Preparing for retirement is something that many people put off. Many feel uneasy, nervous, and overwhelmed by all the choices that need to be made. That’s why we sat down with Amy Frissen, CEO and Founder of Tea and Toast Retirement Living Advisory, to get the inside scoop on how to make the best choices for retirement.
In part one of this series, Amy discusses the planning process, including a breakdown on costs, the differences in the types of retirement living choices, and how to best help someone who is hesitant on beginning their research. In part two, Amy shares insights on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the retiring community.
Listen to our full conversation with Amy on our podcast IP360°.
IP360°: Have you been helping families move during Covid-19? What’s the difference between this time of history and a year before?
Amy: We took a bit of a dip in March and April, because everybody in the world was just trying to figure out what was next. It’s interesting because out in the community the question is, ‘how can you move people right now?’ People don’t understand long term care and retirement and assume that everybody should stay in their own home. But the truth is that many can’t stay home because it’s dangerous, so they need to make a move.
There’s also a two week quarantine in the retirement home that applies to people even if they test negative. That’s been really difficult, especially for those with cognitive issues and specifically to the memory care floors. The residents don’t know better, so they don’t stay in their suite to be quarantined. In some cases, we’ve had their families move in with them, or we’ve had to hire extra caregivers to help.
The other thing that’s happening now is that there are many people that should have moved last year and haven’t moved yet because of Covid-19. They’re trying to wait it out. We’re also seeing caregiver burnout is at an all-time high, disproportionately among women in the families. We have multiple clients in tears by the time they get to us.I try to teach people, let’s not wait to start planning until you’re at the breaking point.
IP360°: Can you talk about what that burnout might look like and how someone might know if they’re experiencing it?
Amy: What we’re experiencing from our clients is being completely overwhelmed by trying to balance everything just right. A lot of people are the ‘sandwich generation’, where they’re taking care of their parents, but their kids are at home as well. They’re trying to manage all the kid’s stuff with school being out (or online), while also working from home, and then trying to find time for their parents but they aren’t able to go see them.
It’s adding extra stress and frustration to an already complicated situation. You’re trying to protect everybody and be isolated, but then the isolation is a problem as well. Caretaker Burnout often feels like pure exhaustion. As I said, a lot of our clients are in tears from trying to figure it all out. They often feel like they’re alone. They’ve got other family members, but they’ll say things like, “I can’t count on my brother,” or, “I can’t count on my other sister who’s out of town”. They feel this immense responsibility that they have to fix the problem. They’ve got a heavy weight on their shoulders and feel like they are drowning in the information.
IP360°: Can you give us an overview of how Covid-19 is affecting those living in retirement homes and long term care homes?
Amy: First, one of the main problems is that people don’t know the difference between long term care and retirement home. When people talk about outbreaks, they see what’s happening in the media in the long term care homes and hear that many people have died. They hear the infection rate and then they equate that to any outbreak.
But in the retirement homes, most of the outbreaks we’ve seen are referring to one staff member who has been placed in quarantine. When this happens, the home needs to go into outbreak status for two weeks but the home’s not in an active outbreak. Meaning, the clients and the residents are not in an outbreak, but because there’s one staff member quarantined, everyone has to go through the whole testing process and the two week isolation. It can be very confusing for the clients and residents and their families as well.
As for long term care, there’s definitely more of a chance for an outbreak because they are more people sharing rooms and there are different standards. But as with retirement homes, not every ‘outbreak’ in long term care is actually a full-blown outbreak, right. When we get clients that want to avoid those situations, we have to actually explain that at this point, most buildings have had an outbreak and it is what that actually means and what an outbreak actually looks like in long term care or a retirement home.
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IP360°: There is a perception that because long term care facilities are government funded, they are struggling to cope with the amount of demand on the staff and resources through Covid-19. But a private retirement home might be a little bit better equipped to handle this current situation. Would you agree with these perceptions?
Amy: There’s less red tape in a retirement home than a long term care facility. Everything that the long term care facilities do is managed by the ministry. There are certain staffing levels and restrictions that may create challenges. However, there are still challenges in private retirement homes as well. In fact, there’s a shortage of staff that affects both care facilities and retirement homes.
It’s really hard to address those perceptions because a lot of the issues are related to staffing. However, this perception may stem from the fact that more people are sharing rooms in long term facilities which will increase the risk.
Updating the standards for long term care is necessary, but sometimes these changes bring up new issues. For example, one thing that has been done is removing the Quad rooms (four to a room). While this lowers the risk of spread of Covid-19, it’s 800 beds we don’t have anymore and so this causes a huge backup in the long term care home system. Not only that, but because we’ve lost all these beds and are struggling to keep up, they’ve stopped accepting people except for crises.
The waiting list has been growing exponentially–nobody can get in. This leads to an overflow in private retirement homes. While there has always been a large flow of traffic into retirement homes, there usually are some who are only there temporarily before transitioning into a long term care facility. But now they can’t get into long term care so then the retirement homes fill up as well.
IP360°: Are there any other ways Covid-19 has impacted the type of people needing care?
Amy: The isolation has been especially difficult for many people and has caused an increase in cognitive related admittances. The isolation, the lack of exercise, the lack of extra social interactions, the lack of family presence, means that people have been sitting there, alone, and nothing has been getting better.
The clients that we are serving since Covid-19 began have been almost all cognitively impaired clients. Which is challenging, because not only are there more clients that need memory care at this time, but there’s limited availability. Because long term care is full, and retirement homes are filling fast, it’s hard to find the right place for a person who is in need of special care. This is why it’s so valuable to have someone who is knowledgeable about the system helping you make the tough choices.
