The time of life after age 55 can truly be your best. You can transition from your career looking back with satisfaction. If you’ve had children, they are now grown and independent, or close to it. You can now reap the benefits of your years of smart financial planning doing exactly what you want to do: traveling, taking up a new interest, or moving to a new home.
And, if moving to a new home is on your agenda after age 55, you’ll want to make that move as carefree, worry-free, and maintenance-free as possible. That perfect lifestyle choice may be found at a 55+ Continuing Care Community (CCRC), where everything–including future supportive care needs, is taken care of. While you’re exploring options, be sure to ask the right questions.
Willow Valley Communities in Lancaster offers an extraordinary 55+ lifestyle for 2,600 residents from across the country: 210 stunning acres with over 100 residential floorplans to choose from. Award-winning amenities throughout. An 80,000 sq. ft. Cultural Center—with 500-seat performing arts theater, Fitness and Aquatics Centers, Day Spa, and Art Gallery—is the location for many classes, lectures, meetings, performances, and so much more. A 30,000 sq. ft. Clubhouse is an intergenerational hub with an outdoor pool, tennis courts, vintage arcade, bowling alleys, and fitness and sports centers that visiting family will enjoy. Dozens of culinary venues tempt even the most discerning palate.
When prospective residents tour communities, including Willow Valley Communities, they are often focused on choosing their ideal residence style, touring amenities, sampling mouth-watering culinary offerings, and also meeting residents. The thought of “future supportive care needs” seems to get lost—when it really is an important consideration. Supportive care can mean personal care to get assistance with daily activities, skilled nursing care, or memory care.
A Continuing Care Retirement Community, or CCRC, is the same thing as a “Life Plan” community, though not all CCRCs (or Life Plan communities) are the same. A Life Plan community (CCRC) may or may not include a Lifecare contract. On top of that difference, there are Type A, Type B, and Type C Lifecare contracts—with significant distinctions—especially financial—among them. These terms get bantered about by salespeople—along with everything else, so it’s really easy for prospective residents to have questions. With Type A Lifecare, you won’t have to pay extra if you were to need enhanced supportive care in the future. Without Type A Lifecare, future costs can really add up; the cost of skilled nursing care in the county can average over $10,000 or more a month.
At Willow Valley Communities, this potential confusion is easily simplified. All Willow Valley Communities residents have a Type A Lifecare contract. This means that if they ever need an enhanced level of care, their monthly service fee will not increase because of that need. Only a Lifecare Type A contract at a Life Plan community means you won’t have to pay additional fees because you need an enhanced level of care in the future. Willow Valley Communities is the only exclusively Type A Lifecare Community in Lancaster County—meaning all residents are covered.
It’s understandable that it is more enjoyable to tour amenities and sample meals than figure out contracts. However, with dozens of communities in the Susquehanna Valley having varying contract types, and varying costs and benefits, not understanding what you are getting and what you are paying for may cost you and your family both financially and emotionally.
It all comes down to one question you’ll want to ask. While you are touring model apartments, exploring pools, common spaces, and enjoying complimentary meals, ask the community one simple question: “What happens to my monthly service fee if I would ever need a higher level of care?”
At Willow Valley Communities the answer is, “Your monthly service fee does not increase.” Because of their Type A Lifecare contract, residents move into independent living, enjoy the award-winning amenities, activities, and world-class programming—an extraordinary lifestyle—knowing that if they need supportive care later in life, it is available to them on campus and their monthly service fee does not increase because of that need.
If you wish to learn more, visit their website or call.
willowvalleycommunities.org | 800.770.5445
