Our Response to Corona Virus

The Corona Virus pandemic has presented some major challenges for our current and prospective clients. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued guidelines that limit visitation at nursing homes and other long-term care communities to only those whom the CDC considers to be “essential employees.” Employees who are allowed to enter long-term care communities include those who deal with end of life situations. You can read the CDC guidelines at this web link

The guidelines are being adhered to not only by skilled nursing homes, but also by assisted living and independent living communities. Other communities currently remain open to accept new residents and are ready to take prospects on tours. Among those communities abiding by the guidelines, I have seen tremendous actions taken to ease the pain and anxiety of residents who are not able to see their families. Staff members are delivering food to the front doors or into the rooms of residents. Many of the activity directors are going door to door and offering to connect the resident’s family via Skype, Zoom, or FaceTime, so relatives and residents can have a conversation. Some communities are engaging residents with making decorative face masks for respiratory protection. You always have the right to ask the pertinent nursing home staff for a care plan meeting in order to ensure that your loved one is being well cared for.

While it may be difficult at the present time to move a loved one into long-term care, we at Andrea Donovan Senior Living Advisors encourage you not to defer making plans for your loved one’s future. As part of our customary practice, we always conduct a face-to-face assessment of your loved one’s physical and mental capabilities. We are able to complete this portion of the assessment via Skype or Zoom. We will discuss financial realities and location preferences with you. Since we have toured and evaluated more than 450 independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing communities in the Chicago metropolitan area, we have completed all of the legwork for you. Our systematic evaluations include costs, staffing, housekeeping, food, activities, and methods of payment accepted – to name just a few of the details that we regularly research and inspect. Accordingly, even with current limits on tours and visitation, we are well equipped to narrow the range of options to 3 or 4 communities that best fit your loved one’s overall and unique needs.

About 90% of my clients contact me when there is a crisis with his or her senior loved one. Either the crisis occurs because not enough planning was completed or the wrong community was chosen. If you consider the astronomical costs of long-term care, you do not want to make a mistake.

If your loved one chooses to remain at home, we are experts at helping you choose a licensed, non-medical home care agency. There are many home care agencies to choose from in Illinois. However, many of them are not experts at staffing a private caregiver who meets your loved one’s needs. The cost of this private caregiver service runs anywhere from $25 to $29 per hour in the Chicago metro area.

At Andrea Donovan Senior Living Advisors, we are committed to helping you make the right choices and ease the transitions at times of crisis and non-crisis.