Reducing Preventable Extended Care & Caregiving Demands & Costs with Esther Greenhouse

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🎙️ Welcome back to Steadfast Care Planning, where we plan for care to live well. Today, we have a compelling episode with a very special guest, Esther Greenhouse, a longevity strategist and the founder of Silver to Gold Strategic Consulting. Esther brings her extensive expertise in gerontology, environmental psychology, and design to tackle the challenges of aging in place.
🛠️ In this episode, we'll dive into the critical myths and misconceptions surrounding financial security and quality of life in the later years. Esther will shed light on how the design of our homes can significantly impact our frailty, dependence, and financial stability as we age.
🏡 We'll explore practical strategies to improve the physical and financial well-being of older adults through intentional home modifications and enabling design. Plus, Esther shares a personal and professional case study that highlights the profound benefits of planning and proactive design.
💡 Whether you're an individual planning for your future, a caregiver, or a professional in financial services or long-term care, this episode is packed with invaluable insights that can help you plan for care to live well.
In this episode they covered:
🔹 Myths and misconceptions about financial security and quality of life in later years.
🔹 Aging in place—what it means today and its significant societal changes.
🔹 The crucial role of home modifications and the impact of home design on aging.
🔹 Enabling design approach and how it can enhance independence.
🔹 Real-life examples of reducing long-term care needs through design.
🔹 Tackling the long-term care and the caregiving crisis by design.
🔹 How Silver to Gold Strategies aligns with financial planning and long-term care insurance businesses.
For more information about Esther Greenhouse and Silver to Gold Strategic Consulting, please visit:
https://silvertogoldstrategies.com
Or, LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/esthergreenhouse/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/silver-to-gold-strategies/
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📽️ To watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/iokLviitDRI
#SteadfastInsurance #EstherGreenhouse #SteadfastCarePlanning #SilverToGoldStrategicConsulting #longtermcareinsurance

For additional information about Kelly, check her out on Linkedin or www.SteadfastAgents.com.
To explore your options for long-term care insurance, click here.
Steadfast Care Planning podcast is made possible by Steadfast Insurance LLC,
Certification in Long Term Care, and AMADA Senior Care Columbus.
Come back next time for more helpful guidance!

Chapters

1. Introduction to Esther Greenhouse and Silver to Gold Strategic Consulting (00:00:00)

2. Planning for longevity and how to reduce preventable extended care and caregiving demands and costs. (00:00:20)

3. Myths and misconceptions that threaten financial security and quality of life in later years (00:00:54)

4. The design of our housing actually contributes to our frailty, our dependency, and our impoverishment as we age (00:01:16)

5. People have always aged in place. That's been the norm since the beginning of humanity. So why is it such an issue now? (00:01:40)

6. One of the key trends that has shaped aging in place is that wages have not kept pace with inflation over the past 50 years. So more and more, we need two incomes for a family. (00:02:30)

7. Another significant trend is migration of adult children across the country and even of older adults as they age. (00:02:50)

8. Another key myth and misconception is the notion of home modifications and the idea that, "Oh, I can make some modifications to my home if I have the need, and then I'll be fine." (00:03:41)

9. A lot of people don't even have the funds for home modifications. (00:04:18)

10. The enabling design approach has three pillars. The first is the concept of person environment fit. It's really simple and really powerful, and that is that there is an ideal fit between a person and their environment. (00:05:09)

11. We don't design housing communities or products to really work well across the lifespan, or across the ability span. So to get more specific on this, our data, our conventions, our codes result in places, particularly housing. (00:05:57)

12. The third pillar is taking those two lenses and looking at everything that's crucial to our well being as we age. (00:06:53)

13. What's also critical to understand is that we can't predict if we will need care. We cannot predict our physical decline. (00:08:12)

14. The CLTC Commercial (00:09:47)

15. Preventable long-term care and caregiving needs and costs in order to minimize frailty, dependence, and impoverishment with age. (00:10:14)

16. Case study of Esther's mom's aging process and how they used enabling design and other methods to improve her well-being. (00:10:58)

17. Her home had features like a zero step entry, it had wider doorways, it had non glare lighting, non slippery floors, and that everything that she needed to do to function independently was on one level. (00:12:08)

18. Estimated that enabling design and methodologies saved the family and the government anywhere from $500,000 to $1.5 million. (00:13:09)

19. Bidet seat that cost $1,000 was an investment that yielded a 3,000% return on investment. (00:15:04)

20. AMADA Senior Care Commercial (00:17:53)

21. Overview of tackling the long-term care and caregiving crisis by design. (00:18:23)

22. We have an increasing older adult population in this society and in most industrialized societies. (00:18:51)

23. Another variable is the increased cost of health care. (00:19:24)

24. The last variable is financial resources. Too many things are pulling on people's money. (00:19:45)

25. The design of the built environment. We leverage the design of our homes. Using enabling design to prevent health care costs and caregiving. (00:22:10)

26. Financial planning and long-term care insurance are vehicles to help people feel safe and secure in their later years. How does Silver to Gold Strategies fit in with these? (00:23:41)

27. Silver to Gold Strategies provide varied and tailored services and can be adapted to a variety of audiences. (00:24:40)

28. Help inform and educate clients about what are the issues that they are unknowingly facing and what are the resources that they can be taking advantage of to make changes. (00:26:44)

29. There is this hidden threat of the design of housing that is limiting and jeopardizing success in long-term care, success in your later years. It's jeopardizing financial security, and it doesn't have to. (00:28:22)

30. How to contact Silver to Gold Strategic Consulting. (00:29:31)