If you are caring for an elderly family member you may have questions on what to do when facing health issues and the ability to have them stay in their home. Our business partner Crossroads Eldercare Planning talks about how and when to make the right choices.

Read the e-book, Common Myths about Assisted Living and Eldercare Options, mentioned in the podcast here.

 

[transcript]

00:06 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home! Welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. And you know what this is all about. It’s about your finances, from finance to fitness. And our podcast today features a really important topic that is affecting so many people. We are all growing older. Our population is growing older. And what that means is that the caretaking of those that you love, you know what, it’s a whole different baby out there. Elizabeth Eardley is the president and the owner of Crossroads Eldercare, which is an organization that helps you step back when it’s time to think about eldercare. Elizabeth, thanks so much for being with us today.

00:50 Elizabeth Eardley: Thanks for having me, Lynne. I’m happy to be here.

00:53 LJJ: I’ll tell you what, especially right now, when you’re looking at a world that is full of questions on senior care facilities due to COVID-19, that has to put a huge amount of pressure, even more so with families who are looking into eldercare plans.

01:12 EE: Oh, absolutely. First of all, it’s scary. Right? Because we hear the news, and we know that people in assisted living and nursing homes are being affected more dramatically by the virus, and there’s been many deaths in many of our local assisted living and nursing homes. Again, a lot of these people have a lot of comorbidities, but it certainly is still scary. So most people call us and say, “I don’t even know where to start. I’ve never done this before.” And that’s where we really come in to help people understand. For example, right now, in the time of COVID-19, what does that mean differently, in an eldercare search? It certainly means you’re going to be doing a lot of things virtually.

01:52 EE: You’re going to be making a lot of compromises you wouldn’t have had to make in the past, like tests and quarantines and so forth. So it’s making people take another look at what they really want to do, and also, we like to really help people not to buy into the frenzy of rumors that can surround an eldercare search. Your neighbor’s cousin’s sister said this place was awful, and it’s like, “Okay.” Let’s get the facts. That’s what we’re all about. What are the facts of each community? How are they licensed? What level of care do they provide? What do they cost?” Those are the facts, and then you move forward from there.

02:27 LJJ: Give us a little background of how you decided to start a program that really looks at what can be an extremely stressful time in someone’s life, to try to get them a setting point. To say, “Hey. Let’s have that conversation openly about where you are and where you can go.”

02:49 EE: Well, honestly, I’ve always really enjoyed working with older folks, but I am an entrepreneur by nature, and was looking for opportunities that would be fulfilling to me. And I started working for a very large national firm back in the early 2000s, that does the exact same thing, and let me work independently within the Grand Rapids market. And really understand my market and the people in it, and the doctors and hospitals. Unfortunately, they sold in 2012, and that business model completely changed to one that I didn’t feel was ethical. So I started Crossroads at that point, because I saw it as just an amazing service, where we can look and look at the big picture. Doctors look at the clinical. Lawyers look at the legal. Financial advisors look at the financial. Nobody looks at the big picture and puts the whole puzzle together to make sure that people are getting all of their answers. And that’s our goal—is that nobody ever looks back and says, “Well, if I had only known this, I would have made this decision.” So it’s very complicated, and we love being able to provide that information.

03:49 LJJ: Can you give us an example, especially as our population is growing older, how do you step in to help and how do people find out about you?

03:57 EE: Sure. Well, a service like ours isn’t always that well-known, so the majority of our referrals are coming from the hospitals—all of the hospitals in town and all the doctors’ offices. And then as we work with individual families, they of course spread the word right away, because the least or maybe part of the important part of our service is that it’s free. There’s no pressure. We’re reimbursed through the senior housing and homecare industry, and we work with the entire industry. There’s no one that’s left out. But essentially people are calling us. Usually it’s in a bit of a crisis. They think that they kind of knew what they would do or maybe they haven’t even given it any consideration, and they call us and they usually have a question, they’re like, “Well, what do I do about this?” Or, “What nursing home is best?” Or, “How do I get Medicaid?” Or whatever the case may be. And we say, “We’re really glad you called. We’re going to be able to help you. Tell us what’s going on.” It’s not about answering that one question; it’s about understanding the entire situation broadly, and then narrowing that down until you’ve come up with the best possible solutions for the family to choose their choice. People make different compromises when they’re in these situations.

05:05 EE: We make referrals to all sorts of community resources. Help them understand who to go to to apply for different financial benefits. Help them take virtual tours at this point of the different communities, make referrals, do all the connecting. We’re very much into connecting people up, giving them homework, “Okay. You’re going to do this, this and this, and then give us a call back and we’ll take the next step.” And taking them through that process that could take, sometimes two or three years. Some people are initially calling just with some basic questions and maybe wanting to get some home care. And three years later, maybe their parent has to move into an assisted living, and some people are in the hospital and need a place that day, and it’s like Easter Sunday. [chuckle] So it really runs the whole gamut.

05:51 LJJ: When you talked earlier about the doctors, the lawyers, the financers, and how important all of that is, I think sometimes that’s where it becomes overwhelming for someone to try to even decide. It sounds to me like some individuals might even wait until it’s almost too late. How important is it to really connect to you early? Ask those questions that are starting to trigger in the back your mind.

06:17 EE: Sure. Well, we get quite a few people that come to us. Not that it’s too early, but they want to set down a plan, and know that that’s their plan, and then they can just set it aside and be ready. That’s not really possible either, because things are constantly changing. Like for example, COVID, or we get new communities, or a certain sort of funding is no longer available, whatever the case may be. So what we like is to have people call us, as soon as you start thinking, “Boy, what am I going to do in the future with either myself or my parents? What’s going on?” And get to know us a little bit. It’s not hard. Or somebody, but like start to learn what your options are. Start to educate yourself, and have a point of contact, so that … We tell people, “If you find yourself in a hospital, or a crisis happens, please give us a call, because it’s very stressful and all sorts of things are going to be thrown at you. Questions and decisions that we can help better explain to you, so that you understand.” They’re very, obviously, busy in the hospital settings, and they don’t always have as much time as they’d like. Earlier, the better.

07:23 LJJ: And the transparency of what you just said, I think is critical. It’s not being afraid to ask the question, because in some cases you are going to be either in charge of your own caregiving, or at least making sure that you’re asking the right questions to the caregiver.

07:39 EE: Absolutely. And we also feel like … I have an e-book, if anybody’s interested in, you link them to our website, they can ask for it, but it’s like Common Myths about Assisted Living and Eldercare Options. And there’s like 12 of them, and they’re really, really closely held by a lot of people, whereas maybe they think that their insurance will pay for assisted living, or maybe they think that in assisted living you have to be able to take care of yourself, where actually you can be there right until the end of life. Or how to shelter … People want to shelter their assets, so that they can go on Medicaid, but what does that mean? Are you sure you want to go on Medicaid? So, a lot of these ideas that people hold, that are really dangerous in an eldercare search, and not everyone out there is super ethical, in terms of trying to get you to buy their product, or business or property. Actually, our properties actually are really, really good, but you just got to be careful. And it’s not that people are trying to mislead you, it’s just they all have their own agenda, and you need the big picture.

08:41 LJJ: Well, you did mention that there are some individuals and groups that are unethical, and they prey on older adults.

08:47 EE: Yeah.

08:48 LJJ: Especially those who want to trust.

08:51 EE: Yeah.

08:53 LJJ: And they’re at an age where they want to trust, and then all of a sudden someone comes in and that then gives you a knee-jerk reaction of distrust, immediately.

09:01 EE: It does. And you know, we’re in another time now. I was speaking with a physician yesterday, who said, “Once again, our older adults’ rights are being marginalized.” And they most definitely are, and it’s tricky, and it’s sad. And especially right now, some things people don’t think about with COVID is older folks are in hospitals and nursing homes dying alone, because they’re not allowed to have visitors. Is that really fair? Or, is it necessary? And there are groups … We have a local ombudsman that can go and make sure that people’s rights are being respected. And those are the sorts of things we’ll do too, like we’ll help connect people up with just about any type of eldercare professional you could ever think of. And in West Michigan, we’re really blessed, there’s so many. There’s so many people that will help, and agencies, like Senior Neighbors, and Reliance and the PACE Program. There’s just so many. There’s just so many.

10:00 LJJ: Well, we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us a little bit about eldercare. I also wanted to say, ask the question, we love to talk to our business partners about how you’re doing during COVID. It has been such a drastic change. Has there been a lot of virtual switch for you?

10:16 EE: We were really well set up with internet phones, and we’re able to work remotely for a little bit. The best change that I had during the pandemic was the help of your credit union, in helping me to get the payroll loan. [chuckle] So, thank you, because you actually weren’t my credit union at that point, and now you are, because you’re so awesome and responsive. Sorry, that’s true!

[chuckle]

10:40 LJJ: Don’t ever apologize for that.

10:40 EE: It was awesome how quickly you were able to help me, where the big bank that I was with was not. So, thank you. Because it helped me to keep my staff employed during a difficult time, which then helped the West Michigan senior population. So, it paid it forward, for sure.

11:02 LJJ: Well, and we’re paying it forward right now to hundreds of thousands of listeners to get you even known more. So we really can’t thank you enough. I will definitely put on a link into the e-book, too. Elizabeth, thank you for that, and I just hope you have a great, safe week.

11:19 EE: Thanks. Thanks, Lynne. Nice to talk to you.

11:22 LJJ: Great to talk to you. Money, I’m Home! Hi. Thanks so much for joining us again this week. And if you have any suggestions for topics that you’d like, send them our way. Thank you so much, Jake Esselink, our producer. And I hope you all have a safe, very safe … Oh. And financially well week.

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