The following story is part of a joint project between myLifeSite and Senior Correspondent where we ask people to report on their senior living decision process.
By Jim Patrick
After retiring, my wife and I left our home in Seattle and moved to Tucson, where we lived in an active retirement community for fifteen years. About six years ago, while in our early to mid-70s, we began discussing where and how we wanted to live in our 80s and 90s.
We watched neighbors struggle as they tried to stay in their homes past the point where housekeeping and yard care became manageable. We saw others become effectively stranded when they could no longer drive and had no one available to provide transportation. With no relatives positioned to provide care and no long-term care insurance, we faced some hard choices.
Although we loved our two-story house in Tucson, we worried that as time passed we might need increasingly costly in-home care. Beyond the expense, relying on outside help felt likely to increase our social isolation. Tasks like cleaning, cooking, and home maintenance seemed certain to become burdensome and expensive as we aged.
We began to consider continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) as a possible solution. Over the next few years we visited more than twenty CCRCs in both Tucson and the Seattle area—where most of our children and grandchildren live within easy driving distance. Those visits, combined with extensive online research, helped us learn what to look for and what questions to ask.
CCRCs typically offer independent living in apartments or cottages, with assisted living and higher levels of care available if needed. There is wide variation in cost and quality among CCRCs, and they are run by both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
A few lessons became central to our decision-making. CCRCs generally accept residents only while they are healthy enough to live independently, so you need to consider such a move before health declines. We also discovered that some CCRCs offer financial protections, agreeing to continue care even if a resident outlives their savings. That feature was especially important to us because we do not carry long-term care insurance.
On a visit to Seattle we toured Judson Park, a CCRC in Des Moines, Washington, a short drive south of the city. The campus was attractive with pleasant views of Puget Sound. After an initial drop-in tour, we returned for a formal visit and detailed tour.
Judson Park is part of HumanGood, a nonprofit organization with more than sixty years of experience operating CCRCs throughout the western United States. One key factor for us was Judson Park’s policy to continue caring for residents who have exhausted their assets, including those in assisted living, memory care, or receiving 24-hour care.
After several weeks of discussion, we applied and eventually moved to Judson Park. Having lived here for a year and a half, we’ve found relief in not worrying about home maintenance or yard work, and we don’t miss daily cleaning or cooking.
Life in the community has been active and engaging rather than dull. We participate in fitness classes, attend continuing education lectures, take trips, socialize with neighbors, and volunteer. The variety of activities and easy access to services make daily life simpler and more enjoyable.
As the earliest baby boomers entered their 70s, demand for CCRCs has grown, reducing availability and driving up prices. Judson Park, for example, has a growing waiting list for prospective residents.
Even if a CCRC isn’t the final choice for everyone, we believe it is well worth exploring. We began looking five years before deciding and are glad we started early. Moving at age 78 felt like the right timing for us.
Our advice to others is simple: “Don’t wait too long.”
About the Writer
Jim Patrick retired after thirty-four years with the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, which provides public transportation and water quality services to the Seattle metropolitan area. He began as a bus driver and, despite having only a high school education, rose through the ranks into management. He served as manager of marketing and public relations; manager of route and service planning; manager of employee and labor relations; director of transit operations; and finally deputy executive director of Metro, overseeing both public transportation and water quality divisions. After retiring at 55, Jim founded a consulting firm serving public transportation agencies along the West Coast and in British Columbia. He now lives at Judson Park Senior Living Community in Des Moines, Washington, where he serves on the resident council and participates in several resident and volunteer committees.