Choosing a Retirement Community and Senior Facility

January 11, 2013 Retiring in Southern Oregon

Finding a retirement region of the country and a retirement facility that is ideal for your individual situation is not an easy task.  There seems to be a plethora of designated retirement regions and facilities throughout America these days.

Questions to ask Regarding a Retirement Region

As far as the area or region of the country goes, do you focus on available medical care, the ability to choose alternate health resources, an area’s climate and annual rainfall, air quality, recreational choices, crime statistics, its golf courses, entertainment choices, and the general culture of the area?  Do you choose a tropical sun-drenched environment or a cooler, more northern location?

Your situation and Support Network May Color Your Choice

One huge question that you may have to grapple with is your current proximity to family and friends.  Do you seek-out a location that offers the best quality of life for your retirement years or do you simply stay –put to remain close to your loved ones?  You need to ask yourself, if I move away from my family and friends, will I be happy without the emotional and physical support network I have become accustomed to?  If you move away to the other side of the country to take advantage of a more senior-friendly town, will you be able to make regular trips to visit with your beloved family members?  Ultimately, you will need to make the decision based on your particular situation and what is more important, closeness to family and existing friends or living where you want to with the amenities and features you are looking for or have forever desired.  As we get older there is less of life to go around and less time to do the things we have always wanted to do.

Choices of Lifestyle and the Desires of the Heart

If you have lived in the landlocked central United States or a desert community all of your life, a location so far from the ocean that you never get to eat fresh fish, then perhaps a change is due.  You may want to consider moving to the coast or at least close enough where you can hop in your car and be in at a beautiful coastline in a couple of hours or so.  If the cultural and entertainment choices of your region are limited and you are an individual who loves the theater then maybe a more dynamic urban region would be better at providing the cultural stimulus you desire.  If you are an academic at heart and the closest institution of higher learning is many hours away, you may enjoy a college town with access to continuing education and a university library.  Of maybe you used to ski in your younger years and have been living in the south where ski resorts and mountains are only a dream.  You may be craving for the opportunity to live in a ski town in order to get back on the slopes and reinvigorate your senior years.

Southern Oregon offers it all

Southern Oregon is unique as it offers the best of many of most of the amenities and situations discussed above.  It is unique in that it has a small town feel with the attributes of a larger city that affords many cultural, academic, recreational, gourmet-dining, advanced medical, alternative health and other important senior-centered considerations.  Southern Oregon is quickly becoming a vibrant destination for seniors looking for the perfect blend of nature and urban life.  Only a couple hours from the dramatic and fun-filled Oregon Coast, your desire for the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean are an easy Sunday drive outing.  Numerous and very challenging golf courses are located here, and the impressive cultural aspects of a growing numbers of art galleries, an expansive wine country almost rivaling Napa, the Ashland Shakespeare Festival and other theater companies, high-end French and other culinary restaurant choices and many local outdoor activities from salmon and steelhead fishing, river and lake boating, snow skiing and mountain biking are everyday niceties Southern Oregon dwellers enjoy.   Add to this some of the best and most extensive medical and alternative health medicine clinics in the U.S., and you have a location that offers all a senior could hope for.

What Retirement Community or Senior Facility to Choose

The above considerations for general locations to retire are only the first step, you then need to consider the actual retirement community or facility in the location of your choice.  Should you go for your own single family house located in a community for seniors, a condominium type of community, or a mega-sized, full-featured everything-done-for-you type of facility?  Many of these considerations will depend on your budget, the type of person you are and your physical condition.  Many of the large full-featured facilities are progressive-assistance models.  These actually allow you the ability to stay at the same facility as you get older, possibly requiring more care via an assisted-living type of facility.

Do Your Homework

Whatever the location you chose and the senior facility you decide on, probably the most important thing to do is research and investigate thoroughly your options.  Search the internet, visit chamber of commerce sites, travel portals and general websites specific to the features and important aspects of a regional location, city and facility you may be considering.   After you narrow down your choices, take trips to the geographical locations that fit your list of wants and desires for a new retirement home.  Do extensive web searches and make a list of the senior retirement communities that are located in the geographical areas you will be visiting.  Make sure you call each one ahead of time to setup appointments so you are able to get tours of the facilities on your list.