- This Week’s Discussion: Senior Living Options 101. Presented by Tracy Skalitzky and Tarik Marshall with Oasis Senior Advisors.
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- Hello everyone, and welcome to Sandy Spring Banks: Real Life Matters Professional Discussion Series. My name is Phil Fish, I'm a Certified Financial Planner and an Estate Planning Specialist with Sandy Spring Bank. And I'm proud to host this Professional Discussion Series where I interview local professionals in the areas of law, tax, finance and healthcare. I'm very grateful today to be talking to Tarik and Tracy. They work with Oasis Senior Advisors, and they help counsel clients on different senior living options. And so today we gonna be talking about senior living options, 101. So, Tarik and Tracy, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to join us. Why don't we start with you just providing us a little background on your business and the two of you, and the type of work that you provide. And then we'll get into a conversation about the different the senior housing options and how you help clients navigate this very confusing world that we live in.
- Absolutely, thank you, Phil, for allowing us to present today and be part of this conversation. So we are Oasis Senior Advisors. We are focused here in Montgomery County, and we have been in business since September, 2020. It is part of a franchise that is nationwide to help seniors navigate senior living. So we're all about being part of their life to ensure they go to the appropriate living situation that is based on their level of care and needs.
- Wonderful, and so we talked a little bit before we started our session about how overwhelming it can be for seniors as they reach a point in time where they realize that staying in home might not be a good option. Now certainly for some clients, staying in home is an option that they look at. It can be very expensive. It can also be a little higher risk if they don't make proper preparations. We have a lot of clients who unfortunately fall down steep steps. They trip trying to step into a shower. They don't have grab rails, they're trying to clean out their own gutters, et cetera, et cetera. And then it can be a very tragic transition to maybe a skilled senior, a skilled nursing facility. So staying in home is an option for some, but for others that comes a point in time when they need to look at options. And so, and there are so many out there. So I think what might help is to kind of go through some of the different options that you work with. And you mentioned in the conversation earlier that for some of the assisted living facilities, yes, some of them are large, but there's a lot of smaller ones that are based out of clients' homes or the owner's homes. Can you give us a little background on those types of smaller assisted living options? 'Cause I don't think a lot of people aware that they're out there.
- Sure, absolutely. So in Montgomery County, we're very blessed to have probably over 200 to 250 of these residential communities. We call them residential communities. Typically they have five residents, we have a few of them that will have eight residents. And that's just based on a couple of regulations that require for eight residents. Most of them are five residents in a vary from community to community. Some will accept Medicaid, some are strictly private pay. And I'm sure we'll chat about the payment options later, but they're a great resource, they're typically less than the larger corporate communities that are out there. So it is a good option for a lot of folks. And we do place a lot of folks in these communities.
- Yeah, in my time as a trust officer, I have visited some of these locations, and they're just homes in a neighborhood and they're set up, they make the modification to the home to make them suitable for assisted living, but many of them have a wonderful staff that have been there for a long time. And that it's a very close ratio 'cause as you said, if there's only five or eight residents, and you have a couple of staff members, it's a very different field to some of the larger locations. And there are trade offs obviously, 'cause they might not have, they certainly might not have a swimming pool and the gymnasium and tennis courts, and some of these facilities are like a holiday resort. So there's so many choices to look at. But I think a lot of people just aren't aware that that is an option to move from a home to another home, just with some other residents that is set up to provide the level of care, but a lot less expensive than trying to do. It's so low in your own home with you being the only client in that location, then the costs or get four to eight times more expensive, 'cause you don't have as many residents.
- Absolutely.
- That is correct, a lot of the residential communities, like we said, have about five residents. So they normally have two caregivers per five to eight residents. So that way, caregiver ratio is higher than in larger communities, it's a much less. It'd be one caregiver to like eight to 10 residents. So actually a small residential home does provide more hands-on care because of that. And then they're there 24/7. Most of them will have the, I guess the caregivers spend the night, and they sleep there at night or they're awake at night. So there's somebody there 24/7 to help out in the event. Somebody needs to go to the restroom in the middle of night or has some medical issue at night.
- And I guess with that larger number, if you have family and you wanna try and be close to family, it might be easier to find a location that's close to your son or daughter or grandchildren or brothers or sisters, so, or even close to your home where you feel a little more comfortable. You don't feel like you've moved so far out. So, that's an interesting option. So if I call you up and that's my father's passed on, but let's say my father was getting to that point in life where we realized he cannot stay at home. How does it work with your company? If I called you and said, my father needs to find a place. what is kind of the process that we would go through in that situation?
- Sure, so what we do is we have a conversation with the client and their family or either or, but what we do is we really try and find out as much information as we can, we call it kind of our discovery sessions. And in that session, we talk about the client, we talk about their health needs. We talk about their current situation where they're at currently. We have folks who are in rehabs who have had falls just like you mentioned before, so we have those clients. But we do have clients who are proactive, looking for that next step. So we have conversations with them about their financials. We have conversations about their personally, what they did in their career, hobbies, things that they enjoy, what are they looking for in the community, and then what Tracy and I do is we really kinda take all of that information. And then we kind of assess, is a residential community appropriate versus a larger a community? And we kind of do the pros and cons for each of them.
- Okay.
- And then we guide them to make the right choices. In some cases it's pretty clear that a residential is the right choice, and it's pretty clear sometimes where the larger community is the right choice. So we wanna-
- Yeah, I mean, with the larger communities, I know some of them are really beautiful and they have a big kitchen staff and you have, they might have hundreds of residents where you have, you're playing bridge and you're watching movies, and you have outings, and so there are trade-offs and certainly that increase in staff and services means a higher monthly expense. And you mentioned looking at the client's financial situation, I'm sure that is a governing factor where a client may just be limited in what they can comfortably afford. You mentioned that some people do Medicaid programs and we've done a discussion with Maurice Klein on our discussion series about Medicaid and qualifying, which the clients who don't have the financial resources to pay. And I guess some clients might be in transition where they might be able to pay for a couple of years, but may realize, and I'm sure you probably look at that. If you realize the client's gonna have to qualify for Medicaid in six months or 12 months, but there's no reason that you really want them to get into a facility where they could stay there. Meaning it would be a Medicaid approved facility, so they could transition. And is that how it works? A client might stop private pay, and then may transition to Medicaid once their funds hit that threshold.
- That is correct, Phil. So people have their financial resources and we work with them 'cause maybe they have a long-term care policy. So that will extend their stay. Maybe they're a veteran and could be eligible for aid and attendance, and that again adds an additional amount onto their monthly income that they could afford into a community. So that's why we do our discovery day to find out all these different resources that is possible. Maybe they have a home that they're able to sell. Maybe they have a life insurance policy they can cash in. So there's a lot of different things that we do during discovery day to hopefully then find the appropriate home for that person. And with that discovery day, we put all that information into our proprietary database, which then as Tarik said, we run a report because we ask a lot of questions of a community when we profile them just as we ask a client. So that way, when we run a report, it's like what we call a basic match. We call it a real estate match for seniors. So then we nail that scoped down, and then that's when we recommend those particular communities. So again, it's really based on all their ADL's, they can do the activities of daily living, their financial as well as, where do they wanna live in like a Murray County or maybe they wanna go to Anne Arundel County or PG County, so we can work with whatever their needs are at that time.
- Yeah, we do very similar work. I mean, on our end, working for Sandy Springs Trusts, we get hired to serve as a trustee and postal representative and to manage assets. And on the investment side, there are tens of thousands of investment choices and we get hired sometimes for clients to help us, help them navigate through those decisions. And for our portfolio managers who live and breathe this all day long, they're able to select appropriate investments for the client's objectives and every client's different. And I guess you're doing a similar thing is you also, as we taught before our discussion, you know the facilities. So if the nursing staff has just left and gone to work somewhere else, and that's scrambling, you kinda know to kind of hold off on that facility for awhile, because that kind of regrouping after the big loss of staff, you kinda know how the food is, has the staff been there a long time? And I'm sure like with any business turnover is such a negative in any line of business. So you can have a facility that's constantly changing the staff, it's very hard to provide that high quality service, if you constantly have new people coming and going. And some of these places have staff they've been there, 5, 10, 15, 20 years, I'm sure.
- Absolutely, absolutely. And we have some, a lot of newer communities that are starting to open up and develop in the area and we've had the opportunity to meet with those folks. So it's important that we're kind of in while it's still in the development stage, so that we're getting our foot in so we can get a feel for what's going on there, and really try and understand what it is that they're looking for, trying to understand the type of client that they're looking for. So this way it's efficient for us. And obviously we find and place the right clients in the right community.
- All right, so on the assisted living, which is for clients who need, they're not independent, they need some help, but they're not at that skilled nursing, serious health condition stage yet. And there are different levels of assisted living. There's also memory care for our clients with Alzheimer's or dementia, which may need to be secure. So they can't just leave. So a lot of those facilities have different levels of security to protect the client. And so we talked a little bit earlier before we started recording also on these community CCRC, it gets confusing, but this kind of transition in place, facilities. I think you said that they're now being called different things now, they've changed the name a little.
- Right, to make it a little easier on people. It's called a life plan community. So it's, you're planning your life when you move in. 'Cause then you can stay when you're in assisted living, and then when time comes, and you can go maybe to memory care if you need to, or if you need to go to skilled nursing until end of life. So that's why they call it a life plan community.
- So, it's kind of all stages are in the one location. And these places like Asbury and Riderwood can be very large places. And many clients go there when they're not sick, they go there during their retirement years when they're healthy with the plan, as you said to just transition, especially if you're a couple, and you're concerned that if one of you has a health issue and one does not, you wanna stay in the same location. And I think you work with those facilities as well. And again, there's all types of different types, sizes. There's some very high end ones, which for some clients with the financial resources, they want a very high standard. And these places are like country clubs. You walk in and you go, I've walked in and go, I wouldn't mind staying here for one year. The food is amazing, and it's just, and you walk in, it just has that wow factor so.
- Right, Phil, so it's great when people decide to move into a community like that. It's good to move in when you actually are independent, because that way you can take advantage of all the amenities that they have to offer, which is like you said, a swimming pool to all these different activities they have. So if you can afford it, I would do it because in that way again, you could take advantage of those, because sometimes when you move to assisted living, your health starts declining. So, you can't necessarily, maybe you can't go swimming anymore. So you have to do a different activity. So again, why not do things while you can and enjoy it? And then as things progressed, then you just move on to different activities. And you're right, lot of these are like country clubs, they're beautiful and they have chefs, gourmet chefs.
- Oh, yeah.
- Three meals a day, people gain weight by moving in these places, and they provide that.
- They have like omelet stations set up and you just walk around and go, wow, it's like one of those vacation resorts where everything's taken care of. And obviously those places carry very large expenses related to them. But again it's, I've always was raised, every client's different, clients have different priorities. some have, they have the financial resources where they can afford to stand a nice place. And there's nothing wrong with that, they've earned that. And there's some clients with more limited resources, then we wanna try and find the best place for them based on what they can afford. And we wanna make sure that they don't end up in a place where they're not gonna feel connected. They're not gonna feel happy 'cause this is important. I mean, this is the, when we head towards retirement and we've worked hard, you wanna make sure that our family, our loved ones, our clients are safe, are taken care of given the respect and dignity that they deserve, you mentioned veterans, especially if they're a veteran, we wanna make sure they're being cared for. And so I think, professionals like you and I work with a lot of different professionals who do similar work, provide advice and guidance, using your knowledge to help clients make choices. So once you've kind of created that rapport, you've kind of gathered all the information, you've analyzed their finances, you've analyzed their preferences, their wishes. Do they love to swim? What location is important to them? Do they wanna be in the south side of Montgomery County? Or a little further north? Then what is the next step? Once you have that report, do you coordinate visits? Do you ever visit with the client? Or do you just introduce them to these facilities and make those arrangements? What is that next step?
- Sure, so what we do is, after we do the initial discovery, we actually go with the clients and we meet them at the communities. We set up all the tours. We walk with them through this process.
- Wonderful.
- And from beginning to end. So we walk through and sometimes you need that connection time where you're together, because sometimes conversation over the phone, you have one perspective. And then when we actually get together and we get to a community, and maybe we were a little bit off in our perception, and the community wasn't exactly the right fit. So this allows us to kind of refocus and then try and find the right fit for that client, in that community.
- Okay.
- It's important for us to go out there and tour and to meet with the client and the family, because we get a real perspective and a real communication of what they're really looking for, what they like and don't like. We could see the visual cues and things like that when we're on tours. So those are the things we look out for.
- Right, and we also try to be the advocate for the client as well, because maybe there's particular things that they're interested in, or they have specific medical issues. So we wanna make sure those are addressed during the tour, whether they speak to the medical director, the nurse, or the executive director, whoever it may be. We wanna ake sure that they feel comfortable wherever they go and get all their questions answered. So again, that they make the decision. We just tour them and we provide information. They make the final decision. We're just here to help guide them, and it's rewarding because we've helped a lot of people. And whether it's low-income, like we said, the Medicaid people, and again, you're right, we want to play somebody in a community for their life. We don't want them to necessarily move from one community to another when they lose their financial resources. So again, when we do that discovery day, we realize, oh, if they only have $100,000, well, we're not gonna place them in a community that they're gonna run out in two years.
- Yeah.
- That's just not the right thing to do. So we obviously recommend the communities that we would put them there as long as possible. So then they could apply then for Medicaid when they're eligible and then live there. So again, it's really based on to ensure that that person has, that they can thrive the rest of their life, that they're here with us.
- And you know the lingo because it's so, I mean, I've been in the industry 30 years and I started out as a very young trust officer, for a big bank, and before I joined Sandy Spring in 2000. And so I was green like everyone else, and I was touring the facilities and I was involved in a nonprofit called GROWS, Grass Roots Organization for the Wellbeing of Seniors. And that's where I got to meet care managers and assisted living facilities, and I did the tours. You go to some of these places and you need to be fit. 'Cause I mean, you're tired after the talk, 'cause you'd walk like miles, it seems. And you're like, wow, the whole ways along. And that's a lot of it is, I guess the feel is for a client. Some clients would love that expanse and some clients would feel very uncomfortable. They would feel more comfortable in an intimate setting with maybe only three or four residents. So every client is gonna be different. What I'd like is when we taught, you mentioned how, you're compensated by the facilities for helping them find suitable residents. So the individuals using the services don't have to pay anything to you. And they're certainly not paying more to stay in the facility they selected. So it's kind of a win-win 'cause the facility gets you, helping them find residents which is very nice, and you're helping the resident. And then the facility is happy to pay you a fee for your time because you found a great candidate for them. And so, but you're not locked into one, two, three, four or five facilities, correct? You have a much broader base to choose from.
- That is correct, we work with all communities in Montgomery County. And good thing about us is that we do have an agreement with the communities for our compensation. So, we basically have the same agreement with everyone. So that way we're unbiased in our recommendation of a community. Again, it's really focused on the person and their unique needs to ensure that that community can meet those needs and that that client would be happy and thrive in that community. So that's what it's all about.
- Wonderful, so, yes, Tarik.
- Also the other piece of it, about what we do is kind of, we're supporting families. So not only for assisted living and placements. A lot goes along with transitioning in senior living. So there could be real estate involved. There could be legal issues and power of attorney and getting wills and trusts, and those types of things together. So we partner with multiple groups and organizations that deal with those things. So when a client calls us, we have a toolbox full of resources that we can provide them. And again, there's no charge for it. We're not compensated for any of that. We're here to help that's our job. Our job is here to help the community. So we have resources available. We connect people with the right folks. We try and make this as easy as possible for everyone.
- And, it's confusing. I mean, it's, you're dealing with legal issues and tax and finance and health care and emotional issues. It's very hard for the family to see a loved one lose their full independence. It's very scary for the client to be facing, leaving a home. If you've lived in that home for 30, 40 years, just the whole concept of moving out, of dealing with different health issues. And I imagine with a lot of clients, family members, if they're not local, having somebody local to help coordinate, we get heard a lot too, on the financial side to help manage assets. When decision maker, the son or daughter is not local, we become like you, kind of on the financial side, kind of a local coordinator. And we, like you are coordinating, this is one of the reasons we do the discussion series with lawyers and accountants and healthcare professionals. And it's, transitioning through life is hard. Retirement, illness, loss of a loved one. I'm sure many times you deal with clients who have recently lost someone who, or may have a spouse partner, significant other who has some health issues. But the healthy spouse is very stressed and very worried about being able to take care of that person.
- I can give you an example of how we help someone recently.
- Okay.
- There was a couple in PG County, I got a phone call and I'm not gonna say his name. He called and said, "I just need to move to assisted living." I said, okay. So we talked a bit further about it and found out the situation. Him and his wife were both 94 years old.
- Oh, wow.
- And he is healthy, she has memory care issues. So she has dementia. And in our conversation decided that he would like to move somewhere where she can have her own place in memory care because he's independent. And a lot of communities don't want an independent person in with memory care. It's a locked facility. And then again, their brain cognition would go down as well because they're not being active and their brain thriving. But what we did then is we reached out to them. We had conversations with them. We went over to their house and we met them, and we brought over someone who could diagnose the wife as dementia, and she did. And from there we decided to tour them in a couple of communities. We got all the information, their ADL's, their financial, all that good stuff. They own a home. So we toured them at the community and they decided to move into the community, which was great. So what we did then, 'cause we're like, "Okay, we've got the ball rolling, which is great. We're gonna move on when he's happy, he's lucky." He's like, "I can't wait to move." He was like, "I get three meals a day, awesome." He was so excited to have three meals a day.
- Just the basic stuff, right?
- That sounds like a guy, I just need, I need a TV and I need food.
- Yeah, and he was happy.
- He was very happy.
- But part of that is the fact that we had to work with an elder law attorney. They did not have a will believe it or not. At 94 years old, both of them neither one had a will. And then a power of attorney. So actually, because the wife has dementia, he had to get guardianship over her because her name was on all the assets. Her name was on the house. Her name was on all the bank accounts. So we worked with the elder law attorney and him to get the guardianship. And we just got that, and so now he's actually able to sell his house. So we had to reach out to a realtor and they bought the house for cash because it's, they've been in the house for 60 years. Haven't done anything to it. So it's not really worth a lot, unfortunately, a lot of work needs to be done to it, but we got the realtor and him hooked up, and they actually closed on the house today. So he's happy, he's gonna get all this cash that is gonna then help pay for his care and his wife's care. We hired, when they moved actually from their house to the community, Tarik and I personally, we had our own cars 'cause we had to drive there, which is about hour away. And then we had to drive him in his car 'cause he still drives. So, Tarik got to spend time with the husband, and I got to spend time with the wife in their car, and we drove to the community, and then we hired move managers to help pack everything up and move it. So when we got to the community, the room was already set up. All their clothes were hung, everything was in place. So they could just move right in and get settled. So we literally hand-hold people from start to finish if that's what they need. So we're here to help anyone with regardless, but they are happy as a large key is, especially because it's the three meals a day. He gets to watch TV. He has his little Chihuahua with them, and she's in memory care and he goes up to see her every day to visit with her. Make sure she's okay. And so right now I asked in the day, you happy? He goes, "Yeah, I'm happy, why wouldn't I be?" I'm like, oh great. So it was a good story and-
- It's a good story.
- We feel privileged to have helped them because it was not a good situation where they were at home together. They did have a caregiver, but the caregiver was only there eight hours a day. So that means the husband was taking care of her at night and on weekends, and that's a lot for somebody.
- It was a lot, it was a lot.
- Yeah, it reminds me of what happened a number of years ago. 'Cause I'm the youngest of four and my mom had serious health issues, and they were trying to do round the clock care in the home and it wasn't working. And my father actually called me, and they were in England, I'm here. I've been here for many years and he said, "Phil, we kind of need your help." 'Cause my two oldest siblings weren't, different children react differently to these issues. And my older brother and older sister, very skillful, they are very knowledgeable but they weren't really getting this whole issue. And so my wife and I flew over, and my sister had found a little place for a mom to move to. And it was not a very nice place. I said, no, we're not gonna do that. So my wife and I actually went to a local healthcare center and we got a list of facilities and we kind of did, like you do, we toured and called and found a place in the country. And we were able to get mom a very nice room with a big picture window out, looking over the fields. It was in the country, and she loved that. And then we got a single for dad down the hall. And I said to dad, I said, you're going too, I'm not gonna have you drive back and forth. You're gonna go together. 'Cause I'd been mad the whole lives. And that's where mom spent the last few months of her life before she passed away. But it was, and we had to rent the van. We move furniture, so we got mom a nice big room 'cause they could afford it. So it was a bed in one half the room then kind of a living area. And we moved dad's favorite chair and bookcases and books. So he could sit and read with mom in her bed. And it was a very rewarding time for us. So helping transition is a lot of work. I'm sure you too stay very busy, but it is incredibly rewarding to help people be safe during a very difficult time in their lives, a very vulnerable time in their lives.
- We see some pretty significant situations with folks. And it's always nice to see them come out on the other side and be in a much better place. It's said, we're all aging, we get every calls, people have different levels of health, stay healthy as long as we possibly can. But we see a lot of people who have some significant health issues and it's rewarding to see them on the other side of it.
- Right, but this only applies to seniors, that also applies to even any of us who are in a car accident. We had a client who was in a car accident and literally is bed bound.
- Oh, no.
- And is,
- [Tarik & Tracy] Young,
- Is only like 30.
- 39.
- Yeah.
- That is 39 years old.
- Yeah, and unfortunately there's no rehabilitation to be done. So he's basically bed bound for the rest of his life. But, yeah, we were able to work with the skilled nursing facility he was at to work with a social worker, to find him a community that could do all of his needs that he can. So that was rewarding. Very sad story, of course, but it was good knowing that we could help him at least get into a community that was less expensive 'cause skilled nursing is like the highest, most expensive place you can go. And if you need that care, that's what you gotta do. But assisted living communities can handle up to what they call level three care, which is pretty much everything except for like, if you have a tracheotomy or if you have a feeding tube. So really truly serious stuff is skilled nursing. If you're still bed bound, you can still go to an assisted living. If you have memory issues, you can go to an assisted living with memory care. So, there's a variety of different things that assisted living can do to help people. So I don't want people think, "Oh no, I'm gonna end up in a nursing home." It's really not a nursing home per se. The assisted living communities as you know are updated. They get inspected by the state, et cetera. They have to have a county license, a state license. They have to have a CNA or a med tech as well as a nurse, a visiting doctor that comes, so all of these are regulated. So people should feel comfortable, especially with residential communities because they have those resources and it doesn't cost as much as what a larger community does. A larger community is great, as we stated earlier, and they can take all the levels of care that a smaller residential can do as well. It's just you have more of the amenities and more of the fun, and I hate to say it probably really much better food, but , they do. They have more of the options to do activities as well as the socialization, 'cause there are many more people in a larger community. Smaller communities are great, four, five, six, eight residents, but you're limited to those residents where people of a larger community. There's many more people in which you can engage in whether you wanna play cards or if you wanna participate in event. And they do also allow people to, they transport them to, let's say they wanna go to the Strathmore, there's having event, the Strathmore. Or they're just gonna go to the grocery store. So they have vans and things. So, if even if you're in a wheelchair, you can go to those things because they have that available. You just have to sign up and let them know and they make the arrangements. But that's what's good about assisted livings in that aspect is that, they want you to thrive. They want you to be happy, they want you to be healthy. So I encourage people, if they have any questions about assisted living feel free to reach out to us.
- Yeah, and that kind of brings us full circle 'cause when we started talking about all the different options, we talked about the smaller residential locations with four to eight residents. We talked about the larger assisted living. We talked about the life plan communities where you kind of age in place. And then the skilled nursing is the last option for those who have very serious health issues. One time as a trust officer, I had care managers assigned to kind of keep an eye on many of the clients who were in facilities. And we had one client who had a serious injury and was in skilled nursing, but then she got better and the care manager said, "She really doesn't need to be here anymore." And so we were able to save about half the cost by moving her from skilled nursing to another assisted living facility. She got the care she needed. But she just had gotten better. And so clients will sometimes get worse where the facility is no longer a good fit, unfortunately, but sometimes they improve if it's a recovery from an injury. So, we've covered a great amount of information today. So thank you, Tarik and Tracy for your time today. It is a wonderful resource that you provide. Thank you for all of the people that you are helping within our community. And so before we up, are there any final words that you would like to say to our audience today?
- First of all, thank you so much for allowing us to speak with you today.
- You're welcome.
- It's interesting to have the ability to enlighten people about assisted living, about memory care, and even independent living. And that there are so many options out there, and that's why we exist. We're exists specifically to help people transition into whatever the next stages in life. And we offer a free service for that. And we also are able to help people, again, in independent living, let's say, they're ready to move on, but they wanna sell their house and all that. So again, we have the network of resources of referral partners. Whether it's elder law attorney, whether it's a financial person is such as yourself to care managers, to move managers. So all of those are available that we have as resources and we're here to help people, whether they move into an assisted living or not, they might just reach out to us and say, "Well, I wanna age in place." And we're like, great. We have companies in which we can refer to, to help you put up those grab bars in the bathroom, et cetera, or a chair, rail, whatever it may be. We're here literally to help them, whatever they need. So again, thank you so much for allowing us to be part of this. And I'm Tracy with Oasis Senior Advisors, and this is my partner, Tarik.
- Hello?
- You can reach us at 301 678 8900, again, 301 678 8900. And thank you again, Phil.
- Oh, you're welcome. And thank you so much for the work that you do. And audience, thank you for joining us at the Professional Discussion Series. My name's Phil Fish with Sandy Spring Trust. And as you noticed, when you signed on today, we did not ask your name. We didn't ask for your email or phone number. This is a community educational hub housed on the Sandy Spring Bank website. Sandy Spring Bank was founded in 1868. We're the oldest, largest community-based bank in the greater Washington region. If you bank with us, thank you. We appreciate the trust that you place in us. If you don't bank with us, we hope you might consider Sandy Spring Bank to be your partner. Talk to any of our staff. My contact information is listed at the end of today's program as is Tarik's and Tracy's. And if you have questions about senior housing, feel free to reach out to them or any other provider. And please make sure that you're getting good advice about your options. Luckily, in this region, there are a lot of options, but unfortunately that can make it a very overwhelming process. So, professionals like Tarik and Tracy, hope kinda clear the air, and hope you narrow the field, and figure out what might be the best option for you based on a host of issues that we talked about today. I hope everyone is safe during these difficult times and on behalf of Sandy Spring Bank, please take care and have a wonderful rest of your day.
