Aging in place has never been easier, thanks to one senior living provider’s new continuing care program likened to “virtual senior living.”
Life Enriching Communities, which operates two nonprofit continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the Cincinnati area, had been wanting to reach a subset of the retirement aged population who are in good health but not necessarily considering moving to a senior housing community. That’s where Confident Living comes into play, as a program that takes services similar to those offered in senior living communities to people in their homes and helps them plan ahead for unforeseen events.
“We thought, why not bring the same quality of living to them?” Connie Kingsbury, vice president of marketing for Life Enriching Communities, tells Home Health Care News. “Why limit it just to the people in our senior living communities? The goal really is to keep people living in their homes.”
Confident Living centers on care coordination for people between the ages of 50 and 80. Memberships are highly personalized based on a person’s age and health, as well as what types of services he or she wants as part of a package. Fees can range anywhere from $800 to several thousand dollars.
Once a year, a care coordinator will meet with each member to discuss lifestyle goals and how to achieve them, and explain how to navigate the health care system. A care coordinator is also tasked with helping members arrange home care services and outline options for assisted living or nursing care, if the need arises.
“It’s helping people who are at the younger end of that age range consider the importance of having a plan,” Kingsbury says.
Life Enriching Communities has planned several seminars in the Cincinnati area through the end of February to begin promoting the Confident Living program, and Kingsbury says the provider hopes to have its first members enrolled by mid-March.
“We’ve got a lot of educating to do,” Life Enriching Communities CEO Scott McQuinn told the Cincinnati Business Courier. “We’re expecting a slow ramp-up because it’s such a new approach. It’s a new category, so we have to sell the category before we sell the program.”
Written by Kourtney Liepelt
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