Deciphering senior housing options

Dear Savvy Senior, Can you decipher the different types of housing options available to seniors, and recommend some good resources for locating them? I need to find a place for my elderly mother and could use some help.

Overwhelmed Daughter nursing homes in your area, it also provides a 5-star rating system on recent health inspections, staffing, quality of care, and overall rating.

Dear Overwhelmed, There’s a wide array of housing options available to seniors, but what’s appropriate for your mom will depend on her needs and financial situation. Here’s a rundown of the different levels of senior housing and some resources to help you choose one.

But be aware that nursing home care is very expensive, costing anywhere between $4,500 and $13,000 per month for a semi-private room depending on where you live. Most residents pay from either personal funds, a long-term care insurance policy or through Medicaid after their savings are depleted.

Continuing-care retirement communities (CCRC’s): If your mom has the financial resources, a “CCRC” is another option that provides all levels of housing (independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing home care) in one convenient location. But these communities typically require a hefty entrance fee that can range from $20,000 to $500,000 or more, plus ongoing monthly service fees that vary from around $2,000 to over $4,000. To search for CCRC’s visit Caring.com.

Need help?

If you’re not sure what your mom needs, consider hiring an aging life care expert (AgingLifeCare. org) who can assess your mom and find her appropriate housing for a fee – usually between $300 and $800. Or you can use a senior care advising service like A Place for Mom (APlaceForMom.com) for free. They get paid from the senior living facilities in their network.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

Savvy Senior, Jim Miller

Independent living: If your mom is in relatively good health and selfsufficient, “independent living communities” are a top option that can offer a sense of community. Typically available to people over age 55, this type of senior housing is usually apartments or town homes that are fully functional. In addition, many communities also offer amenities such as meals served in a common dining area, housekeeping, transportation, and a variety of social activities.

To locate this type of housing, contact your Area Agency on Aging (call 800-677-1116 to get your local number), or use an online search tool like Caring. com. Most of these communities are private pay only and can vary greatly in cost ranging anywhere from $1,500 to $6,000 per month.

Assisted living: If your mom needs some help with daily living chores, she’ll probably need an “assisted living facility.” These facilities provide help with the activities of daily living – like bathing, dressing, eating, going to the bathroom – as needed, as well as meals, housekeeping, transportation, social activities and medication management. Many facilities also offer special “memory care units” for residents with dementia.

Costs for assisted living usually run between $3,000 and $6,000 per month depending on location and services needed. Most residents pay for assisted living from personal funds, while some have long-term care insurance policies. And many state Medicaid programs today also cover some assisted living costs for financially eligible residents.

Another similar, but less expensive option to look into is “board and care homes.” These offer many of the same services as assisted living facilities but in a much smaller home setting.

Your Area Aging Agency is again a good resource for finding assisted living facilities and board care homes, as is Caring.com.

Nursing homes: If your mom needs ongoing medical and personal care or has very limited mobility, a nursing home, which provides 24-hour skilled nursing care is the next option. To find a good one, use Medicare’s nursing home compare tool at Medicare.gov/ care-compare. This tool will not only help you locate

THE GOLDENDALE SENTINEL

Official newspaper of Klickitat County, Washington

Established 1879

Letters from the community

We need Bird

Burn-out has got to go any group that wants to burn-out. There are places in the county where it could be held, just not in the city please. I hate toxic smoke, and you should too.

The Festival of Wheels gave it another try this year. It seems the attendance has dwindled to much lower levels than when the event was new, 10 years ago. There are a lot of competing car shows this time of year, so it doesn’t surprise me .

We need Semi Bird for governor. Right now we have the wrong people making the wrong decisions under the wrong leadership in our state government.

This year Goldendale Motorsports Association and ABATE brought back the burn-out, which was tried several times in the past with questionable benefits to the town. This year someone had the brilliant idea to use the old skateboard park as a place to stage the return of the burnout. It was held on the concrete slab, a tempting medium for anyone inclined to bum rubber. Rednecks of many degrees, punk kids or maybe the little old lady from Pasadena.

Let’s just look at the last 10 years that Inslee has been governor. Major tax increases. Lawlessness has increased in all areas of crime at record-setting levels. Drugs flowing into the state at an increased rate. Mom and pop businesses closing, disastrous educational policies, homelessness out of control.

If we don’t change the direction and get new leadership in Olympia, one that is dedicated to restoring common sense and accountability in state government, things are just going to get worse. We have a chance in November 2024 to vote for a better future. That’s why we need Semi Bird for governor. (www.birdforgovernor.com) humanitarian heritage. As Christianity spread, these ideas became the bedrock for Western culture. Were our nation’s founders imperfect people who often cherry-picked parts of the Bible to uphold? Absolutely. This shouldn’t prevent Christians from believing the Bible and seeking after holiness.

On Sept 4 I will be asking the mayor and his administration to make an ordinance forbidding anyone from reckless unsafe burnouts in any ones neighborhood or any street in the Goldendale city limits. I would appreciate some support from like-minded citizens at the council meeting. Let them know how you feel.

Ken

McKune Goldendale C

experience with county planning?), and I agree with most of Dan Christopher’s reasoning.

tacted by some-one higher up. That person has not contacted me after more than a week so I am following through on what I told the bank contacts I was going to do—write a letter to the editor to be sure local folks are aware of how Columbia Bank is choosing to deal with its account holders. My concern is that a comment as broad as this opens the door for abuse. I have had no difficulties with our local branch and am sorry that the headquarters has decided to take such a hard line. It ap-pears I will need to look for a bank that does not behave in this manner.

Clearly, energy companies’ projects—not just solar—must use one permitting process that is de-signed to accommodate both Washington state goals and each county’s unique requirements. EFSEC [Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council] and EOZ [Energy Overlay Zone] must be coordinated to work in concert. The existing EOZ probably should be put in the circular file with a fresh start and produce comprehensive EOZ land use and siting ordinances for clean energy production by multiple technologies (existing and emergent), utility-scale energy storage, and even requirements for end-of-life recycling of all energy system components.

Ken Margraf Goldendale

I personally was left with a bad taste in my mouth and lungs. Even though I made it a point to stay away from the burn-out and was at my home where I thought I would escape the noise and smoke, when the toxic cloud rose from the park and drifted over the Little Klickitat River Park (the swimming pool) on to the kids and families at the pool and on to me while I was sitting on my property. We were contaminated by the toxins in the smoke, and my eyes and throat were imitated, and my lungs filled with carbon monoxide and other cancer causing toxic compounds for three hours.

Delmer Eldred Goldendale

It’s a distortion

With all respect, I believe Mr. Van Horn’s letter on January 25 is misrepresenting Mr. Naulty’s January 18 letter. Mr. Van Horn’s letter also distorts traditional Christianity’s views on homosexuality.

I think the city of Goldendale needs to rethink supporting burnouts in our park. Next year don’t issue a permit to

I recently received an updated “Terms for Business and Deposit Account Agreement” from Columbia Bank. I am not in the habit of reading the fine print but for some reason this time I did. I came across an “added” line that I found very concerning. Again, this line is both for personal and business accounts. It reads: “We may refuse to open and account and may close your account at any time for any reason or for no reason at all.”

“For No Reason At All” I particularly found offensive.

I imagine Mr. Van Horn would describe himself as a tolerant person. However, his response to Mr. Naulty’s letter was less than tolerant. Mr. Naulty said, “I am proud of Steve Johnson’s voice of opposition to taxpayer money to promote sexual lifestyles.” He then describes ingredients he believes are necessary to build a just and wholesome society, those being faith, morality, law, education, and liberty. Mr. Naulty is protesting the use of funds for promoting any sexual lifestyle. But Mr. Van Horn then accuses Mr. Naulty of using Jesus as an excuse for “appalling behavior towards your neighbor…It is not Christlike.”

Even though Mr. Naulty did not once reference Christianity, I will defend the tenets regarding homosexuality in the Bible. Jesus made it clear God’s will is for heterosexual monogamy (Matthew 19). Christians worldwide believe what is written in Romans 1. Christians believe God is love. Everything he says or does is done from love. If God says something is against his plan for us, we are obeying God by believing him. We cannot out-love God or out-compassion God by adding nuance. We also believe we are all in need of forgiveness for all we do in conflict with God’s plans for holiness. The Bible is clear that disobedience to God separates us from him. The Bible also supports dignity, fairness, and equality for all persons, including those involved in homosexuality. They should not be discriminated against or excluded from society or denied equality in housing, medical care, or career opportunities. Telling the truth about what we believe is not bigoted or hateful. It is intolerant to expect Christians to conform to a uniform new belief system about sexuality.

I contacted the bank for an explanation. The answer was essentially that “we wouldn’t do that.” Then why is it in your documents, I asked. The answer was to send me up the chain of command. The second person gave the same answer as the first and then was to have me con-

Like Mr. Van Horn, I choose love as well. I respect Mr. Van Horn’s opposing views and accept him as a whole person, worthy of equality and kindness. I believe in his constitutional right to have an opposing view. But like Mr. Naulty, I do not accept the shift in our society towards praising and celebrating activities that go against a moral code (whose foundations are biblical). I also agree with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Naulty that no taxpayer funds should be spent towards promoting any sexual lifestyle, regardless of whether or not they bring in tourists.

Moreover, as Zoller and Christopher point out, the EOZ must include a process for citizen input. Awareness and identification of each county’s unique requirements can be greatly facilitated by resident input. And therein lies a significant problem that must be resolved.

The problem is that too many citizens are not informed. To be aware of such projects and potential consequences, citizens must be factually informed, and that often requires taking the time and making the effort to read verifiable primary sources of information. Personal opinions, hear-say, rumors, and alarmist propaganda are not verifiable primary sources.

Greg Wagner’s C.E.A.S.E. website is an example of disinformation and cherry-picked information presented to be more alarmist than factually educational. Wagner’s response to Commissioner Anderson and representatives from Cypress Creek, as reported by The Sentinel, is an example of counterproductive citizen input. Wagner represents a broken system, not one that works to solve problems by understanding and compromise.

Nowhere in Mr. Naulty’s letter did I see appalling behavior, and he never once referenced Christianity or Jesus. He said that much of our society is teetering due to worship of false gods and drag queens. This aligns with the beliefs of many. Our modern Western society’s foundations of justice, equality, and the like are built upon the early Christians’ rich biblical moral and

Rebecca Martin Goldendale

A better way

I agree with Commissioner Lori Zoller’s entire basis for voting for solar project moratorium in Klickitat County (can we expect anything less from someone who has so much

Guidelines for Letters

Background: my wife and I live 10 miles from White Salmon, and we live 90 percent off-the-grid using a 18kW solar system I designed and built. I’m an engineer, and I’ve been a strong supporter of solar since 1974, so I know a little about solar. However, I’m a tepid supporter of large-scale solar farms and much prefer distributed, relatively small agrivoltaic farms instead.

Steve Heitmann White Salmon

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