Choice and Customer Service in Senior Living

My sister and I have been interviewing locations for several weeks as possible residential settings for our mother, especially as she is no longer able to handle the stairs in her two-story home, but feels trapped by not being able to choose on her own where to walk.  We know that the best way to approach this task is in small doses, and to do it before there is an emergency that limits choices.  This is actually our second go-round, as we also did this with Mom when we were looking at a place for Dad almost 5  years ago.  But we have been very struck by the changes in the marketplace in just that short period of time:

1. There are many new options, both large and small, that have come into being in just the last five or fewer years.  We have looked at “classic” versions of continuing care communities, as well as what I would call “ala carte” pricing options for communities that offer a wide range of care alternatives, but each for a separate, escalating price and with no assurances of a placement. We’ve looked at both modest settings and high end “assisted living centers” that are so new the paint has not quite dried. But most of all, what we have found ourselves focusing on are smaller group homes, licensed under that state’s law for “assisted living,” and under that law the care includes almost all necessary care, other than certain so-called skilled services (such as catheters, feeding tubes, or I.V. hydration).  We liked the small group setting because they often were in a neighborhood that would make our mother feel at home, while still offering a purposeful renovation that included carefully designed toilets, showers and flooring for easier movement.  The price range is stunningly broad between these options, too.
2. Doctors are not always the best advisors on choices.  We have found that even though our mother has a wonderful primary care doctor, and even though that doctor makes it known that most of his patients are older, he did not seem to be aware that there are group home options.  He kept telling us we’d need a “skilled care nursing home.”  But, as Mom has a pretty detailed end-of-live directive that rejects feeding tubes, and similar skilled care interventions, it seems clear to us that we can look at a well-run facility licensed for assisted living that will be able to provide appropriate care through her last days.  
3. A lot of the smaller places are accessed through what I would call “brokers.”  When you do internet research, the odds are that your first contacts will be with some kind of “finder.”  Most of these are paid by the facilities, rather than the families conducting the searches.  As such, there is the clear potential for them to steer families to “their” facility clients.  I know from insiders in the industry that the fees are often the equivalent of one month’s fee at the chosen location.  While not necessarily a negative, as a good broker is only successful if he or she really knows the available inventory of residential options, the fees are something that can dramatically impact smaller group homes that are operating on a narrower margin.

Additional trends we noticed? We discovered that a small group home that appears to be a  “family” operation,  may actually be part of a chain of homes with a single corporate owner.  On the other hand, at several of the places we visited, we learned the owner had recently purchased another house in the same neighborhood, and was in the process of a second renovation.  Also, as for staffing, we noticed that in certain parts of the city, all of the caregivers were immigrants from the same country, whether Poland or Pakistan or elsewhere.  Another reminder that realistic immigration policies are a key component to senior living. 

Finally, probably our strongest reaction was to differences in what can only be called old fashioned “customer service.”  One “famous,” established  CCRC completely lost our interest when the person at the front desk never made direct eye contact with us, instead keeping one hand on a cell phone and the other hand on a very dirty “wet wipe” she said she was using to clean surfaces because it was “flu season.” It didn’t help that we went through three different people to find one who could give us a tour during a scheduled visit (the first two were so new they didn’t have knowledge of the full campus.) At the smaller group homes, we definitely noticed when the persons we met with greeted current residents by name as they gave us a tour.  Also, did they know the names of their own staff members  — and did they introduce us to each other?  When a trip hazard was lying in wait on the floor, did they pick it up — or merely avoid it?  

In addition to asking about staffing ratios and open visiting hours, we wanted to know about how long each of the staff members we met had worked at the particular place.   Finally, our whole family likes dogs and therefore it was a plus when we found a place that had a “house dog” that the residents clearly loved, but we recognize that not every place can handle the extra work it takes to maintain a pet on site.  

A sad irony is that it is unlikely our mother will live in the same care setting that was so perfect for our father.  That place is an assisted living center with four cottages, purpose built for Alzheimer’s care, on a five acre setting.  But it has become clear to us that even though Mom was the one who chose it for Dad, and it is a wonderful place, with people we still love, our mother probably doesn’t want it for herself.  In the last few months of our father’s residence there before his death, she visited less and less often, and we came to realize she had “already” rejected it for herself.  It wasn’t about memories of Dad; rather, it was about what it meant to “also” have the same cognitive impairment.  The director, who has become a good friend of mine, said that is not unusual — that even successful residential settings are rarely chosen by families for second or third placements because the next loved one can be hypersensitive to the reality of that choice.  Senior care living — a tough business in which to generate repeat business.