Senior Living in Your 60s: Cadence Kent-Meridian

*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.

Welcome to the answers for elders radio show. meet the trusted experts who will give you straight answers and will help guide you on the path of later life care. Now here’s your host, founder, caregiver and CEO, Susanne Newman, and welcome everyone to the answers for alders radio network. And we’re so excited to be here on a beautiful summer month of August in the Pacific northwest and certainly for all of us that are enjoying summer activities and things like that. Um, a lot of us may be looking around our home and going you know, there’s just a lot to do. I know right now with me, with the sun being out, you know, I’m enjoying my garden, I’m enjoying a lot of things like that, but it’s like, it seems like there’s so many tours that have to get done because we’ve got these minimal time to get things accomplished and then, at least for those of us that are in our late sixties and early seventies, we’re kind of going. You know, it’s just a lot. It gets to be a lot and you know, I am really excited to have back and we have had her on a while ago, but I’m certainly thrilled to have her back, and that is Tracy Harvey from cadence living in Kent, Meridian, Washington. And Tracy, welcome back to answers for ELDERSH radio network. We’re so glad you’re here. Thank you. You know, Tracy, I am noticing really lately, and Um we’ve been talking about this a lot in our in our interviews and on our program there’s kind of been an evolution of senior living in the fact that there’s a lot of up of really customizing services for that younger senior Um people that instead of, you know, thinking that Oh, I’m going to go live in senior living when I’m, you know, eighty years old, you know, instead it’s like now I’m gonna be in senior living when I’m sixty five or sixty two. I don’t need this big house anymore. And guess what, I can live, you know, high on the hog the rest of my life. You know, I can be retired, I can be, you know, totally have all of my needs met and I don’t have to take care of all of those details. And you guys are really at the crest of that wave and I’m really excited to hear a little bit more about how things are going. I know you’ve shared with us a little bit about your community, but Phillis in. What’s new? Well, it’s exciting stuff because we’ve been officially opened in license and we had our grand opening in July. So we are welcoming senior sixty two and over into our building and we’ve just it’s we have the studios, the one bedrooms, the two bedrooms and exactly with what you’re sharing. The shift is happening because people want to have control, they want to enjoy their passions and pursue their passions and if they can, they feel like downsizing was a good time, and so they were making retirement plans and they’re traveling and they’re wanting people to cook their meals for them and do their house cleaning, and that’s what modern aging is all about and the active ages that we have here. It’s just an amazing community that we’re building and, as we’ll see later with the team, there’s a team that we’ve assembled that absolutely pulls it all together to make their lives easier. But we’re just definitely very excited and having a great summer so far. Well, it is so great to hear from you because oftentimes, you know, people have this impression and part of it is the fault of our industry. I will say that’s true. We spoke as so much on care needs that people get an idea that when we walk into senior living it’s gonna be this Downer. But that’s really not what it is and and I’m really seeing so much more in the way of really meeting the needs of that young, active, Um senior where you could do more things and enjoy more things. Um, you know, you don’t have to, Um, worry about you know who’s who’s gonna take you know what are my plans when I’m gone or you know how am I going to deal with? WHO’s going to pick up my mail and all those things. If I want to take a vacation, I can, you know, live in a place like caden’s kept Meridian and I could go on a two week cruise and not have to worry about my home, you know, and where I you know, being taken care of and I don’t have to worry about the maintenance of taking care of a home and Um, you know, it’s so interesting right now you know, with the with the housing market the way it is. I have a friend right now she just sold her condominium. She paid for it like maybe five, six years ago. Um, she paid three nine for it. She just sold it. It was almost over seven hundred thousand dollars. So it’s amazing how that Um, you know, has evolved and having the ability to free up all of that money to be able to do things in your life. And you know, there’s so much of an opportunity that we have together to do that. So, Tracy, you guys have been open now, just in July, and you’re having people move in. What, what kind of feedback are you getting? We’re getting great feedback and I think more than anything, it’s the same old thing that you hear a lot where families like I wish we had done this sooner, Um, and but the ones that we’re getting and the ones we’re moving people in everything, which is wonderful. But Um, I think that they’re really really enjoying the food. Um, it’s something that they you know, they didn’t really realize how much time they were spending grocery shopping, the gas prices, running errands all the time. We’re driving them to these places. So, UM, they’re really enjoying our events that you had some wonderful events. You know. We obviously we had our grand opening, but we have a lull that is an event coming up this week and then next week we have meet the Mayor Event on the twenty five that I invite any of our listeners to. Um. That starts at eleven o’clock and goes to one and we have a wonderful Kent Mayor. We’ve been participating in farmer’s market at Kent Down at downtown Kent, so Nice. It’s been happening on the weekend. So we’re really thrilled. We have a partnership with the Kent Downtown Association where we also do wine walk is coming up in the fall. So we’re really loving connecting with the local Kent Community and everyone that lives here well and it it’s really nice and, like we talked about before, Kent Hasn’t seen a new community come in to, you know, of cutting edge like you are until now and this is such a great opportunity. And just for our listeners, Um, there’s some certain things that you shared with us, but I really want to talk a little bit about your location and your dug out that you have. Tell us a little bit about how the uniqueness of your building, sorry uniqueness of the building. I was just talking with the family yesterday and so I shared with them when they said they were going to do with some drive arounds, and they’re from out south of here, and I said, well, don’t just drive around because it’s not going to give you the full flavor of what we’re about. Because, yes, we are situated right behind Kent Kent High School, which we’re overlooking their baseball field. We have a wonderful outdoor space we call the dug out, with lovely furniture and the Marbecue Grille and the whites and the PAT and the patio that overlooks it. So we call it the dug out. Flowers that are residents and volunteers have put together down there is amazing as you look at the wetlands that we have behind us as well. And then we have Um. When you come in the facility of the community, we have big, huge open spaces and we have three levels. So our apartments could be anywhere from a studio Um to a two bedroom, but they’re all equally space so there’s not a lot of hall walking but some beautiful views of Mount Rainier. Um You could look at the Olympics. So it really is an oasis in itself, with Patios off our main dining room that we call Tahoma, and we have a rooftop deck as well. There are so many wonderful spaces in addition to all the life engagement things that we do here to keep people engaged, that it’s one of those things you don’t want to just drive by, you want to come in and have some yeah, and obviously you guys do, Um, and we’re going to meet your director of resident services in our next segment and we’re gonna talk a little bit about the assisted living side. But that’s the great thing is you guys have that safety net. So if you come in and you’re very independent and vibrant, there’s still that safety net of people that can take care of you. And would you share a little bit about how that works? I sure will. Um, we have a hud apartments and they all are licensed for insisted living. But because you come in as an independent does not mean you are going to be under services immediately. It’s for down the road and that’s the residents that we are have right now are for people being very proactive with their help. Maybe their loved ones will live out a state or they don’t want to be a burden to their water in the area. They want to make sure someone else is here to care for them. From a MED management perspective, maybe it’s just they’ve had a hip injury and they have to have surgery and they need help getting around and having o t and PTU will have on site Um uh services as well as well as a beauty shop. So there’s so many amenities that they could enjoy here. And at the top you mentioned the resident that to travel. We have those here and it’s amazing. Like I’m not getting ready for an Arizona trip, but just got back from a cruise. So it’s very feel and you know, it’s so amazing because I know, Um, you know, how often do I talk to people and they say, well, I’m not ready yet, and I don’t understand that that answer because if if somebody is trying to take care of the house and you know, and maybe I’m not ready to let go yet. But there’s so much more to consider and I think one of the things that is really exciting about, you know, this type of a shift in senior living is the fact that giving you the opportunity to enjoy all amenities while you’re still vibrant and and, you know, moving and and uh, you know, you can connect with people that are like you and active, and then you know, as your needs progress, you know that you’ll always be there and they can build that circle around them, which is really wonderful. So, Tracy, tell us a little bit about where you’re located. We’re gonna meet your team here this hour, which is really fun and Um, so tell us a little bit about where you’re located and how people can reach you. Okay, Great. We’re located on what local just called Benson road. It’s one oh four, next to Red Robin, downtown and Kent and less than a mile from downtown and the Kent Station is nearby and Public Transit. You call us, we would love to hear from you and I’d love to talk to you more. Uh Too. Five three three, one two D and the site is cadence Kent Meridian. Yes, cadence KENT MERIDIAN DOT COM. and Go ahead and give the number one more time, Tracy. Two, five, three, three, one two hundred fabulous and I bet you anything we’re gonna be meeting coming up Um the resident service director and also with a chef. And I bet you anything, if someone comes and visits you, that you would treat them to a lunch or at dinner. Would you not? Absolutely I I encourage it. Yes, absolutely. So we’re gonna be right back. Tracy and I are going to be back with two of the staff members. I’m very excited. Right after this, we it answers for elders. Thank you for listening. Did you know that you can discover hundreds of podcasts in our library on senior care? So visit our website and discover our decision guides. That will help you also navigate decision making. Find us at answers for elders. DOTOR