Assisted Living in an RV

More often than not when we think of day care, we think of minors needing adult supervision  while parents work but there are other day care facilities.  Some Pet Smart stores offer doggie day care.  Many local senior centers offer day care services for older adults when other family members are not available.

Over the last few weeks I’ve become more and more familiar with day cares and assisted living facilities.  Some of these facilities are called active living or  retirement centers.   They are intended to provide some services that aging individuals don’t want to do or cannot do any longer.   The idea is that as a person becomes older their needs may continue to change.   They may move in originally looking only for a safe place to live  and three hot meals a day knowing that there are other services  available if they ever need them.  

These assisted living centers offer the basics of an apartment and board along with lots of activities, companionship and even some housekeeping services.  The fee?  Well, it can certainly be very expensive especially since many resemble  all-inclusive resorts.  The more the services needed, the more the price goes up from the beginning monthly fee. 

My brother had decided it was time for him to search out an assisted living center.  Thus, I’ve done a little homework and visited a few homes in the area.  His needs aren’t many at this time but six months from now he’s afraid he may need more.  Once our body starts going downhill, it can really go downhill.  This has been the case with him since an automobile accident he was in last year.  A few months ago he was soaking up the winter sunshine in his Class A motorhome while parked with other snowbirds in Yuma.  Now he needs the stability of a walker and has difficulty shopping and cooking for himself.  The answer … an assisted living home where he would receive light housekeeping and three hot meals a day.  Costs for a small one-bedroom apartment in the Portland area at one of these places is pretty expensive.  

Many of the homes offer employees a commission when new residents move in.  The problem with this is that the employees have no training in available Medicare, Medicaid or VA programs.  It’s not that they need the training unless they use it as a tool to obtain those new residents.  However, some of them do.  We discovered that aging seniors are sometimes “pre-qualified” or “pre-approved” for financial help that actually is not available or they do not qualify for.   In the meantime, contracts are signed by the prospective new tenant, the move-in occurs but the additional funds do not come.  This is what happened to “brother”.  However, in this case we did find a solution and will be moving him into his new home this week. 

 

If he had been in Texas, it would have been easy.  There they have an alternative for RV’ers looking for a little assistance and still remaining in their RV at a much lower cost.  The Escapee Care Center is in Livingston, Texas  and it offers assisted living alternatives for its Escapee members.  I had heard about it before but never really thought much about the facility until now.

 

There are many people who retired to an RV with hopes of traveling until they no longer could. Some have no exit plans and others plan on settling down eventually close to grown children or other family members.  The Care Center offers an RV space, utilities, three full meals a day, weekly housekeeping services, medical transportation and activities.  The fee at this time is only $800 a month!  The Escapees Center is absolutely the best deal out there.  If you aren’t familiar with it, check it out!  If you can and are in the area, offer to volunteer and help.  One day you might be thankful someone cared enough to volunteer their time to help you!  We have certainly put this on our bucket list!  

For information on their day care program or their CARE program, click here:  Escapees Care Center Information