduce cortisol levels, and increase blood flow, all of which prove beneficial to both the mind and the body.

Heron’s Key offers dozens of ways to promote physical activity. There are group fitness classes each week ranging from yoga to Zumba and everything in between. There are also on-campus gyms with cardio equipment and weights for residents to use in their own time. In addition to the fitness classes and facilities, Gig Harbor is a beautiful place to go outside and take daily walks around the community.

Regardless of the activity selected, at least thirty minutes of daily exercise has proven to be beneficial especially for maintaining mental health during retirement.

Charitable Giving

Lastly, community involvement and charitable giving is a great way to support mental health. Volunteering has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, combat depression, and increase physical health, while also doing something for the greater good of the community.

Volunteering or charitable giving also helps give individuals a sense of purpose. If you donate time, money or resources to a cause near and dear to your heart, it can increase personal satisfaction and boost self-esteem.

There are dozens of ways to get involved in the community or with local nonprofit organizations. The Heron’s Key Scholarship Group and the Heron’s Key Resident Association are two great places to start if exploring ways to give is of interest.

By doing some of these or all of these, residents are able to decrease the chances of mental health issues.

However, many mental health issues need professional intervention and treatment should go beyond socialization and wellness. If you ever feel the need to talk to someone, therapists and mental health professionals are available at Heron’s Key to offer support.

This World Mental Health Day is a great time to check in with your own mental wellbeing and check in with your loved ones.

For mental health resources and to learn more about World Mental Health Day, visit wmhdofficial.com.

My wife, Deborah, and I helped design a custom 4,000 square foot home that sat on 6 acres in the Siskiyou Mountain foothills overlooking the town of Ashland, Oregon and a significant portion of Southern Oregon’s Rogue River Valley. Expecting it to be our “final house” as we aged in place, it had one story, no steps, and a separate wing for an eventual live-in caregiver.

We stayed in the house 17 glorious years until we realized it was not going to be that last residence for us. Multiple reasons lead us to that conclusion, including the unhealthy smoke and fire danger which for the last decade pervaded the area every summer, dwindling medical resources in the entire region, a dearth of in-home care givers, and a lack of skilled nursing facilities we would be comfortable being in should we need those services.

So, three years ago we started looking into what were then called Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC’s). Today, those same communities are called Life Plan Communities, Senior Communities or some other less-often-used terms. I will focus mostly on Life Plan Communities.

The benefits of those kinds of facilities are numerous, including providing on-site health care, socialization, ease of living, less stress, cultural and entertainment programming, many activities, meals, and other helpful services.

Deborah (in her early seventies with a neurological condition) and I (now eighty) are both very good on-line researchers, and we began looking into what communities existed in various parts of the country and what each of them offered. Very quickly we learned there is no central registry for these types of communities and while some states have a listing of all those in their state, most didn’t. So, we literally had to search town by town, area by area and state by state to find them.

We also discovered there are vast differences between the communities including, what amenities and services they offer, their funding levels and financial health, their physical plants (cottages vs. apartment buildings), whether they are for-profit or non-profit, their size, how they prepare food, the cost of entry and monthly fees, their religious affiliation or not, the socio-political orientation of the residents, the activities they offer and other important factors that would make for either a successful transition and life, or not.

We took the time to do thorough research, spoke to over ten communities, visited four, placed deposits with a few, and finally decided on one we wanted to live at. We sold our house and moved into Heron’s Key in Gig Harbor, Washington in December, 2023.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and believe it was one of the best things we could have done for ourselves as seniors. It feels like we’re living in a luxurious hotel or on a cruise ship because all our needs are taken care of including, repairs, housekeeping and meals. We have a state-of-the-art gym, a concierge, packages are delivered right to our door, transportation is provided most everywhere in the area, there’s an on-site restaurant that delivers, a salon and spa, a health clinic, and meeting rooms, plus we don’t have the cost or stress of property taxes, utilities, mortgage, lawn and gardening services, homeowners insurance and many other expenses we had owning a home.

For those starting out on that journey, I hope this article will help you understand what you need to be aware of when looking for a senior community. The following are in no specific order, but each is important to consider and evaluate. And let me add, that I encourage you to visit any that interest you. Most will give you free overnight accommodations and meals as part of the tour and visit experience.

TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

Type A – provide unlimited health and wellness services at no additional cost to the basic fees. Payments are predictable for the rest of your life as one fee covers you in independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing/rehab (the four levels of care and living). If you’re a couple, even if one of you has to move into a higher level of care and the other person remains in independent living, there is no increase in costs. These types of communities do tend to charge a higher entry fee and monthly fee, but there are no surprises or savings-breaking medical bills, and most have all four levels of living and continuing care on premises.

Type B – generally have lower entry costs and monthly fees, but when you need a higher level of health care you are charged additional fees, and some of these communities do not have skilled nursing/rehab on site.

Type C – are the most affordable, but you will pay prevailing market rates for medical services when you need them. They are also less likely to have all four levels of care.

Rental – These communities have the smallest entry fee (or none), there are no contracts and instead you’re on a month-to-month rental of your space, they often have the least amount of healthcare services and when you do need medical care you will be paying prevailing rates.

55 Plus and Stand Alone –  55 Plus communities generally only have independent living, while Stand Alone communities have only Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing (with no independent living).

IMPORTANT NOTES –

I will mostly be discussing Type A, B & C Life Plan Communities in this article, although some of what I’ll relate is applicable to Rental, 55 Plus and Stand Alone as well.

Many/most Life Plan Communities have different levels of refundability of your entrance fees, ranging from 0% up to 90%. In general, the higher the percentage of refund you choose the higher the entrance fee (monthly fees are generally the same, only the entrance fee is affected by the level or refundability). Reasons to choose the higher refundability can include leaving more money to your beneficiaries or having the freedom to move to a different community and not lose your entire entrance fee in the process. But you will pay for that flexibility with a higher entrance fee. If neither of those appeal to you, then for sure, choose the plan with the lowest entry fee.

FOR-PROFIT VS. NON-PROFIT

Especially for Type A & B communities, they can be owned by a for-profit or non-profit organization and that can make a huge difference in three important ways.

Potential Tax Benefit- In either type of community a portion of your entry and monthly fees are tax deductible as medical expenses. It can be as high as 35% of what you pay that can come back to you as a tax savings.

For-profit communities tend to focus on making money for the facility, while non-profits focus more on residents’ needs.

Many, if not most, nonprofit communities have benevolence funds, so if you run out of money due to no fault of your own, the fund may cover your living costs and fees for the rest of your life.

WAITING LISTS AND DEPOSITS

Virtually every Life Plan Community has a waiting list. Most all deposits are fully refundable, or 75% refundable at worst, and they often are only $1,000. If you are at all considering moving into a community at some point, put down deposits at those which interest you as soon as you are able so that by the time you are ready to move in you are already at, or close to, the top of the waiting list.

Most communities prioritize their internal waiting lists over their external ones, so for those, it might pay for you to initially move into a smaller apartment or cottage while waiting to move into a larger unit when one becomes available.

Wait time depends on the type of apartment you hope to move into. However, those with flexibility can often move into an apartment within 3 to 6 months, while others with strict limitations may need to wait years for the ‘right’ apartment.”

TYPES OF HOUSING/ACCOMMODATIONS

Some communities are solely apartments in a high-rise building (more often in major metro areas), some have a mix or cottages/houses and apartments, and a few might only have cottages or houses.

The benefits of being in a cottage or house is having a garage – not just for your car but also for additional storage – no one might be living above you unless it’s a duplex, and we’ve found that many cottages are larger in size than most apartments. The negatives are that most activities and services are located in, and take place in, the main building so you have to get out and go there no matter the weather outside, and people who live in cottages often don’t have the same socialization as those who live in apartments in the main building as they’re not meeting and interacting with other apartment dwellers every time they go out of their apartment.

The downsides to living in an apartment can include a smaller size, noisy neighbors above you, and, in some cases, thin walls. If you have a dog or outdoor cat, living in an apartment building means you have to take the pet down the elevator every time it needs to relieve itself (unless you live on the ground floor), whereas in a cottage, the animal can go right outside your door. However, nowadays, there are many options to provide a pee patch on your deck, and even companies that replace the fresh grass every month.

FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE COMMUNITY

It’s important to look at the finances of the community and the organization that owns or runs it. You want to make sure it’s finances are sound so you don’t get hit with surprise fee increases or see the community run out of money and not be able to provide the services you expect, or be able to refund your money should you choose to leave. A great organization to look into is Fitch ratings, although not every community is part of it yet. If your specific community is not listed, look at sister communities and/or parenting company.

FOOD

There is a huge difference in how various communities do meals and food. Some communities’ restaurants only offer batch cooked dishes, and as a result, they generally don’t have the ability to accommodate special diets. Other communities, like Herons Key, make everything from scratch and therefore cook to order and do offer food that is gluten-free, heart-healthy, etc. And there are even some communities which have their own gardens and grow everything organically.

In general, the restaurants in many communities don’t serve great tasting food, while in some the food is quite savory. If the quality and type of food is important to you, make sure to look at the menus, taste the food on a visit and talk to the head of dining about what they can and can’t do for your diet and needs.

HOME CARE

If you get seriously ill and don’t want to leave your independent living residence, many of the communities offer or can provide you with a list of in-home care providers. That will be an extra charge for you, most likely at current market rates in the area, but it is nice having that flexibility in case you want it.

Find out what each community you’re interested in does in regarding in-home care and what, if any, services they provide in that regard. Most do not have care givers on staff, but many can arrange for them for you or recommend who you should contact.

RESIDENTS AND SIZE

Some communities are very large and have thousands of residents, others have but a few hundred, and many others are somewhere in between. On one hand, the more residents the greater the pool of potential new friends, but also the less interpersonal contact you’ll have with your whole community on a daily basis.

To me, the type of community you want to live in (A, B or C) and the values and socio-political-religious orientation/views of the residents is more important than how many people live there. But that is for you to decide for you.

AMENITIES AND ACTIVITIES

On your visits to Life Plan Communities, and while looking through their materials, see what amenities they provide and what activities they hold. They vary vastly by community so make sure you end up in a community that suits your needs, interests, hobbies, activities and lifestyle. Some are more arts and literary oriented, others are more outdoors based, some are inner-city, and others are religious. All have a full range of amenities and activities, just make sure the one you choose has those that appeal to you.

APPEARANCE

The environment you’ll be in every day once you move into a community can greatly affect your happiness and state of mind.

Some of the facilities we visited felt and looked like old age homes with failing seniors in wheelchairs filling the lobby as we entered the building. Many of the actual buildings were older and felt dated, worn out, and in need of a face lift.

Other communities (like Herons Key which is only seven years old and kept in great shape) are newer, more modern, and filled with a more vibrant group of residents. When we went into the lobbies of those types of facilities they felt and looked more like a fancy apartment building or a modern hotel.

I’d suggest that the physical appearance of the building is less important than how you think you’d fit with the residents, but it is a factor.

I hope this article will be helpful to you as you think about growing older into your senior years, or if you’re already there, what your next life arrangement might be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RICK BLEIWEISS is a multi-award-winning novelist, newspaper columnist and magazine writer, and Head of New Business Development for Blackstone Publishing. He was a former touring rock & roll musician, music industry senior executive, and GRAMMY-nominated record producer.

Rick has been interviewed/featured on writing, publishing and aging in many media outlets including numerous TV stations, Yahoo Finance, NPR radio, Publishers Weekly, podcasts, and radio shows.

Rick’s novels, Pignon Scorbion & The Barbershop Detectives and Murder in Haxford won multiple national and international awards, have been and #1 best-sellers on Amazon. In addition, he has had articles published in Psychology Today, Writer’s Digest, the Strand Mystery Magazine, Crime Reads, and the Jewish Journal.

At Blackstone, Rick has acquired books and catalogs by many noted authors and celebrities including Rex Pickett (Sideways), Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr, Al Roker, James Clavell (Shogun), Gregory McDonald (Fletch), Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby), PC & Kristin Cast (House of Night series), Gabriel García Márquez (100 Years of Solitude), Leon Uris, Susan Lucci, HP Lovecraft, and Dale Brown.

Rick started in the music industry as a touring and recording artist. He was a Grammy-nominated producer of over 50 records and albums and a record label senior executive working with many industry legends including Clive Davis Melissa Etheridge, The Backstreet Boys, Brittney Spears, Kiss, Donna Summer, U2, The Village People, The BeeGees, David Bowie, The Wu Tang Clan, John Mellencamp, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Reba McIntire, Whitney Houston, Yes, Alisha Keys, Usher, Sarah McLachlan, Pink and many other hit acts. He was heavily involved in marketing film soundtracks, including Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Flashdance, The BodyGuard, This Is Spinal Tap, Krush Groove, Chariots of Fire.

Rick was on the board of directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Southern Oregon University’s Emerging and Digital Arts program and the Ashland Independent Film Festival. He founded and ran the National Visual Art Search with Peter Max, has a BA and MA from NYU, and attended an accelerated executive business program at Harvard University. Rick co-founded Baruch College’s Sports & Entertainment Marketing program and has lectured at multiple universities and OLLI programs.

The Heron’s Key diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee works to ensure the community is a welcoming place for all. One of the most recent efforts of the DEI committee was implementing Reflective Structured Dialogues.

This program dives into a variety of topics and host lectures, roundtables, trainings and facilitates respectful conversations between residents. The Resident Association and DEI committee started planning this program in May and launched the first session in June.

Each session focuses on a specific topic for three months. The first month in the initiative offers a video on the topic, the second month has a presentation by a guest speaker and the third month concludes the initiative with a structured dialogue.

The feedback was positive right from the start. The first session, June through August, covered politics, civic discourse and the election year. Nearly 50 residents participated.

“We started the program in order to facilitate tough conversations with one another but in a respectful manner,” says Oscar Roberto, president of the Resident Association and member of the DEI committee. “The goal is not to change our neighbor’s perspective, but to be open to other people’s opinions.”

In addition to the three-month initiatives, residents and staff can also be trained to become facilitators of the structured dialogues. The YMCA’s Bridge of Hope and Essential Partners offer training to help residents and staff members become certified facilitators. Currently four Heron’s Key staff members and eight residents have completed the training.

The long-term goal is to establish a Heron’s Key system with trained facilitators who can lead more programs within the community and volunteer at local events coordinated by Bridge of Hope.

“It is great to establish a program that ensures no one feels left out of our community because of a differing opinion,” Roberto adds. “We are very proud to have created a safe space to have these conversations and I look forward to seeing friends and neighbors continue to have these types of talks with one another.”

As the next topic, the group will be covering ageism. This initiative will include a presentation by Age-Friendly Seattle about internalized ageism and how to address negative self-talk. It will also include a presentation by Sarah McKiddy from the University of Washington and finish with a structured dialogue.

The DEI committee will continue to implement new initiatives all with the shared goal to strengthen the already strong resident connections, expand understanding and curiosity, broaden perspectives, and prioritize belonging on the Heron’s Key campus.

For those who want to explore the Reflective Structured Dialogues and learn more about ageism, now is a perfect time to get involved.