Category Archives: Residential Care Facilities

LTC Properties Inks $38M Deal for Two Ignite Transitional Skilled Nursing Facilities

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LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) on Friday announced a $38 million pair of transactions that will see the real estate investment trust (REIT) strike up a new relationship with transitional-care operator Ignite Medical Resorts.

The two separate agreements consist of a $19.5 million deal to purchase a recently constructed 90-bed skilled nursing facility in the Kansas City market, and an $18.4 million land-and-development deal for a second 90-bed SNF set to open in the fall of 2020, LTC chief investment officer Clint Malin said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

The Niles, Ill.-based Ignite Medical Resorts, a chain with a focus on high-end transitional care properties, will serve as the operator for the two Missouri buildings, with Avenue Development handling the design and construction process for the new property.

Full story at Skilled Nursing News

11 Decorating Tips for Assisted Living

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Decorating can ease the transition into assisted living.

Helping someone move into an assisted living facility can be an emotionally fraught experience. Collaborating with loved ones to decorate their new living quarters in a way that helps protect their physical safety and boost their emotional outlook can assist them in their transition, says Julia Bailey, a senior associate and interior design project manager with Denver-based OZ Architecture. “Moving into assisted living often can feel like a loss of independence and privacy for your loved one, but thoughtful interior design can go a long way toward improving happiness and well-being for the resident, as well as improving overall functionality of the new living space,” Bailey says.

Here are 11 assisted living decorating tips that can improve safety and boost the mood of your loved one.

Full story at US News

Normal Brain vs. Brain With Dementia

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YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A brain specialist to notice certain differences in images of a healthy older person’s brain compared to that of someone with dementia. Narrowed, depleted folds on the brain’s surface, the presence of blotchy plaques, twisted fibers and significant shrinkage are clearly visible. What you can’t see is how brain changes like these affect how people’s minds work.

In a program from the National Press Foundation and funded by AARP, “Understanding the Latest on Dementia Issues,” journalists heard from a spectrum of dementia experts, including researchers, gerontologists, family caregivers and a brilliant engineer who described her personal journey with early-onset Alzheimer’s. In addition, a leading neuroscientist detailed how normal brain aging is very different than changes arising from dementia and not something to be feared.

Full story at US News

Alzheimer’s: Common gene explains why some drugs fail

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New insights into a specific gene variant may help to explain why some Alzheimer’s drugs work in certain people but may fail in others. The findings call for a more personalized approach to drug testing.

Earlier this year, a study led by Dr. Kinga Szigeti, Ph.D., who is the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at the University of Buffalo, NY, found a key gene that helped explain why some Alzheimer’s drugs showed promise in animal models but failed in humans.

The gene is called CHRFAM7A, and it is specific to humans, although only 75% of people have it. It is a so-called fusion gene — that is, a fusion between a gene that encodes a receptor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and a type of enzyme called a kinase.

Full story at Medical News Today

The Happiness Dividend: Longer, Healthier Lives

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Happiness may truly be some of the best medicine available to us, a new study suggests.

People happy with themselves and their well-being tend to live longer and healthier lives than those who are perpetually down in the dumps, British researchers report.

Women in their 50s who reported enjoying their lives had a projected live expectancy of nearly 37 more years, compared with just 31 years in those who felt depressed and unhappy in their lives, according to researchers with University College London.

The same went for men in their 50s — guys who were happy had a life expectancy of 33 more years, compared with about 27 years for miserable men.

Full story at US News

Actor Rob Lowe: I was my sick mother’s caregiver, don’t underestimate the stress caregivers face

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Right now, 40 million Americans are doing truly selfless work by serving as unpaid family caregivers for a loved one. About 25 percent of those caregivers are millennials, who often feel forced to choose between their careers and caring for their aging parents and grandparents.

I can relate. When I was in my thirties, my brothers and I cared for our mother throughout her stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis. It’s not a role I was expecting to land, it didn’t come with much preparation, but it turned out to be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done — and, undeniably, one of the most difficult.

Caregiving for a loved one is a role that millions more Americans will take on in the coming decades — especially with so many baby boomers saying they want to age in place instead of entering retirement homes or care facilities. There are many upsides to being cared for by devoted and well-trained family caregivers, including a reduction in hospital readmissions and a chance for families to bond during a difficult time. But the caregivers themselves often end up paying a high cost, both physically and financially, which is rarely discussed.

Full story at USA Today

How to Pay for Nursing Home Costs

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ODDS ARE HIGH THAT someone in your family will need a nursing home sooner or later. Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care, and 20% of people will need it for longer than five years, according to LongTermCare.gov. The average cost of nursing home care is so high that the cost of that care can financially cripple a family. But there are steps you can take – whether a nursing home is needed now, next month or next decade – to minimize the financial strain of nursing home costs.

There are many ways to cover the costs of long-term care, including savings, investments, assets, long-term care insurance, state LTC Partnership programs, the Federal LTC Insurance Program and tax advantages. Care Conversations, an initiative led by the American Health Care Association, the National Center for Assisted Living and America’s Skilled Nursing Caregivers, offer a helpful list of these private and public payment sources in greater detail.

Full story at US News

Senior-Related Causes to Get Boost from Home Instead Senior Care Fundraising Challenge

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Today, for the first time in history, there are more people over age 60 than under age five. Yet, less than 1% of charitable grant dollars fund causes related to seniors and aging, creating a massive imbalance for older adults in need. Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network, is working to tip the scale.

To raise awareness of the need and kickstart more contributions to senior causes, Home Instead, Inc. founders Paul and Lori Hogan recently launched a $2.5 million fundraising campaign with a $500,000 gift to the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation. The couple is also committed to matching contributions, dollar for dollar, up to an additional $1 million. A recent report from Giving USA found charitable giving by individuals declined by about 1% last year. However, foundations and corporations are stepping in to fill the need, with foundation and corporate giving rising by 7.3% and 5.4% respectively.

“We want to wake up the world to the needs of seniors in local communities everywhere,” said Paul Hogan, co-founder and chairman of Home Instead, Inc. “Our goal is to raise $2.5 million to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Not only that, we want to inspire people to start investing more in the wisdom and experience seniors offer.”

Full story at PR News Wire

How frontotemporal dementia affects ‘moral emotions’

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Researchers reveal a marker and new testing tool of frontotemporal dementia that may help distinguish this condition from Alzheimer’s disease.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a less common form of dementia than Alzheimer’s. Sometimes called Pick’s disease or frontal lobe dementia, this condition occurs when brain cells in the frontal or temporal lobes of the brain, or both, become damaged.

The frontal lobes of a person’s brain are responsible for problem-solving, planning, emotional control, and behavior.

Full story at Medical News Today

Senior Care Centers Drags Down Sabra’s Q1, But Optimism Remains — With Addiction as Next Frontier

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A sizable real estate impairment charge related to the bankrupt Senior Care Centers contributed to a $77.7 million first-quarter loss for Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA), but executives remain upbeat that the changes coming to skilled nursing this fall will boost fortunes industry-wide.

The real estate investment trust (REIT) took a $103 million impairment charge primarily associated with the Dallas-based SCC, which filed for bankruptcy last year, amid a larger push toward divesting almost all of its Senior Care Centers skilled nursing facilities.

That number was higher than the originally projected $69 million, in part due to the Irvine, Calif.-based Sabra’s decision to sell off more properties than anticipated. The charge also included the effects of lingering storm damage from Hurricane Harvey in the Houston region, CEO Rick Matros said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call Thursday.

Full story at Skilled Nursing News