What Do You To When You or a Loved One needs to go into a Care Facility?

Show Transcript

Announcer

Your Guide to Protecting Your Personal Health. Simplified Answers to the. Complex Questions surrounding Healthcare, Empowering you to take control of your health and wellness. “You are the most knowledgeable about health policy”.

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Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate Cary Hall.

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Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Our producer, Mr. Darren Willhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall. This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us and making us one of the most listened talk shows throughout the United States. We have a brand new affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska, KLIN AM 1400 and FM 99.3.

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Cary Hall

We are very happy to have you on board and happy to be in the Cornhusker State. So welcome aboard. You're part of America’s Healthcare Advocate family, but we really appreciate that opportunity and have you join our family and look forward to talking to all the folks in Lincoln, Nebraska. You can follow me on Facebook or on Instagram and we're on pocket casts, Speakers, Spotify, Google Podcasts, RSS Feed Podcast, TuneIn Podcast, Amazon, Pandora, Overcast, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Apple Podcasts.

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Cary Hall

And oh, by the way, we're on YouTube where over the last four months we had 90,600 minutes of people watching our broadcasts. So all I can say to all of you who download this podcast and who listen to this is thank you. Whether you're listening on the podcast platforms, the 12 I just named, or if you're up on YouTube, we really appreciate what you're doing.

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Cary Hall

Any feedback you want to send, we're happy to hear. And it appears that we're going rather rapidly on the podcast side. So once again, I want to say thank you to everybody for tuning us in here live on the radio, but also for picking those podcasts. If you are looking for Medicare special needs program. So those folks that have chronic illnesses are in a nursing home or receiving home health care equivalent to nursing home or they are on Medicaid can qualify for Medicare special needs program.

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Cary Hall

Now, there's a lot of paperwork and there's a lot of government nonsense to go through. But you don't have to do that because you can call. Carolee Steele, Joyce Thompson or Maria Ahlers At RPS Benefits by Design. 877-385-2224 If you've got a loved one, you're you know somebody, you know, maybe it's one of your family members, your grandmother, whatever the case may be.

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Cary Hall

And you know, these programs are amazing. They offer greatly enhanced benefits. They offer money for groceries and utilities, and $4,000 worth of dental. I mean, there's just a host of things you can get with these. You can't get on a typical Medicare Advantage plan. Call one of those ladies. They'll be happy to help you. And if you're aging into Medicare, they can do the same thing for you.

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Cary Hall

All right. Joining me in studio once again, Steve Kuker from Senior Care Live. That is his radio show. His company is Senior Care Consulting. And we're going to talk about what do you do when you have a loved one that needs to go into a facility? How do you find out where they should go? How do you find out what the best fit is?

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Cary Hall

What can they afford? How do you evaluate this stuff? Well, that's why we've got Steve in here. So, Steve, welcome.

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Steve Kuker

Thank you, Cary. I appreciate the opportunity to be on your program and address your audience. Thank you so much.

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Cary Hall

Well, we're just happy to have you here. You know, you know, I'm 73, which I make no secret about this when I talk about various things in this broadcast. I've got friends of mine that are of equal age, who have parents who are in their nineties or they're in their sixties and parents are in their eighties. I just had one gentleman the other day, a friend of mine in a men's group I belong to.

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Cary Hall

His father is 86 years old and they're having a real difficult time getting him to into a place where he's going to be happy. He doesn't have any memory issues, all of that. But he's not ambulatory enough to take care of himself and they're not close by, so they can't be there every day. I mean, this is this is a we've got a tsunami of people hitting this, you know, the boomers going into 65 plus.

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Cary Hall

Well, the second tsunami is the boomers that are boomers anymore.

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Steve Kuker

That's right. That's right. We're aging into the need. Right.

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Cary Hall

Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, They're octogenarians. I think it's. What is it, septuagenarian? Just one of those. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe Darren would know, but I know he doesn't know either. Okay, never mind. But so, you know. But when people start pushing past 80, oftentimes they just, you know, it gets to a point where they just can't function in order to stay in their own home or if they need home health care, how do they even get that?

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Cary Hall

So let's just kind of spoiled a bit of that and and the different elements and things, whether it's memory care or assisted living or full blown nursing home homes.

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Steve Kuker

Well, once you get into the eighties, we become more frail and it takes something very minor to make a major change in our lifestyle. And so it could be a fall, it could be an illness that we just don't fully recover from. And all of a sudden we need a lot more help than we did two or three months ago or maybe last week even.

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Steve Kuker

So the change can come on very quickly. In my case, my grandmother took a fall in the middle of the night and she fractured her neck. She survived it. She was not paralyzed. But that boom, that was an instant game changer. So accidents can also happen to change that situation. And so you have to look at it and you have to say, okay, now that I'm not fully independent, I need some help.

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Steve Kuker

Can I remain independent in my home? And if so, what does that look like? So you can remodel your home to age in place? The bathroom is a big area where you know, get rid of the bathtub, put in a you know, I walk in, walk in tub or a zero entry shower where you could even if someone had to roll you in on a shower chair.

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Steve Kuker

Right. There are no barriers. I mean, you could do that. I refer a lot of folks to a local, you know, remodeler that can handle that very quickly and efficiently.

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Cary Hall

So that is what somebody specializes in that.

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Steve Kuker

Exactly.

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Cary Hall

You don't just go off on a website and, you know, know this is what they do. Their tried and true. It's somebody you endorse and you recommend. Absolutely. That way they know they're going to get a quality product from somebody that's going to be reliable and do the job the.

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Steve Kuker

Right.

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Cary Hall

Remodelers, unfortunately. Sorry, don't start sending me emails about that. But they're notorious. Okay? I've had enough of them to know for not being reliable, not doing what they tell you they're going to do and cost overruns.

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Steve Kuker

Right. So you have to be careful. But with with that, with who you hire. But the other thing is what if you need your personal care? So now we're looking at bringing in a home care company that's non-medical in-home assistance to help you on an hourly basis. And unfortunately, with COVID and I don't know where all of these people work now, but there's a severe staffing shortage.

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Steve Kuker

It was bad before COVID. It's catastrophic now.

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Cary Hall

So I'll tell you a little interesting side note that in The Wall Street Journal today, there was a huge article on employers hiring, not use the word illegal aliens will use the word undovumented immigrants. Okay. Okay. Hiring undocumented immigrants because they can't fill those positions that you're talking about.

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Steve Kuker

Okay. Well, and so, too, to get so what I've seen here in the last oh, I don't know, six months maybe is to get the best staff. Okay. And you're going to have to pay them a lot more because you're competing with hiring higher wages because everyone's in the same boat. So now used to be able to pay 20 to $25 an hour for a homecare company to come out and help you in your home.

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Steve Kuker

But now you're looking at 30 to $35 an hour, maybe upper thirties and and you still may not. The company you work with still may not have enough staff to meet all of your needs. So this is becoming a very difficult situation. And quite expensive. But it can be done and you can remain independent in your home, but it's going to be expensive.

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Cary Hall

So if you've got a seven, it looks like a seven day week typically and you need help at least three days out of that seven and it's 3 hours, the laundry, clothing, food and maybe help with bathing, shaving, whatever the case may be. You're looking at, you know, $300 a week. A week?

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Steve Kuker

Yeah, just for.

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Cary Hall

1200 dollars. And that's only for three.

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Steve Kuker

Days and for 3 hours a day. So that's that's minimal help. But you know what? That may be enough. That may be just enough to help you stay home and avoid having to move somewhere. So even though it's expensive in the in the in the bigger picture, six to 8 to $9000 for assisted living per month, about 9000 to about $15,000 a month to live in long term care, which is also known as a nursing home.

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Steve Kuker

So it could do it could do the trick and keep you in-home in your home for a while and still be relatively cost efficient.

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Cary Hall

Absolutely.

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Steve Kuker

Relatively is the key term.

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Cary Hall

Yeah. Yeah. Relatively is the key term. When I come back to break up, I want to go over something that may help you with that. Okay. In terms of being able to afford it. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA radio network. Look, if you want to connect with Steve, the website is Senior Care Consulting dot com, 913-945 2800.

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Cary Hall

I don't care where you're at in the country, if you need help, call this man. He will talk to you. He will help you. Give him a call. 913 945 2800. Stay tuned. We've got more. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate. Broadcasting here on the HIA radio network. Coast to coast across the U.S., even in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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Music

Well, tell me darlin am my right, I'm

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Cary Hall

Welcome back,

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Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. My producer, Mr. Darin Wilhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall, in studio with me. Steve Kuker from Senior Care Live. That is his radio show that is nationally syndicated as well. And his company is Senior Care Consulting website is Senior Care Consulting dot com, the phone number 913-945-2800.

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Cary Hall

I'm going to tell you something. I've I had people call me with this stuff all the time and I referred in the Steve but if you go out there and you try to do this yourself, first of all, it's time consuming as hell. Secondly, you really don't know what you're doing, okay? You walk into a place, they sell you a bill of goods and tell you you're going to do this.

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Cary Hall

I've got a friend right now with an 87 year old. No, he's 90 year old mother in a nursing facility. He goes over there every day. He can do this. Okay. To make sure she's getting what he needs because he doesn't trust the staff, because they're not giving him what he That's the problem. When you have to do this yourself, you get into a place you don't know if it's tried and true.

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Cary Hall

Looks good on the outside, look good on the inside. They tell you they're going to do all these wonderful things and maybe they've got a staffing shortage or maybe they're just not competent summaries. Those are things that Steve knows because this is what he does for a living. He knows exactly. Oh, and by the way, don't go to a place for mom or some of these other places, okay?

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Cary Hall

Because they get paid by the nursing homes. I don't know if I can get Steve to talk about that or not, but they do. All right. And they get paid by the nursing homes to put people in there. So that's not what I would call unbiased approach if you want help. Once again, the poll numbers 913945 2800, the website senior care consulting dot com. You know those special needs programs that I mentioned at the beginning of the broadcast.

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Cary Hall

People with chronic conditions like if you've got a heart condition or type one diabetes, if you're on Medicaid or if you are in a nursing home or need home health care, which is what we just talked about, there is money available on those special needs programs. So, you know, once again, if you reach out to those ladies over to US benefits by design, they can help you with that.

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Cary Hall

But that's one of the beauties that because I don't know what the number is for home health care, what they give you in terms of dollars. But let's just say it's $2,000 a month. Well, how many hours is that? 30 day. But, you know, I'm not good at math, so whatever. 33. Okay. There you go. It's sexy. He is good at math.

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Cary Hall

Is it's that's that's a lot of hours. Okay. That that that would be So if you had that and you had to pay another two or three or $400, now you've got maybe enough care that you can stay in your home, your mother, your grandmother, your father, whatever the case may be, and not have to go to a facility.

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Cary Hall

So those special needs programs worth looking at.

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Steve Kuker

Can make the difference. Yeah, it could be good enough. Yeah, no doubt. Okay.

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Cary Hall

Yeah, it really is a big difference. There's also a program available under the VA if you're not aware of that and if you reach out to us, we'll be happy to tell you about that as well. So let's kind of get back to this for a minute. Okay. So we talk a lot about home health care. You know, it's important.

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Cary Hall

It's no different from the standpoint of knowing what quality is and who's reliable versus and we'll do the nursing home thing in the next in the next segment. We've got a lot of time, but I want to kind of stay on this for a little while. How do you determine, you know, a home health care company, Like you said, they're having staffing problems?

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Cary Hall

You know, I read in The Wall Street Journal this morning a lot of these jobs being filled by immigrants, which is fine. Hey, if they're willing to do the work and they can do the work, God bless them. Yeah. Okay. Somebody needs to do it. Yeah. Okay. So how how do you how are you able to go through a process to say, you know, I know that company is really good and they provide quality people, Steve.

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Steve Kuker

Well. I know I'm very aware of some of the top providers here where I live in my area in the city marketplace. Yes. Yes. Here's the challenge is a lot of times there is not a licensure in a particular state or if there is a licensure, it's just it's a piece of paper and no one monitors it. So it's very easy to hang your shingle on the walls, says, you know, Jim, Bob's home care company.

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Steve Kuker

And so far there's just not a lot of regulation because it's non medical in-home assistance. Wow. So so that's the scary thing. So just here in our metro area where we live now, obviously this is broadcast around the country, but what is it, 2 million, two and a half million, You know, Metro. Yeah, we have at least 300 home care providers now, most of them you've never heard of.

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Steve Kuker

Okay. Because they're very small. They might work in just a very small area and they do a very small amount of business, but some of them are very big. And so I created a document and it's a home care provider screening tool. And so with my with my clients and I provided free of charge, I just email it out to whoever wants it.

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Steve Kuker

But I have a list of very good questions and I recommend find your top three home care providers.

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Cary Hall

What would you call it on Yelp or something to do that or a phone?

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Steve Kuker

I would ask your doctor and I would ask someone in the hospital. I would ask for referrals. Okay. So. So I would I would I would. I would identify your top three that you've heard of that you've interested maybe you've used before your neighbor used, somebody's church, your doctor recommend so and find three and then ask them the same questions and it will help you very quickly clarify which one you feel is the best fit for you.

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Cary Hall

All right. If you want to get that, you know, you can go to his website Senior Care consulting dot com. He'll email you the thing free of charge. I mean, there's.

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Steve Kuker

No strings attached. I'd just be happy to send that out to you.

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Cary Hall

And that might make a big difference because, you know, again, you think you've got the right person and then six months later you find out have you have your grandmother's jewelry just disappeared? Duh. And that happens. Okay. I've had it happened. Friends of mine.

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Steve Kuker

So. Well, and here's a here's a key question. When you're when you're screening home care providers, if my caregiver is not able to come today to fill that shift, do you do you have backup, another another staff that will come in and take my shift because I have doctor's appointments. I have very important things that I cannot put off.

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Steve Kuker

And so some time I've heard way too many stories of, yeah, well, so-and-so is not able to come today. We sure hope she shows up tomorrow. Well, that's the wrong answer. Know?

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Cary Hall

Well, no, not only it's wrong answer. It's a tragedy. It is. You're the 86 year old that can't take a bath by yourself for a shower. So what does that mean? You don't bathe. You don't shower. Yeah, you know, you can't. Maybe you have trouble making meals. What does that mean? You're going to microwave whatever you think you can eat for the next two or three days instead of having some kind of a decently prepared meal.

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Cary Hall

Or you've got laundry to do and you don't have enough clean clothes, you don't have enough clean underwear. I mean, let's just get real practical.

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Steve Kuker

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Cary Hall

That missing that kind of... And I do this for a perspective of my daughter's got four in Washington, Pasco, which, by the way, we're all up there. We're very happy about that. She's got four children, two of which are twins, nine month old, a two year old and five year old when the nanny doesn't show up. Yeah. And she's got four of them to juggle.

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Cary Hall

All hell breaks loose, right? I know. Because they've been there. Yep, yep, yep. I just spent a week up there not too long ago, just for that reason, because the nanny quit. All right, So it's the same thing with with with with seniors in this situation, you've just created a disaster for these people because they've got nowhere else or or you've got to call your son or your daughter, and they have to take a day off work to come and try to help you.

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Cary Hall

Well, that's good if they're in your city. But if they live in Iowa and you're in you're in Florida or you're you're in Florida and you know they're in Florida and you're in Iowa, you're you're out of lot.

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Steve Kuker

Yeah. And so, you know, I know some companies, too, where, you know, they have kind of a backup pool of staff that is available at a moment's notice to fill a shift. So they run their business properly. And guess what? If no one else is available, the person running that homecare business, she personally will go out and fill that shift until some I mean, they do whatever it takes to take care of their client.

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Cary Hall

See, that's the thing right there. That's the commitment. You're looking for it. That doesn't have to be a big company.

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Steve Kuker

No, it could be a smaller company.

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Cary Hall

It could be five people, ten people. But that kind of commitment is what you're looking for. That's why this stuff is so important. If you want information you want to talk to, if you've got somebody in that situation. Senior Care Consulting dot com is the website, the phone number 913-945-2800. We come back from the break. We're going to talk about how do you find an assisted living facility or a nursing home, memory care, etc..

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Cary Hall

How do you determine the right place for your loved one? Stay tuned. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting on the HIA radio network Coast to Coast across the USA.

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Cary Hall

Welcome back, you're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the fruited plain here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com.

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Cary Hall

Also, 12 podcast platforms, a market name all again. But if it's out there, we're on it. Okay. And YouTube, we have a huge presence on YouTube now. So you want so maybe you've got it, you know, maybe it's your aunt, maybe it's your grandmother, maybe you're, you know, you're having an entire family discussion, maybe not a very pleasant one about how we're going to get mom into a facility or dad or whatever the case may be.

00;19;36;09 - 00;19;56;25

Cary Hall

Go pull this show down and listen to it. Okay. Senior Care live with Steve Kuker. Okay. The show's going to be Steve Kuker. Senior Care Consulting com is this company. And just tell them to listen to it. Listen to what this man has to say and the right way to do this, whether it's home health care. Now we're going to talk about getting into a facility, But either one of those two, this guy is an expert.

00;19;56;25 - 00;20;16;03

Cary Hall

He knows what he's doing. He can help you anywhere. You may be in the country if you want to reach out to him. It's Senior Care Consulting dot com, 913-945-2800. And my producer, Darren Wilhite. I'm your host Cary Hall, in studio with me, Mr. Steve Kuker. All right.

00;20;16;03 - 00;20;27;25

Cary Hall

Let's switch now and talk about facilities because this gets really tricky. Okay? And people go out there and they look at two or three or four places. First of all, one of the problems right now is trying to get in some of these places.

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Steve Kuker

Yeah, it's a problem.

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Cary Hall

Yeah, it is a problem. And the second thing is, so let's say you've got a certain issue, maybe your mom's got a little dementia, maybe your dad's got the beginning of Alzheimer's or it's grandma or whatever the case may be. How do, how do you determine, you know, where am I? First of all, how do I find a place where they're going to take care of them and they're not going to be abused or have issues?

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Cary Hall

And secondly, how do I find a place I can afford? Because if you don't have long term care, which about what, 10% of the people in this country do, if.

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Steve Kuker

That which.

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Cary Hall

Is insanity. Yeah. Okay. I have a long term care policy. I can't I don't know how many years I've had it. Okay. I bought it I think when I was 54. Laurie and I and I will never get rid of that policy.

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Steve Kuker

Well, the fact is 75% of us will use or require long term care and.

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Cary Hall

75% correct. And of that, 10% have got long term care. Right.

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Steve Kuker

So that money's going to come from somewhere.

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Cary Hall

Yeah. And the question is where?

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Steve Kuker

Somewhere out of your pocket. And once you are out of assets, then you have to depend on the Medicaid program.

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Cary Hall

And so let's talk about that because a lot of people go, oh, Medicare will pay for it. Medicare doesn't pay for a damn thing when it comes to long term care. You get 90 days in a facility or 120, whatever it is. Okay. And that's it. So get the Medicare thing out of your head. It's Medicaid and explain how that works.

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Steve Kuker

Medicaid looks at your liquid assets, so not including your house, your car, everything in your house. Okay. They look at your liquid assets, checking savings, money market, mutual fund, CDs, IRAs for your own case, all of those sort of things. And what's that number once those dollars are down to? And I'll just give you the Kansas and Missouri numbers.

00;22;07;00 - 00;22;13;18

Steve Kuker

All of the states are very similar. Once you are down to $2,000 in the state of Kansas, you're almost broke, right?

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Cary Hall

5000 that you are broke.

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Steve Kuker

Exactly. Exactly. $5,000 in the state of Missouri. And again, most most of the states are in that range. So you're literally almost out of money then and only then will the Medicaid program help pay for your care. And then there are some some significant limitations to that.

00;22;33;13 - 00;22;51;24

Cary Hall

So if you've socked away a half a million dollars and you blow through that, believe me, okay, I've got friends who have done this and they've run out of money after a year or two years, then then you're done, then you're going to Medicaid. So you were in a really nice facility, a decent place. It was good. They had great care, but you can't afford it now.

00;22;51;24 - 00;22;52;10

Cary Hall

Where are you going?

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Steve Kuker

So what you can do is you can proactively address that and say, when I look at these, you know, X number of facilities, I suspect that I may outlive my assets. You look for a facility that is Medicaid certified, and then when you move in and you spend your money down, then they will convert to billing Medicaid. Once you hit that point and they will not kick you out.

00;23;22;16 - 00;23;43;26

Cary Hall

So long to recap that. So you move into a facility that's a nice facility kind of upgrade, nice place. Take good care of you. Food quality, good cleaning is good staff. The whole deal. They're saying, look, we'll take you, you've got enough for five years or seven years, whatever it may be. And when you run out of money, we'll let you stay here and your care won't decline.

00;23;43;26 - 00;23;44;07

Cary Hall

And we'll.

00;23;44;07 - 00;23;44;29

Steve Kuker

Build Medicaid.

00;23;44;29 - 00;23;53;06

Cary Hall

And we'll build Medicaid. Yeah. So now see, that's something I didn't know. And that's remarkable because so but you got to know how to find it and you got to know how to qualify exactly.

00;23;53;06 - 00;24;10;29

Steve Kuker

In a lot of these places that are Medicaid certified. It looks good on paper, but they they don't put this on the website. You have to be able to pay private pay for at least two years or three years or 12 months or five years. And then they'll work with Medicaid because typically they're losing money when they're reimbursed by Medicaid.

00;24;11;00 - 00;24;29;08

Cary Hall

Of course they are. The hospitals lose money on Medicaid. That's one of the problems with Medicaid. Yeah, the pay structure for medical care in this country is Medicaid, Medicare, break even, and then private health insurance, which carries the other two essentially is the reason why the hospitals can stay in business. The doctors continue to do what they do.

00;24;29;25 - 00;24;33;28

Cary Hall

Well, that's a different job, right? Just saying it's the same. You're talking the same thing here.

00;24;33;28 - 00;24;41;23

Steve Kuker

Yeah, it is the same thing. So here's the giant catch. There are two giant catches, not all facilities are Medicaid certified.

00;24;42;02 - 00;24;42;26

Cary Hall

What does that mean?

00;24;43;05 - 00;24;54;27

Steve Kuker

They're private pay only. Okay, So a lot of people make the mistake of they're moving in and they assume, you know what? Assume does. Yeah, I sure do. So they assume. Oh, well, well, whatever.

00;24;54;27 - 00;25;00;11

Cary Hall

I don't know what it means. It means make an answer to you. And I just want to make sure you do this. Okay? You. No, go ahead.

00;25;01;02 - 00;25;18;15

Steve Kuker

But. So. So. So they assume that. And trust me, I get the calls from from people and I have to fix it for them. But they assume that, oh, well, whenever I'm out of money, they'll bill that Medicare, that Medicaid thing and I'm fine. Well, and then they get down to $2,000 and they get the discharge letter saying you have to move out and you're like, what happened?

00;25;18;23 - 00;25;21;28

Steve Kuker

Did I do something wrong? No, you didn't do anything wrong, but you're out of money.

00;25;21;28 - 00;25;23;02

Cary Hall

And now they're panicked.

00;25;23;02 - 00;25;43;17

Steve Kuker

And now you have to move. You're so you have no money. You have to leave your home and you have to now look for a medicaid certified facility. So that's the one giant catch. The other giant catch is now, there are always exceptions, but Medicaid will pay all day, every day for a nursing home that long term care level because it's a medical model.

00;25;43;17 - 00;26;02;06

Steve Kuker

They'll pay all day, every day. And and so but not all nursing homes are Medicaid certified, by the way. Some of them are private pay only. So you got to be really careful. But I would say most of them are in Medicaid for all intents and purposes. It does not pay for the assisted living level of care. Okay.

00;26;02;06 - 00;26;03;02

Cary Hall

That's why I was going to ask.

00;26;03;02 - 00;26;04;20

Steve Kuker

That's a huge catch.

00;26;04;20 - 00;26;27;06

Cary Hall

So like my mother was in an assisted living facility slash nursing home here. It was called St Mary's, I believe, if I remember correctly, Catholic was well-run. Yep, But she had met it and she spent down, she had Medicaid and we paid extra to make sure she could stay there. She did okay until she got sick and passed.

00;26;27;14 - 00;26;46;18

Cary Hall

But having said that, that was a quality facility. If you don't if you if you get into a place like he's talked about and then you run out of money and that's traumatic as hell. Oh, those people. Yeah. First of all, people don't like going in the first place. Then they get used to it. They create a circle of friends.

00;26;47;03 - 00;26;52;22

Cary Hall

They like where they are. And now you're going to uproot everything. And I mean, that's obviously got to have a tremendous impact.

00;26;52;22 - 00;27;12;12

Steve Kuker

On it is. And one of the stories that will stick with me forever, it was early in in with senior Care Consulting. I received a call from like a 30 year old granddaughter caring for her grandmother, and she was crying on the phone. And long story short, she found a great place for her. She called her gram's. She lived there.

00;27;12;12 - 00;27;31;18

Steve Kuker

It was assisted living memory care they provided. They did a great job. Everyone loved her. She loved them. And in seven years into this, she gets a discharge letter. She's like, Well, what happened? Well, nothing. But your grandma is out of money and we don't take Medicaid, so you're going to have to move. And so she was devastated.

00;27;31;20 - 00;27;35;19

Steve Kuker

Her mother, her grandmother, spent $350,000.

00;27;35;19 - 00;27;35;28

Cary Hall

My.

00;27;35;28 - 00;27;59;12

Steve Kuker

God, at this place. And she assumed that, oh, you just bill that Medicare Medicaid thing. She's she did that. And so I had to then turn around and find a medicaid certified long term care community. And she had to move her grandmother one more time. She did not want to do that, and she wouldn't have chosen that place had she known about that on the front end of this.

00;27;59;12 - 00;28;19;02

Cary Hall

And that's the difference. That that's that's why that's why we're doing this show today, is you need to be informed as we do a lot of shows like this. This is one of the reasons why we do them so people don't go out there and make mistakes and do things that are going to have $350,000. She could have easily gotten into a good facility that then would reverted to Medicaid.

00;28;19;02 - 00;28;26;11

Cary Hall

She never would have had to move because they would have been happy to get that $350,000, which would have offset the remaining years of her life on Medicaid.

00;28;26;11 - 00;28;48;21

Steve Kuker

Right. Right. And what I would have done with her had I worked with her initially is I would have looked at an assisted living community with memory care because she needed that attached to a long term care community that was Medicaid certified, that had memory care. And all of a sudden when she spends down, she easily transitions to the long term care part of that community that offers both.

00;28;48;21 - 00;28;57;11

Steve Kuker

And she didn't change her address. She's with the same organization and it was smooth as silk. And that's what I would have done had I worked with her on day one.

00;28;57;11 - 00;29;22;16

Cary Hall

You know what they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound to cure people. And this this is you know, this is preventing something from becoming a disaster that impacts you and impacts that loved one. If you want help, the man can help you. He is Steve Kuker is website is seniorcareconsulting.com he can help you anywhere in the country 913-945-2800.

00;29;22;19 - 00;29;46;20

Cary Hall

We come back to break. We're going to talk about memory care facilities and something Steve is doing coast to coast that you might find interesting. Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcast live on the HIA radio network Coast to coast across USA.

00;29;49;20 - 00;30;13;27

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast. My producer, Mr. Darren Wilhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall, in studio with me is Steve Kuker. You want to reach out to this man Senior Care Consulting dit com, 913-945-2800. He has a wealth of information. Once again, this show 12 podcast platforms and YouTube. It's up there under Senior Care Consulting Steve Kuker.

00;30;14;02 - 00;30;33;17

Cary Hall

So you want to tell somebody in your family about this or maybe that guy said there's an entire family discussion about how do we deal with mom or grandma? Go listen to the podcast. You'll learn a lot. Okay, So let's switch gears here. Let's memory facilities a big deal. Okay. You know, Alzheimer's, dementia. My mother had it. It was hell.

00;30;34;15 - 00;30;58;05

Cary Hall

And let's, you know, let's talk about how how do you find the proper facility now? You got to meet some. Let's say it's just. It's just starting. Okay. It's not the point yet where they can't function, but they're. They're having problems, right? Well, maybe they go into an assisted living facility to start with, and then as it progresses and it gets worse, they go into a more intensive program.

00;30;58;11 - 00;31;10;28

Cary Hall

How do you put all that together? Oh, and by the way, I want to make sure she's got some money, but I want to make sure that after we sell the house and liquidate assets so we can pay for all this, that she doesn't get kicked out. How do you pull all of that together?

00;31;10;28 - 00;31;12;20

Steve Kuker

Well, so you have lots of moving parts.

00;31;12;29 - 00;31;13;14

Cary Hall

Too many.

00;31;14;06 - 00;31;23;00

Steve Kuker

Yeah. And that's. That's what I get paid to help people. I help people to not make a mistake. And I hope people live well. I have some great.

00;31;23;00 - 00;31;23;14

Cary Hall

Way to put.

00;31;23;14 - 00;31;31;26

Steve Kuker

That. I help them get it right. So? So. So the first question is you have to figure out what level of care you need. Do you need assisted living or do you need long term care?

00;31;32;01 - 00;31;33;05

Cary Hall

Or maybe you need both.

00;31;33;11 - 00;31;34;04

Steve Kuker

You could start.

00;31;34;04 - 00;31;36;27

Cary Hall

With assisted living. It's, you know, it's going to devolve.

00;31;37;01 - 00;31;57;13

Steve Kuker

Yeah. And you may want them connected to where you can transition to long term care, which is more like heavier medical needs versus assisted living to help you with your daily activities bathing, dressing, grooming, meal time, you know, all of those. Medication management, etc.. So so once you determine your level of care, then we know we have a memory related issue.

00;31;57;13 - 00;32;18;13

Steve Kuker

We have some cognitive impairment, early dementia, early Alzheimer's, but you don't need a memory care part of the building and memory care what they refer to as a neighborhood Okay. So so you just you're okay with general care. So when you talk to these places, every single place will say, Oh yeah, we do memory care and they're there right to a point.

00;32;18;27 - 00;32;36;14

Steve Kuker

So every provider provides care for someone with cognitive issues. Here is the rub. Here is that breaking point. When those cognitive issues get to a certain point and you become an elopement risk or a flight risk, meaning you were wanting to leap.

00;32;36;14 - 00;32;36;23

Cary Hall

Down the.

00;32;36;23 - 00;32;55;20

Steve Kuker

Freeway. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to walk out of the building and unintentionally put yourself in harm's way. That's when you have to have that memory care neighborhood or part of the building that is a secured area of the building. So they have codes on the doors, right? So you you can't get out unless you're a company for your own safety and security.

00;32;55;27 - 00;33;15;09

Steve Kuker

So that's number one. The second thing that will get you in a memory care neighborhood in a minute is becoming overstimulated. So you're out in the part of the building. There are a hundred people. It's noisy. There's just too much going on. And if you have dementia, at some point, you can easily become overstimulated. And then what happens?

00;33;15;09 - 00;33;39;26

Steve Kuker

You become angry, agitated, aggressive. You could become combative because you just can't handle it all. So the memory care neighborhood has a much a much lower census. So they may have 20 people instead of 120 people in this small area. You can handle a 30 foot hall better than you can handle a 100 foot long hallway. The activities are 20 minute increments rather than 60 minute.

00;33;39;26 - 00;33;45;26

Cary Hall

And the things you would never, never would. We've done these shows for I don't know how long. I would have never thought of that.

00;33;46;00 - 00;33;52;23

Steve Kuker

Yeah, it's a special kind of care for a cognitively impaired resident, and it's very specialized.

00;33;53;20 - 00;34;11;12

Cary Hall

A friend of mine. Another friend of mine, mother put her in a facility. It was a assisted living facility. She had cognitive, though. No problems at all. He gets called one day. She's gone. We can't find her. She got in her car and she. She was going to go to the grocery store all by state trooper got her in Nebraska.

00;34;12;00 - 00;34;25;05

Cary Hall

Nebraska. She made it all the way to Nebraska. Silver lining, and the trooper pulled her over. I can't hear why. What made him think to pull her over? He pulled her over. She said, why are you pull me over? I'm just I'm just a few blocks from home.

00;34;25;05 - 00;34;25;21

Steve Kuker

Just going to the.

00;34;25;21 - 00;34;45;04

Cary Hall

Store. And he said, Ma'am, where do you live? And she knew where she lived. And he said, You're so so this this friend of mine, Dave, had to get in his truck and go get her and then have her car towed back to Kansas City, Missouri, because she had just and this facility was like, But why? Why did you know?

00;34;45;04 - 00;34;50;11

Cary Hall

How did she get out of here? And you not know this? Well, because they weren't ready and they weren't monitoring her.

00;34;50;11 - 00;35;11;26

Steve Kuker

They're not prepared to manage memory related issues. No, they weren't. That's another assume. Okay. Oh, they say they do memory care and you move in there. Well, once you move into any community assisted living, a long term care that cannot manage those risks, and if they don't have that memory care part of the building and many of them do not, then guess what?

00;35;11;27 - 00;35;14;01

Steve Kuker

You're moving, you have to move again.

00;35;14;17 - 00;35;20;14

Cary Hall

That's we got 2 minutes left. I want you to talk about what you're doing because I think it's pretty exciting and might interest a lot of folks out there.

00;35;20;15 - 00;35;23;02

Steve Kuker

Well, this is the first announcement ever. You're on.

00;35;23;02 - 00;35;23;15

Cary Hall

My show.

00;35;23;15 - 00;35;47;13

Steve Kuker

Right here on on Cary's show. Thank you. But I have wanted to do this for a very long time with Senior Care Consulting. And what we do is we help families through the search and selection process when needing an assisted living community, long term care, continuing care, community, memory care, etc.. So if it involves moving from somewhere to one of these communities, that's the narrow niche that we live in.

00;35;48;01 - 00;36;20;23

Steve Kuker

I am now very excited and proud to announce that I am expanding the business nationwide and offering franchise opportunities and so I am so excited to speak with people who are interested in partnering with me, in operating their own business of senior care, consulting in their local market. I'm so excited and the vision of my company is to become the nation's top alternative to the free referrals services, and it will be from day one.

00;36;20;28 - 00;36;40;26

Cary Hall

The place for mom services. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, I wanted him to announce that here. I've known this guy for a long time. And I will tell you something. He's a straight shooter. He's an honest guy. And if you're fortunate enough to have him accept you, if you choose to do this, you'll have a real partner, because that that's what Steve's all about.

00;36;40;26 - 00;36;55;14

Cary Hall

And I would suggest if you want to send him an email, learn more that you do that. It's senior care consulting dot com If you think you might be interested in this baby you maybe you're you know, semi-retired, whatever the case may be. And you want to do something, this might work out really well for you. It just depends.

00;36;55;14 - 00;37;08;29

Cary Hall

Or maybe one maybe a spouse could do it while the other one's working. I don't know. But you're going to find out. You need to reach out to him. Senior Care Consulting dot com 913-945-2800. That's how you get a hold of him thank you for doing this today.

00;37;09;04 - 00;37;11;03

Steve Kuker

You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me.

00;37;11;03 - 00;37;28;22

Cary Hall

Well it was great having you in here and as always it is a wealth of information. So again, this shows up on the podcast platform. Go listen to it. And now I'll leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.

00;37;29;01 - 00;37;52;10

Cary Hall

Remember, friends. It's a funny thing about life. People refuse to accept anything but the very best. You most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show podcasting here on the HIA radio network Coast to Coast across the USA. Good bye, America.