As you grow older, it’s important to think about what your living situation will be like if something was to happen in your life. Dr. Anita Sharma talks with Kelly Farmer, property manager at the Monroe Housing Authority, about the factors to consider when exploring senior housing options.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On the housing options available for senior citizens
Generally speaking, there are about three options. You’ve got independent living, assisted living and long-term care in a nursing home. The choice is often times a preference. It depends on your age, it depends on your resources, but most often it’s how you can handle your daily living activities such as dressing, feeding, bathing and self-care things. How can you handle this, do you have the support to do it and can you do it along or do you have the resources to provide your assistance through home health or some other type of sitting agency?
It all depends on your health and your ability to take care of yourself.
If you’re in an independent living facility, generally you are able to maintain your independence, you canmaintain your apartment and you can take care of yourself with or without support. Again, support can either be family or hired support through a home health agency. Once you reach the stage you are no longer able to take care of yourself or you don’t have the support to do that, then you tend to leave independent living status and go to more either assistance living or long-term care nursing. It all depends on your health and your ability to take care of yourself.
On if your spouse can stay with you in an independent living apartment
It depends on the facility. Often times residents of our retirement properties are married. Often times they are not. We see a lot of single residents who have some support from their family such as children or grandchildren or either through a sitting service.
On the support Monroe Housing Authority offer to their tenants
Monroe Housing Authority retirement housing apartment properties are considered independent living. We offer some services to help promote their independence like activities and socialization. We partner with accounts on aging through different services like their meal program where they can have lunch prepared. So, nutrition and socialization is important. We partner with a lot of the agencies in town that offers senior services to come and give them resources, provide them with information and ability to contact them.
