Sunrise Senior Living now offers a new informational guide to help seniors and their families identify ideas for affording senior care in today’s challenging economy. The guide, called Affording Senior Living: The Financial Options, is available at Sunrise communities nationwide and also online at www.sunriseseniorliving.com/financialoptions .
The Affording Senior Living Guide gives tips for families and helps to identify a variety of financial products that are available in the marketplace today to help families who need access to senior care, but are unsure how they will pay for it.
Affording Senior Living: The Financial Options incldues information about the following:

Traditional options such as investments, savings and income
Real estate options such as home equity loans and reverse mortgages
Insurance options such as long term care insurance and life settlements
Government options such as Veterans’ Benefits and Medicare

1. Daily Living Plan: Make sure the assisted living or senior living facility offers lots of activities that allow residents to be active. They should include great socializing events, exercise classes, educational seminars, religious services, and outings.
2. Medical Staff: Check to see who the resident geriatrician is and what credentials the nurses have. There should be an ambulance service and a quality hospital nearby with the patients’ medical charts. Also check to see that menus are approved by a nutritionist;
3. Talk to residents!!!!: Ask current residents for their opinion on the facility and services. You can get the best information for the residents! The will tell you the good and the bad of the place.
4. Room Accomidations and Facility Basics: Make sure the facility has showers with moveable showerheads, handrails, good lighting, emergency electricity generators, emergency help buttons and adequate personnel.

The administrator of Specialty LifeCare Service, an assisted living facility in Kernville, was charged Tuesday with stealing $50,600 from a 91-year-old resident’s bank account.

Debra Zilch, 42, of the 900 block of Belmont Street, voluntarily appeared for arraignment before District Judge Michael Musulin on charges of theft, receiving stolen property and forgery.

She was released on $25,000 recognizance bond. A preliminary hearing will be held Sept. 30.

Zilch allegedly stole a checkbook from the resident’s room and began writing checks to herself, a Cambria County detective, alleged in an affidavit.

Detective Kevin Price charged that Zilch wrote 20 checks between May 21 and Aug. 6 in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $6,000.

Zilch, who is part-owner of the facility at 429 Napoleon St., said she had taken a voluntary leave from her duties.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I will repay the money. I am not a mean person,” she said in a telephone interview.

She did not discuss a motive for taking the money. She said that she is hiring a Johnstown attorney to represent her in the case.

Zilch allegedly admitted going into the resident’s room and taking what the man described as an old checkbook from a drawer. The resident told Price and Jennifer Anderson, an investigator from the Area Agency on Aging, that he had given no one, including Zilch, permission to write checks or take money from his account.

The man revealed that she had talked with him a few days before he was interviewed by the investigators and admitted she took his money.

At that time, she signed a note that was notarized by another woman, agreeing to pay him back at the rate of $2,000 a month.

“I have apologized and explained my situation. (The resident) graciously forgave me for my wrongdoing,” Zilch said in the signed note.

The theft came to light after another resident reported to the aging agency in early September that someone had stolen a large amount of money from a resident’s checking account, Price said.

It was learned during the investigation that First National Bank – where the man had his money – had notified the resident that his checking account had been overdrawn.

Price credited the agency investigator and the bank with bringing the alleged theft to the attention of the district attorney’s office.

Sunrise Senior Living, one of the largest providers of senior living services
with more than 440 communities worldwide, announced today that it is bringing
an innovative independent senior living community to Colorado’s Front Range.
The Stratford at FlatIrons leverages Sunrise’s nearly three decades of serving
seniors by combining this expertise with a distinguishing approach to senior
living that will offer residents and their families the type of active,
fulfilling lifestyle they have come to expect.  While Sunrise currently
operates 10 assisted living communities in the state, this is the first
independent living community that will also offer assisted living and a full
range of healthcare services.

The Stratford, to be located at 400 Summit Blvd., in the popular FlatIrons
area, is a full-service, amenity-rich senior living community.  Through its
broad offering of services and amenities, coupled with on-site assisted
living, memory care programs, rehabilitation and in-home health care
coordination, The Stratford will be well positioned to cater to seniors with
varying needs.

With about 130 employees, The Stratford will feature a Southwestern motif
and mountain-like design.  The community is set to debut in May 2009 and
recently opened its sales gallery at 549 FlatIron Blvd., Unit B in Broomfield,
80021, (303) 466-2422.  At the sales gallery, visitors can view floor plans
and learn more about the broad range of features and amenities that can be
found at The Stratford, including:

– Concierge services to assist residents with requests such as dining and
entertainment reservations, transportation arrangements, appointment
reminders, dog walking, personal errands and much more

– Maintenance and housekeeping services

– State-of-art fitness center and personal training as well as in-home
exercise programming

– Full-service spa and salon
– A 60-seat theatre for movies and theatrical performances
– Art Studio
– Casual and formal dining venues including a bistro bar
– In-room food service
– Private dining rooms and catering for parties and events
– Extensive library
– Club and game room
– Business Center and wireless internet access areas
– In-home care coordination and support services
– Geriatric case management
– Outpatient rehabilitation clinic

 

In addition to on-site assisted living, memory care and in-home health
care coordination, The Stratford will also offer rehabilitation services;
comprehensive health and wellness programs, which include screenings, support
groups and wellness lectures; 24-hour voice-to-voice emergency response
systems; and 24-hour security monitoring.

“The Stratford at FlatIrons is an exciting, new community for Sunrise
whereby we are integrating our long-standing experience as a pioneer in senior
living with a full menu of exceptional amenities, personalized services and a
host of life-enriching options for residents — all of which will be
seamlessly offered under one roof.  We believe The Stratford is a community
that seniors and their families will find exciting, appealing and comfortable.
The Stratford is distinguishing itself in the marketplace based on its ability
to cater to independent seniors who take comfort in knowing that they have the
opportunity to live life on their own terms at this full-service, all-
encompassing community,” explained Jennifer Teague, executive director for The
Stratford.

Luveda Fern Kessler fell and cut her leg as she got out of bed at her Laguna Hills assisted living apartment.The 83-year-old woman did as she had been told to do: Press a personal emergency response call button, according to a recent lawsuit. Bleeding from the two-inch gash she waited for help. Twenty-four minutes later, at 1:57 a.m., an unidentified staffer at Villa Valencia Health Care Center called 911, the filing says.

“Is there a nurse with the patient?” the dispatcher asks the staffer.

“No, there’s not a nurse here right now,” the staffer replied.

“OK, are you able to control the bleeding with some pressure?” the dispatcher later asks.

The staffer replies: “I’m trying to find it right now … the bleeding, where it’s coming from.”

Paramedics arrived at 2:10 a.m. Kessler lay on her stomach, nonresponsive. She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Villa Valencia did not report the Aug. 23, 2007, incident to the state. Officials only became aware of the case after being contacted by The Orange County Register for this article.

Kessler’s death has led to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court last month against Villa Valencia and its owner, Sunrise Senior Living Inc. The 911 tape will be used as evidence in the trial, according to Richard Cohn, who represents Kessler’s surviving relatives.

“They let my mom bleed to death,” said Kessler’s daughter, Joanne. “I thought that was the best place for her. … Her death was completely preventable.”

Sara Krueger, a spokeswoman for Sunrise Senior Living, said she could not comment on Kessler’s demise because of the pending litigation. “Sunrise’s first priority is the health and safety of our residents and we take all allegations very seriously,” she said.

She added that the company does train staffers on when to call 911, and how to assist residents while paramedics are en route. She declined to give more specifics on training.

The Virginia-based company – which runs 445 senior centers internationally – has garnered criticism in two other lawsuits this year over care of residents at Villa Valencia’s adjacent nursing home unit.