A winning combination: Phoebe offers active living and long- term care options
When you’re active and feeling well, it’s hard to imagine needing long-term medical care later in life, much less leaving the home you know and love.
Yet statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that some-one turning 65 this year has almost a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care services. And traditional health insurance generally doesn’t cover the cost of long-term or in-home health care, leaving seniors with difficult financial choices.
That’s why Phoebe offers a standalone program called Pathstones by Phoebe, a membership-based continuing care plan that combines the best features of long-term care insurance, continuing care retirement living and personal wellness coordination — all while allowing members to live independently in their own homes.
In fact, Pathstones allows members to receive care no matter where they live — at home, in another state, in another retirement facility, or in a Phoebe community. When higher levels of care are needed, Pathstones will arrange services either within the member’s home or at another site. Pathstones members can receive services at the healthcare or senior community of their choice, and also have priority access to any of the Phoebe communities.
A Powerful Combination
“You can combine Pathstones with any of our in-dependent living communities,” says Brynn Buskirk, vice president of marketing and community relations for Phoebe Ministries. Because the Pathstones program and Phoebe communities are member-ship based, you’d “essentially become a member of both,” she says,“and when you put them together it offers you financial protection, asset preservation, the opportunity to proactively plan for care for life, all kinds of good things for your future.”
Pathstones, which is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance,“is what we call a Life Plan contract,” says Lisa Hoffman, executive director of Pathstones by Phoebe. “What that means is to become a member, you pay an entrance fee and a monthly fee. And then we really pick up all of your medical expenses for the rest of your life, with no limit.”
To live in a Phoebe community, you also pay an entrance fee and a monthly fee. The entrance and monthly fees allow you to live at the community, “but you need to be able to live independently and safely there,” Hoffman says.“If you get to a point where you need help bathing or dressing, Phoebe will help you co-ordinate services. If you were living in a community, and were also a member of Pathstones, Pathstones would cover the cost of those services. If you were not a Pathstones member, you would pay privately for those services.
Substantial Savings
It’s similar to what other senior communities call a life care contract, Hoffman says.“For a life care contract in our area, you pay a much more substantial entrance fee [than at Phoebe], and then you pay your apartment rent, but if you move over to assisted living, you’re only paying that apartment rent — you’re not paying the extra fee. So instead of paying maybe $4,000 a month, you’re only paying $1,000 a month.”
As an example, Hoffman mentions a future resident of Phoebe’s Chestnut Ridge at Rodale, a planned retirement community that will trans-form the former Rodale corporate campus into a wellness-focused residential destination for people ages 60 and older. Existing facilities will be adapted into apartments with spacious floor plans, and all construction will prioritize limiting disturbance of existing green space. The project will even utilize some of the campus’s current, unique features, including the walking and biking trails once used by Rodale employees. The facility will offer a community wellness coordinator, active lifestyle programs, and community spaces and amenities focused on wellness.
“We have a depositor for Chestnut Ridge who is also a member of Pathstones,” Hoffman says. “She is going to pay her entrance fee to move to Chestnut Ridge, and then her monthly fee to live in her apartment. She’s also going to pay her monthly fee to be a member of Pathstones. Should she need to move to personal care, rather than her bill being $4,000 or $5,000 a month — because personal care isn’t covered by insurance — she’s only paying her monthly fee to Pathstones, which might be $490 a month. So, she’s literally paying 10 percent of what she would be paying if she was not a member of Pathstones and had to privately pay for care.”
Active and Healthy
There are conditions, of course.“We want people when they’re active and well for Pathstones; and we want the same for the independent living apartments,” Hoffman says.“So it’s not all-or-nothing. You don’t join Pathstones or make a decision to join Phoebe Terrace in Allentown or Chestnut Ridge; you can do both. Pathstones is taking care of your health and wellness for life, wherever you live. And the Terrace or Chestnut Ridge are there if you want the amenities; the meals; the socialization that being in a community offers.”
Those amenities are just one reason depositors Richard and Charlotte Cruse chose Chestnut Ridge.“We always knew that a continuing care retirement community was our eventual goal,” they say. “There would come a time when we would not want to worry about everyday maintenance of the house and eventuality of the need for major repairs. The newness of Chestnut Ridge, allowing us to customize our home made this a unique opportunity. In addition, the activities program, the dining and housekeeping options, and the availability of an on-site gym are just some of the amenities that interested us.”
To learn more about Pathstones by Phoebe, Chestnut Ridge at Emmaus, or any of Phoebe’s other active retirement or continuing care communities, visit phoebe.org or call 610-435-9037.