It would be really cool if every single community in every single company made the commitment to take in just one resident who cannot afford full freight.

By Steve Moran

Hello Judy:

It is with sadness that I will have to take George out of the Alzheimer program . . . even though he has only been in for a month.

This is crazy.

I was not given any help from the grants I applied for and the income George is receiving is simply not enough to keep up with household expenses.

I have been given a gift by the TN Respite Coalition of a senior companion and am on the waiting list, which they said should come soon.

If anything opens up for me I will be back and or if anything comes up from major sales of George’s estate I will be in touch.

I am writing this blog post from Nashville where I am attending a board meeting and strategic planning session for Abe’s Garden, a national Alzheimer demonstration community, and the team shared this email with me.

It broke my heart and I hope it breaks yours too.

It’s Just Not Enough

Even though a big chunk of the funding for Abe’s Garden came from substantial grants and donations, there is still a mortgage and the cost for residential care is close to $7,000 per month and in the neighborhood of $2,000 for the day-only program.

One of the big issues that we as a board are wrestling with, is exactly how we can provide, for at least a few folks, subsidies that allow individuals without substantial means to get great world-class care in a place like Abe’s Garden.

This is particularly critical because Abe, the community’s namesake, was a physician in the Nashville area who had a heart for minorities and the poor — at a time when a white physician having a heart for minorities was not a popular thing to do. As is true with most senior communities, it is full of frail elderly white people. Don’t get me wrong, they need care too; however, we still need to figure out how to bring some diversity to our communities. It is what Abe would have wanted. More importantly, it is the right thing to do. We will make this happen.

Our Challenge and Opportunity

I find myself thinking that as an industry it would be really cool if every single community in every single company made the commitment to take in just one resident who cannot afford full freight. Think about it; with something like 9,000 senior communities in this country, we could make a nice dent in the affordability problem.  

If we are honest it would also be a great positive story to tell about the industry.

Could we do this?