Residential Care for Two

14 Feb 2016

It is 6:33 in the morning with a light snow coming down. I am usually up at 5:00 so I can do things like this before the day begins here at Provision Living at Columbia (MO). The snow swirls about the light post outside our second floor apartment in an empty landscaped parking lot. It is 6:41. The parking lot lights just went off. There is no hint of daylight.

How and why did we get here? Will we stay after winter is gone? Writing this blog will share our past experiences and help us to decide what next to do now that my health has improved (we did not sell our house).

Moving is traumatic, but so is the cost of residential care. A person developing “memory gaps” is happiest in the home she has lived in for many years. The caretaker spouse is on duty 24 hours a day. The unexpected effect of that duty on my health, and the partial recovery during the past six weeks, is the start of this series of posts. My failing health tipped the balance, from staying at home this winter with Home Instead caregivers, to moving to residential care.

We first struggled with a Sleep Number bed to relieve acid reflux and crippling back pains for me, and to eliminate the need for a CPAP for my wife. And then, to a physical therapist for me with temporary success.

     1. Sleep Number Bed

     2. BASIS

     3. Provision Living at Columbia (MO)

     4. Physical Therapy

During the past two years we have visited residential care sites in San Antonio, Texas, and in Columbia, MO to find where a couple with very different needs might fit.

We were interested in what services we needed, what services were being marketed, and how those services were actually provided. Timing is crucial in memory care. The cost of assisted living is about the same across sites in Columbia, MO. There is a marked difference in services in memory care related to the construction of each site.

Setting the cost of in-home care at $22 per hour with morning and evening 3-hour periods yields $22 x 2 x 3 x 30 = $3,960/mo. Then add $2,000/mo for food, house and car expenses for $6,000/mo minimum for two persons. That provides me four to six hours a day of free time instead of half that I now have.

The past six weeks have been very insightful. We have had the opportunity to live in both assisted living and memory care from one apartment. Residents from both services take part in activities separately and together. Two separate memory care areas can house 12 and 20 residents.

     5. Synchronizing assisted living with memory care – Across the door

     6. Cost of Residential Care for Spouses with Different Needs - Spreadsheet
     7. Prescription Management