‘Can you find me a money tree?’
Florence Reiners, 94, adores living at the Waters of Excelsior, an upscale assisted living facility in suburban Minneapolis with a theater, library, hair salon and spacious dining room.
“The windows, the brightness and the people overall are very cheerful and very friendly,” said Reiners, a retired nursing assistant. Most importantly, she was just a floor away from her husband, Donald, 95, a retired water department worker and veteran with severe dementia.
She resisted her children’s pleas to move him to a less expensive facility available to veterans.
Reiners is healthy enough to be on a floor for people who can live independently, so her rent is $3,330 plus $275 for a pendant alarm. When she needs help, she’s billed an exact amount, such as a $26.67 charge for the 31 minutes an aide spent helping her to the bathroom one night.
Her husband’s care cost much more: $6,150 a month on top of $3,825 in rent.
The couple started out with about $550,000 in savings and assets, and a retirement income of $6,600 per month. Month by month, it dwindled. Her children warned her that she would run out of money if her health worsened. “She about cried because she doesn’t want to leave her community,” said daughter Anne Palm.
In June, the children moved Donald Reiners to a Department of Veterans Affairs
home. His care costs $3,900 a month. But his wife is not allowed to live there. After nearly 60 years together, she was devastated. When an admissions worker asked if she had any questions, she answered, “Can you find me a money tree so I don’t have to move him?”
Heidi Elliott, vice president for operations at the Waters, said employees carefully review potential residents’ financial assets with them, and explain how costs can increase. Sometimes they lose prospective residents because they realize they won’t be able to afford the facility down the road, she said.