All About The Cottages of Renton

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following podcast is provided by care partners, living and answers for elders radio, and welcome back to everyone to answers for elders radio is we are here with a very special guest today and I am doing a live interview. So I’m so thrilled to be with Tanya Hilson from the cottages of Renton. And the cottages is a specific community just for seniors that have dementia and Alzheimer’s and Tanya, welcome to answers for alders radio. I’m so glad you’re with. You so much. Thank you so much. You know, you and I met a while ago. Um, I remember at the Kirkland Um twelve days of goodness. I remember you right away. That beautiful hair. Oh well, thank you. Gray hair, it’s like is the trademark right. But I want to talk a little bit about your beautiful facility and certainly the cottages concert and you know, I know with those that have family members with Alzheimer’s and dementia, there’s a lot of uh, you know, I guess, concern about if my loved one goes to a memory care type situation, it’s like they’re gonna be in these places where they can’t leave and they’re gonna be, you know, just locked into this you know, clinical nursing home kind of thing, and that is not what the cottages so tell us about the cottages. So Um, one of the things about the cottages that I like, in particular working with families who have loved ones has been diagnosed with Demitia of Alzheimer’s, is that they feel like they’re sending them away, send them off somewhere in Neverland or somewhere. But I also want to make sure that people understand that we’re here to take care of their loved ones. We want them to Um, embrace this new setting. This is home. So we want to create their family type of setting for them. We want them to feel like you belong, and that’s so important to me as the marketing director, when I have their first conversation, whether it’s in person or on the telephone, that that person realized your loved one is going to feel like home for them. We want that, and so our staff, they are trained to make sure that each person feels like we’re part of the family. Now you’re here, you belong and we appreciate you. And I know so many families out there that they’re struggling to take care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia, and it’s just how many times do I say to a family it is above your pay grade? People reach a certain point where you are not capable, you’re doing a disservice to your loved one, even though you think you’re doing the right thing. But it can absolutely cause all types of not only on safety with, you know, with your loved ones. And there’s why do you think the name silver alert became a thing? Because a lot of times if a if a dementia or Alzheimer’s person, they’ll just leave the house and hit off with the car and, Um, so those things happen and certainly it’s an overwhelming thing for seniors to be able to have to you know, uh, to be in a situation where they’re not taken care of, and so to have a place where it’s beautiful, there’s they can go outside, they can be a part of a family and you have the peace of mind, as an adult child, of knowing that your loved one is loved and safe. Um, that’s the rest of their lives and not even have to worry about because you guys take Medicaid, that they will never ever have to move or leave if they run out of money. Exactly we have that. Medicaid has been down and so um that’s one of the things I’ve talked to families about and I tell them the Medicaid has been down. We have the largest floating license in Washington, the state of Washington, which means we don’t have just a certain amount of bed so when your loved one runs out of money, they can still stay there. We want you to have that type of reassurance in the beginning, before you sign a contract, before you pay a deposit, before you pay first and last Mona Rent, you know your love one have a place to live as long as we can meet their care needs. We want them there. Absolutely, absolutely, and the cottage is concept. Tanya, tell me a little bit about what makes it so unique. What makes it so unique is the layout. That’s one of the things. The layout, and we talked about especially this time of the year we have this beautiful degree weather. Okay, residents are free to walk outside, enjoy the sunshine, enjoy the breeze. They have that they can walk out of their doors because each cottage we have three different cottages and each cottage residents are able to walk out of there when they want to walk out. In our lock community is a lock courtyard, but they can walk around, they can look at the trees, the beautiful flowers, all of that, and they just feel like wow, I’m free. I saw not too long ago on your social media. I don’t know which cottages was, but I think it was rented you get. They were doing a barbecue outside. We did, yeah, Bourth of July. Yes, yes, yes, that was the cottages that renting and they were so excited and I pretty much hyped it up all week and I kept telling them, okay, Friday we’re going to Um have hamburgers, hot dogs, and they were so excited and they said, Oh, can we have potato sat I was like yes, and somebody said can we have baked beans? I said yes, and can we have wallermelon? Yes, and so the dining person kept saying we added more and more. I said yes, this is what they want, but they were so excited. It felt like so they’re part of it. They were they yes, yes, I said, do you want blues? Yes, we want ballues. What color ware? White and blue. So they were so excited the entire week leading up to this cook out. Huh. And you know, that’s such a point which we’ve talked to Kelly Smith quite a bit about why it’s so important for those with dementia to have a sense of purpose every day. And so they she says, you know, we do things like helps at the table. Yes, we do things like Um full of laundry, Um, so that people feel like if they’re doing something, they’re contributing. It’s more like their home. It is, and that to me was just really amazing, because not every place doesn’t like that. Now you’re not a patient, you are a member of a family, a family. Yeah, yeah, and I think that’s really what sets the cottages apart. And I also love the fact that there’s three small buildings, so you have a maximum of how many residents per building? Twenty maximum. Maximum residents per building for the cottages of rent is a total sixty residents we can have at one time. So it’s small. It’s small, intimate Setti and residents are free to go to different cottages. A lot of them like to go, love that adage, and watch TV with the buddy that they’ve met over there, or they just like to go and have lunch with somebody, Um, that they think they recognize, you know, and that’s fine. They may think this Bob from back, you know, back in the day, and it goes. That’s okay, it’s okay. So they have free to do that. Um, at nighttime, when it’s time to go to bed, they gotta find everybody, like, okay, make sure they’re just in the right room and the right back is. Yeah, that is kind of one of the things they do. But well, and you know, that is a key part, I think, a big part of why this is so valuable. I think because we tend to, you know, not think about that person that’s sitting at home with Alzheimer’Sas Dementia. You know, what do they do with their time, with their day, and their brain processes things so much different. So having those types of activities and understanding about how the brain with dementia works, and I was just sharing with in an earlier segment here about, Um, you know, how I got educated, because my mom had dementia. She had vascular dementia, but it was different in the fact that she would not remember things in the right sequence or the right Um order and she would say things that like it didn’t make sense, you know, and I correct her and then she’d get angry with me because I was correcting her because you don’t do that right. So I learned a lot from people like you. You became, you know, your staff, type of staff, became my greatest support network as a family member, as a daughter of somebody that had a loved one. I could say, you know, I’m having a challenge with my mom or with my dad and I don’t know how to do this. You guys are just as much there for families, and I think that’s the key thing about having you know, you guys really become an advocate for both the family and the loved one. And how does the work? It was one thing I can say when I’m listening to you talk, you have to become a fast thinker. I mean in situation just the other day, a daughter was visiting her mom and she was getting ready to lead and the daughter wanted to go with her, but the mother want to go with her daughter and she kept saying, don’t leave me, don’t leave me, stay here with me, and so the executive director saw this going on and so he kind of like jumped in and he says to her. He’s like, Oh, no, eleanor, you can’t leave. You forgot what we’re supposed to do today, and she was like what he said? We have a date tonight, so you can’t leave me. Yeah, it was so funny. She was like, Oh, okay, I gotta stay because I have a date tonight, you know. So you have to just stink quick on your feet. When, when she was wanting to lead, it’s like, no, you have to stay here because we have a date tonight, and so she was willing to stay. I’ll see him. That was the thing that’s so great because having a trained stuff that totally understands the whole how that brand works. And you know, it’s like how many times do people, you know, talk a about the story of, you know, mom has Alzheimer’s and dad died five years ago and she thinks that Dad wants to know where dad is. And how do you answer that? How do you answer those questions? You know, how do you deal with those things? And I think that’s one of the things that you guys can help families interact more successfully and so they they don’t have to relive the death of their loved one over and over again. Oh, Dad’s just that the story, he’ll be back later, and five minutes later she’s forgotten that she’s asked that. But the thing is is sometimes, I think we as family members feel like we have to give them the truth about everything when, in actuality, what they’re doing is when you say dad died, they’re having to relive the relieve the pain of the pain, and so that’s the thing I think that, you know, having a resource like care partners like the cottages, Um, you guys are there for the families and I love that. I exact and so even when they come in to visit, I can share a story with them about what happened yesterday or what happened last week with their love when it makes them feel like wow, you’re really paying a tangent. Yeah, and that’s what they like. So if you have a loved one, Um that and you’re in the UN rented area, Um, we would love to have you come and meet Tanya. Call and how do we reach you, Tanya? Our phone number at Renton. I have to actually look it up. I always give out my cell phone numbers. I’ll actually give you the number to the cottages. You could actually go to the website to care partners living and just click on renting um in your community and you come up right there and just ask for Tanya and Tanya Um. You guys do have openings right now? We do. We do have openings now and for the month of August we’re actually waving part of the movie and fee, so Thans can save up to two thousand dollars on moving fees for the month of August. Perfect. Definitely call and book a tour. I would love for them would come out and see how a beautiful community wonderful. Thank you so much for being on the show with you. Very welcome. Thanks for having me. The preceding podcast was provided by care partners living and answers for elders radio. To contact care partners living, go to care partners living dot com.