At The GreenFields we encourage families to talk to loved ones together about potential future living arrangements before a crisis forces such a discussion. Those regular conversations can include visits to some of the continuing care communities in Western New York, like The GreenFields Continuing Care Community in Lancaster.
If you’re not familiar with what a continuing care community is, The GreenFields can be used as an example. GreenFields Continuing Care Community offers various levels of care and support, from independent residential apartment homes for healthy, active seniors to rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, long term care, and end of life care. The most important part of what The GreenFields offers may be that all of the residents receive priority access to all of the services available on campus whenever they are needed.
Should a resident’s situation change and they need more care than is offered where they are living; for example, a resident of GreenField Manor (independent living apartments) falls and breaks a hip, our case managers throughout our various levels of care confer, and make the necessary care available to them. The resident and their family do not have to go into a crisis mode and immediately find a rehabilitation facility for Mom or Dad.
We know it’s a very difficult issue to broach, but we encourage families to talk openly and honestly once they notice changes in a loved one that are causing concern.
Some people will want very much for their loved ones to stay home, because they know that’s what Mom or Dad wants. But they might not appreciate the complexity of the situation or recognize that Mom’s quality of life may be deteriorating- especially if the family member lives out of town.
It’s important that everyone is respectful of each other’s’ perspectives. We encourage families to try to keep the loved one’s needs at the center of the conversation. And it’s certainly the best case scenario if your loved one is capable of participating in the conversation of what they think their care and support structure should be. Try to avoid making promises to such loved ones, like “we’ll never put you in a nursing home.” The only promise that you can really make is that you will do your very best to honor their wishes. No one knows at any given time what the future will bring, so it’s difficult to make a promise and then have to deal with retracting it as situations change.
If you would like more information on The GreenFields Continuing Care Community, please call (716) 684-8400, email info@niagaralutheran.org, or contact us here.
