Two Simple Rules for Senior Living

I meet all types of people while working in a senior living community. I’d like to share a couple simple rules with you when visiting a senior living community. The first one is, be healthy.

I was providing a tour for a family whose mom was looking at senior living options. The mom, Judy, was being pushed in a wheelchair by her daughter. Judy appeared unkempt with greasy, gray hair laying in tangles on her shoulders and food stains on her shirt. She gave off an odor that indicated she hadn’t showered recently.

As with most inquiry visits, we started in my office. There were six of us crowded around my 4-person table because all of Judy’s four kids had decided to join her for this expedition. Per Judy, her husband had died the previous year. She’d been managing at home with help from her kids, but they had their own lives to lead, and Judy’s needs were increasing. So, they were now researching senior living communities. She wanted to look at 1-bedroom apartments.

Now that I had the basics, we started out on our tour of the community.

The family was oohing and ahhing over the amenities such as the dining options, the indoor pool, the gym, the movie theater, etc. Then, we turned a corner and started down a back hall. Suddenly, Judy reaches under her wheelchair, pulls out a plastic bag full of old vomit, and threw up into the already full bag!

“Oh,” her daughter nonchalantly stated, “she’s been vomiting all day.”

What the hell?!?

The family then had the nerve to ask if they could stay and eat a meal in our dining room. That would be an emphatic NO!

The second rule when visiting a senior living community is, know what you’re looking for.

Senior living communities are very similar in what they offer – typically apartments that cater to people 62 years of age and older. They offer independent living, assisted living, and some offer secure memory care. There are various floor plans and sizes of apartments. We rely on the customer to give us a bit of information about what they’re interested in so that we don’t end up talking about a studio apartment in assisted living when what the customer wants is a 2-bedroom apartment in independent living.

I had a couple come in to look around and, after getting situated in my office, I asked them what they were interested in learning about our community. The wife replied, “You need to sell to me.”

“Well, I’d love to if you could give me a bit of information about your needs and interests.”

“No. You just need to sell me on your community.”

“O.k. Well, have multiple floor plans and…”

“We’re only interested in a 2-bedroom apartment.”

“Great. We have a 900 square foot…”

“We need something bigger than 1,000 square feet!”

“O.k. On the 2nd floor we have…”

“No! It must be on the first floor!”

And that’s it. If you’re healthy and have an idea of what you’re looking for, the sales/marketing team at the community will take it from there. However, if you need some guidance on questions to ask when you visit a community, you can find sample questions online. Just search something like ‘questions to ask senior living communities.’