For many seniors who have just started retirement, the last thing they want to discuss with their family is local assisted living and nursing home care. Yet, often the best time to have these conversations with family is when the senior is the most able to be involved in the conversation discussing personal wishes, preferences, and financial planning. Family members want to think of senior living as the golden years of their parents and family members lives. It is hard to want to broach the very challenging topics that surround wishes regarding the next stage of life. There are cities and towns that are trying to help this process through the use of local senior social workers who act as mediators between seniors and family to help start the discussions. Some towns offer classes for seniors and even family members on how to have the conversations about when to think about assisted living, how to maintain independent living at home with assistance, and when for some the issues finally do overcome the family and nursing home care needs to be considered. Senior centers are great resources for those seniors who want information about planning ahead to have choices. Often these places are the conduit of information about senior housing, local issues of retirement living, issues that impact senior living, and for those who are requiring more support local assisted living facilities. The local facilities here start with independent living options and move to assisted living. Those who already have been residents in the independent living facilities are given preference for slots as they become available in the assisted living facility when a move needs to be made. This has been a marketing point for some seniors who are buying residences in the facilities. This allows them to make friends who they still can easily keep in contact with, even when they move out of the independent living apartments to the more supportive assisted living facilities.
