This program may be attended in-person or on zoom. When you RSVP, please indicate in the COMMENTS box whether you will be in person or online. This is a BYOL (bring your own lunch) event.  St. Matthew's Episcopal Church is at the SW corner of Mesa and Steck.  We will be meeting in the Sanctuary basement room B-18/19.

Four Part Series

We all want to do everything we can to enjoy and prolong a high-quality-of-life environment in our own homes. But there may –probably will – come a point when it’s time to move to a more secure and structured environment.

So we’re starting our Third Wednesday Lunch meetings for 2024 with a series of four presentations in which we will look at the options available to CCV members when they may need some help at home, and then when they can no longer remain in their own homes.

The good news is, that there are many such options available to CCV’s seniors. But that’s also the bad news…..there is so much on offer in Central Texas that it’s extremely difficult, and stressful, to make a choice…the right choice. Turns out that there are also folks out there who are skilled in helping seniors navigate through this minefield of information overload. One of them is John Brown, who is CEO of Oasis Senior
Advisors in Austin. 

John will be the speaker at our Third Wednesday BYO Lunch, to be held at 12:00 noon on January 17 th in the basement room B18/19 or St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 8134 Mesa Drive (at the corner of Mesa and Steck in NW Hills). Oasis helps seniors achieve a happier and healthier lifestyle in
safety and comfort, whether the facility you choose or need is in:

• Independent living
• Assisted living
• Memory care
• Skilled nursing home
• A Continuing Care Community (includes all of the above)

John will explain how a skilled Oasis Senior Advisor can help you sort through all the options and make an informed decision. And the price for CCV members is right: Oasis services are provided at no cost to you.

There are two basic business models which cover most of the options which we will discuss in this series. The first, and most expensive, is the buy-in model, in which a new resident at a care facility must purchase their apartment, up front, as well as pay the monthly fee for services. When the resident dies or moves out, they or their estate will usually be refunded 90 percent of their initial purchase price.

To discuss the buy-in model, Jordan Bleeker of Westminster Manor will be our February 21st speaker in this BYO Lunch series. Jordan is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Westminster and brings an
unparalleled level of healthcare and sales experience to her presentation. Having worked at Westminster for nearly 10 years, she is an expert in their “Life Plan” model of senior living. 

The second main business model we will present is the monthly rental plan. The monthly fee paid by residents covers both the cost to rent their apartment and the cost of their monthly services received. Brookdale Senior Living is by far the largest provider in this space, operating and managing 672 communities in 41 states across the country. A number of these are in Central Texas. Their facility at Westlake Hills offers the full range of continuing care services.

The Brookdale story will be the subject of our March 20, 2024 BYO Lunch meeting at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. Our presenter will be Brittani Johnson, Brookdale Westlake’s Sales Manager, who says of herself that “At the age of 4, I knew I wanted to work in the Senior Living Industry. After years of volunteer work in Nursing Homes, I earned my Nurses Assistant Certification before I walked across the stage for my High School Diploma.” In over a decade of work experience in the industry, Brittani has worked in Independent Living, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, Memory Care and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. She’s a firm believer that although our bodies may age, our souls have as much vibrancy as the day we were born.

And to wrap up this important series of presentations, at our meeting on April 17, 2024 we will hear once again from John Brown of Oasis Senior Advisors. This time John will moderate a panel discussion so CCV members can “Ask the Experts” about their in-home and end-of-life options for assistance. An important option is, of course, for you to receive some degree of daily assistance right in your home. Think of it as a way station between being fully independent and living at home, and moving into a facility like Westminster or Brookdale.

Our panel will include experts in home personal care (the non-medical in-home caregiving services seniors need on a daily basis); home healthcare (physical, occupational and speech therapy); and hospice / palliative care for end of life needs.

So, be sure to mark your calendars for our Third Wednesday BYO Lunch meetings for January 17 th ; February 21 st ; March 20 th ; and April 17 th , 2024. This way you won’t miss out on any of these presentations which are of crucial importance to CCV members for their understanding and planning for their future care needs.