Today, we bring you the third of our interviews with Paul Jones, a fellow AgePro. Join us in learning more about how he manages the challenges facing aging industry professionals.
Third in a series dedicated to learning about our Aging Professional (AgePro) Community. Edited for length and clarity.
What challenges do your clients face?
PJ: So many families I work with, they have a visceral reaction to the concept of senior care. We like to dispel myths. That’s why it’s so important to sit down with families and talk with them about what senior living is and what it isn’t. Senior care facilities 20, 30, 40 years ago, it was a lot different from what you have today.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve walked into a building with a family, and they’ve gone, “Okay, but where’s the assisted living?” And it’s like, “No, no. We’re in it. This is it.”
What about cost? That has to be a challenge.
PJ: Cost is a big challenge. It’s a challenge every aging industry professional faces. You can’t get away from the conversation about senior care without talking about cost. The average cost of assisted living in the state of Rhode Island is in excess of $5,000 a month, without breaking a sweat. That’s the average cost. In Massachusetts $6,500, $7,000. And that’s just for assisted living. For memory care in Massachusetts, the average I’m finding is about $10,500 a month. And in Rhode Island, $7,000, $8,000, that’s a common range.
It creates this vicious circle. Families struggle with the pricing; they wait longer to have their loved ones make a move. By then, they need more services when they move in. So, these buildings must hire more staff, and they’ve got to pay the staff. So, they increase the costs.
What is a challenge particular to your business?
The biggest challenge has to do with institutional ignorance.
PJ: The biggest challenge has to do with institutional ignorance. Especially for a place you would assume would know better, like a hospital. The amount of education and re-education I’ve needed to provide medical professionals about what assisted living is and what it isn’t, what memory care is and what it isn’t, is really staggering.
Last year, I presented to a group of physicians at Brown Medical School about senior care, senior living. Now they’ve asked me to come back next month and do it again for a bigger group. All because they don’t know, “What is assisted living? Is it a nursing home?”
Tell us more about these institutional obstacles.
PJ: More than any other professional, physicians ask me, “Is assisted living the same as a nursing home?” I’m not mad about that. Doctors can have questions, too. I like it when they ask questions. What bothers me is when I come across professionals who say, “Oh, well, assisted living doesn’t work. Memory care doesn’t work.”
Well, no, no, no. How do you know that? And they go, “Well, we just know. We just know that person can’t go to assisted living. They need a nursing home.” “Why do they need a nursing home? “I just know they do. Because this doesn’t work.” The problem with this philosophy is that assisted living, and memory care, and nursing homes, they’re all on the same scale. And one of the things that scale measures is whether this is a restrictive environment or not.
More than any other professional, physicians ask me, “Is assisted living the same as a nursing home?”
Paul Jones, Owner, The Care Concierge Senior Living Advisors
Any other nagging misperceptions among medical professionals?
According to some of professionals I work with, assisted living is inappropriate as an industry. Seniors who need assistance should only be provided care by nurses under the supervision of a medical director at a nursing home. So, I have conversations with healthcare professionals who have said, with a straight face, that somebody who requires almost no care, but isn’t safe to go home, the only appropriate option would be a nursing home.
That’s my biggest challenge, because once that person has given that information to the family, the family will latch on and say, “Oh, well, my loved one’s only good for a nursing home. They’re only going to be approved for a nursing home.” And so, a lot of my work behind the scenes for my families has to do with advocacy.
Learn more about Paul Jones and his company, The Care Concierge Senior Living Advisors here.
Missed the other parts of ourinterview with Paul Jones? Read them here Discovering the AgePros Community: An Interview with Paul Jones and here Keys to growing your AgePro business. Is there an aging industry (agepro) business or specialty you’d like to know more about? Send us an email!
