CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – As people are living longer, healthy aging is a major topic of conversation and often the main theme revolves around housing for seniors. Most adults want to maintain some form of independence, if possible, but when that can no longer happen, finding the right situation or even facility can be difficult. While there are resources for those who are middle aged or younger when it comes to finding housing assistance or making connections, but sometimes those systems are not the best fit, so where can seniors turn to find resources?

Jacqueline Morgan, a Senior Resource Specialist joined the BrightStar Care of Charlottesville podcast and revealed that there are plenty of options for seniors and they just may need some assistance in identifying services.

“So we consider ourselves a senior concierge service, we like to be the connector to resources in the senior community,” Morgan said. “Our biggest expertise is in placing people in communities, whether it be independent living, memory care or assisted living. We also connect people to home health care options like BrightStar, we walk people through the process, hold their hands, if we don’t have an answer, we usually have a person we can connect you with.”

However, most seniors are not enthusiastic about identifying resources that confirm they can no longer care for themselves independently, which can be a very delicate subject and Morgan said her team is well trained in navigating the topics and conducting research with the family to find the best approach.

“We have extensive conversations with the families, and we talk to them about what exactly their loved ones or their own care needs are,” Morgan said. “We walk through budget, location, how much care they believe they need. Ideally, people stay at home and we connect them to home care options but when that is no longer a safe option, we then walk them through the process of finding a community that fits their needs.”

There unfortunately does come a time when seniors age out of the preferred option of staying in their own home, even with assistance being brought in and Cory Hess, with BrightStar Care of Charlottesville, says the timeliness of the conversation with the senior and the family is critical to a successful transition.

“Open communication is key, and its never too early to start the conversation. Having that conversation early when you may not even need it, so that you are aware of the resources” Hess said. “Although I work with BrightStar, I am in the business of helping the patient and I am in the business of helping families. So if I see something when I’m meeting with these families where home care might be a good option but maybe not the best option, we will always be a resource.” Hess said. “We have no minimums [in terms of meeting times] so we can come for an hour but instead of only working with BrightStar I would rather have you work with BrightStar some and have someone like SRS (senior resource specialists) help you find a good home where you can continue to build it and flourish in your life at a living community and bring BrightStar in slightly to you know, button up and dot our I’s and cross our T’s.”

Having a combination between a resource specialist and a home health care agency involved in the process of the difficult conversations can ensure the smoothest transitions in residential transitions later in life. You can hear the entire BrightStar podcast below: