Speaker 1
Good Saturday morning, everybody, and 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, it’s never too late to grow and enjoy new realms of the mind and heart. Your next chapter delves deep into topics that will improve the way we think about aging, about senior living, and the retirement years, along with Siobhan Mattingly.

Speaker 1
She’s the Heights Senior Living Specialist. I’m Gary Byron. Siobhan, good to see you.

Speaker 1
Good to see you. Ah, how was your long weekend? How was Memorial Day at Avery Heights?

Speaker 2
It was phenomenal. It’s actually the first year, well, probably in a long time, that they actually did a Memorial Day ceremony at the Heights. And we actually opened up our patio.

Speaker 2
I know. So that’s new. And it was beautiful.

Speaker 1
Yeah, because last time you were here, you were like, you couldn’t wait. Yes. You were raving about it.

Speaker 2
It was just beautiful. Actually, we had a young kid, actually from my daughter’s school, Cedric Middle School, Lucas French. He did an amazing job.

Speaker 2
He actually played taps on the trumpet. And the whole thing was wonderful. We had a gentleman from the Coast Guard came.

Speaker 2
We had some of our residents do like the Pledge of Lesions and stuff like that, which was really good. But the best part was TAPS because I think, you know, obviously we deal with a population. A lot of folks have dementia or Alzheimer’s, but there’s something about music memory.

Speaker 2
And some of the folks that have those challenges actually stood up. And the best thing, it actually made me cry. It was an emotional song.

Speaker 2
It was when the gentleman took off his hat. And it’s one of those things, this gentleman, he has a wonderful wife, and she basically has to tell him most things to do. But she was not whispering to him.

Speaker 2
She said nothing to him. He stood up and took off his hat. It’s just like he just knew.

Speaker 2
He just knew. He heard that song, and he’s a veteran, and he just knew what to do. And it was pretty emotional.

Speaker 1
You had a guest on, oh, my goodness. It must have been a month ago or so. We were talking about Alzheimer’s. In fact, you’ve had a few guests on to discuss Alzheimer’s. And that’s one of the things that they mention.

Speaker 1
Music. Is that music is instantly recognizable. It was beautiful.

Speaker 1
They’ll know the lyrics to a song before we can recognize the person who they’re singing the song to. Yeah, it was pretty beautiful.

Speaker 2
And actually, the gentleman that we have there that’s 104, he stood up on his own. That’s the thing that really touched me is that folks that are, you know, impaired physically or whatever it may be mentally, they just kind of clicked in and to look around the room and just to see the silence. And some of them were emotional as well.

Speaker 2
It was pretty impactful. The staff, it was beautiful. And then right after we kind of livened it up, we did our social hour outside, and it was really cool.

Speaker 2
And, you know, we were all serving. We all had, like, sections. Reminded me when I used to be a waitress.

Speaker 2
So we all had our little sections and amazing appetizers. Tim did a great job. He had, like, scallops wrapped in bacon.

Speaker 2
Actually, George, our dining room director, he’s amazing. He actually made his pizza. I think I told you about him.

Speaker 2
He’s actually from Canada. He used to have a pizza franchise out there. So he made pizza.

Speaker 2
It was amazing. It was really good. And then we had like little mini quiches that they prepared and a full bar.

Speaker 2
Full bar. It was really good. The funniest thing when I was – normal people, they want beer, wine, lots of wine, lots of white wine.

Speaker 2
And this one woman’s like, oh, let me think of what I want. Oh, I want a scotch on the rocks with a twist. I’m like, all righty.

Speaker 2
What do you think you’re at? Cheers? And I went to the bar and I’m like, she wants scotch on the rocks.

Speaker 2
And she whipped it up. Really? She whipped it up.

Speaker 2
I was really – and the twist. Did you card her? She did have red, red hair, so she was up to something.

Speaker 2
No, no, I’m just kidding.

Speaker 1
Well, I’m glad that you, I know you’ve been looking forward to this. It was a big weekend over at a time.

Speaker 2
And the weather cooperated just, just, just. The weather was perfect. It was a nice breeze.

Speaker 2
And that was the beautiful part, too, because we did it out on the patio. And the patio has the beautiful flag, the American flag. And then there’s that little, with the taps, and then you hear that little, it was silent.

Speaker 2
So you hear that little flap of the flag. We got it all on video. It’s actually on our Facebook page.

Speaker 2
It’s really nice.

Speaker 1
Was it on Memorial Day itself?

Speaker 2
No, we did not. And the reason why we don’t do stuff like on the day of is because, you know, we want to get good speakers. And a lot of times the residents go out, too.

Speaker 2
There’s so much stuff going on on those occasions, like at Foxwoods and various different places, that, you know, a lot of our residents will go to those. And so we want to make sure we get the most, you know, maximum amount of residents, but also the best speakers as well. So we did that on Friday with our social hour.

Speaker 2
But on Saturday, our residents went to the Iwo Jima, I hope I’m saying that right. Oh, Memorial, yes. Right for Route 9 in Newington.

Speaker 2
We had a field trip there, and that was very well attended as well. That’s great. Yeah, we’re taking care of our veterans.

Speaker 2
It’s so nice to see, and it’s nice in the hallway this morning. They’re like, oh, great event, great event. It’s not about them saying great event.

Speaker 2
It’s just about the fact that they know that they’re recognized and that they’re just being appreciated. Because a lot of these guys, you know, once you get older, how often, unless you’re wearing your veteran’s hat or whatever, do you get recognized and appreciated? And especially, you know, I think it’s super important.

Speaker 2
And it leads to our guest.

Speaker 1
Well, let’s talk about our guest.

Speaker 2
So it’s the end of our four-part financial service, which we acknowledge was a huge topic. You asked me several times, what’s the first thing I get asked? How are we going to pay for this?

Speaker 2
So we’ve been doing paying for senior living. We’ve had everything on from bridge loans to long-term care insurance. Now, this is one that’s near and dear to my heart, veterans’ benefits, AIDS and attendance’ benefit.

Speaker 2
And we have Ms. Suzette Graham on. She’s the CEO for Patriot Angels. We use them.

Speaker 2
They do an amazing job. And I’m just looking forward to hear her talk more about her company. Good morning, Suzette.

Speaker 3
Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1
Well, welcome to the show. We’re glad that you are able to be with us this morning. Hey, listen, before we get into Patriot Angels, I’d love to know a little bit about yourself. What’s your background?

Speaker 3
Well, believe it or not, my degree is petroleum technology.

Speaker 1
I knew it was. What else could it possibly be?

Speaker 3
It has nothing to do with senior living. I was raised in Alaska. That’s what you do in Alaska.

Speaker 3
But I became a child advocate in Alaska. I’ve done advocate work my whole life, and I helped get the laws changed to get foster children out of foster homes or out of the foster system and into permanent homes. And then I moved to Tennessee about 20 years ago and started helping homeowners that were in foreclosure stop their foreclosures.

Speaker 3
And when the market went soft, I went, okay, well, what am I going to do now? And so I went to work for this company helping veterans, or so I thought. It turned out to be backed by an insurance company that sold annuities, and the whole purpose was to find out how much money they had, sell them an annuity, and I didn’t want anything to do with that.

Speaker 3
So I started Patriot Angels.

Speaker 1
Very nice. Now, let’s talk about Patriot Angels and what service does your company provide?

Speaker 3
So Patriot Angels helps veterans and widows receive a pension called aid and attendance. And it’s part of the pension plan that a veteran gets when they serve. As long as they served 90 active duty days during a wartime, then they’re eligible for this pension.

Speaker 3
And this pension helps them pay for their care and senior living. So talk about how do we pay for care. This is one of the biggest untouched avenues because 30% to 50% of clients moving into senior housing or living in senior housing are veterans or widows, and yet less than 2% are getting benefits.

Speaker 1
Why is that?

Speaker 3
Little known is part of it and difficult to get is the other part. I have a call center I have 130 people here and we work with the VA every single day and it’s not an easy benefit to work through the paperwork an application if you go to the VA they’ll give you four pages and when ours are turned into the VA they’re anywhere from 50 to 150 pages depending on the client

Speaker 2
yeah and it’s definitely little known I don’t know how many tours I do where I mention the aides in attendance they’re like what And these are people that need it, that don’t have the funds. Why is it so difficult? And they’ve been sometimes, I mean, to maybe Veterans Services places as well, asking about how do I pay for senior living. And for some reason, they’re not mentioning this benefit sometimes. That’s the one that really surprises me.

Speaker 3
Many of them don’t know about it, just so you know. That makes sense. Because they specialize in service-connected benefits.

Speaker 3
And that’s from, you know, as soon as they get out of the military all the way through in age. So that’s kind of their specialty. This is kind of this little unknown, untapped benefit over here.

Speaker 3
And just to give you an idea, there’s over 14,000 VA-accredited agents across the United States. Okay, 14,000 people have been accredited by the VA saying, yes, you can do benefits. Okay, we’re one.

Speaker 3
We’re just one of those 14,000. And yet last year we were responsible for 16.4% of all the approvals across the nation, according to the VA’s workload. So it just kind of lets you know that there’s not a lot of people that know how to get this benefit.

Speaker 1
Oh, my goodness. I’m so disheartened to hear this. I really am.

Speaker 1
And I’m kind of speechless. My producer who spent 20 years in the Marine Corps, you know, I mean, he’s disheartened to hear this as well. Just out of curiosity, how did you get your company started?

Speaker 3
Well, when I was working for that other company, right, it was backed by an insurance company, and their whole goal was to find out how much money the client had to convince them to buy their annuity. Well, when annuity is, the money is put into annuity or SPIA specifically, the client no longer has that money and they can’t go back and get it when they need it. Well, I felt like that was a real disservice to these people because, you know, when you go into senior living, the cost of care just continues to go up and you need to be able to get to your resources.

Speaker 3
And so I thought, you know what, that’s, I don’t want to be a part of that. Well, it just so happens that the COO of the largest senior living corporation, Brookdale, stopped by our office and left his card. And so I called and I said, hey, do you, I said, can I have a meeting?

Speaker 3
And he said, sure. And I went and met with him and I said, do you know that, you know, people are going into your communities to do these VA seminars and they’re there really to find how much money the client has? And he said, well, of course not.

Speaker 3
We didn’t know that. And he said, what are you doing tomorrow? And I said, I’m looking for a job.

Speaker 3
And so he said, come back tomorrow. And I went back the next day, and I met with John Rios and Ron Ehler and Greg Richard. And they said, if you’ll start a company, we’ll be your first referral source.

Speaker 3
So they started referring. So I went home and set up a desk in the corner room of my bonus room. I had no idea what I was doing.

Speaker 3
I had a magic jack that I plugged into my phone and my computer and started calling, just started calling people and saying, hey, do you know this benefit’s out there? And my phone started ringing off the hook. So I had to hire my first employee, which was my daughter, and I put her in the next corner.

Speaker 3
And then I hired my son to help me organize it all, and I put him in the next corner. And I tell people I ran out of corners before I did children, so I had to get a bigger place.

Speaker 1
What is the AIDS in attendance benefit?

Speaker 3
So it’s actually an upgraded pension. So base pension is really for veterans or other widows that have no money. So it’s called base pension.

Speaker 3
But then there’s upgrades to it, like housebound. If you can’t leave your home without the assistance of someone else, there’s even more that you can get. And then the top level is aid and attendance.

Speaker 3
And aid in attendance is for a veteran or their surviving spouse to use to help supplement their cost of care. So if they’re moving into a senior living community or if they’re getting in-home care, that is what it’s meant for. And it’s a sizable benefit.

Speaker 3
Just so you know, a veteran can get up to $2,229 a month, a married veteran $2,642 a month, and the widow or surviving spouse of a veteran $1,432 a month. So it goes a long way in helping them pay for this care that they need.

Speaker 1
All right, but specifically, who’s eligible?

Speaker 3
So the veteran’s 65 and up. or their surviving spouse, that can be any age, and in need of care. So they’re either needing a protective environment where they can’t live home alone anymore, they need a protective environment, or they’re receiving two or more ADLs. And the ADLs the VA allow is like bathing or standby for bathing, dressing or standby for dressing, hand feeding, toileting. So there’s specific ADLs the VA allows, and they have to be getting at least two of those, and then and or a protective environment with custodial care.

Speaker 1
Now, is this all income-based?

Speaker 3
So it’s income-based, yes and no. Okay. So if you look on the VA’s website, it’ll tell you you can only make X amount a year, and people go, oh, I make more than that. What it doesn’t explain is you subtract out what they’re paying for care, and then that’s what’s considered their income.

Speaker 3
So if a veteran’s, you know, on a limited budget of $2,500 a month but is paying $3,000 to live in a community, they’re negative $500. So that’s what you have to explain. Also, they can have up to $150,000 in liquid assets and a home on less than two acres.

Speaker 3
So the home doesn’t count. And, of course, personal property doesn’t count like cars and things like that. So what counts is $150,000 in assets and a home on less than two acres.

Speaker 1
So is that the limit? Is that the net worth limit to be eligible for this?

Speaker 3
Yes, absolutely. So they cannot have any more than that. If they have more than that, then you start looking at, you know, are there names, how many names are on the bank accounts, things like that.

Speaker 3
Now, there is a three-year look back, so they can’t gift. You know, there’s no gifting. There’s no putting into trust, things like that.

Speaker 1
Interesting. like a lot of people who may not even be aware of this. Do you find that that’s the hardest obstacle? I mean, is that nobody knows this even exists, or am I mistaken?

Speaker 3
No, people do not know it exists. And when they do call, they’ll get one of our brochures, they’ll call and they’ll go, wait, this sounds too good to be true. But it is true.

Speaker 3
It’s part of their pension package. They earned it. I mean, it can be traced all the way back to before Abraham Lincoln.

Speaker 3
He just reinstated it. But it’s always been there, and it’s our job to take care of the widows and the orphans and our job to bear the rights for the veteran that served. And so it’s our job to tell people about it.

Speaker 1
Like I said a moment ago, my producer’s in this room. He’s a 20-year vet from the Marine Corps, and he’s shaking his head. He’s like, no, never even knew this existed.

Speaker 2
I think the other challenge is people get afraid, too, when they see that it’s asset and income-based, and then they just won’t apply. I tell everyone, make the phone call, get your file started with Patriot Angels, and that way, at least when you are ready to apply, you can be ready. But a lot of times, like some of the stuff that she was just saying, people don’t know that.

Speaker 2
They don’t know that you subtract out what you’re paying for care from your income and different things like that. So I always tell people just apply. Let them tell you.

Speaker 2
Yeah.

Speaker 1
You know, right. Yeah. Doesn’t hurt.

Speaker 1
It’s like trying something. Exactly. If you don’t succeed, you don’t succeed.

Speaker 1
But at least you went down swing. At least you try. Exactly.

Speaker 1
Folks, you are listening to your next chapter of production of The Heights at Avery Heights, along with Siobhan Mattingly. I’m Gary Byron. Our guest this morning from Patriot Angels is Suzette Graham.

Speaker 1
Suzanne, where specifically can these benefits be used? How can they be used?

Speaker 3
So you can use them for in-home care, like I said, but it’s a reimbursement, Gary. You have to be paying for care first. And a lot of times people will call and go, well, as soon as I get it, then I’ll do this.

Speaker 3
That’s not how it works. And so we’re a consulting company, Patriot Angels Consulting. So we explain the benefit to people.

Speaker 3
We explain to them how it works. We explain what they need to do and when’s a good time to get started. We let them know up front if they’re a good candidate or not.

Speaker 3
We let them know if they have the right service times or not. And so they can use it if they’re moving into independent living, which a lot of people tell you that doesn’t work, but it does. They can be moving into assisted living, memory care, or in-home.

Speaker 1
Interesting. What’s considered wartime services?

Speaker 3
So there’s specific wartime that the VA acknowledges. And, of course, World War II, we’re coming to the end of those, but that’s December of 41 to December of 46. Of course, Korea, which is June of 50 to January of 55.

Speaker 3
And then Vietnam. Vietnam’s a little trickier because from 55 to 64, they had to be boots on the ground or on a ship within 12 nautical miles. After 64 to 75, they just had to have been enlisted.

Speaker 3
Now, they didn’t actually have to be in war in any of these wars. They could have during war times. They could have been, you know, in a kitchen in Kansas.

Speaker 3
But as long as they were enlisted, they were eligible except for those nine years of Vietnam. Then in 1980, the rules changed for the Persian Gulf War that they had to have been enlisted at least two years or a complete tour of service. So if they were called up to go to Afghanistan or something for eight months, as long as they completed that eight-month tour, then they were eligible for this benefit.

Speaker 1
All right. Because I’m running out of time, how does someone start the process?

Speaker 3
So call us. We do everything electronically over the phone. Just call.

Speaker 3
We’ll walk you through a quick questionnaire to see if you are a good candidate or not. We’ll let you know. You can call our office at 844-757-3047 or look us up, patriotangels.com.

Speaker 3
And we’ll get this started for you.

Speaker 1
Do they have to prove that they were in the military and what their rank or status was?

Speaker 3
They have to have, yes. So we have to have their discharge documents. And we have another company right here in our building that I started called Angels Research. What they do is they research for documents. If somebody can’t find their documents or if they have just dad’s old document, they don’t want to get rid of it. then they can call angels research angels research will research they’ve called nasa before they’ve called um uh cemeteries and had people go out and take pictures of tombstones they’ve you know they will research on the fold or ancestry uh through the archives they will do whatever they can to find documentation for our veterans to prove their service times it sounds thorough i’m impressed do

Speaker 1
help with the process at all as far as gathering the necessary materials yourself or is is this all strictly done by that that side group of angels that you were just mentioning so angels research

Speaker 3
does the military documents but my company works with the family now realize there’s things we can’t get so we can’t get your bank statements we can’t get your social security statement things like that So the things that we cannot get, we actually have the family get for us. But once they do, we pull together all the ancillary documents that the VA requires. We make a fully developed claim, and we even submit it in our own portal straight to the VA so it can’t get lost in the mail. So we work directly with the VA to get these submitted.

Speaker 1
That’s very nice to hear. Generally, how long does it take to obtain the benefits?

Speaker 3
After we send the application, so it depends on how long it takes the family to get us the documents we need. But after we make the application, it’s generally anywhere between 90 and 120 days on average that they’re approved. We track it weekly right now.

Speaker 3
I think we’re at 96 days. That’s average. Of course, if the VA sees something that the family didn’t know and didn’t tell us, then they’re going to come back and ask us for more information.

Speaker 3
We’re going to do that for the family. We’re going to answer those questions by the VA. We’re going to work with the family until they’re approved.

Speaker 3
We stay with them through the process.

Speaker 1
Oh, that’s great. I mean, I would imagine a lot of people, you know, need help, you know, filling out these forms and providing all the documentation that is required and probably easy to miss a field box that you have to fill in. Listen, actually, I’m just glad that you’re on making people aware that this even exists.

Speaker 1
I was flabbergasted. I was completely in shock to hear this. What is the intent to file?

Speaker 1
Why is this an important document to fill out?

Speaker 3
So the intent to file, let’s say somebody calls us and we know they’re moving into the community. the first of next month, we’re going to send an intent to file. What that is, is a letter to the VA letting them know that we have an intention to file a claim for that person. The day the VA gets it is the day the VA starts looking at the financials of that client. But they also give them the first of the next month as a start date. So then we can, now we have a start date, we can gather documents, we can put together the application, we can submit it. And then once the VA makes a decision and approves it, it goes all the way back to that start date. So, you know, it may have taken the family 30 days to get us documents, sometimes 60 days. But once we have those documents, we make the application, they’re still going to get a check retro to that start

Speaker 1
date. Siobhan, have you heard of this? Yes. You have.

Speaker 2
I always tell people, I send them to Patriot Angels, but I also tell them that intent to file is so important because then they get a nice big check, you know, being retro. Yeah, retro. Which is great. Yeah.

Speaker 2
I love this benefit. This is like long-term care and this benefit when you’re doing a tour and you’re talking about the financials when you get to that point and they say, oh, you know, dad was a veteran. I’m like, yes. I’m like, was it during wartime?

Speaker 2
Yes. And then I like, that’s, you know, I just start the questioning, and if they answer, check all the boxes, this is a really good benefit to have. And I think a lot of times with surviving spouses, people don’t realize that, that there’s benefits for them too.

Speaker 2
And, you know, it’s a great benefit. It puts people at ease to know, okay, if this, you know, once we get to this point or even people that first come in, they can’t afford it, this tells them that they’ve got some funds and they deserve it. I mean, they served our country.

Speaker 2
They deserve this. Absolutely.

Speaker 3
100%. I can tell you one more. Yeah, please. If the veteran was 65 at 9-11, we can get them an additional year back pay as long as they were paying for care. So, Siobhan, if you have a veteran that’s been in your community for several years and then they apply, we can actually get them a year prior as long as they were paying for care.

Speaker 2
Wow. I am writing that down. That’s awesome.

Speaker 1
I mean, how often do you come across somebody, Suzette, that’s never heard of this, that they’re being informed or educated of this for the very first time?

Speaker 3
Oh, every day. Yeah, I bet. Every day.

Speaker 3
People call all the time like, are you sure? This is real. I sit on a plane.

Speaker 3
I sit on a plane next to a 20-year veteran that had just left the military, and we were discussing this, and he’s like, wait a minute. I just discharged. and, you know, they have their discharge that they go through.

Speaker 3
And I didn’t know anything about this. I’ve not heard anything about this. So it’s definitely a hidden, definitely a secret.

Speaker 1
And it shouldn’t be like that. That’s a shame why this isn’t more widely known. Listen, I’m grateful for your time with us this morning, Suzette.

Speaker 1
I really am. Folks, if you’d like more information on this, simply head online to www.patriotangels.com. Again, it’s patriotangels.com.

Speaker 1
And if you’d like their phone number, get a piece of paper and a pen. I’ll say it twice. I want to make sure that you get this number.

Speaker 1
It’s that important. It’s 844-757-3047. I’ll say it one more time.

Speaker 1
844-757-3047. I want to thank our guest this morning from Patriot Angels, Suzette Graham. Folks, you have been listening to the latest edition of your next chapter, Senior Living.

Speaker 1
To learn more about Avery Heights, call Siobhan at 860-953-1201. Again, 860-953-1201. or connect with her online at averyheights.org.

Speaker 1
For Siobhan Mattingly, Senior Living Specialist over at Avery Heights, I’m Gary Byron. Thank you so much for listening. Until next weekend, have a good one, everybody.