Every so often I have to hitch up my suspenders, pretend to be a grumpy old man and utter the old guy phrase that comprises this entry’s title. What brings me to this state of astonishment is the news that at least two of the nation’s premier providers of healthcare housing for seniors are actively planning for the establishment of high-end assisted living apartment projects that will take care of “frail urban seniors”.
So you get some perspective, these residences are both mindful of the needs of this special clientele AND luxurious. (These full-care apartments may run you around $20,000 a month.) What will they think of next?
What did I think of next? My immediate reactions were negative, probably because of my knee-jerk suspicion of anything that benefits rich folks over poor folks. Especially anything exclusive or cost-prohibitive. (You can guess the range of my fault-finding ….)
I was brought up short in that line of thinking when I read what Maplewood Senior Living (www.maplewoodliving.com) and Welltower (www.welltower.com) have in mind. These companies have realized that elderly adults who live in large urban centers are not currently being offered the kind of healthcare that is more readily available in suburban and rural locales. Both companies are willing to take significant financial and reputational risks to address the needs of older adults with extensive financial means.
What am I thinking now? Still scratching my head about what this means. More than ever, I am appreciative of the work of agencies that care for low-income seniors in urban areas. (You can see how Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly (www.littlebrothers.org) fills this need admirably.) And I’m still willing to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone who’s thinking over-the-horizon about older adults.
What about you? What will you think of next…?
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