How Covid-19 Will Shape the Future of Senior Living. New Models of Care, More Aging in Place.

Carolyn Seaton had been looking for a way to stretch the savings of her nonagenarian parents and still get them the full-time care they needed. When the school nurse found a condo opening in a long-term care facility near her home outside Philadelphia in early March, she felt fortunate and put down a $1,000 deposit.

Then the facility told her she could lose the room to an emergency admission, so Seaton agreed to pay $200 a day to reserve the spot until her parents could move in. She says the facility made no mention of Covid-19 quarantines or other coronavirus-related restrictions, though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by that point had issued warnings.

As the outbreak spread and deaths mounted, Seaton and her family decided a move was untenable and tried to cancel their reservation. “Nobody in their right mind would move their parents in such a situation,” Seaton says. While she’s wary about senior-living facilities after the experience, she’s also worried about the costs and possible dangers of her parents staying put in their New Jersey home, where they already have full-time care with an aide.

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