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Frequently Asked Questions

 
 

The average in America today is $4,000 per month for a private room in assisted living. That includes everything from Medicare, Medicaid, to the highest privately paid. The idea of $4,000 is average but you’re more than likely going to be above average. You wouldn’t want to put mom in an average place, when you pull up you don’t even want to slow down the car.

Average or above, so $4,000 to $6,000 a month is what people pay for private assisted living homes. That’s the sweet spot, that’s the focus, that’s what we teach people how to do. That’s what you should plan on paying if you’re going to move into somebody else’s home. If you want to live for free, start your own home.

 
Five, six, $8,000 a month, that’s a lot of money. How do people afford it? We don’t focus on Medicare and Medicaid. We focus on private-pay, so whether it be longterm care insurance or an individual’s income stream from their pension, social security, or liquidating assets — like their own home or other assets and investments — to pay for their assisted living. This is what people typically do for assisted living. Even if there is a senior who doesn’t have access to those assets, it’s their kids who are taking care of the costs. So, how do people afford it? Frankly, they take care of it any way they can because they love mom and dad. The seniors we serve have families who make sure their parents have the very best care.
 
Yes, you can! We show our students how to do RAL with their own money or how to use other people’s money. When you think about it, borrowing from a bank is borrowing other people’s money. When you bring in outside lenders, investors, or private individuals those are all options utilizing other people’s money. A lot of times people will think, “Oh, I have to have skin in the game,” and they believe they have to have their own money in. That’s not how we think about it. If you’re putting in the time, the effort, you have the plan, and you’re willing to do the work, you’re putting a lot of skin in the game. Others have the money and are looking for something or somebody to invest in. That can be you! But you need to know what you’re doing. That’s where we come in. We’ll show you exactly what to do — whether using your own money or someone else’s. The choice is yours. You decide.
 
You have a home now — can you use it as a residential assisted living home? Maybe yes — but just because you could doesn’t mean you should. The biggest and most important piece of this puzzle is location, location, location. Is it near the right people? Is it near the right demographic? If it’s near a college campus where the average age is 30 years old and these 30 year olds have parents in their 50s and 60s who are not in assisted living, that’s not an ideal location. However, if your home is in an area where the average age is 50-60 years old and their parents are 80 and 90 years old, that’s the right neighborhood. You’ll then want to look at economics. Are the residents in the area middle and below or middle and above? A successful residential assisted living property will want residents in the upper middle income, making location critical. You don’t need to worry about the home structure, itself. We can scrape it away and build it new. It’s the location that we want to be certain is a fit.

 
 

Most of the people live in a residential assisted living facility are not as mobile as you might imagine. A lot of homes like the ones we train students to open are homes where the residents stay pretty much all the time.

We teach our students how to create an engaging entertainment schedule. Often the entertainment is brought in to them such as sing-a-longs, senior yoga, pet therapy, bingo, watching TV, as well as eating. Mealtime becomes very important.

Ultimately, spending time with each other as well as their visitors is what they enjoy most—even a visit from you, the facility manager or owner.

See an example schedule here.

 
What is the average day like for the caregiver. The day-shift in our homes start at 6:30 am and they are preparing everything prior to the residents waking up. Much of the day’s activity happens in the morning—waking up, getting ready for breakfast, preparing the meal, and then after breakfast, taking them from the kitchen, cleaning them up and taking them to their first activity. Caregivers will help them back to their room, get them setup to watch their television programs, or help them use the computer. During these first activities there is a bit of a lull and then the caregivers prepare for lunch time. After lunch time, it may be a nap or second activity or scheduled entertainment. Dinner time comes next, second busiest time of the day, getting them to dinner, taking care of them after dinner and then getting them to bed. Most of the residents will sleep through the night, but the night-shift caregiver is awake and available and ready to take care of residents.
 
Unemployment is low in our country. Finding good people is a bit more challenging in the current economy. You could put an ad on Craigs List for caregivers and you will get applicants. The question is, are they good and do you want them for your residents? Critical to the success of Gene’s own RAL homes is the quality of the caregivers and it will be critical to your success as well. There is a precise skillset that you need to learn in order to identify, hire, train, grow, and retain caregivers that your residents will love and you will find indispensable. This skillset is exactly what we teach during our training.
 
What’s an average day in like for the manager and in the system living home? The number one job for the manager is to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Gene is not the manager of his homes, he is the business owner and the business manager. The home manager is there, day to day, making sure the caregivers are there, making sure the residents are in place, the home is full, and the family is being taken care of. The day to day for a manager really isn’t one day, it’s more of a 24/7 — they’re ready to go at any time and their days are very different every day. Still, they do have certain set responsibilities that they must take care of. The manager is a key person in your business.

 
 

Finances. Does the manager of the home or the caregivers manage and handle the resident’s finances?

The answer in our homes is absolutely not. It’s a matter of fact.

We encourage them not to bring any valuables to the home itself. We will take care of everything. There’s no need for them to have cash or bank account of their own that they can access directly.

Now again, they have the ability to do it, but we don’t do that in the home.

They are adults and if they’re not able to take care of themselves, there’s typically somebody that has power of attorney to take care of those things for them so we don’t handle their flow of cash in the home. We let the family take care of it.

 
 

Do the residents have their own cars or do they need transportation?

Well, most residents do not drive. They gave up the license along time ago and most homes don’t provide transportation for them. They can arrange the transportation, but most of the time it’s the family that’ll pick them up, taking them to a doctor’s appointment or an event somewhere.

Now, if you’re going to take them to a doctor’s appointment, I do suggest a little marketing tip for you. Have one of the caregivers or even the manager go with them. They’re going to get the information straight from the doctor. You’re going to get no confusion about what care that resident needs, and it’s a great way to get right into a referral source. That doctor, the hospital, the case worker. It’s a great way to get additional marketing and get the word out about your home and what it is you have to offer.

 
Medication management in assisted living homes, that’s a big deal. It’s something that is very important. The caregivers and the managers should be trained to be able to dispense or past medication. It’s not a hospital, it’s not a doctor’s office. They’re not injecting people. There are no bags of fluids. It’s not a medical facility. It’s a home. And there are seniors that do have medications. They do need to take a certain quantity at a certain time, and it’s important that it’s done properly. Whoever is responsible for passing out medications needs to be trained properly. In some states, they call this person a med tech. In some states like Arizona, caregivers are trained in that. It’s a part of their training and certification. Medication management is a big part of what we do in assisted living, and you should be prepared for that with your caregivers and your manager.

 
 

A question being asked more and more is, “What about medical marijuana?”

In many states they are now allowing the use of medical marijuana. We always think about somebody who’s doing it for the wrong reasons, getting high or something like that. But when it comes to the medical reasons and purposes, whether it be anecdotal or actual physical, there is a real benefit to medical marijuana. And if a resident does have the prescription and they do have it available, it’s usually not something that is smoked in the odorous throughout the house. It’s usually an edible of some kind or some other way where they’re consuming it or others don’t even notice.

So yes, we’ve had residents who do use medical marijuana. It’s not very often, not very frequent, but in my experience, it’s been a good situation. It’s something that’s been a benefit to some of those seniors.

 
 

Do they allow smoking in assisted living home? The answer is if there’s a designated smoking area outside, some homes do.

As a matter of fact, in some states, they require you to have an area outside that is designated just for smoking.

In assisted living, you cannot smoke in the house in a facility of any kind. It wouldn’t be healthy, just kind of obvious, but that is the rule.

You should have an area set up outside, away from the house for those that do need to or want to smoke. Not very common, but if you need it, you got it.

 

Have more questions about assisted living?

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