The Business Monthly, August 2006

Continuing Care Communities Are An Answer To Lengthy Retirements

By Janene Holzberg

When Jean and Don Brunstetter began researching where to spend their twilight years, they started in their own neighborhood near Annapolis and were quite taken with a community offering golf course lots. But Don, who had already had two heart bypass surgeries by the late 1980s, asked his wife, “Do you want to move twice?” she recalls. “We knew we didn’t, and that we needed to consider health care.”

As people live longer than ever before, they must plan for a lengthier retirement. Because longer retirement can mean more health issues, many forward-thinking older adults consider their future health when making  their choice of where to retire.

“Housing choices become more complicated as we age,” says Phyllis Madachy, administrator of the Howard County Office on Aging. “The choices look like this: stay in your own home, stay in your community but move to a home that’s easier to maintain, move closer to or in with adult children, or move to a home that has readily accessible support services.”

But just as the Brunstetters realized, some of these options will later evolve into a second move if health care becomes a priority, Madachy points out. On some retirement home campuses, couples may be split into separate living quarters requiring a walk or a drive if one partner requires medical care. Even a home design factor as simple as steps can send aging homeowners packing again.

Jean Brunstetter’s mother had lived happily in Pennsylvania in a continuing care retirement community, where all levels of health care are available under one roof, so the couple looked into that concept and found what they were wanted in Vantage House. In 1990 they became the second residents of the new facility, located in the heart of Columbia and still the only one of its kind in Howard County.

“Judging by the marketplace, the design of these retirement communities (that offer health care) is becoming very attractive to consumers,” says Madachy. “Retirement community residents can stay in control of their lives and age in place -- that’s practically unknown in any other housing option.”

“Our residents are unique because they have planned for their future,” agrees Katie Travers, marketing director at Vantage House. “It’s important to them to have access to all levels of health care, but once they move in it’s not their focus. Our residents want to get on with living.”

Jean Brunstetter, now 78 and widowed, manages a computer lab for students with disabilities at the Community College of Baltimore County’s Catonsville campus, a position she’s held since 1992. She says she has thrived at Vantage House, attributing her happiness to the friends she’s made there, her independent life in the “vibrant community of Columbia,” and her peace of mind knowing she won’t have to move again.

Lynada and David Johnson echo this sentiment. At 66 and 67, respectively, the couple is among the youngest residents as well as the new kids on the block, having only lived at Vantage House for less than three months. David’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease prompted their move from Anne Arundel County.

“We wanted to pursue a healthful lifestyle and to focus on prevention, rather than cure,” explains David about their choosing Vantage House after looking at 15 other retirement communities.

Being able to live in the same building no matter what level of health care they require was a priority for the Johnsons. Leading an independent life where they can take advantage of such nearby cultural staples as the Columbia Festival of the Arts was equally important.

Lynada adds that she is relieved to focus on being a wife instead of a caregiver, a stressful role the couple had watched David’s mother assume when his father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. “That was a situation we did not want to find ourselves in, nor to pass down to our own children.”

The Johnsons say selecting a continuing care community was hands down the best decision and “a major gift we gave to our children to know we are taken care of.”

Madachy says there’s an emerging concept of supplying continuing care to aging adults in their own homes. While not currently an available product, the lure of such an idea is obvious: staying in the family home would take the emotional sting out of moving and sorting through sentimental treasures in order to downsize, she points out. On the other hand, selling that family home can be an essential component of a plan for the future.

As people age and begin retirement planning, they should view their single-family homes the same way anyone does, says Linda Odum, associate real estate broker with Re/Max 100 in Columbia. “The family home becomes the financial vehicle to leverage themselves into the next setting.”

To make the transition from a decades-old family home to a retirement home easier and more financially lucrative, Odum stresses that sellers must be willing to update appliances and apply the proverbial fresh coat of paint. “First impressions truly are indelible,” she says, “and no one wants a prospective buyer to view their home as shabby or dilapidated.” Younger buyers with families, who often purchase older residences as starter homes, are often cash-poor and strapped for time. A home that is in move-in condition will sell more quickly and at a better price.

“When examining housing options, older adults should be envisioning their future 10, 15, or 20 years from now,” says Madachy. “This will help shape what they choose.”

She adds that her office always advises older adults considering a continuing care retirement community to have a lawyer examine their contract. “They are buying the ability to access all levels of health care when they are needed and this is very different from buying a home,” she points out.