This week we are joined by Cecily Laidman of Springpoint Choice, who is our guest co-host for the month of September. This month we will be looking into the choices available for long-term care. Cecily talks to us about the options available through Springpoint Choice, for live-in care, for aging in place, and much more. We also discuss the importance of planning.
Guest Co-host and Podcast Guest: Cecily Laidman: CLaidman@springpointsl.org
Website: https://springpointsl.org/springpoint-choice/
Transcription:
[00:00:00] Kris Parsons: Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do it, too. Join us with your lively host Ray Lowe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.
[00:00:17] Ray Loewe: Changing the rules. Uh, the show that is about the fact that we have too many darn rules in our life, and we need to sift and sort through them and pick out the ones that are really meaningful to us because that's the only way we are ever going to live our own lives. You know, you can't live your own life if you're living by other people's rules and, uh, This show is particularly geared for the luckiest people in the world.
[00:00:44] Ray Loewe: We have, uh, one of them with us today. Her name is Cecily Laidman. We're going to introduce her in a minute, but the luckiest people in the world, are those people at design their own lives, and then they live them under their own terms. And as a rule. They're happy. They're content they're moving forward. They're occupied, they're engaged, et cetera.
[00:01:05] Ray Loewe: So Cecily Laidman who is in charge of actually she runs everything at Spring Point Choice. She can, she can define this later, but spring point choice Cecily is what?
[00:01:19] Cecily Laidman: Spring Point Choice is a program for people who want to remain in their home and age in place, which is about 90% of the population instead of moving into a retirement community or a life plan community.
[00:01:35] Cecily Laidman: And, uh, it replicates some of the services that you can get in a retirement community, but you're getting all of that in your home. So it's people want to stay in there.
[00:01:46] Ray Loewe: Good. So we'll get more of that commercial in as we go, well, let's talk, let's talk about you for a minute. Okay. So, uh, you know, I know you were trained as an opera singer.
[00:01:57] Ray Loewe: You are trained as a jazz vocalist. Uh, you're a very intriguing, exciting person. That's why you're one of the luckiest people in the world. Tell us a little bit about your background.
[00:02:08] Cecily Laidman: Well, I'm not only the luckiest person in the world. I also, um, you know, changing the rules. Um, I break the rules a lot and I think I've broken the mold in my, when I look back at some of the things that I have done, um, my life has been more like a kaleidoscope of a variety of things.
[00:02:27] Cecily Laidman: I never wanted to get the, what used to be the gold watch after being with a company for 50 years. So I did, as Ray mentioned, I, um, majored in voice in, in college and, and then knew I didn't really want to be an opera singer because I couldn't keep a straight face that long. And so I had sung professionally and focusing groups and jazz groups, uh, et cetera, and doing the national Anthem at places.
[00:02:55] Cecily Laidman: But, um, I had to get a day job to, to keep the money going. So I did a lot of different things. I was a special education teacher. I, I worked, I mean, I actually, one of the, one of the fun jobs I had was and lucky jobs was I was working in a prison. Worked in a prison for four years, doing art, music, dance theater, um, then I had a cup, a stint at the barcode company.
[00:03:21] Cecily Laidman: I worked for an architectural firm. So I didn't end this, you know, everybody, when people say, well, what do you do for a living? I said, well, what time is it? Because it would change all the time. And then. About almost 18, almost 20 years ago. Uh, I met a friend of mine and they talked about this thing called the senior living industry.
[00:03:42] Cecily Laidman: I have no idea what they were talking about. And so I kind of segwayed into this field, um, because it seemed kind of intriguing and it was something that I felt I could make a difference in the world and I can also do things that were good for other people and not just, you know, just the nine to five kind of job.
[00:04:03] Cecily Laidman: I mean, I, when I worked in a senior living community, um, how many people get to. Um, leave, uh, that I have a bunch of grandmothers that I was working with at that time. That would think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean, that's a pretty nice job that people think you're terrific and, you know, so that was a nice environment.
[00:04:26] Cecily Laidman: So I kind of segwayed from that and, and just feel I'm very lucky because getting more involved in the senior living industry, I really stood back to look at what was needed and was very fortunate. A number of years to go, uh, to be asked to be part of, um, what was at that point called a program called Cadbury at home, but it's now called spring point choice.
[00:04:50] Cecily Laidman: And this was designed for people, as I say, at the beginning, people who really want to stay in their own home. And, um, so I, you know, my background though, I've still been able to, um, you know, help people out with art. And I, I sing once in a while for, um, communities and my members. So I've been very lucky to do a lot of different things, but still maintain, um, being in this industry for quite some time.
[00:05:20] Ray Loewe: So this, by the way, is very typical of people who are the luckiest people in the world sometimes takes them a while to figure out where they really want to go, but they're not afraid to try a whole lot of things. They're not afraid to experiment. And then when they find their niche. It just kind of takes off and that's when they just add so much value to other people.
[00:05:46] Ray Loewe: So let's talk a little bit about this concept of where are you going to go when you reach a certain stage in life? I guess we can call it like the second stage in your life. Uh, and that occurs at different ages for different people. Uh, but for most, or from many people that occurs when they retire and they are no longer in a working in their day job and now they have to figure out okay, where they want to be.
[00:06:17] Ray Loewe: And one of the things I think that we have to understand today is that there are lots of people that live to be a hundred-plus years. So it's not just about where are you going in the short run? Like our parents used to worry about it's, we may have to worry about this for 35 years or 40 years.
[00:06:35] Cecily Laidman: Couldn't agree with you more Ray.
[00:06:37] Cecily Laidman: Um, and I, I think the, um, so many people that I know, uh, keep talking about, oh, I'm, uh, I can't wait to retire. I can't wait to retire. And then they retire and they're like, what do I do now? And, and that's kind of scary. And I think that one of the things that I've learned in this industry and the reason I'm still working is the fact that every person I have found or every resident of a community where I work or any member that I have, um, been dealing with in this in spring point choice, the people that have worked the longest are the youngest.
[00:07:16] Cecily Laidman: And are the most active and are the, have the sharpest acuity. And so I figure I'm going to be working till I'm about 105, and then I'll retire probably maybe something along those lines. So yeah, exactly. Exactly.
[00:07:36] Ray Loewe: So the whole concept here is how do you live life to the fullest? And we don't know how long that's going to be.
[00:07:42] Ray Loewe: Uh, but it could be a long time. And, you know, do we really want to be sitting around doing nothing? Or do we want to have actively engaged lives?
[00:07:53] Cecily Laidman: Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. You have to have the activity, but I also um, you also have to have like, okay, the what-ifs, if there's that little, you know, the little person on your shoulder saying, you know, your, your grandmother had a stroke or something and, you know, look what happened there.
[00:08:16] Cecily Laidman: And so you have to, you have to plan and you have to plan sooner than maybe you think you have to plan people say for my program, when should I sign up for spring point choice, uh, the day before you need help. Um, and so how do you know when you're going to need assistance? Because you, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
[00:08:37] Cecily Laidman: I've seen too many cases of people that make this assumption, um, which I think I'm one of them I'm going to be healthy forever. I mean, I'm just, everything's going to be totally fine and I don't need anything. Well, no, you have to get, you have to plan for those things. And whether it be planning to go into a retirement community, planning to go into an over 55, or planning to join spring point choice and age in your home.
[00:09:05] Cecily Laidman: Um, but knowing that you have something taking the care of, so it's, um, you know, live your life, but, um, you know, think about. Yeah, I think when we do our seminars about our program and we give some of the financial investment, um, or the financial cost of what long-term care is all about, um, people are, are just not aware of how incredibly expensive, um, and it's, and it's going up every day.
[00:09:34] Cecily Laidman: Um, and this is not stuff that's going to be covered by your insurance or by your Medicare. Um, This is, this is stuff that you're going to out of your own pocket.
[00:09:45] Ray Loewe: So, so let's give a couple of rough costs here. So let's suppose that I'm a healthy individual. I'm living my life. Now. I could be living in my own home.
[00:09:54] Ray Loewe: I could be in Florida. I could be with my kids. That could be anywhere. Okay. But at some point in time, if I need help, if I can't take care of myself,
[00:10:04] Ray Loewe: What's it going to cost me to get that help? How much a day, how much a month,
[00:10:09] Cecily Laidman: right? Well, that's a good question. And, um, it depends on what time of day it is today because the given what we have experienced almost these past, you know, 18 months, almost going on two years with the pandemic, the cost of care has risen markedly. I would say two years ago, you could probably have a home health aid.
[00:10:33] Cecily Laidman: And we were only paying me. 19 or $20 a, an hour, it's now possibly 30 to $35 an hour for that same person to come into your home. Um, and there are, um, the costs are rising more because there's going to be minimums. Um, before, you know, I may have somebody that only needed a couple hours, uh, you know, once a week that ain't happening anymore.
[00:10:58] Cecily Laidman: I mean, so things, and that's why the planning part is so important because of, you never know what's going to happen, whether it be your own health or whether it be what's been happening for instance, with the pandemic, um, we didn't expect this to happen. I didn't expect in my budget one that it was going to the pandemic was coming and then all of the cost of the services.
[00:11:20] Cecily Laidman: So the services right now, if you have a there's their companion care and a home health aid that can range anywhere from 25 to $35 an hour for them to come in to help you with your activities of daily living. A live-in, in the old days, which the old days were only two or three years ago. I could get a live-in for maybe $190 a day.
[00:11:43] Cecily Laidman: Right now, livings are anywhere from 300 to $350. So all of those prices are going up markedly. Then when you get into the levels of care that are also included in our program, going into an actual community, into an assisted living. Or into skilled nursing. That's where your eyes, you know, will come right out of their sockets.
[00:12:08] Cecily Laidman: Skilled nursing is running anywhere from 400 to $500 a day, 400 to $500 a day. Think about that. And no Medicare doesn't cover that. They cover, you know, if you're having short-term rehab, they'll cover up to, you know, an X amount of days. But otherwise after that, man, you're on.
[00:12:32] Ray Loewe: Okay, so let's change the tenor of this.
[00:12:34] Ray Loewe: That's all negative stuff. Right? However, however, you know, if we're going to live to be a hundred, if we're going to, and we don't know if we're going to live to ninety, a hundred, whatever it is, there's a good chance that at some point in time, we're going to need some of that care. Right. So hopefully not for a long, long time.
[00:12:53] Ray Loewe: So let's go back and let's talk about our person who is 65 years old. They're thinking about their life. They're hoping they're going to live to be a hundred, you know, but we've got to take care of this thing. And I have to say to everybody that I'm a proponent of what you do because I'm a member of Spring point choice, right?
[00:13:14] Ray Loewe: For now, for now. So so let me explain my life a little bit because it lays out perfectly what you do and why you're so important, I think. Okay. And butt in whenever you want. So Sandy and I, uh, decided, uh, uh, actually not to retire. Uh, we both work well into our seventies, but one of the things that I realized as a financial advisor that I might need this program at some time, I might need somebody to take care of me.
[00:13:46] Ray Loewe: I might eventually need full-time nursing care. So I didn't yet want to commit to one of these life care communities because I felt it was too young. I want to stay in my home and wherever that might be. And I wanted to live my life under my own terms, the way I wanted them. But I had to figure out how to get the peace of mind in doing this.
[00:14:11] Ray Loewe: Right. So, so what's happening is I joined your program and I'll tell ya. I, I felt immediately. Better. And the reason I felt immediately better is because all of a sudden, I didn't have to worry about this. I knew that no matter what happened, I took care of things. So now dump that whole thing.
[00:14:36] Ray Loewe: I'm thinking about living life. I'm thinking about what I want to do. I met a guy at a swim meet not too long ago. I swim competitively make a long story he had a whole bunch of medals. He went 103 years old. And he's out winning metals and celebrating with his friend, he's not sitting around in a nursing home, but somewhere to be able to do these things, you have to have the freedom to know that everything is in place and Cecily thank you for doing what you did because it gave me those options.
[00:15:12] Cecily Laidman: So nice to hear. It's so nice to hear that Ray because we've heard that from a number of people. Um, I, you know, I, every time we sign someone up, you know, after they've gone through and they've kind of decided whether or not this is the right thing for them, they have this another woman, um, had stood up and she goes, oh man.
[00:15:33] Cecily Laidman: And it's just like, what you just said. Right. It's kind of funny she says, I feel so relieved because now I don't have to worry and I can tell my kids, you don't have to worry. You're not going to have to be the one that's going to change my diaper. And, um, you know, something happens to me. It's, you know, you're in California, I'm in Delaware, and I, I have my care coordinator.
[00:15:53] Cecily Laidman: They're going to be able to take care of me. So it's just a relief all around. That you know, you have an actual advocate, um, helping you out, you know, our care navigators are, you know, unbelievable. So it's, it's um, it is a relief. Just like what you said is just like a peace of mind.
[00:16:12] Ray Loewe: Now the most important thing to me was options.
[00:16:15] Ray Loewe: So again, let me tell you a little bit more of my story here. So Sandy and I moved into an over 55 community lovely house, lovely neighborhood. We thought that's where we were going to be forever. And you are going to come in and take care of me. Right? Okay. However, Like everything else, things change. And we made a decision at some point in time that, uh, we wanted a more active social engagement.
[00:16:44] Ray Loewe: So we started looking around at these life care communities, uh, that, uh, might take over my long-term care at some point in time. But the reason I had the options to think about this is because I had you in place. I had you in place. So whether I decide to stay in my home forever, or whether I decide to go somewhere else, you have to have that.
[00:17:11] Ray Loewe: I'm going to call it an insurance piece because that's the way I think about it. But it's not in your case. It's not underwritten by an insurance company it's written by somebody else. So, so that brings up a really interesting point. So what's the difference between what you do and what an insurance company will sell you in a policy?
[00:17:31] Cecily Laidman: Um, that's a really good question. Cause I kind of kiddingly refer to our program like long-term care insurance on steroids. Um, because interestingly I would say 35% of our membership also has long-term care insurance, but some of their cost is defrayed by the fact that they have long-term care insurance and thereby, lessening our exposure and, um, our, our outlay.
[00:17:59] Cecily Laidman: So we're different in that. Um, there is an actual individual that is your care navigator and, and in all honesty, I would say my entire team of care navigators. Are watching out for each of our members, but you have a, uh, a touchpoint with an individual who gets to know you when you have long-term care insurance, there's no individual that comes to your house and gets to know you and finds out the name of your dog and finds out that you're a vegetarian and finds out that you got a pool in the backyard and yada, yada, yada, you are allergic to cats.
[00:18:36] Cecily Laidman: This is a person that really gets to know you finds out, you know, who, who do we call if something happens, you know, all of that sort of stuff. And that individual is probably the cornerstone of this whole program and how it completely is different from just, a long-term care insurance product. Um, you know, the insurance company will email you a list of, um, agencies, if you needed help, that you can contact when you need help in your home.
[00:19:02] Cecily Laidman: Your care navigator is going to find that right person that's going to fit in with all of those things that that person has learned about you. In addition, ours is lifetime. There's not any long-term care insurance company that is underwriting, um, a lifetime coverage. Nobody's doing that anymore. As a matter of fact, there's only one or two companies that are actually writing long-term care insurance.
[00:19:25] Cecily Laidman: Anymore because the, you know, years ago they kind of messed up with their actuaries and their assessments on their projections. I think they messed up. They figured there'd be more attrition, but everybody kept it going. So it's lifetime. And it also just, it, it goes, it there's no inflation other than the, um, cost of living increase in your monthly fee.
[00:19:49] Cecily Laidman: Um, you know, you could, you could be sitting in a skilled nursing. And paying five or $600 a month. And the guy next to you is paying 14 or $15,000 a month.
[00:20:02] Ray Loewe: Okay. And as usual, unfortunately, our, our time is coming to an end, but let's position this a little bit because, uh, Cecily's been a wonderful person here and she has agreed to be my co-host for the next month of September.
[00:20:18] Ray Loewe: And so we're going to be bringing you for the next four weeks, different people in different aspects of this whole long-term care. World, many of who actually, all of them are your competitors right. But they're not,
[00:20:34] Cecily Laidman: they're all different choices.
[00:20:35] Ray Loewe: Yeah. There are different choices. And the purpose of this is to be able to layout to our listeners.
[00:20:42] Ray Loewe: What are some of the choices that you want to think about and what you want to make of them? Uh, my personal feeling is that it is early as possible and the game and this is usually limited by age. Uh, nobody writes these things before 55 or 60 years old, but at some point around there, you, you have to secure your future financially, whether it's an insurance policy, whether it's making a commitment to one of these organizations that we're going to highlight, whether it's going to Cecily's company and purchasing a care contract of some kind, because unfortunately, as we get older, our health diminishes and later on, we may not be able to finance this.
[00:21:28] Cecily Laidman: To make those decisions.
[00:21:32] Ray Loewe: And if you can't, then you're not one of the luckiest people in the world anymore, because you're not designing your own life. You're not designing your own choices. You're going where you can. Yep. Okay. So it's really, really important and Cecily,I appreciate the fact that you're here.
[00:21:51] Ray Loewe: We're going to be talking to some people over the next few weeks from some of the big long-term care providers, the continuing care places. And the goal here is to get people, to make the decisions that they need to have so that you can live your life under your own terms.
[00:22:14] Cecily Laidman: Absolutely. Yep. Get your, and get as much information as possible.
[00:22:19] Cecily Laidman: So you make that right decision. Okay.
[00:22:21] Ray Loewe: So we got to two minutes Cecily, put in your closing remarks, and then we'll see you next week for more.
[00:22:28] Cecily Laidman: Oh, all I was, all I would say is, um, it's never too early to make a long-term care decision. Um, I think that I really appreciate how Ray has been providing this information, the informational sessions that we're going to be doing.
[00:22:47] Cecily Laidman: Um, because a lot of people just don't think about it. And they said, oh, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, well, tomorrow comes really fast as we all know. And so it's, it's really to find out what your lifestyle, what kind of lifestyle you want, what kind of security you want or do you want to be nervous about, you know, the what-ifs, you know, what if tomorrow something terrible happens?
[00:23:11] Cecily Laidman: Um, I think we've all had some, either experienced ourselves or with other people, major life changes that have diverted you into another direction. Um, so given all this information that you're going to be getting on these podcasts, It will give you that opportunity to make what the right decision is. So you're not thrown off the railroad tracks,
[00:23:34] Ray Loewe: right?
[00:23:34] Ray Loewe: So, uh, Cecily Laidman from Spring Point Choice. Thanks for being with us today. Uh, you certainly are one of the luckiest people in the world. I will go back to singing once we get into this,
[00:23:46] Cecily Laidman: Ok, I'll sing on the next one
[00:23:48] Cecily Laidman: how's that?
[00:23:49] Ray Loewe: Taylor why don't you sign us off and we'll have a great guest for everybody next week.
[00:23:57] Kris Parsons: Thank you for listening to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do that, too. Join us with your lively house to Ray Lowe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.