Staff Writer
Society can offer a lot of assistance to senior citizens. One of the keys, though, is making sure they ‘re aware such help is available.
That was the overall theme last Thursday during the first of what hopefully will be an annual health and wellness gathering at the Sachse Senior Center. At last week’s get together, representatives from the fields of health, financial planning and assisted living were on hand to provide seniors from Sachse, Wylie and Murphy important information on any one of those areas.
“I think there is definitely a knowledge deficit in our senior population,” said Tracy Spencer, who represented Reliant at Home, which provides in-home care. “We wanted to reach out through the individual communities, so that they know what their options are, so they don’t feel lonely or uninformed. They know they have people who they can turn to in order to get the services they need.”
One of those “services” is provided through assisted living facilities, and folks such as Stephanie Upton of Mustang Creek Estates — they’re currently constructing a facility in Sachse — wants to make sure seniors understand the different levels of care available to them.
“What I find when I talk with them is that they don’t understand the difference between assisted living A and assisted living plus, we call it B, and memory care,” Upton said. “Sometimes they don’t know what the difference is … They don’t know the price options… They don’t understand when talking to them about pricing and what it involves. They’re very excited that we’re coming to Sachse is what I’ve found.”
She noted that memory care is for those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease or even dementia, while Assisted Living A is for someone who can evacuate a building in 13 minutes. The Assisted Living Plus is for those who need assistance.
“They don’t know what the difference is, and we want to help them be informed,” Upton said.
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