How to choose the right retirement home: Features, facilities, when to move
“Independence,” says 85-year-old Gomathi Visvanath when you ask her what she enjoys best about living in Athashri, Pune, a senior residents’ community. “I’m not dependent on my kids for any of my daily needs like meals or meeting my friends. If I need anything, the housekeeping staff responds within minutes. There’s even a lady who comes regularly to bring me wool so that I can continue with my love for knitting,” she adds. Gomathi and her husband, Visvanath, bought an apartment at Athashri in 2003, and moved there some years later after he needed more medical assistance. The tighter security at the gated community and round-the-clock medical staff available on call were the biggest draws for the couple. Even after Visvanath passed away, Gomathi has continued living alone here as every facility caters to her age-related needs.Senior communities have been around in India for a couple of decades, but it is only in recent years that they have found more favour with India’s growing older population. Breaking social stigmas that consider the elderly living alone as being ‘abandoned’ by their children has not been easy, but senior citizens and even people a few years away from retirement are now themselves making the choice to move into these senior communities for several familial reasons. One is that their children are often working and living in another city or residing abroad, a place to which they don’t want to move.
Another is that the children often do not have enough time to spend with their parents, leading them to feel lonely and isolated. Moving to an area where everybody is within a similar age range and has kindred interests and health requirements is a social boon for retirees. As these communities are exclusively for people above the age of 55, they also have a wide range of activities specifically designed for their entertainment, from water aerobics and golf to tambola and musical evenings.
Today, many senior living communities are dedicated to helping older adults find comfort, wellbeing and happiness through resort-style amenities, beautiful surroundings, recreation, instant medical attention, varied dining facilities, and more. The main advantages of a senior community are that the homes are designed to be senior-friendly, there’s 24x7 medical care available with ambulances permanently stationed and doctors on-call, cafes with dining and delivery services, and staff that has been specially trained in elderly needs and geriatric care.
“The benefit for residents is that all their needs are taken care of by one service provider, right down to a plumber or getting the AC fixed. This means it’s zero headache for them and they have more time to do what they want to do. Suppose a resident goes to visit their children for a month, we’ll take care of their plants and home, and ensure that when they return it’s to a fresh, clean house,” says Mohit Nirula, CEO of Columbia Pacific Communities.
Amenities like these in senior living spaces, beyond what normal housing areas usually provide, are one of the biggest draws for the elderly to move to them. “Safety was one of the major concerns for me and my wife to move to Antara at Dehradun. Here, we have a 3-tier security system where nobody can enter the complex without our permission, guards patrolling the areas 24x7 with a resident incharge at every tower, and CCTV cameras placed almost everywhere,” says Major General J.K. Kaushik (retd), who has been living in Antara since March 2021.
Such communities have also been growing steadily as younger people want to make sure their parents have a comfortable and safe life after their retirement. A report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Indian Senior Care Industry 2018, states that in about 30 years from now, the elderly population in India is expected to triple from 104 million in 2011 to 300 million in 2050, accounting for 18% of the total population in 2050. The Census data of 2011 states that 15 million elderly Indians were living alone and almost three-fourths of these were women.
Features and facilities
Senior houses are designed differently than regular homes as they need to ensure easier mobility for elderly residents. So, there will be lifts, ramps and railings everywhere to assist with walking and for wheelchair access. The floors in all areas will be anti-skid or have carpets that are nailed down. Hallways, lobbies, doorways and lifts are much wider so that stretchers can be maneouvered easily. Facilities like switches, door locks, cabinets, shelves, furniture, beds, grab bars and plug points are installed at accessible heights. Some homes may also come with unbreakable cutlery and crockery to ensure residents don’t hurt themselves accidentally. Most rooms have panic buttons that can help alert the staff in case of an emergency. All the doors are designed in such a way (or there are extra keys with the staff) that they can be opened easily from the outside if a resident suffers a mishap inside a room.
There are various types of houses available —from 1-room sets that have only a bedroom and bathroom to 3-BHK villas that are fully furnished. You can also choose to get a house with or without a kitchen, the latter being helpful for residents who have memory issues and might forget to turn off the gas. Of course, to ensure optimum safety, such homes are equipped with smoke alarms and LPG detectors too.
Prices start from Rs.20 lakh and can go up to Rs.3 crore (see table), and are usually at a premium to other nearby societies because of the wide array of services on offer. This is also why the annual maintenance charges are higher in senior communities and can range from Rs.30,000 to Rs.3 lakh a year. Prices depend on the location of the housing society, size of the home and service facilities being offered, such as whether there’s a small clinic or a 10-bed hospital within the premises, or if there are golf carts to help the residents move from one area to another. Some communities will also have guest rooms that residents can rent for family or friends who might come over to visit.
A home away from home
Communities where you can buy a house after retirement. Leases and rentals are also available, and these vary greatly depending on maintenance charges.
Assisted living for short and long term stays
These places with specialised medical services can be rented from a week till the end of life. The cost includes meals, security, housekeeping, laundry and service utilities. Medical assistance is extra depending on the care needed.
In case a resident dies, the property is transferred according to the deceased’s will, like a regular property transfer. The legal heir can then rent the property out or sell it as only people above the age of 55 are usually allowed to be permanent residents in these communities.
When should one move?
“People should start considering this option for themselves or their parents after the kids move out, so probably between the age of 50 - 55 . There should be a substantial retirement corpus in place to take care of annual maintenance charges and medical exigencies. Remember, one’s needs at the age of 70 are very different from what is required at 85, so you should evaluate whether the senior community will serve your needs for a much longer term,” says Ankur Gupta, Joint MD, Ashiana Housing. So, before your elders move to such a community, check if it can offer care at multiple levels, starting with independent living and moving towards more skilled healthcare facilities. This will help the seniors to shift seamlessly between the levels according to their needs without worrying about moving to a new environment or adjusting to unkown people. You also need to check about holistic health services, meals, accessibility to hospitals, security for personal belongings, community spaces for recreational activities, food options and nutritional care, and training of healthcare personnel.
“For me, eating is the facility I enjoy the most. Whether Ram is ruling or Ravana, good food is a must for everyone. I have breakfast in the canteen, may go there for lunch too or have the meal delivered to my home, enjoy snacks with a cup of tea at 5 pm, and then have a cook who comes regularly to make the dinner of my choice,” says 82-year-old S. Rajhagopalan who is a resident of Ashiana Shubham in Chennai. Rajhagopalan moved there after he and his wife, Kamini, realised they needed more assitance for his wellbeing after he suffered a stroke in August 2018. The couple are happier after the shift and Rajhagopalan is now actively involved with the debating society, browsing through his books, mentoring young people and cycling at the gym when he can. Assisted living Senior communities have two major diversifications.
The first is ‘independent living’ that is designed for those who can do all their tasks themselves and lead an active social life, while the other is ‘assisted living’ and is for people who require additional medical support, such as caregivers and nursing. In the case of the former, you can get occasional help from the staff for the elderly residents, such as accompanying them to the bank, airport or for a doctor’s visit. They can also help with other important transactions like reminders to take daily medication, finding a suitable lawyer for making a Will, or putting one in touch with a financial adviser for investing retirement benefits.
Assisted living encompasses more personalised service, ranging from help with simple daily tasks like bathing and shaving to more intensive care like aiding with dialysis or bedridden patients. Such specialised care can be hired for a short while while a patient is recuperating from surgery or for those with life-long needs. Retirement communities have tie-ups with several hospitals and can help with finding proper trained staff for prolonged and chronic illnesses like Alzheimer’s, dementia, arthritis, osteoporosis and Parkinson’s.
In such cases, you can also opt for assisted homes where the rent is inclusive of all services like meals, laundry and housekeeping (see table). Most of these are available for short-term respite care, and the maintenance fee is highly dependent on the kind of medical care needed. For instance, if your parent needs an attendant for just 8 hours a day, you will have to shell out approximately Rs.20,000 a month over and above the rental price, but if they need round-the-clock assistance, you might have to pay about Rs.65,000 more per month. Some services like lab tests and medicine delivery will be paid according to usage. These care homes send a regular report to the immediate family with photographs to update on the resident’s health and fitness progress.
A few of these assisted care homes also have end-of-life support that includes palliative care and funeral services. These can be availed of in consultation with one’s own doctor. For instance, Athulya in Chennai and Bengalauru has an expansive portfolio of palliative care services, from multiple sclerosis to bone marrow transplant. “In cases of emergency, our administration steps in with immediate financial help and arrangements. Often, the family of a resident is living far away, so we contact them on the phone and let them know what is needed. After we get their approval, we quickly make all the necessary arrangements, and clear the payments later with the family,” says Rajit Mehta, MD & CEO of Antara.
Some care homes cater to even more niche needs. Nema Eldercare in Gurugram has a daycare facility that provides dementia and Alzheimer’s patients with a safe place to stay during the day. The Golden Estate in Faridabad lets you test the waters with a trial stay option for a week at a rate of Rs.3,200 a day for a single person and Rs.4,000 a day for a couple. Antara Senior Care recently launched its first dedicated residential Memory Care Home in Gurugram for dementia patients with features like memory boards in each room, grills on glass windows and acrylic mirrors.
Focus on features
Before you zero in on a property, go through this checklist.
24x7 medical facility and trained nursing staff Wheelchair access Anti-skid fl oors in all rooms Easy to access panic buttons in rooms Grab bars, especially in bathrooms, and shower seats Ramps and railings for easy walking Smooth edges for furniture and cabinets Wide lifts and doors for stretchers to go in Accessible height of shelves, bed, chairs, etc Security and CCTV surveillance
This story originally appeared on: India Times - Author:Tax Cognition
