Yesterday I visited a friend at Royal Oaks. There has been a change, and an unwelcome one. RO will no longer have a "Skilled Nursing Facility" but something similar. My friends have said the reason they decided on RO was because of the levels of care including SNF. They are not exactly sure what the new "facility" will have. I have been cautioned to check other facilities re SNF. BTW RO is the most expensive facility. $162,000 Buyin and then between $2,000 & $3,000 a month and UP!
Some 55+'s would never allow a CCRC or Assisted Living facility. I think Saddlebrooke is one. They don't want people to lose sight of it being an Active Adult community. So I don't think no longer having a SNF would be unwelcome by all. I'm up in the air about it.
I thought continuation of care was one of the good things about it. Maybe its a name re-branding to eliminate SNF regulations? Not that the place isn't good enough, just maybe they don't want it. Active Adult is good until your not. Never know when it might happen. Having a plan before something happens is best.
Royal Oaks DOES have Skilled Nursing. The name and some other things have just been changed. Today I stopped by The Gardens in Sun City (just a few blocks north of McDonalds) and got some literature. Geeze. The people I saw there were OLD! I don't think I am ready. It offers 3 meals a day which I neither need nor want. Plus it is pretty expensive. It has been crossed off my list. I think I will stick with RO.
I think it is going to be called Continued Care. Contact Vickie at RO and request information. I need to study the info more but I think instead of moving from Assisted Living to "SNF" you will stay in Assisted Living and receive Continued Care. I started researching Adult communities for a friend and found it very interesting. Quite a variety of prices and care - Independent Living, Assisted Living, SNF (or equivalent), and memory.
SNF is considered a medical facility and has requirements for nurses, nursing assistants etc. Assisted living facilities are considered non-medical facilities and are not required to have them. Very few regulations for assisted living. Its fine if you don't need much help but people need to be careful. Frontline had a good program on this. Royal Oaks is known to be a top place but sometimes people are allowed to stay in assisted living when the place is no longer able to care for them properly.
I had a problem trying to look at FrontLine. I think I will just stay in my condo until death do us part!
I confirmed with Royal Oaks Skilled Nursing Facility has been renamed but continues with the same care but in a different way. Next I will confirm with my insurance company that they pay for such care. I know they do SNF for a certain length of time.
I still think they might be trying to change some regulations and manage it as they want. If it's just because they want a better sounding name than SNF, then it's ok. You can check by asking how many nurses and nurses aides they are required by law to have on duty and how many they actually have. If they are not required to have them, then it's not SNF level of care.
I hope that everyone realizes that if Royal Oaks and the other non-profit(but wealthy) religious backed properties in the Sun City Fire District were required to pay their assessed Fire District Assessment based on their property holdings we wouldn't need to have this $10 Million Bond Issue.
So this gets bumped to the top again. Yesterdays Daily News-Sun reported that Royal Oaks' newly formed property investment company has now purchased The Carillons which is on Royal Oak Road and intends to change its tax status to tax exempt. There goes another $9000 payment towards SC Fire District taxes along with other tax revenues. If Royal Oaks has 360 independent living residences in their complex shouldn't they at least have to be assessed for those units since they avail themselves of Sun City emergency services? Really, really wrong/unfair/inequitable in my opinion. :culpability:
