Speaker 1
Good Saturday morning to everybody. Welcome to your next chapter, a production of The Heights at Avery Heights, a one of a kind senior living community centrally located near the most entertaining and historical spots in Connecticut. Now, this show is dedicated to empowering older adults with helpful resources, ideas, inspiration and tips to encourage them on life’s journey.

Our production is also dedicated to the younger generation so they can better understand how to develop greater communication and enjoyment for those elders in their community. Your next chapter is hosted by me, yours truly, Gary Byron, and Avery Heights Senior Living Specialist, Siobhan Mattingly. Siobhan, good morning.

Speaker 2
Good morning. It’s great to see you. It’s great to be here.

How was your week? It was really good. Was it?

Speaker 1
I’m glad to hear that.

Speaker 2
Yeah.

Speaker 1
I’m glad.

Speaker 2
Went to see a UConn game. UConn hockey. Oh, UConn hockey.

Yeah. New stadium. It was awesome.

Speaker 1
Everybody automatically, they go to basketball for some reason.

Speaker 2
Yeah. Well, my daughter is a hockey player. So, yeah. She’s 13. She’s a force to be reckoned with.

Speaker 1
I’ll bet. Yeah.

Speaker 2
13. Yeah. She’s no joke.

She’ll only be playing. She’ll be nine, though. They start you early.

They start you at like two years old. They got kids out there on skates. It was funny.

When she was doing Learn to Play, there would be, you know her nine years old and there’ll be these little people and she was always so nervous about

Speaker 1
stepping on them i can barely ice skate forget i can’t even imagine oh she can skate yeah shooting

Speaker 2
pucks into goal yeah it’s amazing uh she actually went to skating camp at um what is it in uh west harford veterans uh skating and it was amazing like you know she was going there and then one day i dropped her off and i hang out for a little bit and i’m seeing her skate around this rink and

Speaker 1
i’m like whoa yeah she really yeah she’s a good skater i had no idea there was even such a thing It’s skating camp.

Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Well, there’s other stuff they do. They have lunch and other activities, but it’s at the skating rink. And then they went across the street to the pool to Cornerstone, to the pool.

Speaker 1
Does she have a favorite hockey team?

Speaker 2
She likes the Bruins. She’s a New England girl. She likes the Patriots.

Good. She likes the Celtics. Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah. She’s a New England girl.

Speaker 1
I don’t follow hockey. I mean, I remember the Wailers. I remember going there years ago. Yeah, I love going to the Wailers.

Speaker 2
Yeah, that was fun.

Speaker 1
You want to know? I’ll be very candid with you, completely honest when it comes to hockey. So I can’t watch it on television.

I just, I can’t get into it. However. Live.

Live.

Speaker 2
Live sports is the way. You’ve got to peel me away. Yeah, live sports to me.

There are certain things. I think years ago I took my mother to the Pilot Pen. That was years ago.

I don’t even know what it’s called now.

Speaker 1
They covered that. I don’t think they have it. They don’t even have the New Haven Tennis Center anymore. Oh, wow. They built on it.

Speaker 2
I took her there, and I remember, like, I would take her, and then I started taking her every year. I wasn’t a big tennis person, but live. I actually took her to New York.

What’s the New York tournament? I don’t even know the tournament. It’s New York Open.

New York Open, yes. Or the U.S. Open.

Oh, U.S. Open. U.S. Open.

I took her there. And I loved it. That place is really cool.

Who was? McEnroe was in the booth. And we actually walked by.

We were such idiots and waved.

Speaker 1
I have a quick memory. I covered the Pilot Pen for two years. Yeah.

for television. And I interviewed Monica Sellis and Lindsay Davenport. And I met Gene Wilder.

Really? The actor. Wow.

He was funny. Funny?

Speaker 2
And his wife, Gilda Radner. She was hysterical. I know.

Rosanna, Rosanna, Dana. That’s right. From the original Saturday night.

We’re so old.

Speaker 1
Oh, but come on. That’s when they were the funniest.

Speaker 2
But the movies that… That is when they were the funniest. Oh, yeah.

And when Chevy Chase, even the next generation, Eddie Murphy. Joe Piscopo. Joe Piscopo.

Yeah, that next generation. I mean, not that it’s not funny now. I know, yeah.

Speaker 1
You remember Silver Streak, the movie? Yes. Or Star Crazy or Richard Pryor?

Speaker 2
Richard Pryor, yes. He was funny, too. Oh, my God.

Speaker 1
Those two together.

Speaker 2
Yes.

Speaker 1
I mean, you sit there. Actually, I asked him a couple of questions when I came. He just looked at me like, how do you remember? I mean, he’s long since passed away, too. But this tells you, this is in the early 2000s.

Speaker 2
So many people passed away at the end of 2022. It was sad. I know, right?

Speaker 1
It was like…

Speaker 2
Barbara Walters. Was that? No, that was…

Speaker 1
No, that was earlier this year.

Speaker 2
This year, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1
That was just like a week ago.

Speaker 2
That’s so sad. It makes you feel old when people that you grew up with are passing away.

Speaker 1
Oh, my goodness. Just when you thought like it was… I remember it being December 30th. And it was like, all right, look, that’s… Boy, I’d be glad to get rid of this year. And then New Year’s Eve would come along and, well, let’s sneak one more in here. let’s throw let’s throw Kirstie Alley

Speaker 2
in there yeah

Speaker 1
I loved her I know right

Speaker 2
yeah good god everybody’s they’re kicking yeah yeah but it’s people they’re older but it’s weird because we grew up with them well you know what it is

Speaker 1
we watch the reruns and they don’t age we have right but they stay the age that they were already recorded

Speaker 2
all the golden girls are gone yeah

Speaker 1
oh yeah they’ve been gone for a while though right

Speaker 2
um no the last one was oh Betty White last year last year yeah yeah she was yeah

Speaker 1
99 yeah she like died like a month prior to her 100th birthday.

Speaker 2
Yes, yes.

Speaker 1
In People Magazine, they had already put out the 100th. Remember that? When they released it?

Speaker 2
Yeah.

Speaker 1
As if she was like, they’d live to the 100th.

Speaker 2
She was great. She was funny.

Speaker 1
Oh my goodness, yeah.

Speaker 2
She was in that movie, The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock.

Speaker 1
I didn’t see that one.

Speaker 2
She played the grandmother. Yeah, she was funny.

Speaker 1
I remember her on Golden Girls and the Mary Tyler Moore show.

Speaker 2
Yeah, we just showed it at our community and our movie theater.

Speaker 1
I talk about your movie theater every day in your library, in your boutique, in your hair salon. Salon and all the amenities over at the Heights.

Speaker 2
In the summer, we’re going to have a patio slash cafe. It’s going to be nice. Right now, it’s just all built and it’s nice.

So we don’t have any chairs or anything like that. So when I’m doing tours, it’s funny. We’re like, oh, did you see our new patio?

And they’re like, no. And then I show it. So I’m like, oh, because it’s basically just blocks.

Speaker 1
Do you have a big picture of what it’s going to look like?

Speaker 2
They do, yeah. Yeah, actually, in Bill’s office.

Speaker 1
So it’s new. Speaking of the Heights, what’s new over there?

Speaker 2
What’s new over there? So I think last week I was talking about our Dine and Dash. I’m going to talk about that again.

Yeah, you do. Yeah, the Dine-In Dash. That’s going to be fun.

Yeah. So we’re going to have Tim is going to be cooking, our dining director. Yep.

Speaker 1
Our chef. That’s big. Tim is one of the best chefs.

Forget about senior living. Folks, he’s one of the best chefs in Connecticut. Yeah.

How do I know this? Listen, I got no dog in the fight. Okay?

I’m not a cook. You might be getting a free meal, so. Well, I did.

I ate breakfast and lunch there. Yeah. And both were outstanding.

But that lunch, I remember looking at Jimmy J, my producer, who’s off camera right now, but we were both eating lunch together on this day, and we both looked at each other like…

Speaker 2
Legolam. Yeah, Legolam.

Speaker 1
You can’t get this at some restaurants, and here I am at a senior living facility eating swordfish. Really good swordfish.

Speaker 2
He marinates. He marinates. I’m not a big swordfish person, and it’s funny because they had it, and this was a while ago when I first started working there.

He goes, oh, you got to go have some, and I’m like, eh, I don’t know. He goes, just try a little bit. So moist, so good.

He does a good job.

Speaker 1
He’s big on the marinades. Yes, he is. I could tell because I was amazed. Mr. Marinade. You would think it would be bland because you’re cooking for mass people.

Speaker 2
That’s the other thing. You would think it would, but it’s not.

Speaker 1
No.

Speaker 2
Anything but. I should give a shout out to Paul too. Paul actually cooked that meal.

Speaker 1
Oh, did he?

Speaker 2
Yeah, with Tim.

Speaker 1
Then a shout out to you, Paul.

Speaker 2
Paul’s our chef. You’re right. This buds for you, right?

Speaker 1
You’re getting me hungry here. Early in the morning.

Speaker 2
I know. I think my stomach actually just gurgled.

Speaker 1
See? Next time we’ve got to have Tim.

Speaker 2
I know. We should have this catered. Sponsored by the Heights Dining Room.

Speaker 1
I’ll tell you this. Next weekend, Tim, if you’re listening, a couple of bacon, come on. I’ll make it simple on you. A couple of bacon, egg, and cheese on a biscuit or something like that.

Speaker 2
Some hash browns, too. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1
Well, you’ve got to have some hash browns on the side. Exactly. You can do it.

Three plates. Three plates. Don’t forget Jimmy J. He’s behind the scenes.

Exactly. So today we’re going to be speaking about what one might need to know about paying. Yes.

For senior living services. Great topic. Yeah.

I mean, people are considering moving to an assisted living community or need even more care, but can’t achieve that at home. Caregivers and seniors themselves want the highest quality of care and surroundings that are both beautiful and stimulating, but they’re not sure how to pay for it. You know what I give you a lot of credit for, Siobhan?

This is usually a taboo subject that a lot of places wouldn’t want to talk about. It’s like, well, let’s talk about all this other stuff. Let’s not talk about cost, price, how to pay for any of that stuff like this.

But I give you a lot of credit. But I suppose if you think about it, it’s really to your advantage and the advantage of this show so that, you know, this is not an impulsive decision. This takes time to even reach a decision.

And then, of course, well, how can it be paid for? So, yeah, let’s delve into it. Does health insurance or even like let’s say Medicare, does that pay for assisted living at all?

It doesn’t.

Speaker 2
And that’s the biggest and hardest question. I’ve had a lot of times when I take a phone call, I do like what we call a discovery and I get the information from the people. And I try – I delve into financials but I try not to delve too deep into financials because you don’t want to kind of rule anyone out.

And then they come in for the tour and then they’re like, oh, and they’re all excited and we’re walking around and they’re like, but health insurance is going to – health insurance doesn’t pay for it. And it makes sense because I was talking to someone the other day, you know, you know, we all, you know, we weddings, we have babies, we buy cars, we buy houses and everyone around us does those things. Right. And you can get advice from people about those things.

Senior living. When do we talk? We talk a lot about it.

But really, in real life, how often do you talk about unless you’re there? People don’t talk about that till you’re there. Like I could talk to you about my grandkids and this and that and, you know, the best toys to get and all that stuff.

I’ll talk about all. And then you’ll remember, you’ll be at the store. Siobhan mentioned the Fisher Price, blah, blah, blah, right?

We never talk about senior living. We never talk about senior living and regular conversation unless you’re there.

Speaker 1
So how do we change that narrative? How do we change it to be more conversational?

Speaker 2
Yeah, I think it just needs to be more planning. I think that so many of us are out there. And I know the last story we had, we talked a lot about planning.

I think so many of us are out there and we just don’t know. How I got into this industry is because I became the conservator for my mom. And I was green.

I remember I was at a chamber event. I remember this. And I was crying because I’m like, what am I going to do with my mom?

And I had this lady. She came up to a really good friend of mine, still friends with her. And she’s in Florida now.

But she grabbed my hands, as she said. And she gave me advice of a couple different places and kind of calmed me down. And my mom ended up moving into one of those places.

But before that, I knew nothing. And I’ll tell you what, the mistakes that I made, even after I found the place, I mean, financial mistakes, you know, mistakes with her, you know, her care. There were so many mistakes, so many things I didn’t know.

And unfortunately, there weren’t people there to, you know, the professionals to guide me through it. And that’s why I’m huge on having it. And you’ve met several of them, the right professionals for me to partner with in terms of resources.

That’s like because I don’t last thing I empathize. I feel it when people come to see me and, you know, we do get a lot of people from other communities and they’ve been done wrong or what have you. And I empathize with that.

I definitely I’m not sitting there just nodding because I’m the marketing director. I really feel it. I feel it.

Look at your background.

Speaker 1
I don’t think you choose a profession like this. You know, I think it chooses you.

Speaker 2
It does. And it’s funny because I went I was in hospice for a while and then I thought about becoming like a personal trainer and all these things. And like, you know, it’s almost like what do you want to be when you grow up or whatever?

it is, kind of midway through my life. And then I ended up, I was like, you know what? I really enjoy working in a senior living community.

And I really have been blessed and lucky to find the Heights because it’s really fun. Our team is amazing. Our team is amazing.

Speaker 1
How many people can actually say that they’re doing what they’re meant to be doing? I mean, you know how many people in life, and I hate to say it, I know people who make a lot of money and can’t stand the work that they do. Yeah.

You know, and they’re like, well, Gary, I’m going to give up this job. I mean, I’ll never make this in this other field that I, you know, that I really would like to be. And it’s like.

Speaker 2
Which is sad because in this day and age, it’s like I hate to say it. It’s like, you know, kind of the go for it type of mentality. But in a way, it’s kind of like, you know, our life.

This is it. Like you always say was a thing. This is not a dress rehearsal.

So if you’re not happy in what you’re doing, I mean, it’s challenging. I say it as I’m sitting here because I’m happy now. But I’ll tell you what, most of my life I didn’t particularly like where I was for whatever reason.

It just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Speaker 1
Like a lot of people.

Speaker 2
Yeah. But this, I really, you know, to go into work, I don’t mind going into work. Like I literally came from Disney months ago.

And normally I’d be like, oh, I got to go back to work. But I do not mind going back to work. You’re blessed.

Yeah.

Speaker 1
You really are.

Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Very grateful. Very grateful.

Speaker 1
So then how do you pay for this then? You know, how do you pay for this?

Speaker 2
Well, it’s definitely, it’s private pay. So there are some senior living communities that you can get state or there’s federal funding for them, but most of them are private pay. There are some that have like some HUD funds that they’ll get and different things like that throughout the state, which is good to know.

But primarily it’s your income, your savings, what you have in the bank, your retirement, your annuities, your investments and things like that. So primarily that’s how you pay for it. There’s also obviously veterans, veterans benefits that are out there.

And we talked about long-term care insurance as well.

Speaker 1
So the government, I suppose, you said a moment ago there’s federal grants or federal things you can qualify for, but they’ll provide.

Speaker 2
But there’s not a lot of it. It’s few and far between. There’s a place in Hartford that is, I believe they’re state and federally funded as an assisted living.

I think they take Medicaid. And there’s some in Glastonbury that are kind of like HUD housing. I think it’s a requirement in Glastonbury.

But for the most part, you know.

Speaker 1
But come on, Siobhan. You’ve got some experience here. You can give us some tips here and helpful hints and tidbits to come on. You must your experience. You’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve that you can share.

Speaker 2
It’s funny. I mean, sometimes people have if they have limited funds. What I always tell them to do is, you know, it’s old school, do an Excel spreadsheet, take that Excel spreadsheet and kind of map it all out.

Because, you know, even if you’re going to go on Medicaid and you have to go to a, you know, into skilled nursing environment, at least you can kind of spend some time within an independent or an assisted living. And so you just have to plan it, plan it the right way. One of the things I love about working at the Heights is we have the wonderful Roseanne, our social worker, and she really kind of helps people as well as myself when I have people come in to do that, to be able to plan.

And so there are ways, you know, you know, selling your home. You know, if you or another thing that people don’t realize they could do, you can rent out your home as well. You know, there’s a lot of real estate agencies that will do the property management for you also.

So the rent from your home you can use. If you have a house, sometimes you can get what they call a bridge loan, which is a short term loan. And with that short term loan, you’re able to pay for the assisted living or independent living while you’re waiting to move.

Because a lot of times people always feel like they have to sell the house before the person can move.

Speaker 1
The first thing I thought of.

Speaker 2
And sometimes it’s a dangerous situation. So if someone needs memory care or assisted living and you have them in the home, and sometimes people have the person living at home by themselves, which is really dangerous, and not getting any type of in-home care, they’re waiting to sell the house. Well, you know, I mean, the market has changed, obviously, for selling homes, so who knows when the house will sell.

So a bridge loan is something or a reverse mortgage. And all these things, you know, I’m not a financial professional, so all these things you should definitely confide in a financial professional, your elder law attorney to make sure that it’s right for you. You don’t want to get into trouble either and be in a bad upside down kind of financial situation.

Speaker 1
Would this include cashing in your 401k?

Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah. Your retirement funds.

Oh, your retirement. Yeah. Your life insurance.

Sometimes there’s some life insurance policies. I think we were talking about that on the last show that you can use part of that as well. You can kind of use some of the cash value of that to be able to pay for it.

Speaker 1
What happens then if you outlive it? Yeah. Everything is cashed in and all of a sudden, are you out on the street? Well, there’s a couple of things.

Speaker 2
So if you’re a veteran, good news, there’s a veteran’s benefit. It’s called the AIDS and Attendance Benefit. Or sometimes people call it the veteran’s retirement benefit.

And that is for assisted living. So you have to have a certain amount of what they call activities of daily living. So like showering or need someone to help you cook or clean or something to that effect.

And you can, as an actual veteran, I think it’s almost like a little over $3,000. Now it’s up to that. So based on your assets and income, it depends on what you can get.

And that can kick in early too. So you don’t necessarily have to get that when you’re out of money. It can kick in early and kind of spread those dollars a little bit.

So that’s something for veterans that’s good and surviving spouse as well. So that’s something can kick in, which is helpful. And your expenses.

You have to really look at your expenses. You really have to look at them. You really have to pay attention to, you know, a lot of times people are spending money on things like, I hate to say it, but like, you know, magazines or, you know, who knows things, you know, maybe you’re overpaying for your prescriptions.

I know for my mom, she was paying like a huge amount of money. She wasn’t using her insurance. And in addition to that, there’s actual programs in Connecticut that can help you pay for your prescriptions.

So there are different things. So you got to reach out to professionals. You got to, you know, you know, reach out to, again, like an elder law attorney financial planner.

If you’re a veteran, the VSO, the local VSO, every town has a VSO, a veteran services officer, reach out to them or just reach out to us. I mean, I don’t have a problem, you know, if you never move in. I don’t have a problem if you give me a call.

I can walk you. I walk through people through stuff all the time because I truly, with this job, like, again, the experience I had with my mom really, like, affected me on so many levels. So I love passing on information to help people to figure this all out, to figure out the landscape.

Speaker 1
You know, and keep in mind, you’re not going to have the grocery bill anymore. You’re not going to have to pay, right? Exactly. Yes. That’s why you do that spreadsheet.

Speaker 2
So you look at

Speaker 1
Your Eversource bill. Or it’s all covered. Yep. So, I mean, unless you need money in your pocket.

Speaker 2
And make sure you get rid of those things. A lot of times people don’t cancel their auto insurance. They don’t cancel their home insurance. And these things are like lingering out there on auto pay and not coming out. So that’s really important.

Speaker 1
Folks, you are listening to your next chapter, a production of The Heights at Avery Heights, a one-of-a-kind senior living community centrally located near the most exciting spots in Connecticut. It’s actually on the border of Newington, West Hartford, and Hartford, along with Siobhan Mattingly. I’m Gary Byron.

How can seniors, I don’t know, kind of like formulate a game plan ahead of time for these finances, in order to pay for these assisted living. You kind of touched on it a moment ago. I caught some of that.

But can somebody truly at the age of 65, let’s say they retire, can they just start socking money away? Do they add a clause or an addendum or something on there or an option on their insurance where from here on in, I want to purchase a memory care rider on your insurance.

Speaker 2
Yeah, I think all these options. I think you can do stuff like that. Like, I think that the main thing is, is just like anything else.

Like, you know, again, I used to work in hospice. So we always told people to come up with a plan. There’s the five wishes booklet that you can do to come up with a plan.

The same thing with life. I think a lot of times what happens and not so much for our generation, but I think that the past generations, their, you know, retirement plan or growing old plan was to stay at their home. And they never really thought about, well, what if I get sick?

Well, what if I, because basically what they always saw is probably their loved one going to, right, to like a nursing home. So they didn’t realize that there’s like this in-between world that’s available. So I think that, you know, really sitting down and saying the what ifs, you know, and there’s a lot of resources online.

AARP is a great resource to kind of help you come up with a plan. and come up with what if. What if I have to go to an assisted living? What if I, you know, have to have like one floor living and have to go to an independent living community? What if I have to go to memory care? And then, you know, bring in the professionals. I think it’s important to not be afraid to ask for help. The other one I was going to say too before is like your family.

You know, I contributed to my mother’s, you know, care. And I’m not saying all people, and I always tell people, I said, you know, I’m saying this to you because I did it. And so a lot of times the older adult, oh, no, I don’t want you to do that. And I’m not saying, you know, if you’re struggling, you should be contributing to your parents’ care. But if you’re not, and you’re doing okay, you know what I mean? $1,000 a month, $500 a month can go a long way in helping out your loved one. You know, it’s not necessarily someone’s responsibility. It’s just a nice thing to do. But the older adult, they’ve got to be willing to take it too. And a lot of times it’s not the kids that aren’t willing. It’s the older adult that’s like, no, no, I don’t want

Speaker 1
you to do that you know since you are a continuum of care facility i i’m just trying to think what like at what point do you typically um have somebody move in is it early on or is it when family members notice mom is starting to lose her memory yeah you know or do or do they even wait further and it’s no longer mom starting or dad starting to lose their memory they have lost their memory i mean so are they are they moving in more early on you know when they’re still driving they’re still out late at night they’re maybe they don’t come home at all that night you know and um they’re basically it’s a country club for them you know or so that’s that phase or is it they’re starting to lose some of their memory or the third one they’ve already really all of it

Speaker 2
Really? My ideal is early. And the reason why I say early, especially if you know down the line assisted livings in the future.

So if you have an underlying condition like dementia or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s and you know it’s better to move in early. Why? Because at least you get to enjoy the community before you need assisted living and you get to make friends and you get to know it better.

Because when you move someone in when they’re, for lack of better words, like compromise or needing services, it’s harder. Because now you’re, you know, you’re not at your full capacity. And so you can have fun and enjoy the community and get to know it.

And those are the people that I see do well. The people that have been, like we have people that have been in our community for like 16 years, 20 years, for a long time. They started off in our cottages and then they’ve moved through the continuum.

And those are the people that I see do very well. They, you know, we have someone the other day that’s potentially, you know, moving to our memory care. But she has all the support that she needs.

She has, you know, she knows the social worker. She knows our director, Bill. She knows even the memory care director.

And so she doesn’t have to be so tense about it. She can feel comfortable knowing that she knows these people. And so if her husband has to go into memory care, she’s not, you know, she’s upset, of course.

But at least we can hold her hand and she’s not pulling away because like, well, who are you? You know what I mean? And so I think that, you know, it’s a lot.

I mean, there’s a lot of trust in this. And so I think that’s important.

Speaker 1
I knew you would be the right person to ask this. And I’m not surprised, in fact, on how you answered it. And you know what?

You’ve even brought something up that, as I’m listening to you, it does make more sense the earlier you come in. Yes. Particularly when it comes to memory care.

Because just like, you know, at your home, you know the lay of the land. Right. You know.

In other words, it could be 3 o’clock in the morning and you got to pee. No, I’m not even, folks, I’m not even trying to be funny. But you don’t have to turn a light on, right?

I could go from my bedroom to the bathroom without putting one light on, disturbing anybody, wake anybody up the whole nine yards, go there and come back. Why? Because I know from living there.

Exactly. I know how to get to my bedroom. How to navigate.

Right. And I want it like, now let’s take that premise and transition over to senior living. You’re now in a whole new room, cottage, apartment.

Your bedroom is not that distance and it’s not down the hall to the right. It’s now, you know, but see, it takes your cognitive skills. Exactly.

You compute that to memory so that perhaps, I’m hoping you don’t need memory care, but should you, you’ve already, you know, imported that into memory. Does that make any sense?

Speaker 2
And you make friends and stuff, too. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1
That’s the bonus.

Speaker 2
Yeah. That’s the bonus. I mean, there’s some people that are like buddies.

Like, it’s so neat to see them walking their dogs or, you know, looking out for each other. It’s really nice. Yeah.

Speaker 1
That’s, yeah. That’s the icing on the cake.

Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1
Yeah. Without a doubt. I know we’ve run out of time here. Oh, my goodness. This always happens when we get together.

Speaker 2
I know. I know. There’s other stuff, too, but we’ll talk about it next time.

Speaker 1
I’ll give you. You got 30 seconds.

Speaker 2
30 seconds. So consider a roommate. There’s a companion living, which is awesome.

You know, a la carte services. So if you’re assisted living, ask them about a la carte because you might not need a whole big package. So a lot of times don’t jump to a package.

Ask for that. And ask about moving incentives when you go into assisted living. Ask about specials.

Negotiate. Don’t be afraid to negotiate. and ask about, you know.

This is negotiable? Yeah, you can negotiate, of course. If you’re being sincere, if you really need the help, you can always sit there and negotiate.

There’s always a place to negotiate.

Speaker 1
I’m glad I gave you the extra 30 seconds because I think none of us knew that.

Speaker 2
I always tell people to negotiate.

Speaker 1
All right, folks.

Speaker 2
People might not like me for it.

Speaker 1
No, but this is why we like it. This is why this show is important. Folks, you’ve been listening to the latest edition of your next chapter of Senior Living with Siobhan Mattingly, the Heights Senior Living Specialist Avery Heights is a beautiful senior living community nestled within 43 acres of nature, right in the heart of the junction between West Hartford, Newington, and Hartford.

And when you come to live in the Heights, you not only get a great community of friends, but also you’re right in the heart of Hartford, right with the arts, culture. The Heights is just a few miles away from Bushnell Theater, Infinity Hall, Mark Twain House, Wadsworth, And the destination shopping areas of West Hartford, such as Blueback Square, LaSalle Road, even the West Farms Mall is just down the road on New Britain Avenue, right? World-class restaurants.

For more information about Avery Heights, give them a call, 860-953-1201. You know what I love about it is that there’s no pressure. They don’t whip contracts under your nose.

In fact, it’s the furthest thing from their mind. They just want to give you a tour. They know it’s a process.

It takes time. Call this number. I’m going to say it again slowly.

Write it down. Call them like Monday, 860-953-1201 or online at averyheights.org. For Shavana Mattingly, I’m Gary Byron.

Thank you so much for listening to… Listen, this is so important. It’s so important that you understand that you do have options when it comes to paying for all of this.

And if you like this show, and all others like it, all they got to do is head online. Yes. It’s your podcast.

AveryHeights.org. AveryHeights.org. Yep.

All right. Have a good one, everybody. So long.