Senior Care Live: June 6, 2026

Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with David Wiley, President & CEO of Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care and Patty Poore, RN, Director of Clinical Services with KCHPC.  David and Patty discuss their Veteran’s Program honoring every veteran’s service at the end of life, their involvement in Honor Flight, and the KC Hospice Nurse Honor Guard, a tribute to nurses at the end of life, recognizing their service, compassion, and commitment to the profession.  David also discusses the KC Hospice Celebration of Life Program and recognizes Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) Week!  Steve has a Consumer Alert about misinformation in the market regarding Medicaid and reviews Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs).  #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise #VA #VAAidandAttendance #LongTermCare #Medicaid #Medicare #Hospice #PalliativeCare #KansasCity #CCRC    

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Transcript

Speaker 3 0:01 Speaker 4 0:23

Hello, and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Kuker, your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program today with my friend and special guest in studio, David Wiley. He's the president and CEO of Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care, and Patty Poore. She's a registered nurse and the director of clinical services again with Kansas City and Palliative Care. And David and Patty, welcome back to Senior Care Live. Good to be here today. Thank you. I'll tell you what, I'm always interested in just jumping right into our topic. This is going to be really, really good. And I've seen a ton of news stories out there about celebrating America's 250th anniversary this summer. I'm really excited about that. And , quite a milestone. And that would include celebration celebrating with our armed forces. And I know you've always done a lot of work with veterans at the end of life. So what does that look like for you , right now, David?

Speaker 1:24

You know, you're right, Steve. , this has been a big news story. It's incredible to be here in our country on its 250th birthday. And you're right, for many years we've had the privilege of celebrating so many Kansas City area veterans at the end of life. Our veterans program is one we're very proud of. We've actually been , working to , really reinvigorate just in time for the 250th celebration, but the heart of it remains the same, and I'll say it again, it's one of our favorites.

Speaker 4 1:54

All right, that's great. I just can't wait to hear about it. Just in time for summer and the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of America.

Speaker 2:02

That's right. As our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, we're proud to rededicate ourselves to those who have given so much in its defense. We've always believed in supporting veterans in Kansas City area as they faced end of life, and we help ensure that they receive the dignity, recognition, and specialized care that they've earned. I want to introduce my colleague, Patty Poore. She's , amazing, and she's our director of clinical services at Kansas City Hospice. She's celebrating her 31st year with our company. This is a week. Wow. Yeah, isn't that impressive? Yeah. And , she's been involved with our We Honor Veterans program and another important program, the honor flight, which I think is just amazing.

Speaker 5 2:49

Hi, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:51

Patty, 31 years. Yes. You must like it there.

Speaker 5 2:54

I love it, yes. I really do. I do. , if you're not familiar, oh yes, I've been on 18 honor flights, including last fall with five other of our Kansas City Hospice nurses, which was a great trip. , as an organization, we've been involved with honor flight since 2013 when we launched our program honoring veterans at the end of life. So this seemed like a natural fit. If you're not familiar, participation in an honor flight trip gives veterans the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC, and maybe most importantly, to share this momentous occasion with other comrades to remember the fallen and share their stories and experiences with other veterans. Honored veterans always travel free of charge, thanks to generous donors. As nurses, we're along to escort these heroes as they see the as see as they see their memorials in Washington, which is just amazing. It's probably the most wonderful thing I've ever done.

Speaker 4 3:54

Well, and I'll tell you what, I've I've heard about honor flights, I've read about them, and I just cannot imagine what an experience that would be. It 's probably indescribable, I would think.

Speaker 5 4:04

Absolutely.

Speaker 4 4:05

And so, you know, I've heard of , , honor flights, and I don't know exactly how they work. So I love that you participated in that , multiple times, and that's just true dedication.

Speaker 5 4:18

Yes, thank you. It is, it's incredible. It's it's an honor to be a part of it, and our partnership is so meaningful for that for the for us and for them. , but I want to get back to talking about our own program for veterans that David mentioned, which empowers our Kansas City hospice care teams to continue to meet the unique needs of veterans and their families at the end of life.

Speaker 4 4:40

Okay, so what does that look like to one of your team members and to the veteran and their family?

Speaker 5 4:47

Through team member education, respectful inquiry, compassionate listening, and grateful acknowledgement, we honor every veteran's service, not just in words, but in action. This program acknowledges with pride our systematic commitment to improving end-of-life care for veterans.

Speaker 5:07

It also includes um specialized care, ,, which addresses the unique health challenges veterans may carry, including PTSD, moral injury, and service-related conditions , acknowledgement and education, ,, equips our team members to identify veterans, deliver meaningful education, and conduct community outreach. We also provide actionable tools, which means that we are able to provide resources to help train team members, engage veteran to veteran volunteers, and connect families with the VA benefits. And then also , recognition and ceremony. So these honor service through special end-of-life ceremonies, including flag presentations and pinning ceremonies, , meaningful moments of tributes of at a very meaningful time of life. And just in the first quarter, Steve, um, we had 123 veterans that we served, five of which were from World War II.

Speaker 4 6:08

Wow.

Speaker 6:08

And of those, 46 opted to have this really impactful ceremony. Wow. It's , it's an incredible , thing to witness. And of course, we complete the ceremony only if the veteran wants it. And for many , veterans and their families, this might be the very first and only time that their families are hearing anything about their loved ones' time and service. It's touching and it's an emotional ceremony.

Speaker 4 6:34

That is, you cannot put a value on that. Right. Because they don't know what their loved one, their dad. I mean, you you've known him for how many decades, your husband, your wife, and you don't know these stories, and now you're just now learning about them. It's it's invaluable.

Speaker 6:50

It really is. It's , it's an honor and it's a privilege, and um the ability for for these folks to to witness that, but also for the person on our service that's so important. And everything our veteran men and women deserve. Yeah, you're right. You know, and we're very proud to do it. We also have a really cool program that I want to share about, which honors nurses that we rolled out in 2025 called Our Nurse Honor Guard. And , Patty was really inspirational and integral in getting this program off the ground for our company. She worked to get this done with , some of her colleagues, and , I'm excited to have her share it about with you. All right, and we all know how important nurses are.

Speaker 4 7:34

I'm married to a nurse. Yeah, so I'm all about the nurses. So , , Patty, , tell us more about that new program.

Speaker 5 7:41

Okay. Well, , the nurse honor guard is so special, Steve. , I'm glad I get to share it with you. At Kansas City Hospice, our nurse honor guard offers a meaningful tribute to nurses at the end of life, recognizing their service, compassion, and commitment to the profession. Dressed in traditional white uniforms with nursing caps and capes, the members of the honor guard perform a brief, dignified ceremony during the funeral or memorial service of a nurse at the end of their life. It might also take place while the nurse is still alive. The tribute includes the reading of the nightingale tribute, the placing of a rose symbolizing the nurse's dedication, and the ceremonial ringing of a triangle during a final roll call of the nurse's name. A symbolic nightingale lamp is carried in, lit, then extinguished, and presented to the family along with words of comfort. We've had the privilege since we began the program last year to perform ceremonies for some of our former Kansas City Hospice nurses. In fact, our very first ceremony was at bedside of a nurse who had worked for us just about 10 years ago. , she was still fairly alert and recognized us, and that was just so meaningful, and I think it really got our program off to a great start.

Speaker 4 8:58

And I love they're dressed in white, they have the hats and the capes and everything. , that's just beautiful. And it's so meaningful.

Speaker 5 9:07

Yeah, and we've actually had the privilege just since July of last year when we started to do 30 of these honor guard services.

Speaker 9:14

So Steve, I'll just tell you that families are just so moved to have their loved ones recognized for all the love and time , that they put into the nursing careers. You know how hard nurses work. , I get to witness it every day. I'll also just mention that everyone who participates in the ceremonies is a Kansas City hospice nurse who's volunteering their time to actually be at the ceremony um to see the nurses come in in their traditional nursing attire. It it really is impactful.

Speaker 5 9:46

Yeah, and we were really thrilled earlier this year to have won a program award from the Missouri Hospice and Palliative Care Association for the work of the Kansas City Hospice Nurse Honor Guard. We think this program is very important and meaningful, and to have it recognized with a statewide award was was very special to us. , we certainly hope other hospices will create nurse honor guards in their own cities because nurses and families deserve it.

Speaker 4 10:13

That's fantastic. If you have questions about this, want to learn more, reach out to Kansas City Hospice at kchospice.org or just give a phone call, 816-363-2600. And now, the Senior Care Live question of the week. Veteran ceremonies and nurse honor guards are performed for free if families request them. Is that statement true or false? What do you think?

Speaker 3 10:42

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.

Speaker 11:01

Many people have heard the term hospice, but most don't really understand what it means, or they think it's only meant for the very last days of life. In fact, hospice is about living life as fully as possible for as long as possible, and most families wish they had come to us much sooner. I'm David Wiley, president and CEO of Kansas City Hospice in Palliative Care. Our trusted healthcare professionals are dedicated to serving individuals at home and throughout the community with expert, compassionate care and support, addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual needs surrounding the end of life. Our caregivers focus on comfort and quality of life for our patients and support for family and friends who love and care for them. People you know, care, you trust. That's the Kansas City Hospice difference. For more information about making the right choice in hospice and palliative care for you or a loved one, please visit us at kchospice.org or call 816-363-2600.

Speaker 4 12:06

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com. All right, back to the Senior Care Live question of the week. Veteran ceremonies and nurse honor guards are performed for free if families request them. Is that statement true or false? And the answer is. True. The answer is true. And Patty, why is that statement true?

Speaker 5 12:36

Well, it's true because of generous donor and community support, Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care is able to offer programs like a veteran recognition program or the nurse honor guard at the end of life for our patients and their families.

Speaker 4 12:50

All right.

Speaker 13:04

Absolutely. You know, there is so much joy, actually, Steve. Leaning on our success of our We On Our Veterans recognition program. We believe that every life should be recognized. In fact, in 2022, we created a Celebration of Life program. And this program is championed by our team of chaplains who first confirm with the patient and or family whether they'd like to have a Celebration of Life ceremony. The chaplains have a list of questions they ask, then they place the answers in a narrative or a story format about the patient and their family for presentation as well as for a keepsake after the patient dies. Patients receive a certificate and a candle to commemorate the event. And the overall goal of this program is to celebrate a life well lived and to show respect for every patient on our service.

Speaker 5 13:52

And I remember one of the celebrations that one of our chaplains told me about for a woman named Gladys receiving hospice care at a care facility. She was, as many people can get, pleasantly confused, and most of her days are spent in a time that is not now. She loved answering the questions with our chaplain as they talked about all the wonderful memories of her life. What was unique and memorable about Gladys is she talked about these things as if they had just happened. She was very happy to get a framed certificate saying she had an important life. For many weeks she showed her certificate to anyone who entered her room. They substituted a heart pillow for the votive candle for her because she lived in a care facility. She hugged her heart pillow at night when she slept. We've been so pleased to see the number of families interested in celebrations of life. We see it as a way to deepen our relationship with the families, to improve our quality of care, and to celebrate their loved ones.

Speaker 4 14:54

Well, I can see how that could be just so special, David.

Speaker 14:59

You know, it really is special, and I think our ability to connect with families and patients in a way that brings joy is just it's crucial. And it really I think it's , just all about who we are. So I thought, you know, before we wrap up here today, Steve, I wanted to tell you that we also have something else that's important to us, and it's coming up later this month, and it's , Certified Nursing Assistant Week or CNA Week, and it's in the month of June.

Speaker 5 15:26

And we love to celebrate our certified nursing assistants all year, but yes, CNA week is June 11th through the 17th of this year.

Speaker 15:34

All right. So , tell us more about that. You know, this week was developed to honor the hard work and dedication of these caregivers, recognizing the special attention and care that they provide to patients in a variety of health care and home settings. And you know what? Let me just tell you that Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care CNAs are some of the most compassionate, skilled, and well-respected professionals within the field of hospice and palliative care and within our community. And what sets our CNAs apart from other caregivers in our area is that our nursing assistants truly have a heart for hospice. Their hearts are evident as they work hard every day to provide direct, hands-on care to patients who need assistance with daily tasks and personal care. They may also be a listening ear, assisting with difficult questions from patients and families each time that they visit. Their expert care, teamwork, and passion for what they do is incomparable to any other hospice provider in our area, and we know it because we hear it from families who that we care for.

Speaker 5 16:39

It's so true. Our certified nursing assistants are an integral part of our care team, providing holistic care to our patients and families. They bring peace of mind, comfort, hope, and heart to those we serve.

Speaker 16:54

Absolutely. So I just wanted to mention that, and I wanted to , I hope you'll join us during the National Certified Nursing Assistance Week by thanking our Kansas City Hospice CNAs and, of course, CNAs throughout the Kansas City area for their essential care that they provide patients and families every single day.

Speaker 4 17:11

Absolutely. And , and I want to say to them thank you , from myself as well. And they're an important part of your team, and I know absolutely worth celebrating. Let our listeners know about how they can learn more about your veterans program, your nurse honor guard, and , the celebration of life.

Speaker 17:30

You can find more information about all of our programs on our website, which I encourage you to do, of course, at kchospice.org forward slash industry leading care.

Speaker 4 17:41

All right, kchospice.org forward slash industry leading care. And , and I'll tell you what, a lot of times , CNAs, I work with I'm in and out of assisted living communities and long-term care communities all the time. And CNAs, they're doing the heavy lifting, figuratively and literally. And , a lot of times, frankly, I just feel they're really , kind of under maybe undervalued, and I know they're not at KC Hospice. But I just think , they need more recognition, more appreciation, because they do really hard work, and then to work in hospice, that does take a special person.

Speaker 18:22

I really think it and I'll have Patty chime in, but you know, they just , have a personal connection, they make such a difference. I remember when I first came to the company, we were doing some recognition ceremony, and I was reading a letter from a family member who just said your care just brought so much joy to me to be able to observe and brought me peace. And I just , remember that specific letter from that family who expressed that.

Speaker 5 18:49

Yeah, you know, it's amazing how much the CNA is integral to our team. You know, we have to justify that patients can stay on hospice service, and a lot of time it's the CNA that we go to to ask about the condition of the patient. Have they declined? And they're the ones that really see that decline.

Speaker 4 19:09

They're the front line right there. They are the front line, yeah.

Speaker 5 19:12

You know, were they walking when they first started seeing them and now they're bedbound, or you know, they are very integral to that.

Speaker 4 19:19

They're your eyes and ears, they're the front line and hands-on. Absolutely. Yeah, that's excellent. That's excellent. And then we can't leave without talking about the circle of lights. Sure. I mean, that blew my mind. And the weather cooperated. A little chilly for May, but , we didn't get rained on.

Speaker 19:34

Yeah, we squeezed in the ceremony between , rain showers that week before Memorial Day. We had just about a thousand luminaries that night, and six hundred and fifty people came out, even though it was a a little bit of a chilly night. Yeah. And , I thought the team did a great job pulling it together and just honoring those folks that they wanted to love that night.

Speaker 4 19:56

So someone had to , had to light a thousand luminaries. So we are we talking dozens of volunteers, I'm assuming. Absolutely.

Speaker 20:04

That event, I think we use , about 50 volunteers total between setup, lighting, and all the rest of the setup, six hundred, six hundred fifty chairs and the sound system and the whole thing.

Speaker 4 20:15

It was it could not have been more beautiful and more incredible. So thank you. I sent my mom pictures of the luminary, she loved it. ,, it was fantastic. Thank you, Steve. it's an honor to be able to do it. Again, for more information, visit KCHospice.org or call 816-363-2600. David and Patty, thanks so much , for coming in today. I really appreciate you.

Speaker 5 20:40

Thank you.

Speaker 4 20:40

We appreciate being here. All right, we'll have more coming up next.

Speaker 3 20:43

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question? Visit SeniorCareLive.com. Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.

Speaker 4 22:04

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit SeniorCareLive.com. All right, and just want to say thanks again to David and Patty from Kansas City Hospice in Palliative Care. And this is why, look, KC Hospice, the best hospice provider. Hands down, bar none. In my opinion, it's not even close. This is a nonprofit organization. They do a lot of fundraising. And so we were just talking about that circle of lights. just this beautiful, beautiful memorial. And you can make a donation with your luminary. And you don't have to. You don't have to, by the way. I did, I do every year. And all of the money through donations and fundraising stays right here in the Kansas City metro area. And it goes to serve and really go over and above. They do so many things over and above what is required by Medicare for a hospice provider. They go over and above, and this allows them to do a lot of those things as well as provide uncompensated or unreimbursed care for those who need it and may not be able to pay for it. So this is just the finest organization. Again, if you have questions about Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care, 816-363-2600, or visit online at KChospice.org. All right, so I'm going to shift gears and , ah gosh, I've been running into so much misinformation out there in the marketplace surrounding Medicaid. I just have a few stories. It's just literally unbelievable. So here we go.

Speaker 1 23:54

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. This is a consumer alert. Consumer alert.

Speaker 4 24:00

Okay. So I received, this is just this last week, I received a call from a nurse in a doctor's office asking me some specific questions regarding qualifying for Medicaid. She said her patient was receiving skilled nursing and rehab, that's covered by Medicare in a long-term care community. And he wanted to stay there after his skilled nursing and rehab and just stay there and live there long-term care. Right? Very common. And he needs a lot of care. He also wanted to see if he could get qualified for Medicaid. And the person at this particular , nursing home said, nope, sorry, you don't qualify, you have too much money, and sent him home to live with his son. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What? The correct response should have been, sir, you have X dollars, whatever the number is, doesn't matter what it is, you have X dollars. So you will have to spend down your liquid assets to, and this is in Missouri, $5,909 in the state of Missouri. And at that time, you will qualify. You can live here presently, right? You can stay here, pay privately out of pocket for a period of time. Then you will qualify when you hit again, your assets are down to spent down to $5,909. And we can help you with that Medicaid application. How does that sound? Right? No, she's nope, sorry, you don't qualify and send him home. But here's the deal. They're not obligated to inform you and educate you on how Medicaid works. They just they just said the bare minimum you don't qualify, send him home, and I just think that's such a shame. And now he's home with his son, and everybody's stressed out because his son can't take care of him. This is a mess. I think I'm going to be stepping in on that one to help out help these people out and educate them and maybe go back to the same place, maybe go back somewhere else, because they really dropped the ball on that one. That's not good. Not good. Another person wanted to place their loved one in a Kansas nursing home. They live in Missouri, but they wanted to place the loved one in Kansas, and they were told by someone at the Kansas nursing home, oh, sorry, you can't live here and get Kansas Medicaid because you're a Missouri resident. Okay. That's not that is incorrect. Not at all. You can move there and you can qualify for Kansas Medicaid, even if you have property in Missouri and even if you are a Missouri resident. Now, here's the rub. Okay, when you move to the Kansas community, it has to be in the language of the law says with the intent to stay. If you move there with the intent to stay, which everyone I have ever helped in this situation, they move there to stay to receive care basically for the rest of their lifetime. That is intent to stay. That is the rub. If you do that, you're a Kansas resident, Kansas rules apply, and you can qualify for Kansas Medicaid. Period. I've had I've had people try to argue with me about this. I'm like, you need to speak with an elder law attorney and get educated on this because , this is how it works. Okay. Now, there's another person working in a hospital, and that person has been telling patients they'll have to private pay for a really long time in a Kansas-based community if they own half of a house in Missouri. That is just not correct. The house is considered an exempt asset for now. The house is an exempt asset. The community spouse is still living in the house. Okay, and this is perfectly fine, perfectly legal, perfectly allowable. Now, there is something called estate recovery, but that does not prohibit them from qualifying now for Kansas Medicaid. Here's how a brief just a super basic overview of estate recovery. So the state, no matter what state it is, pays for your care through the Medicaid program. And let's say they spend, I'm just going to make up a round number, $100,000 on your care over a period of time, and then you pass away. The state will go back to your estate to see if there are any assets available or left in your estate. If you do have assets and a house maybe worth $300,000 and et cetera, et cetera, then the state would like their money back when you liquidate that estate. Okay? If there is nothing left in your estate, then they will just walk away. Right? So that is how that works. But you don't have to sell your house, you don't have to pay a lot of private pay equal to half of the value of your house. Your house for now is an exempt asset. So this is just incorrect information. I've even had people working in a Kansas nursing home tell families coming in wanting to move into their facility, they have to sell their house to the facility. Nope. Sorry, you can't move your dad in until you sign over the house to us. I'm like, oh my gosh, you got to be kidding me. I said, tell me you know nothing about the Medicaid rules and regulations without telling me you know nothing about the rules. Right? Unbelievable. Or they've also said, you're prohibited from moving into a Kansas-based facility on Medicaid if they own property in Missouri. Again, not true. I I had a lady call me up. She was really arguing with me. Well, I ran it up to totem pole through our attorneys, and they agree with me. And I'm like, okay, can we set up maybe a three-way or four-way call between us and your attorney and the family's elder law attorney so that attorney to attorney they can be rest assured that this is perfectly normal, perfectly allowable, perfectly legal. And that's and that's the extra step that I went through, just trying to get the record straight out there. Okay. So there is just if I if I had a nickel, every time somebody said, Yeah, Steve, they won't let us move into the facility and until we sell the house, I'd have a whole pile of nickels. Right? Because it's just it's just not true. Your house is an exempt asset. It just is. So in and it's just a fact. So there's just so much misinformation, incorrect information in the marketplace. Here's what I recommend. Hire an experienced and qualified elder law attorney. And here's the deal they work for you directly for you. They are obligated to work in your best interest, and they will work around the laws and within the laws in the best way that benefits you. They know the law, they understand it, they keep up with it, and again, they'll work within the law to benefit you in the best way possible for your unique situation and your particular needs, and that's just a fact. So that's what I would recommend.

Speaker 1 32:01

Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert, brought to you by Senior Care Live.

Speaker 4 32:06

Okay, so I'm going to sometime here very soon, I'll be having an elder law attorney or maybe a couple of elder law attorneys. And these folks are just the top, top-level experts in the field, and I have so many questions for them. So I'm going to ask them to talk about estate recovery and the differences , between Kansas Medicaid law and Missouri Medicaid law and how you could use , maybe some of these differences to your advantage. Again, that's what they do. They work for you. It's the best money you will ever spend. All right, I'll have more coming right up.

Speaker 3 32:42

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show, visit SeniorCareLive.com. We'll have more coming up.

Speaker 4 33:02

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question? Visit SeniorCareLive.com. Just want to spend , the rest of the program talking about these continuing care retirement communities. So if you ever hear me use the abbreviation CCRC, that's what that stands for. Continuing care retirement communities. And it is what it sounds like. It has all of the above. You have independent living, assisted living, and long-term care. And usually they'll have memory care available. Not always, though, I have to put a caution up there. Not always, but usually most of them will have memory care available. And the concept is let's say you're living in your house, your kids are grown, and now living in the house that you have loved for so long, maybe the homeownership is just becoming a little bit of a burden and a challenge, and you're wanting to just have a little different lifestyle, so with less responsibility of that homeownership. So you'll sell your house, you downsize a little bit, and then you move into independent living. And you set up this beautiful apartment. Some places do have freestanding , houses and villas and duplexes and that sort of thing. , I would say that the majority of the inventory in the Kansas City and the expanded KC metro area would be apartments. And these apartments are very, very nice. I mean, they got the you know the countertops and all the stuff, right? It's just they're super nice. And a lot of them have balconies or patios, et cetera, et cetera. And provide at least one main meal per day, maybe a couple of meals per day. Some of them get a little fancier than that, and they'll just have dining points or or dollars, and you can just use them at whatever restaurant you'd like , at the continuing care retirement community. So you downsize, you let your hair down a little bit, move into independent living. You can still cook in your independent living apartment. It's a fully equipped kitchen. You can cook what you want when you want. But the idea is they'll do the housekeeping, ,, they'll , they'll take care of your flats, so your linens and your towels usually wash those once a week, and they'll change the linens on your bed once a week. They make a meal or two for you per day. There's some transportation, they usually make one grocery run a week and maybe a couple of shopping trips a week, and there are a lot of activities. You're on your own, but you're not alone. You're around a lot of other people. And so you can you can be as private or as social as you'd like. A lot of things to do, and that's independent living. And you're not paying taxes, property taxes, utilities, homeowners insurance. My gosh, that keeps going up every year, it seems like. What you'll want is , just a small, just a renter's insurance policy just for contents. That's all you have to worry about there. And if there's a leak in the roof, they take care of it. If the hot water tank needs replaced, they take care of it. You get the idea. And then if you should need a little more help down the road, then you can transition within the community to the assisted living level of care. And at the assisted living level of care, they can help you with those tasks, those daily activities. They call them ADLs or activities of daily living. They can help you minimally or fully with your bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and continence support, medication management. They make all of your meals, snacks, and hydration at that point. There's a full slate of activities for meaningful social engagement. Doctors make house calls. Doctors actually come into the building to see you. There's transportation to take you out to see a doctor or a specialist. So there's a there's a tremendous amount of support at that assisted living level of care. And then let's say down the road, you have some medical issues, , you're a little more frail health-wise, and you need to move to the long-term care portion of the community, you just transition to long-term care, you're within the same community, might even be within the same building, and they will take care of you there and provide all of the support that you received in the assisted living level, plus full medical care. Okay, and so you can age in place for a lifetime, never have to change your address or never have to leave that organization. That's why so many people are interested in selling their house and downsizing and moving into one of these continuing care retirement communities. Now, on the on the cost, I would say most of the models, again in the KC metro area, way more often than not, would have what's called an entrance fee. The entrance fee could be anywhere from, let's say, $150,000 to upwards of over $900,000. And so I think what they're counting on is they're counting on someone owning their house outright, selling the house, and then using that and just using that toward their entrance fee. And that's what most people that I've ever worked with, that's what they do. That's what they do. And you don't have to spend $900,000 to get a really nice place. You can spend $200, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 and get a really nice place at a really good place, and then again, age in place. it just works just perfectly, just beautifully. So when you move into independent living, you would pay that entrance fee. Now, you're like, well, Steve, you said most of them. Well, that's right, most of them, but not all of them. Some of them are a rental only, meaning you would move in, you don't pay the six-figure entrance fee. You would pay a small community fee of maybe two thousand to five thousand dollars one time. It's like an upfront one-time HOA type of a fee, and that's it. And then you would just pay monthly. And then if you move to assisted living, you just pay monthly. You just pay for what you need as you go. You don't tie up six figures. They just have a different philosophy, a different model. Is one better than the other? Nope, they're just different. They're just different. So an apartment and independent living could be anywhere from $3,500 to maybe $6,500. Again, and that would be for both the entrance fee and the rental model. Again, assisted living average is going to be somewhere between $6,000 to $10,000 a month, depending on the size of the apartment and how much care you need. And then long-term care, you have a couple of options. You have a shared room at somewhere between $9,000 to $11,000 a month, and then a private room comes at a premium at that point, $12,000 to $16,000 per month. So, but that's you're buying a lot of, I have a lot of people saying, no, wait a minute. Why would I write the big check and pay rent on top of that? Well, what you're what am I getting? Okay, you're buying peace of mind. You're buying a peace of mind, knowing that they've got you. You can live here for the rest of your life and you'll be cared for. And by the way, most of those entrance fee contracts are either 80% refundable or 90% refundable. If you choose to move, they'll pay you 80 or 90% of that entrance fee as a refund. Or most people choose to live there age in place, and when they pass away, that 80 or 90% is refunded to their estate and then passed through to their heirs through their estate. So if you are considering moving to a continuing care retirement community, and if you think you're going to need help, that's the most difficult one to try to navigate. There are too many moving parts. We are experts at senior care consulting. We can help you through this and not we can help you to not make a six-figure mistake. 913-945-2800 or visit online at SeniorCareConsulting.com. I'm Steve Kuker and I wish you grace and peace. May God bless you and your family on this day and always. Join me next week, right here on Senior Care Live.

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