Answers For Elders Radio Network

What do a senior care company's values mean to your family, and why do they matter if you're looking for care for your senior loved one? And how do you read between the lines to discover whether they actually uphold those values? People can say whatever they want. They can say 'we work with people so they never have to move again.' But how do we know that that's true? Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about how to find out. Daphne says, "So some of the things that I kind of pay attention to are, what is their attrition rate of care stat? How many times has a management team changed? Those are big indicators for me of stability, and I make it my business to know the ownership and know what going on. I do a little research. I figure out things that are going on in the building. "I want to see how many people actually greet me as I'm walking through the building when I'm touring. Are they feeling empowered to do their job? Is there a culture of customer service? Is there a joy? Do I feel joy as I'm walking through the hallways, or are people afraid of their job and have tunnel vision and can only do this but can't go either way? Do I see somebody helping someone as I'm going through the building? I pay attention to the whole staff, not just to the person who's touring with me, not just the executive director, but the whole staff: the person who's taking care of the building, the person who's making the food, the person who's serving the food. "That's why I go at different times... Find out how the day starts. How crazy is it? What happens at 3:00 in the afternoon? The activities are starting at four. Are people helping people come out of their room? Are they inviting them? Are people building relationships between resident to resident? Is that happening? Are they finding commonality? "Here's a benefit to you, the consumer. Someone like myself goes to networking events, and we get to have all kinds of conversations. They get to have breakfast or lunch or be at an after-hours event, and we get to have regular conversation. Boy, do I get to learn a lot during regular conversation... Just who are these people that are actually choosing to be in an industry of care support, keeping someone's life meaningful? Do they get it? That would be hard for you, the consumer, to figure out, but that's what you get from a good placement advisor." Learn more: PinnacleSeniorPlacements.comPinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for EldersAbout Daphne DavisHear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Are senior care organizations and the cottage industry living up to your personal standards of care? Do they stand for something? Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about the top three things that people need to understand and ask when seeking senior care for their loved one. 1) Who owns the entity, whether it be an individual home of six people, or a large community that has memory care, assisted living, and independent living. 2) Is the building owned by the same business, or does the owner contract with a management company? Daphne says, "These are all things the general consumer would have no idea about. Why is it important to you? Because you need stability. If there's a financial piece [of the equation], if there is not a never-ending bucket of money to pay for mom or dad's care, you need to know what happens when they run out of money. How is that handled? If there's a change in ownership, are they going to honor your contract that you started and, you've got three years into paying privately, or now new ownership says, 'Oh, no, we don't convert to Medicaid, Medicare, Medicaid after three years, it's now five years.' And now you're in a world of hurt. "Does this company ... have the ability to properly support their staff, to reward wonderful behavior, to be able to keep them educated, to teach them new ways of doing activities of daily living, to talk to somebody who has dementia. Do they pay attention to those things? That's why the ownership is important." 3) The actual care itself. Daphne says, "What is a care ratio? There are great algorithms that companies use now based on how many minutes somebody spends time with your loved one and then what your care cost is. And from that minutes, they're constantly adjusting, in theory, how many people are on the floor, how many people are available to actually respond to a call button. How many people are available during the morning hours, when we're getting people dress cleaned up, showered, and to the breakfast table, how many people are there to help? Learn more: PinnacleSeniorPlacements.comPinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for EldersAbout Daphne DavisHear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Why do your values matter when it comes to senior care? Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show talk about finding your senior loved one's values and then how to go about asking whether a senior care provider can meet those values. Suzanne asks, "What is what are Pinnacle's highest values?" Daphne says, "The number one value that Pinnacle' holds is, when we are working with a client and a family, that client does not have to move again. And how do we make that happen? How do we make sure that we can support that number one value? And it comes through us gathering information about our client and discovering their highest values. And from that, it behooves me to know communities of care well enough to know can they support the family's values. "So let's give an example. It just happened recently that I was asking a lot of 'nosy questions' and I hadn't even met this woman yet. The daughter is in Kingston, Washington and mom is two and a half hours away. And so we're having this conversation. And I'm getting to know the history of this woman and I'm getting to know a little bit about her personality. And my next step is to meet her face-to-face and to be able to get a sense of who she is, what things really matter to her. Does she want to have someone that's constantly over her and guiding her every day? Does she want some autonomy? Does she want to have the independence to be able to make her own decisions? Does she want to hear a loudspeaker come on and tell her it's 2:00 and there's bingo in the lobby. Does she want to have somebody that just sees her across the room and she's trying to stand up out of a chair and just needs a little elbow help, but not have to push a button to wait for somebody to help her. Who is this person that I can help find her next place to live to her last breath. "That takes a lot of work to find out everything about location, about finances, about who's the family support, where her doctors at, what are her interests. Do I know something about her interests that's happening in another community? And so that's how I go through upholding my highest value. "Now, you as a family, you're going to them identify some highest values. And some of them that I hear are something like: I want the place to be clean, and it needs to smell good, and good Food would be important... Those are kind of standard... But your family member is leaving their home. Your family member is not going to know how many steps it is between the back of the couch and getting to the door of the bathroom if they're furniture walkers. How much is trust important to your family member in order to function? Or are they trusting in themselves? Where are they at in the spectrum? What is their personality like? And so these are some of the values that you have to think about... "How do you even ask questions? If you're going out and you're looking at — let's start with assisted living — questions such as: how many people are on the floor from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.? And how quickly does that person that's touring you around that community know the answer? Who's there between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., and how will my parent get help if they need it?" Learn more: PinnacleSeniorPlacements.comPinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for EldersAbout Daphne DavisHear more podcasts with Daphne...

Finding our a senior care organization's highest values is key to assessing whether they're a good fit for a senior loved one needing care. Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about how to find out what those values are. Daphne says, "As families, you need to first identify the values, and I'll help you with that. As a senior advisor, I will help you identify what that looks like. And it would be my job then to find the communities that that mirror your values. "If you're working by yourself, it's your job, then, to think of the questions... If my value is that my mom doesn't have a fall again, or we want to mitigate falls, that's a value. My mom's falling in our own home. What kind of questions do you ask of a community? And they can't be, yes/no, they need to be open-ended questions, to really get to the heart of how does this play out in a community of care. It doesn't matter if it's a small one or a big community of care, but how do I ask the questions of finding out the truth? Because everybody can give you the canned answer, but there's the art form of finding out what's behind the canned answer, And that's where the trained professional can help you. So I will advocate for that as a placement advisor. And there is a place for us — more than ever — for the consumer to not do this by themselves." Suzanne adds, "Way back when when I worked for Tony Robbins, he did a program called Date with Destiny. And one of the things is, is we prioritized our highest values. What does that mean, what does that value mean? My number one value was contribution. I felt like I needed to be giving something. Well, guess what? That's probably why I'm not a millionaire as I did my job. But the thing that's interesting is that when we look at, you know, how do we identify our highest values, we have to understand what is that value mean to you and how do you how does that play out in a community?" Learn more: PinnacleSeniorPlacements.comPinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for EldersAbout Daphne DavisHear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Chateau Retirement cares about residents and employees equally. They were committed to making investments to demonstrate this value. How did the relationship begin, and why Reverb? Where was Chateau as an organization and what led them to pursue external support? Emily Senff, Reverb’s Practice Director for People Development, and Leadership Coach Anu Aurora join Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio show. Emily says, "All of our coaches and consultants are very seasoned leaders who have organizational expertise, who have led businesses, teams. And so they really understand the complexity of it, what it means to build and develop healthy teams who can communicate and collaborate and support each other. So we're very lucky to have such a talented team." Suzanne adds, "And we as a community in the Chateau world, and as far as seniors go, we're very lucky to have somebody like you helping us develop the staff that care for our most vulnerable." Emily Senff is Reverb’s Practice Director for People Development. She is responsible for the strategic leadership of Reverb’s leadership development and coaching services. Her superpower is building relationships with clients to understand their pain points and needs, and matching them to Reverb’s exceptional team of consultants, facilitators, and coaches. Before Reverb, Emily was a seasoned leadership development and talent management leader and also worked in nonprofit. Anu Aurora has over 25 years of experience developing leaders at all levels as an industry leader and leadership coach. Anu coaches leaders to identify core issues, make the complex simple, move them past their blocks, and create transformational results. Anu brings with her international experiences from 3 continents; industry skills from aerospace, high-tech, defense sector, and corporate engineering management background as a Director in a Fortune 50 company. Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit Chateau on the web or call 800.960.1944. Visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Learn more about Reverb Consulting at Reverb People. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

Chateau's commitment to its people helps the families they work with. At Chateau Retirement, leadership development and coaching services make it all better. Tamra Godfrey, CEO of Chateau Retirement, and Emily Senff, Reverb’s Practice Director for People Development, join Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio show. Emily says, "Tamra and the leadership team and everyone at Chateau is thoughtfully thinking about support at every level of the organization. Sometimes with organizations, that type of personalized, tailored support is often at a senior leadership level. That's different here at Chateau. They want to make sure that the support and the commitment is felt at every level of the organization. It matters to families and residents because they feel like employees are really well treated. They're taken care of. And when you feel really well-taken-care-of and happy, and feel like you're getting support, you exude and represent that in the work that you do." Emily Senff is responsible for the strategic leadership of Reverb’s leadership development and coaching services. Her superpower is building relationships with clients to understand their pain points and needs, and matching them to Reverb’s exceptional team of consultants, facilitators, and coaches. Before Reverb, Emily was a seasoned leadership development and talent management leader and also worked in nonprofit. Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit Chateau on the web or call 800.960.1944. Visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Learn more about Reverb Consulting at Reverb People. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

This week, Answers for Elders is talking about people development at Chateau Retirement Communities. This is important to anyone that is seeking a senior living community, or any kind of provider that instills trust. You have to trust them. How many organizations actually talk about how they develop their people? And it should be important to everyone that is seeking senior care. These are important questions to ask, about the people development of an organization. Tamra Godfrey, CEO of Chateau Retirement, and Anu Aurora with Reverb People join Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio show. Reverb helps Chateau to grow their leaders so they can be more strategic in their work and outlook. In a time when residents (and employees) have more needs, Reverb supports Chateau leaders to focus critical thinking, curiosity, empathy, and social skills. Ultimately organizations have to not only nurture and develop these skills, but also figure out how to look for these skills in hiring. A growth mindset is so important for organizations to thrive. Chateau continues to show investment in this work, their people and residents. Anu says, "A lot of my coaching is strengths-based and value-based. Part of the initial work I do with the clients is understanding what their personal values are, and what are their superpowers, super strengths. And I always feel that if individuals can align their work along those two, that everything else falls into place. "They come because they believe in this work. They come because they have very high compassion, their sense of belonging and commitment. And those are their values. For most of them. I share those values, and their superpowers might be different, very mixed. That's why we are better together, because one person brings one superpower, the other one brings another power, and they start to see that, yeah, I am bigger with this person because this is what I bring and this is what the other person brings. And to recognize that we complement each other." Anu Aurora has over 25 years of experience developing leaders at all levels as an industry leader and leadership coach. Anu coaches leaders to identify core issues, make the complex simple, move them past their blocks, and create transformational results. Anu brings with her international experiences from three continents; industry skills from aerospace, high-tech, defense sector, and corporate engineering management background as a Director in a Fortune 50 company. Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit Chateau on the web or call 800.960.1944. Visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Learn more about Reverb Consulting at Reverb People. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

What makes the lives of senior living residents flourish? At Chateau Retirement, leadership development and coaching services make it better. Tamra Godfrey, CEO of Chateau Retirement, and Emily Senff, Reverb’s Practice Director for People Development, join Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio show. In the USA today, families are more overwhelmed and confused than ever when trying to find the right resource for their senior loved ones. Since COVID, so many organizations have cut corners—reducing staff, compromising values, and lowering the quality of care. Chateau Retirement has remained steadfast for the past 25 years—holding true to its values and continuing its commitment to both their employees and the residents they serve. That commitment is not just something Suzanne has heard about or observed from afar, but rather personally experienced as a daughter when her mom lived at Chateau. Emily says, "I think values also is like less about what people say or what's up on the wall and how they actually, like, treat and interact with others. And so to be able to witness, you know, employees at Chateau and how they partner internally and Cross-functionally and then in turn see how they serve their residents, I mean, I think that speaks volumes. That's how you know." Emily Senff is Reverb’s Practice Director for People Development. She is responsible for the strategic leadership of Reverb’s leadership development and coaching services. Her superpower is building relationships with clients to understand their pain points and needs, and matching them to Reverb’s exceptional team of consultants, facilitators, and coaches. Before Reverb, Emily was a seasoned leadership development and talent management leader and also worked in nonprofit. Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit Chateau on the web or call 800.960.1944. Visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Learn more about Reverb Consulting at Reverb People. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

Residents are sharing what it's like to join a senior living community. Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast is joined by Judith, a resident at Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Washington. It follows conversations with resident Ann and her daughter Jen. Judith says, "I was born and bred in South Africa. My family had been there for a few quite a few generations. So I left there, and I was married and had two children, one son, one daughter, and eventually that broke up. After my daughter finished university in Johannesburg in South Africa, she moved across London to do a two-year sabbatical, which was the fun thing to do for graduate at that stage. And one Friday night at the pub there, she met this American guy who was there on vacation. So one thing led to another, and of course, he came back. He lived in Portland, Oregon, at the time. But they exchanged life stories via email and so on. And a few months later, she was planning to go and vacation to the U.S. anyway. So she included both in dinners, they and his mother when he met her. His mom would say to him, If you don't want to lose this girl, you'd better ask her to marry you. "And he did... so long story short, I visit her a few times from South Africa. Visited a few times here. And eventually she moved to Seattle. When her son was born, I came over to meet my new grandson. And that's when she said to me, Mom, what are you doing all on your own in South Africa? Why don't you come and live here in Seattle? I thought that was an excellent idea. Why not? That was 19 and a half years ago. "If I had wanted to practice psychology here in the US, I would have had to go back to school, and I didn't feel like doing that. So I got a great job at the University of Washington in a specific department working with postgraduate students and guiding them, that sort of thing. And I was with UW for 15 years until I retired. And shortly after I retired, I had been living on my own in an apartment. And so after a while, my daughter said, Mom, maybe it's time for you to move into some sort of community, because she didn't think it was very safe for me to drive any longer. "So she did find another place for me, where I moved in. And after I was there for one day, I said, 'You get me out of here. I can't stay here.' The complex was like buildings, with long rows of rooms in a particular corridor. And all the people in that particular section would sit and have dinner together. So every time you had a meal, it was with the same people. And the food, the food was brought in. You had no choice of food. If you didn't like what they served, you went hungry type of thing. So I said to her, 'I can't stay here. Find me another place.' So I was there for exactly two weeks, because she had done a lot of Internet searching. "And she found this place, Chateau Pacific. She said, 'Mom, Let's go and have a look at Chateau Pacific. That can accommodate you.' And the minute we walked through that door at Chateau Pacific, I felt like, 'Oh, this is the place for me. Yes.' And everybody was so friendly, and they treated us to a meal and we saw that they had various choices. If you don't like what’s the special of the day, you have many alternatives to choose from. "So we decided this is the place for me to stay. And I was here maybe three or four weeks, and somebody suggested that I would be the perfect person to be the president of our resident society. So I might as well... So I was voted in." Judith adds, "When I first moved in here, I had signed up for three meals a day. But breakfast here is at 8:00 in the morning. So I had to set my alarm for 7:30 in order to get up and get dressed. I'd go down and have breakfast at 8:00. And then after a few weeks, I decided, Good Lord, I am retired. I do not have to get up with an alarm clock every morning anymore. So I canceled the breakfast thing. I get up around about, I don't know, 10:00 or so. I make myself...

This week we continue to learn what senior living is like from residents. Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast is joined by Jen, daughter of resident Ann at Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Washington. Jennifer McKassan is agency owner at Apples to Zebras Insurance in Lynnwood, so she works within the industry where people are investigating long term care planning. Jen says, "People drive too long, or they keep their houses for too long, and they keep that responsibility for them for too long. And for whatever reason they do it, it ends up putting everybody involved into a place of of crisis. When it does come to the point where everybody involved realizes, oh, dear, it's time. And it was probably time about a year ago. I've seen families where they were dealing with degenerative illness, and they just didn't want to accept that that was the the next phase of life. When you own the timeline, you can control the timeline. And what I've seen was people who didn't do that ended up with a more expensive experience, a more traumatic experience, and a more damaged relationship with their families. I didn't want that with my mom. I wanted to be my mom's daughter all the way to the end of her life." Jen described her mom's journey after retirement. She had been staying temporarily with Jen and her husband. "Mom had stopped driving, and she didn't know how to use paratransit yet. And my husband and I are both active professionals. We didn't have that flexibility in our days to really give mom the life that she wanted as a retired person. That active life, the 'hey, I want to go to a museum on a Wednesday' and I'm like, 'boy, would that be fun. I have to work. I have five appointments today,' and having to say, 'No, mom, I can't do that.' It takes its toll. And it turns you from a daughter to kind of a gatekeeper to fun. And I don't want to be the gatekeeper on my mom's fun." But having those conversations is difficult. Suzanne pointed out, "We don't necessarily know how to have those conversations with dad or with mom, when the talking isn't matching what's happening. You're not fine, Dad, and you're not able to get up, you're a fall risk. You're going to have a bad fall. A lot of us as adult children don't know how to have the conversations or we're in a situation where we feel like it's not our place." Jen replied, "It is our place. If you're the one picking up the pieces, it is your place. And you have an absolute right to say something about that, and almost an obligation, in my opinion, because it it's a hard conversation to have. It's a courageous conversation to have. And when we come at it from a place of love and that's what I did with my mom, I came at it from a place of love. I'm like, 'I don't want to be picking a place out of thin air just because they had a bed open and whatever we could afford that had a bed open and, you know, maybe this place will work and maybe it won't. I want to own this timeline. I want you to get to know people there. I want you to make friends there. I want you to feel like you belong there.'" Jen adds, "There's a 70% chance that we will need assisted living or some form of assistive care in our later years. So if there's a 70% chance that something is going to happen, like it's going to rain, we're going to bring a raincoat, right? So when we when we talk about owning the timeline, we pick the place. We're going to get those services before we need them, move in when we're still independent, when we might not need what they have to offer in the greatest sense. But we pick the place we belong, so that we can make the friends. We can use our brain plasticity while we have it, to make friends and find new activities. Like Mom had never played video games like Wii Jeopardy before. I was like, Oh, this is fantastic. And Wii Bowling. "Owning

This week we share experiences and learn what it's like to be a resident in senior living. Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast is joined by Ann, a resident at Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Washington. In our next segment, Ann's daughter Jen joins the program. Ann says, "Before my own personal investigation of senior living, my sister and I had been involved in finding a place for our parents, moving them from Southern California into the Vancouver, Washington area. We went to many, many places. One was obviously a converted motel, less than satisfactory. One was across the river in Portland, so if bridges ice up, we're stranded. We went into one place, and it was a high rise, and although they had communal areas on each floor, they were so little used that nobody had even turned on the lights." Of her personal journey, Ann says, "[I wanted] to find another senior living place to try out, because the first one had been just a respite for medical reasons. The second had been very educational, and I liked it there a lot. But it was a relatively small community, less than 100 residents. And so I wanted to try something a little bit larger. ... [But] I found that it was limiting. If you've got a bus that holds ten people, there's only ten people who can go shopping. It's only one slot a week to go shopping in, so you've got to sign up for everything on the first of the month. I told them going in that it would be a short-term stay. And when I moved out of there, my children, bless their hearts, moved me [to Chateau Pacific]. Picked it up, all the furniture, over there, and so here I am. And I've been in Chateau Pacific now for about three months. "You can sleep in as late as you want. You can go down and have breakfast, or if you want to have lunch or whatever, that you can make. I think I'm actually just a little bit young for senior living. I'm 75, but we've got residents who are 100. We have one who is 66. But whatever you need, whoever, whenever you need it, those things are available. ... And the dining staff, the waitstaff, know everybody's names." Suzanne asks, "I'm hearing that you're connecting with other residents, and you feel included. How did that happen?" Ann answers, "Well, for one thing, I'm not shy about saying, 'Hi, my name's Ann, what's yours? Please don't be offended, but I won't remember it next time because I don't remember anything till I am completely embarrassed by having not remembered.' So I find out what people's names are, and I like to talk to them and find out what they did in their working life, what their strengths are, and what their interests are. And all you have to do is just ask a question. What do you like most, or do you have children? It doesn't take anything terribly intrusive or nosy. It's just a question to start the conversation." Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit Chateau online or call 800.960.1944. Visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

If you want to age in place, or if you have parents that want to age in place, what are the best questions you should ask an aging-in-place specialist? Aging in Place specialist Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to share his advice for adult children that are helping their parents to plan to stay in their homes? Paul says, "The word planning, I think, is the most important piece. Because when I get a phone call from a homeowner, or a child — saying, 'My parent is in the hospital. They won't let them come home until the home is safe for them to to live in.' — those are the hardest things for a contractor, to have to turn around and jump on and be able to make the space safe. So the more that you can plan ahead, the easier that potential transition might be in the future. Once a fall happens, and their hip is broken, you have less options." Suzanne says, "Just because you see somebody that's got a certified aging in place designation on their card, doesn't necessarily mean they're the right person for you. Ask things like, how long have you been there? How many jobs have you done? What types of work? Who are your references? Do you have a portfolio of the types of things you've done? Those are all things that are absolutely valid, are they not?" Paul answers, "Oh, 100%, yeah. For me, we've been really lucky to be able to win some amazing awards for aging in place and universal design. It's awesome to be able to have that recognition as a contractor, but also it's a recognition for the homeowner, and all of our trade partners that work on these jobs for us, because really it's a team. It's not just me. It's all of these people who come together to create this space for these homeowners." How to find the right aging in place expert? Paul says, "I've asked this question a lot to my homeowners. When they contact us for aging in place, usually they have Googled 'aging in place.' Another term that gets used a lot is 'universal design.' And so I would start there. Also, I believe the NAHB [National Homebuilders Association] has a portal that you can go to, and look for aging in place. Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you're in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future. National Homebuilders Association website At Answers for Elders: Bathroom Safety GuideAging in Place ChecklistAging in Place podcasts Mentioned in this episode: Legacy Estate Planning Legacy Estate Planning Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

Air quality for everyone is huge, even more so as we get older. Aging in Place specialist Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about air quality, this other aspect of making a home safer. He also explains what it means for an expert to be designated as an Aging in Place specialist. Paul says, "When I'm thinking about air quality, I'm thinking about what are we introducing into our home, and how do we minimize the impacts on us. Also, a lot of us are experiencing wildfires during the summer. All that smoke just bombards us. So how do we continue to live in our home in a safe space? So, reducing the impact of that smoke getting into the home, because a lot of our homes are leaky. So are there some ways for us to to manage that? If they are leaky, how do we manage them once it's inside of the home, or how we stop it at the exterior? "It's like a glass of water. As we continue to age, we've been exposed to more chemicals over the years and that that glass just continues to fill up, and eventually it overflows. So how do we keep it at the level that it's currently at, trying so that we're minimizing future impact? Yeah, that makes sense." About expertise in this area, Paul explains, "The Aging in Place specialist designation is given out through the NAHB, the National Homebuilders Association. This is a course that we've gone through. I think almost all of my employees have been through it now. But the idea is really introducing aging in place in three separate courses, and each course gets a little bit deeper into how we think about projects and deal with different medical issues that they might be experiencing. Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you're in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future. National Homebuilders Association website At Answers for Elders: Bathroom Safety GuideAging in Place ChecklistAging in Place podcasts Mentioned in this episode: Legacy Estate Planning Legacy Estate Planning Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement

People don't necessarily know what aging in place is, and what kind of simple changes can be most impactful to make our home safer for ourselves and for aging parents when they visit. Aging in Place specialist Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to share adjustments we can make to our homes, from DiY projects to more complex upgrades. Paul also talks about sustainability. Regarding the simple changes, Paul says, "I would say adding handrails, like getting in and out of the house, adding a second handrail to the stairs. We have more control over one hand versus the other as we age, or we have some sort of medical condition, whether it's a stroke or something else. So what is your stronger side? As you're going down the stairs, maybe you have a handrail on the right-hand side, but going up maybe you don't don't have one. Well, let's add a handrail to the other side of the stairs. Just so you have the ability to go up and down safely on both sides. Sometimes that gets forgotten about, just having that safety measure in place. "We talked a little bit about grab bars, bathroom spaces. Those are those are great in showers. Whether you're five years old or 105... Suzanne said, "There's a surfacing that you can put over your existing tile." Paul says, "It's a roll-on product. We clean your shower floor and then we roll the grip onto the floor. And it's super durable, and it helps immensely in bathroom spaces. We've even done it in walkways outside, we're a little concerned about slippery areas. We're even using it on stairs. If you've got wooden stairs in your home, just adding that because if you're walking in socks, those stairs can be just a little bit slippery." Suzanne adds, "And it doesn't affect the the look of your tile at all. I actually use that product it in my own shower, because it was a little slippery when we first moved in. I have a shower mat, but the mat is not big enough. So we did get that product, and it was super easy. That's a DIY thing you could easily do." Paul adds, "If you have an existing bathtub and slipping in that bathtub is a potential issue, this is a good alternative, to help buy you a little bit of time." Suzanne asks, "You can convert a bathtub, pull the tub out and create a walk-in shower. That is not that's not a structural change for the most part, is it?" Paul answers, "No, it's not structural at all. These units, we drop these in there. We make them, we can customize it. If you have a weird-sized bathtub, we can customize it to fit in the exact space that you have." Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you're in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future. National Homebuilders Association website At Answers for Elders: Bathroom Safety GuideAging in Place ChecklistAging in Place podcasts Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau...

Baby Boomers are redefining retirement, and many, as long as they're able, want to keep living in their homes. Yet as they get older, one accident could change their future and shatter their dreams. So if you want to age in place, if you have parents that want to age in place, this program is for you. Paul Kocharhook, the CEO of Pathway Design & Construction, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about keeping our home safe as we get older. Paul says, "Nobody wants to hear that they're aging. And so I try to turn that conversation, about making it safe. How can we make your home safe for you? Or making it safe for parents who are going to come and visit? Because we have a lot of parents that come from out of country, for some of our clients, and they'll stay for the summer. So how do we make that bathroom safe for them, to be able to manage while they're here?" He adds, "When I started remodeling homes... we were starting to do remodels on bathrooms, and kitchens, and additions to make spaces better for homeowners. But some of the pieces that were missing were that thinking about more long-term. So, thinking about a bathroom as an example, there was there was a lot that we could do on the on the front end to prepare the homeowner for the future, where we don't have to add things right now, but everything's prepared. "So we did a fire restoration for [an elderly couple]. Half of their home had and caught fire, and so we were building it back, and they wanted us to put the house back as it was. I said, 'There's things that I can do now, not included in the insurance estimate, like I can put backing in your shower. You're telling me right now you don't need grab bars. But I can put backing in your wall right now, so that when the time comes, we can add those grab bars whenever you want.' They were insistent that, no, they were able to manage in their home as it was before, and they're going to continue to manage in the future. "Lo and behold, three months after we gave them their house back, they were calling us to add grab bars in the shower. [Now] it's not as easy of a task to do, when we're having to retrofit versus having all the backing in the walls that's hidden behind there, when we'd just be adding screws." About grab bars, Suzanne commented, "In 2023, we moved into a new house, and when we toured it and we walked in the bathroom, there's all these grab bars in the shower, and there's a walk in-tub. I looked at my husband and I said, 'Honey, this is for old people.' Here's me, you know, the expert. And he looked at me, and he kind of giggled and he said, 'Honey, we are old people.' I said, 'Well, I don't need all these grab bars in the shower.' Guess what? I use them all of the time. And I don't even realize that I'm hanging on to it when I'm turning around in the shower because of the slippery surface, and I'm glad they're there." Visit PathwayDC.com or call 206-937-4809 for more information. If you're in the Seattle area, mention Answers for Elders to get a free consultation. Paul will come out, check out your home, make sure that it is safe, and talk about different potential projects, whether for now or in the future. National Homebuilders Association website At Answers for Elders: Bathroom Safety GuideAging in Place Checklist

What is the most important question every family should ask before hiring anyone to care for a senior loved one? Host Suzanne Newman is joined by Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements and Ellie Brown from Chateau Retirement to share their answers. This segment continues the conversation at Answers for Elders Radio in a new monthly series by Trustcasters™, vetted professionals who raise the bar in senior care. Suzanne says, "I'm going to say something very, very bold. I would bet 50% of placement advisors, if not more, should not be serving our seniors. They are not educated. They don't have the ethics or the morality. I have heard nightmare stories from people that think that they can serve our seniors. Daphne, what are some key questions that every family should have at the very forefront before they even get into hiring anyone?" Daphne answers for placement advisors, "Families get connected to advisors in a variety of ways, depending upon what their story is. They’re in a hospital, in a rehab, social worker, it's a variety of things. And so I think first of all, , 'Why are you recommending these people to me? What are they about? What do they stand for? How are they going to help me? Are they going to listen to me?' I mean, just the basics. "And then as you meet them, number one thing I'd ask them: 'What is your highest value in helping my family?' And depending upon how long it takes them to answer that, you'll know if they even thought about it. That should roll off their tongue, as 'Why are you even doing this job?' You ask them that, you'll get an answer." Ellie answers for senior living communities, "It's a family coming into a community. The questions that should be asked are: Who owns this building? Who really owns this building, and are you the operator, manager, or do you manage the building for the asset, for the bank? It's not wrong if you manage it, but what it means is, who owns the building, what what's the longevity of that building? What are the values of that company? How how truly regional are you? Those kinds of questions matter. And then, what is your tenure of your staff, and what are your staffing patterns, and what's your survey results? "I mean, start asking about care, stop getting blown away by the bells and whistles. If it's new and shiny, don't get spun by that. I got hit by that when I came into the industry for my mom. I got spun by the the prettiness of a new building, the shiny penny. And I didn't know the correct questions to ask. What is your philosophy? What is your value system with your tenants? Show me that. You show me that, then you're going to have somebody that all the way through is going to be caring for your loved one in all the right ways." When it comes to caring for older adults, trust isn’t optional—it’s essential. Learn more at AnswersForElders.com. Learn more about Daphne and Pinnacle Senior Placements at 1-855-734-1500 or visit PinnacleSeniorPlacements.com. Visit Pinnacle's specialist page on Answers for Elders. Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit them online or call 800.960.1944. Visit

Answers for Elders Radio debuts a monthly series called Trustcasters™, by vetted professionals who are raising the bar in senior care. Host Suzanne Newman is joined by Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements and Ellie Brown from Chateau Retirement continue their conversation about the state of the industry. This segment delves into the differences in the journey that families go through today in realizing that senior loved ones need care. Suzanne says, "I am fortunate, the fact that my mom lived at Chateau Pacific, and I always say my boot camp of learning this industry was its staff... But I realize now how rare that is... There's so much confusion in senior living. [Even] if someone is already living there, they still don't know necessarily the resources that may be available to them... There's obviously a secret source that Chateau Retirement has, but I think, really, that's the difference between it and so many others out there in the industry." Ellie says, "Back in the old days, I'm sure there was a lot of handshake, and a lot of networking in-person, whether it's a church or events or what have you. Maybe it used to be grandma, your church, your network. [Now] a lot of people go inside in their homes at night and shut the garage door, and it's online... I think we could put any industry in this conversation, and know that with the advent of social media, and the different levels of social media, and the instant information, and the viral. And then if you add deep pockets to nationwide operators, the people that are speaking the loudest on those platforms that are buying the most ads, that becomes the narrative, that becomes the place, right? "So senior living... the journey now, it's like a snake, there's so many points of context. There's so much research by the families, it's a longer search pattern now. It takes longer for them to get to the community. And there's more stops along the way. And there's a lot of distraction... So it's like anything, discretion, right? Consumer beware, discretion. And I think we need to decide what is our value, right? What is what are you really looking for? Are you looking for the best deal or are you looking for the best place and if you put money over the best place, you're wrong, right out of the gate. So if it looks like it's too good of a deal, it probably is." Daphne adds, "At the same time, we are in a time where some people — some decades of life — have one one foot in paper and one foot in digital. And so that is also adding to the the confusion. This group of people — those are the people we're still working with — shut down. They just stop. 'Okay, I'm doing nothing because it's beyond me. I don't even know how to navigate this world.' And so that's another thing that's happening. It happens every single week in my world. And I'm talking to 50-, 60-year-old children. We don't even know how to navigate this anymore." Ellie adds, "Or one viral bad video of a horrible experience that gets millions of views clouds the perception. Okay, it's like anything. One bad seed can pollute the whole thing, but that doesn't mean it's all bad... Maybe we should be educating on what to run from. Run! I think once we have families in our pocket, we're very expert at having those conversations, once we're with them. But there's a whole journey happening. Or not happening." Daphne agrees, "I would say it's not happening more than it's happening... And some of that, I think, it's just our times. We can talk about that sandwich generation. I think they're more exhausted. I don't think they have the bandwidth to embrace mom and dad's issues. I don't think they have the time, or that's a part of the perception that they have, in the day in the life of an American right now. And so what happens, the stories that I hear are, 'Mom says she's fine, so she's fine.' So there's a shut down before they even get anywhere." Ellie says, "I'm a business...

In a world where anyone can claim to be a senior care expert, who can you really trust? This month, Answers for Elders Radio debuts a new series of episodes by Trustcasters™, vetted professionals who are raising the bar in senior care. Trustcasters™ episodes will talk about what every family needs to know before choosing care for a loved one. From licensing to leadership, we’re pulling back the curtain — so you don’t get misled by unqualified, or even worse, unethical providers. This month, host Suzanne Newman is joined by Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements and Ellie Brown from Chateau Retirement to start the conversation about the state of the industry. How do you ask the proper questions? How to you can you navigate this very complex journey of choosing care for a senior loved one? Suzanne says, "What we have seen in our industry in many ways is tragic. Since COVID, from my perspective, seeing the anguish and the confusion in families has been overwhelming. People don't know if they will have Medicare tomorrow. They're confused about their Social Security. They're confused about their financials. As aging seniors start to fail physically and mentally, their vulnerability makes them even more scared." Daphne says, "What I'm finding from families right now is a real a hunkering down, a pull within to rely on their own resources, their own intellect, doing their own nominal research, trying to educate themselves on their own... "The journey of finding care — when someone can no longer stay at home or they're in a vulnerable position because of an illness or cognitive issues — having somebody walk alongside you is probably one of the most important things that you could do in the journey... It's very much like if you had children in child care, you had resources amongst your parenting groups, a church, your neighborhood, whatever it was that you reached out to each other. We're not even doing that. I'm very active in the church that I attend, and people know what I do, but they're not reaching out to me. And so the phone calls that I get now are to fix a situation. "In the 25 years that I've been doing this job, I would have thought by now that [senior care providers] would have had a presence of an all levels, no matter what means or what community of care you choose. That our education would be high enough that our community would know more. They know less. And because people are withdrawing, because people are unsure about who to trust, they're making more mistakes." Ellie says, "Well, I'm one of those people that's actually grateful for COVID, because it shook the industry up. So my recommendation is we can't stop now, because the shake-up needs to continue. In fact, COVID made us look at practices and operations, and care and communication, and not just infection control, but all the manner of assisted living, independent living, and memory care, and how we communicate and get that messaging out. Great... "But now we need to look at the practices at a legislative level. As an industry level, what are the metrics, what are the policies? We need to grow up. We need to become more professional in our industry. Where other industries have so many metrics and protocols that would be followed, we just don't have that quite yet, in certain areas in our industry. And I'm not talking about the state, in the surveys, and the care. I'm talking about the cottage industry that surrounds senior living... the providers, the home health, the home care, but also the paid advisors. What does that mean, and what do we really look like? What do we stand for, and what are the highest standards? What is our code of ethics? And then drill it down from there." When it comes to caring for older adults, trust isn’t optional—it’s essential. Learn more at

The loss of a senior parent brings home renewed urgency for adult children to have difficult conversations with aging parents who struggle with declining health. Ellie Brown, VP of Sales at Chateau Retirement, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to share the story of the recent loss of her father. Ellie says, "My own father, who has been a life force for my senior living career forever, because he's refusing to go live in 'those senior living places,' wants to be on his own. And the conversations in my own life have been trying to build the urgency with my family members, and him, to realize it is not a failure to move into senior living. You aren't admitting defeat because you decide you want to be in a safe environment, or you can live independently but maybe you don't need care yet, but you started falling. "My own father has been having medical issues, and falls, and falls, and me every Sunday for hours, 'Dad, I really want you to consider moving into senior living, because we know, Dad, it's proven that once you start [having] these falls... the rates exceptionally accelerate that you're going to have a traumatic fall. And your wish is to hold on to this ideal that you're going to somehow pass in your sleep, miraculously.' "And so I went on my vacation on July 20th -- and took him up for Father's Day in May, and gave him a hug, and I said, I'm going on vacation on the 20th. My last directive to you is no falling, and don't get into any trouble. So I was on my vacation and he was having a good time. He was talking about his tomatoes and having a lovely summer. And on the Saturday night before I flew out, I got the call from Harborview Trauma Center that he had had that tragic, traumatic fall. And he had been alone for hours upon hours in his home. And, and there we were, me trying to get back home. "And it was the Don't Wait Too Late — which I have the trademark pending already for. Now I'm living it. I respect that he had, and everybody has, the right to say, I choose to stay home. Do they really understand what that does to the grandkids, and the great grandkids, and the daughters, and the sons, who now have to live the trauma of the Trauma Unit at Harborview? I don't know that they truly understand that. "So how do we build the urgency to say, it's not defeat? No, it is not defeat to say, 'This next adventure, I'm going to embrace that. This next adventure, I'm going to go in there and make it what I need and want it to be.' My dad was cognitively fine. He was fine. He could have done cognitively another ten, 15 years... Don't Wait Too Late is getting ahead of it, because if you're ahead of it, you get to choose where. "So let's say my dad had survived this fall. He would have been still injured enough where he wouldn't have been on the front end of that decision. Did we lose some years because I didn't effectively get him convinced? Maybe. "My personal story is a teaching moment for us all. How do we build urgency without scaring people away, but also have that hard conversation to say it's time, or something's going to happen. You're either not going to survive — and it's going to be brutal for your family — or you're not on the front end of that decision, because then all sorts of other things come into play. Do you have the right POA, do you have the right executor?" Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit them online or call 800.960.1944. Also visit

We are honored today to talk about stories of the past., the richest stories with our older adults, and think about the history and legacy that they bring to our lives. Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast is joined by Chris Serold, former VP of Marketing at Chateau Retirement who collects stories of their senior living residents. As she quotes from one collection, A Legacy of Reflections: "Our life on Earth is represented by a hiking trail in the Pacific Northwest wilderness or mountain setting. Many days of our lives are spent walking. Sometimes we walk alone. Sometimes we walk with others. Family, friends, teachers, coworkers. Doctors, advisors. Helpers and caregivers. Our walk of life may include adventure, challenges, building relationships, love, growth, leadership and sadness." This book, Legacy of Reflections, is a compilation of the stories of residents who have passed away or moved from Chateau at Bothell Landing prior to 2025. Chris explains, "I had worked at Chateau since 2000. In the year 2010, I retired. About eight months later, my phone rang, and it was the executive director at the building at the time. And he said, I'm calling because we need an activity director. And I said, 'You want a 69-year-old activity director?' ... So I did the activity director job until 2016. And then I retired again. In 2016, the owner of the company. Jim Godfrey, wanted me to write resident stories, so that the staff could read their stories and have a better understanding of the people they serve. "So I came back and did Resident Stories, and then it was maybe a year. And pretty soon the residents started saying to me, 'What are you doing with our stories?' And so I told them that we would put them in books for the staff lounges. And they said, 'Well, can we read the stories?' And I said, 'Sure, I will make up books that we will put in the libraries and the lobby areas, so that you can sit and read the stories.' "Invariably, if I asked a resident, or I talked to a resident, about doing their story, they say to me, 'I really don't have a story.' And so I have to remind them that everybody has a story... maybe we should just sit and talk about their lives... And if the staff is reading them, the staff, this is a new education for the staff. They have no idea what it is to live without running water. They have no idea what it is to go to a one-room schoolhouse. And so when they start to read these stories, then it is it sparks a conversation. Not only with that resident, but it sparks a conversation with the staff when they are in the staff lounges." Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton. Visit them online or call 800.960.1944. Also visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders to hear more of their shows. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks. Mentioned in this episode: Chateau Retirement Chateau Retirement