Senior Living Today

Questions to Ask on a Senior Living Tour

• The Ohio Masonic Communities • Season 3 • Episode 1

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What should I ask on a senior living community tour? What should I look for? How should I compare multiple communities? We’re answering these questions and more as we discuss the most important things you should know when you tour a senior living community.

Before moving to a senior living community, touring is an important first step. Hear from Melissa Todd, Corporate Sales Manager for The Ohio Masonic Communities, about why you should consider a “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” approach and learn how to find your perfect senior living community. We’re here to give you advice on what to look for and what to ask. 

The Ohio Masonic Communities' Here to Help guides cover everything from what Alzheimer's is to what senior living community and contract types exist and more. You can access your free copy of the guides by visiting omcoh.org/sltguide. 

Hello everyone! We are so excited to be back with all of you for another season of Senior Living Today. This season we will be covering a wide variety of topics in senior living. Starting with the touring process when searching for senior living communities and the types of questions that you might want to ask. With us today is Melissa Todd, Director of Sales for the Ohio Masonic Communities. Thank you so much, Melissa, for being back with us today. Thanks for bringing me back. Excited to be here. So we know that touring communities is a big part of the information gathering process in the journey to find the right senior living community, whether you're searching for yourself or for a loved one. And it can be extremely overwhelming. So let's go ahead and start with some of the basics. Who do you recommend would join for the first round of tours? For example, if a couple is looking for themselves, should they bring their children with them? Or what about an adult child who might be looking for memory care or assisted living for their parents? So that question can be best answered by learning a little bit about what care area we might be touring. Because like you mentioned, you know, if there's a couple looking at independent living who they bring and that process is going to be significantly different than a family who's looking at a memory care support neighborhood. So those are two things that I have conversations with the family about. So for a couple looking at an independent living option, I typically start with that couple. And we kind of gauge what they're looking for. We tailor their preferences, we outline their wants and wishes, and then maybe the second or third tour includes their power of attorney or their daughter or their niece or whoever is local to them that would be closest to visit. However, for a memory care tour, that typically starts, you know, with the family who's saying we might need this in the future. In that case, depending if their loved one is aware that they're searching for senior living, I typically encourage them to start with, a small group and then we can escalate to the bigger folks who might be involved in the moving day experience. And then I also certainly encourage folks, you know, if they haven't had this conversation with their loved one, please do not surprise visit them by bringing them on to campus with me and you only had that conversation an hour ago, because that can totally throw off the tour experience of that day by intermixing it with some maybe unwanted family dynamics. So I do give feedback to families based on, you know, their situation and, you know, what care area we're talking about or discussing. Absolutely. So start a little bit smaller with the group. And then if you come back for an additional tour, maybe you can add some more in and make sure that you're having those important conversations with people and not just surprising them and bringing them into a community when they don't know that you're even planning to search for one. Oh, absolutely. Please. So, speaking of that, how many communities should someone be looking at and how do they compare the different communities? Because all senior living communities are so different. Should they bring a checklist with them, or what do you recommend for families? So I recommend for families that, you know, based on their personality. They know what tone they need to set. I wouldn't say there is a standard rule of thumb. It's, you know, kind of like shopping for a house or buying a car. You don't really go in with a mentality that I'm going to drive five cars today, or I'm going to look at, you know, three homes this week because you know what is right for you, and you're the only person that's going to know that. But if I had to give it an average, I would say go with three options. So I try to use, Goldilocks and the Three Bears mentality. And there are times where I will set up a family purposefully to tour, maybe a community that they have already ruled out, and that is solely to show their loved one the different options that are out there. So, you know, look at something you like, maybe look at something you don't like. Which is crazy to say, but it makes sense when you think about it, you know? Well, it might help you prioritize what's really important to you and what your non-negotiables are. It really does. And it just heightens how important maybe an amenity is or a care setting is, how important something as simple as the view could be, right? Did we visit a community at the corner of a busy, busy intersection with a parking lot? Or did you come to one of the Ohio Masonic Communities on 200 plus acreage with, you know, this great estate that we've developed over the years? And just try to highlight, you know, all the differences. I have had families bring me Excel sheets, you know, and they send them to me and they're like, if you could just plug in your, company's information to this, great. If that's what works for you. I am here to support how you need to see the information and compare and contrast it. There's a number of checklists out there, which are a great starting point. And I usually what I like to do when a family brings me one of their checklists is I'll add questions to it to show them that I'm invested in this checklist with you. It's a great checklist. You know, you've got a lot of good points on it. Here's here are three questions I would add to it. And then they're even more excited because, you know, we've gotten together in a way that says, okay, we're both in here to outline the benefits of everything we're looking at. All right. Let's move to the fun part. What can someone expect a tour to include, or how do you typically organize a tour for either, a couple or family, depending on what care level they're looking at? When I set up a tour with the family it could be a couple different ways or when someone you know comes to tour. I think it all goes back to it truly being a customer service experience, right? We all have a set expectation for when we're researching something, how we want that person to act, react. And the best way for me to give a family that peace of mind and to ease the situation is I have to be at ease and prepared for the situation. So every family that calls me and sets up a tour, I do a pretty detailed visit, experience planning, that kind of outlines what I know about them. But then what I want to learn about them in our visit. So I mean, if we go back to that customer service mentality when someone stops in for a tour, it always includes this warm welcome. I, you know, acknowledge that they took the first step in this process. They set time aside in their day to be here. And I am just as excited, to get the opportunity to show them our community and share it with them. One of the other important things for a family coming to visit is setting aside like a comfortable and private environment. Depending on how much detail I know about the situation, there could be some tough conversations about care needs, about finances, about, you know, the emotional expectations that they're concerned about. So I often start my visits after a warm welcome in our private conference room. So I can gather some information, additional information, and just give them that safe space, like, you know, we're here to talk, but we're also here to see the rest of the community. We will do that. But let's start here and set the tone. And then I would think the last thing is maybe like reading the room. You know, I know it sounds super cliche, but, you know, everyone has an energy, everyone has body language. So I'm kind of leading that comfort level. And I have to like very quickly read the room and everyone's energy and make sure that everyone feels comfortable. Everyone feels confident that I'm going to answer all their questions and how do I connect with a group that maybe brings me three daughters and mom. That could get a little crazy. So how do I make sure everyone sees value in that tour time and go from there? And then I know another thing that we see fairly often is maybe a prospect or their family isn't sure what type of care level they might need, or their loved one might need. There's a lot of misconceptions around like what independent living includes, what assisted living includes. So what if a family comes in and they're unsure about the type of care that's needed? Is that something that the sales manager for the community can help guide them through? So, you know, the sales teams at the Ohio Masonic Communities, we look at ourselves and pride ourselves as being a trusted senior advisor, being a somewhat placement specialist. You know, and we've probably worked with hundreds that maybe even thousands of families where we have all these different situations to make your experience relatable. But it's also providing the information to folks about the different care areas across our campuses to make them feel comfortable with their placement decision. Because if you're not on board, I'm not on board. I can only give you the information and education in hopes that it makes you feel comfortable with this decision. And if you're not comfortable, then we can't move forward. So I really like to, in my visits, lay out kind of in a compare and contrast format. I think people do really well with that. So for example, our villas versus our independent living apartments. Before I lay out a compare and contrast, maybe it's a conversation, relating back to something they shared. You know, mom is confident in cooking breakfast. She makes a bowl of Cheerios and eats a piece of fruit every morning. But me and my sister are alternating dropping off dinner. Right. That tells me everything I need to know. And to show the families that the villas are very nice, but they don't include a meal plan every day. So maybe we should look at the independent living apartments. That includes a meal plan. So being transparent with the information they share with me before the tour, I can start to outline what care would be best. And if we're torn between two, it just means that we need to have some bigger discussions about what's really important. And that could be amenity based and that could be care based. But I promise we'll get to the bottom of it. So I know that something that's probably very hard for prospective residents and their families is when they go to tour what should they be looking for and what kind of questions should they be asking? Because for a lot of them, it's the first time that they've ever looked at senior living. So let's go ahead and talk through some of the questions that you feel like would be important for families to ask. And, let's go ahead and start with staffing. What questions should prospective residents and families be asking about staffing at the community? Yes. And most families have questions related to staffing, specifically around nurses and caregiver, and, you know, the direct staff that is giving direct care to their loved one if they should move in. So I do try to kind of narrow down staffing. We are assumptive in thinking it's nurses and caregivers, right? Staffing is so much more than just the direct care on a campus in any care area, whether that's independent versus our memory care support neighborhood. So when I hear that question, which I often do from families, it's because they're typically trying to compare it to another community, or they have heard industry stigma and rumors about the generalization of staffing. So I try to help them break it down. Staffing is going to be important in all departments, and it's only compared in an apples to apples situation if the communities they are comparing are the exact same, and if they have the exact amount of people that they serve. And what I mean by that is, if you visited a place with 50 assisted living apartments and then you visited one of our communities that has 25, those staffing comparisons are going to be different because the denominator of people that they're caring for is different. So I try to shift that staffing question into a more relatable, more specific what care area are we talking about? We just toured memory care so let's talk about the staffing of nurses, care companions, life enrichment directors and housekeepers, because all those people are going to be encompassed in your loved ones daily and weekly routines. I know it's not the most direct answer, but when someone comes to tour, I really do narrow in on the specific care area they're looking for, so they leave with that peace of mind that staffing questions were covered. I think you brought up a good point, though, that usually when those questions are asked, it surrounds the nursing staff and the care staff. But life enrichment is very important in all care areas. And your dietary team is also extremely important. So I think that's a good point that they need to look at the staff as a whole. Yes. It's very important to focus on the care staff, but there are other staff that need to be considered as well when you're touring communities and trying to compare. The other department that comes to mind is like maintenance. Could you imagine having one maintenance person for 80 apartments? You know, that is a staffing comparison that is going to impact your loved one because if they need something fixed in their apartment and there's only one person, how quickly are they going to get that fix? So maintenance is just as important in a staffing ratio, you know, as care and our nurses are. So it is something that I hope families look at a little bit differently after, you know, hearing our time today. So let's move on to the fun part. Types of living accommodations. So when they're touring the space, what kind of questions should they be asking. What should they be looking for? Our three campuses have so many different living spaces and options. What they should be asking first is what type of space is your loved one hoping for? Because we get into a world of too many options sometimes, and if we don't narrow down size as one of the first discussions, we leave our search very open ended. So, for example, we have a campus within the Ohio Masonic Communities at Western Reserve with 15 different sizes of apartments. There's one bedrooms, one bedrooms with a den, two bedrooms, three bedrooms. That's a lot. That's very overwhelming. And if the family just visited a campus that only has studios, us offering 15 different options is going to be super overwhelming. So again, going back to comparing what they know about the industry, what they've already seen, and then what can I show them specific to our campus? So please at least start with living space from a size perspective. You know, is is my mom in a two bedroom condo right now? And therefore we want to look at two bedrooms? That's very equatable. Or do we know that mom's in a two bedroom condo, but she would like to downsize. So let's look at a one bedroom for that reason. I hope that answers kind of what you meant about the living space options. Yeah, absolutely. A couple other things that just come to mind that maybe you could touch on is, pets, for example. I know we have some that tour that might have pets. I think, probably asking what the community's pet policy is is extremely important. Yeah, as far as, you know, alternate questions that come up in a tour with a family or with a potential community member. There's two of them. You named it; pets. We have a lot of folks with pets. And then the second one would be cars, cars, vehicles and transportation. Those probably, go hand in hand, but again, they're specific to the person that's visiting me that day. So at least you can know that the Ohio Masonic Communities has a wonderful pet policy. So we do allow cats, dogs, birds and fish. We have spaces, you know, for them to utilize and go outside. And then for my question about vehicles and transportation, we don't have any rules that say, because you move to our campus, you can't bring your car. We encourage it. You know, if that's what makes you feel independent and you’re safe driving, we don't have any restrictions on you bringing your vehicle on campus. And if anything, we offer more amenities like underground parking or covered parking that are close to your entrance points that you can utilize. And maybe that's a highlighted amenity you didn't even know was out there, but you're happy we have it because you know you're going to bring your car and it's going to be close to your apartment and in a safe environment controlled, temperature controlled area. So those are two really popular questions that I get on a tour. I know we touched on this a little bit earlier in regards to staffing, but, the life enrichment programing that's available at senior living communities differs so much from community to community and also by care level. So what kind of questions should families and prospects be asking when they're, touring about what the life enrichment programing looks like at that community? Yeah, I get tons of questions about activities, and I'm super thrilled that you brought up the concept of acknowledging that there are different calendars and activities and programs based on what area you're living at in our communities. And I think it's most important to share with families that we do have different calendars, independent living, assisted living, our memory support neighborhood. They all have their own unique calendar. There are daily activities, there's weekly activities, there's monthly activities. There are quarterly and yearly activities on our campuses. So I try to highlight some of the activities that I know are going to be important to the person that's visiting. They have expressed an interest in exercise and fitness. We're probably going to talk about the tai chi class and the balance class that we have weekly. If they're more in tune with hobbies like baking or sewing or arts, we're probably going to touch on those type of weekly activities and where they can find them out on the calendar and in the campuses. Or maybe they're more simplistic and they just want to know what religious services we offer. Then I'm going to highlight on their calendar in their tour packet those activities that are going to kind of fit the hobbies and preferences of their loved one, but that is something I like to do. When you visit, you'll actually get a calendar of the care area that you're looking at. I try to go through it with families, and I even ask them what activity is on this calendar do you think mom, dad and uncle would like or be willing to try and participate in? Because it just paints this daily, weekly, monthly picture of all the life enrichment opportunities that they're going to get when they move on to campus. So one of the things that I know Western Reserve Masonic Community and Springfield Masonic Community offer is a health care center. And we know that sometimes families will be searching for rehab or long term care services for their loved one. If they are looking at that type of care, what are some of the questions they should be asking in regards to maybe types of therapies that are offered at that campus, or if there is any type of an in-house physician, for example? This is a fun one. So I guess what I want our listeners to know and take away from this, and I'll use a specific example. If you are looking for a short term rehab stay in our health care centers that we have to understand the process before we can even ask all these questions, which, you know, I get folks calling me all the time and they're asking, you know, do you have this? Do you have that? Do you offer speech therapy? Do you have a private sauna spa? And I answer these questions about our medical director and who he is, because, yes, we have one, because every short term and long term care facility has one. And yes, we have, you know, physical therapy, occupational and speech therapy. I say but let’s back up here. And this is the key process when we talk about, you know, short term rehab. The whole entire operation of the process starts with the fact that your loved one is potentially in the hospital for an ailment, a reason, a surgery or an incident. And this whole process of getting to one of our health care centers within the Ohio Masonic Communities starts with the discharge planner or the case manager at that hospital. So when you call and you ask about visiting or if we have bed availability, those are just like the basic conversations, because we have to actually start the whole process with the hospital sending us your loved ones’ referral and information. And then we can start elaborating on how we're going to care for your loved one. What insurances do they have? What are the benefits of, you know, their knee replacement surgery, rebounding appropriately in our therapy and what therapist we're going to pair them up with and why. It's a layered question. But again I really want the listeners to know that the process has to start with the hospital. And it's all based on an electronic health care communication portal until we can get you here. So that's a long winded answer. Well, I'm really glad you touched on it, because I do think a lot of families just immediately start calling around when they know that their loved one has to go to a short term rehab. So I think that's great for our listeners to know that we really need to be working through the hospital, through those discharge planners, in order to get their loved one moved into our rehab potentially. So I know another big, big issue for prospects and families is nutrition. Nutrition and well balanced diets are so important for older adults. So what kind of questions should they be asking in terms of dining and food services available at a senior living community? I get a lot of questions based around food, but think about it, you know, most of us eat 2 to 3 meals a day. You know, that's three meals times 365 days in a year. That's a lot of experiences that actually hold a lot of value when you're considering and choosing what your future dining options look like compared to what they look like in your home. And sometimes it's not necessarily the families asking the questions. It's me. But I do love when they come with a list of nutrition based questions. Sometimes it looks like a special diet or a food sensitivity. We have a lot of specialized diets, so maybe someone is on a low sodium diet or a gluten free diet. Those are all nutritional dining experience details that families are potentially concerned about because, you know, it's important to their loved ones’ three meal a day routine or two meal a day routine. We also get a lot of questions about, you know, what can they have in their own apartment, which is so funny to me. I, I've never worked for a community that told someone, mom can't have her mint chocolate chip Breyers ice cream, but we always seem to get a question where families are hesitant about bringing food in. So just to set the tone straight, we encourage if your loved one has a favorite food, that they bring it into campus. Because I just think that's an important part. I know what my favorite food is, and I know I will want to have access to it, so rest assured, mint chocolate chip ice cream is welcomed in your freezer. So I think now we can move on to one of the more complex, but one of the most, I would say, important topics when touring communities, and that would be finances. So what are some questions that you encourage families to ask? I know this will be so different and it really is on a case by case basis, but what are just some of the basics that they should be looking at when they're touring communities or questions that they should be asking? Finances are probably the number one leading questions that we get. I can't tell you how many times, you know, I talk with the family and they jump right into cost, which is which is great. It tells me, you know, they're focused on planning a proper retirement, and a spending, and a budget plan for their loved one. But like you said, everyone has a different financial situation, and everyone has planned differently for retirement. One of the things that I can tell a family that might be listening is at the Ohio Masonic Communities, because we're a nonprofit, because we have this continuing care community platform that we're, you know, set up on, is we actually have probably the most detailed and in-depth financial conversation with your family, because we want you to be able to feel comfortable with the affordability of your loved one living on our campus for as long as possible. So we do have tools, you know, financial tools that we can help a family use and plug in different social securities and pensions or investments. If we are ready to move to our application process, that's kind of like a nice homework assignment or a pre pre homework pre-draft assignment, because we're going to plug in all that information into our application process. And then again, it's just to give you and your family that financial peace of mind that should your loved one outlive their assets, everything that they have in their “estate,” they will never be asked to leave our community. You are not going to get that transparent financial conversation at a for profit, because they actually don't want to tell you the answer, because that answer is, well, if you run out of money, you have to move out. So I think the financial part of this tour experience, this inquiry, this whole process is a little bit more in depth for the Ohio Masonic Communities. But it's all in the good intent of transparency and showing you that we're committed to your loved one staying on campus and not having to uproot and move just because of failure to pay. Well, I think that's a good point too for families who are touring other communities maybe to be asking that question, you know, what does it look like if you know, mom or dad were to outlive their finances, are they going to have to leave? I think another thing that is interesting would be, like lease terms. So let's say that the contract type is a monthly payment, as most of our communities are, what is the lease agreement look like? How much notice would they have to give if they were unhappy or needed to move out for some reason. Yeah. And we we do see that, you know, every now, now and then, typically it's because, you know, a family has moved out of state and their loved one who lives with us is like, hey, I love it here, you know, I've spent the last six years here, but I want and need to be by my family. And they have relocated. So in that situation, all of the rental agreements or resident agreements for any care area at any of the Ohio Masonic Communities is a 30 day notice. So I think that's pretty, pretty good. I've heard some other lease terms out there. But the point is not to lock you in for life because we know life can happen. Life can change. All those variables might forecast a future move out, and we are here to support that. If that's what's going to be best for you, just give us a 30 day notice and we will help with anything you need to have a successful and, well-wished move out experience. We’ll be sad, but we'll always welcome you back. So I know we've covered a lot of different questions, but what else have we missed? Are there any other common questions that you hear or you think that families and prospects should be asking while they're touring that we haven't gone over yet? I think just the general concept of safety and security is a big one, especially when a family is looking really at any level of independent assisted living, memory care support. You know, safety and security is a big topic and we've kind of got to heal the questions away from what does being safe look like? What does a secured environment look like? I get to explain a bunch of different processes amongst our campuses and our care areas. For example, independent living, you know, some of our communities are gated. You have to, press a button, be let in, state who you are. But it's it's a big campus. You know, there should be safety and security provided. Other metrics of safety and questions that we get include access. Like, I'm not sure if a family had a bad experience and they were told, like, you can't visit or you can't come on to campus. So rest assured at the Ohio Masonic Communities like family is always welcome. 24/7/365 you have access onto our campus. You have access to your loved one. That shouldn't be a worry. And the only hesitation would be if another community gave you parameters or restrictions, I would question why. So yeah, safety and security is one I think we haven't touched on, but it's good for families to hear and know that they are going to be able to visit. Here's the safety precautions in place. And here's reasons why my loved one is going to feel safe living on this campus. So is there any other advice that you have for prospects and their families when touring a community? So one of the other questions I get a lot from families exploring senior living options at the Ohio Masonic Communities would be around how the apartments or villas or memory care studios are furnished. So I usually kind of map out a little quick cheat sheet for our families. If your loved one is moving into an independent living or assisted living licensed area, the apartment or the space comes unfurnished. And yes, you are able to personalize it. Bring all of your loved ones’ own items. I've even had people paint a bathroom pink because it's mom's favorite color. There are a lot of different things that we can do, but it's a common misconception that, you know, folks sign up to move into an assisted living and they're like, well, what do you mean you don't provide a bed? Or what do you mean, you know, there's no TV? These are rental options. So we want you to bring all of your personalized furniture and things that are important to you or your loved one from your house. The exception is in our health care center, and I give it a gray area because if someone's come in for short term rehab, the answer is in the experience they are having. It's a short term stay. So you are not going to bring your own items for a short term stay. We will furnish that space with a bed, the wardrobe, dresser, a TV and you can still bring, you know, some personalized items. But the majority of the space will be furnished. So that is really the big difference. And one of the questions I get about the furnishings of the apartment and the personalization surrounding how much or little they can do to customize it to, you know, the things their loved one enjoys. Well, thank you so much again for joining me today, Melissa. I learned a lot about what to expect and look for when touring a community, and I'm sure our listeners did too. For all of our listeners, make sure to like and subscribe to Senior Living Today so that you never miss a new episode. And we will be back with a brand new episode in two weeks, so stay tuned.

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Alexandria Rohrbaugh

Host
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Melissa Todd

Guest