Transitions: Hanging Up The Keys; CCRCs

We are considering transitioning to a permanent, fixed home in the next year or so. What advice can you give to fulltimers moving out of their motorhome into a sticks and bricks house, in practical terms?

We are looking at a continuing care retirement community, which provides three levels of care depending on what one needs. We prefer Washington State. If you have any suggestions about CCRCs, we'd be glad to have them.

As always, your responses are appreciated.

Nothing?

I'll tell you what I know which isn't much.

I've had several family members move into CCRCs, and overall from where I sit they appear to be much happier and have, in practice, much more freedom and mobility than their peers who elected to remain in their (stick) houses as long as they were able.  The only real disadvantage is the cost, and if you can swing it financially and pass the admission physical, you're good.

I only know about continuing care in regard to my mom.  She started out in one place, needed more care and we moved her to another.  Mostly because we thought she'd last longer in the first (not need as much attention/care) location.  When she needed more care, we realized the facility didn't meet her needs. 

So along those lines, I'd be concerned that one facility may not actually provide what you actually might need in the next couple of stages.  For mom, it was a mixture of a lot of factors besides the cost factor.

Did you by chance put some of your furniture etc in long tern storage?  Or will you have to "purchase" all over again; which could be fun!!!

Marsha~

Thank you. We'd have to buy new furniture. You're right, Marsha, could be fun (and expensive!).

The CCRC we've considered the best so far is Panorama, in Lacey WA. They seem to have all the bases covered on three primary levels of care and they are one of the most affordable we've seen. Part of that is that there are no meals involved in the buy-in or monthly fee (available separately though). Every unit has a kitchen. It is a nonprofit that's been around about 50 years. There are over 1,200 residents on 140 acres, which is an arboretum. They have houses, duplexes, multiplexes and apartments to choose from. Some of the units are pretty dated, although they do a complete renovation for each new resident. We're still going to keep doing our homework, of course.

One thing we liked is all the activity available there -- a large number of groups, concerts, classes, etc., and lots of exercise options including an freestanding aquatic and fitness center. They are set up to take care of those who need extra help, such as wheelchair accessible facilities, home assistants (extra fee), transportation to doctors (mostly included), etc.

We're a bit concerned about the immediate neighborhood in Lacey, which isn't the best but I think not awful (at least, yet). But, it's right on the line with Olympia, which is a nice area. The two towns are separated by the Chehalis Western Trail, a converted rail line, that runs for many miles north and south. Panorama sits next to the trail, on the edge of Chambers Lake.

Then, there's all the traffic in the hour's drive up I-5 to Seattle for events and shopping there. Panorama does include lots of transportation in its basic fee.

We have the problem of what to do with the stuff in our motorhome, if it sells before we get into wherever we're going. We'd like to avoid a double move. If we have to do one, we've heard of pods you can rent, to store your stuff, and then have them delivered to your new place. Ever used one of those?

And of course we're concerned about the winter weather, which we haven't experienced yet, though each of us grew up in midwest winters ....

So I guess we're interested in knowing what your reaction is to all that, and also especially any experiences with that type of living. In part, we feel it is a gift to our children for them not to have to worry about it.

As I said in my email, we are starting to think about something similar.  My daughter lived in Tumwater for many years and still works in Oly.  We have visited at Thanksgiving, Christmas and also spring and summer.  My major concern is the overcast skies and rain, rain and more rain as I have problems with humid cold affecting my arthritis.  One of the things we will be doing is checking out a few places and we will look at Panorama while visiting my daughter in early June.

Thanks for the posting.