What Is a Life Plan Community?
Integrated services set out in a continuum: A Life Plan community offers older adults a complete “plan” for the rest of their lives. All in one community — in the same building or on the same campus — you’ll find everything you need for life ahead, with the assurance of simple transitions between levels of service if needed:
- Independent Living serves you as long as you’re healthy, self-sufficient and ready to indulge in an amenity-filled lifestyle.
- Assisted Living or Residential Living provides a helping hand with daily living’s tasks to ensure ongoing independence.
- Memory Care offers highly sophisticated care if you develop Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
- Skilled Nursing for rehabilitation after an accident, surgery or illness — or in cases where a chronic health condition develops.
The Life Plan community is a relatively new name for a concept previously called the CCRC, or Continuing Care Retirement Community. The terms are used interchangeably, and the new term becoming increasingly common.
Most Life Plan senior living communities also offer discounts on care, and Independent Living residents often pay below-market rates when they enter Assisted Living, Residential Living, Memory Care and Skilled Nursing. Contracts and care levels vary by community, so careful detail-gathering is recommended when reviewing communities.
Why should you consider a Life Plan community?
For many, the Life Plan community is the reassuring answer to many difficult questions.
Health: Am I prepared?
Those who’ve recovered from recent health issues — or have a family history of such illnesses — may be concerned about how carefree they can be without a plan for their health concerns.
Skip and Susan had been retired about two years when she had a stroke. After a brief hospitalization, they scrambled to find in-patient rehabilitation services. She recovered well, but the incident got them thinking about future healthcare needs. “We realized we’d rather be prepared than surprised.”
The Life Plan community offers them Independent Living so they can pursue fulfilling lifestyles, and it prepares them for whatever may happen. They can be confident that healthcare is available from people they already know and trust.
Previous experience: How can I avoid what we went through with Mom and Dad?
These days, many who’ve entered their retirement years can recall dealing with aging parents whose only plan was living in the family home. They remember trying to help them find needed care, how they worried from afar, and how uncertain they were about what would happen next or how they would cope.
Jim and Betty lived near his parents, so it fell to him to bear the lion’s share of the caregiving when his father developed dementia and his mother broke her hip. Jim’s two brothers live in distant cities. They took turns coming to town to help with their parents’ care, and their short visits provided welcome breaks for Jim and Betty. But it was hard — emotionally draining and physically demanding for everyone.
Robert and Jennifer lived near her mother. An only child, she faced tough decisions when it became evident her mother’s health was declining. Her increasing difficulties with daily tasks — cooking and cleaning in the house where Jennifer grew up — demanded more and more of Jennifer’s time. Eventually, she resigned from her school-teaching job to become full-time caretaker for her mother. Then, she and Robert brought her mother home to live with them.
Today, Jim, Betty, Robert, and Jennifer all remember what they went through with their parents. They hope to avoid such chaos for their families and know they need a plan for that. A Life Plan senior living community is that plan.
Caring couples: What’s the best way for us to take care of each other?
Suppose the happily retired couple suddenly discovers one of them needs Assisted Living or Residential Living.
After 40 years in the home where they raised their two children, Keith and Mary now face a separation. He’s moving 20 minutes across town to a senior living community while she remains in their memory-filled home.
To keep in touch, daily visits are needed. This burdens Mary, who drives from house to community — unless her daughter, who works, offers to come take her. There are days when the travel is too inconvenient, and the visit doesn’t happen. For a long-married couple accustomed to daily contact, that’s painful.
For his part, Keith worries about Mary driving back and forth, about her taking care of their house, and about her staying home alone.
So, what’s their alternative? A Life Plan senior living community.
Twelve years ago, Keith and Mary moved out of the house in which they raised their family and into Independent Living in a Life Plan community. Since then, they’ve taken advantage of the community’s 24/7 security and traveled to Ireland, South Korea, and Peru — confident their apartment is watched over during their absence. They’ve made important new friendships, too, meeting other residents in classes and workshops on art, European history, and woodworking. And freed from dinner-preparation duties by the community’s dining program, they’ve often spent weekday afternoons looking after their great-granddaughter.
What happens if Keith’s health declines, Mary’s unable to take care of him in their Independent Living apartment, and he needs to move to Assisted Living or Residential Living? It’s just across the courtyard. And given how close Keith’s new apartment is to Mary’s Independent Living, they can easily share mealtimes; spend mornings, afternoons, and evenings together; and sustain their loving relationship with only minor scheduling adjustments.
And Keith will rest easy, knowing Mary is safe in their nearby Independent Living residence, where their friends and community staff look in on her.
Plan ahead.
A Life Plan senior living community is Independent Living with healthcare close by. It helps families rest easier, knowing Mom and Dad are taken care of. And couples know they’re looking after each other, no matter what. You can live well, with less to worry about.