Eldercare on the Air: Empowering Your Golden Years

Welcome to Eldercare on the Air, the weekly podcast hosted by elder law and special needs attorney Michael Amaruso of Amaruso & Amaruso. Whether you’re navigating your own aging journey or supporting a loved one, this show arms you with the tools, resources, and knowledge to make informed decisions during critical times.

Tune in to hear insightful conversations with leading experts in eldercare, special needs, financial planning, independent living, and everyday individuals sharing their stories. Together, we tackle pressing topics like housing options, long-term care, and building meaningful, secure lives in our later years.

Stay informed, stay empowered, and let us help you age in place with dignity and peace of mind. Join us every week—because your golden years deserve nothing less!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

You've lived well, you've worked hard to make your place in this world. Your dignity and security are earned and well deserved. Or maybe you have a loved one who needs you more than ever. Well, we can help you help them plan life better. Amaruso and Amaruso.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Welcome to Eldercare on the Air, a weekly radio show with guests in the fields of eldercare, special needs, financial services, independent living, and yes, people just like you. Where we will empower you to make sound choices when you're faced with an eldercare or special needs crisis. My name is Michael Amoruso, an elder law and special needs attorney with Amoruso& Amoruso in Rybrook, New York, which services clients in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. You're at our new home, 107.1 The Peak. But I do encourage you to go onto our website, eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. Click on the radio show tab you see. and just simply download the episode you'd like to listen to. You see, this show is designed to arm you with the knowledge and tools that you need to make sound choices to help you or a loved one age in place. If you have any questions or would like to hear topics on future episodes of Eldercare on the Air, please send us an email at info at eldercareontheair.com. That's info at eldercareontheair.com. We have an informative episode in store for you this week. Well, in this episode, I'm really happy to have a guest back on our show that I have not had on here in many years. And this is Atria of Briarcliff Manor. And in particular, I've got two individuals that are going to talk to you today. First is going to be Alyssa Drassenauer. And second is going to be Takesha Miringola. So Alyssa is the Community Sales Director and I wanted her to be here just to really give you a good flavor of what Atria Briarcliff has to offer. And it's something I really want all of you to think about because whether you realize it or not, in our current times, we are actually being faced with a healthcare worker shortage here in the lower New York area and Connecticut area where home care agencies are starving to find home care workers. Nursing homes are also faced with a very similar situation where their staffing is down. So as you have a loved one who is aging and may need assistance and you can't find an aid to come in and help that loved one at home, or if they're more advanced in their aging process and you can't find a bed for them, we need to understand what our other options are. So today we're going to focus on the home care side. And that's what Alyssa is going to cover for us. So Alyssa, first, welcome to our show.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

Thank you so much for having me, Michael.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

It is great to have you here. And why don't you help educate the audience on what is Atria Briarcliff Manor and where do you fit in this space that I was just talking about in terms of long-term care?

SPEAKER_05 3:50

Sure. So Atria Briarcliff Manor is located in the heart of the most charming town of Briarcliff Manor. We are physically located on the town's property where we're surrounded by parks, fields. We have the playground, which is great for grandkids, tennis courts, pool, and the town library is directly on our property. So our residents have access to being outside. The walkability factor is very high as town is just a five minute walk and there's everything at their fingertips. In terms of home health care and talking about how you touched upon there's this nationwide shortage, it's definitely something that we see. However, we're very lucky that we have been in the town of Briarcliff for the last 24 years, and we really pride ourselves on having reliable and dependable staff who want to work in our community and help our residents We have three staff members who've worked over 20 years, who've been here from the very beginning. More than half of our wellness staff have been here more than a decade. So it's really indicative of, you know, having staff that is familiar to our community and to our residents. And that's so important, especially when you're in a senior living community where we're in assisted living, helping residents with their daily ADLs, you know, You have a very intimate relationship and having a health care worker change every single day can be a little upsetting to a resident. You know, an advantage to coming to an assisted living versus having a home health care, you know, aid is the sociability factor. You know, we offer so many different opportunities for a resident to be social from meals. You know, it's a very social experience to activities all day long. They can be as engaged as they want to be. And, you know, there's also something to be said of having the convenience of living in a community where all three meals are made for you. You have house cleaning available. Transportation is provided for you. And so, you know, as opposed to being at home with some with one person who may be helping you, there's so many more advantages to being in an assisted living. I

SPEAKER_01 6:17

often get questions from clients of mine and folks that have listened to the show. They have a hard time understanding the real difference between living at home versus living in assisted living. They think it's a facility. They think it's a place where they're going to end their life. Explain to the audience truly what is Atria Briarcliff Manor. Maybe you are home. Why don't you explain that to them?

SPEAKER_05 6:48

We are absolutely home. You know, we're lucky Atria is nationwide. We are one of the smallest communities, so we are often described as homey, family oriented, in like. So it's really great for our residents to feel like they're at home. All of our residents have individual apartments that are private that they, you know, have to themselves. They can furnish it however they'd like. We can also furnish it and provide even artwork. So it's great that our residents can really feel like it is a true home.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

So that, to me, sounds like a totally different concept than a nursing home. I'm sure many of the listeners out there have a preconceived notion of what a nursing home is like. You're describing a home. So why don't you explain to the audience how nursing Your living environment is different than the nursing home.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

Yeah, so we're vastly different than a skilled nursing facility. We are not a hospital setting that can be very sterile. We are a social model. So we offer residents independence, privacy in their own homes. We offer social engagement where all their meals are social, all of their activities are social, and they're being engaged, living their best lives. We are also a privately paid company. So, you know, residents have a level of care that's available to them also on the side based on individual need.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

You know, you mentioned food. the social environment of eating. That's a big part. The times I've come to your building there, I noticed that there's a special dynamic that tends to occur during mealtimes. So why don't you explain What does that mean? Is the food being brought up to their apartments or is there some other way this community gets together to eat?

SPEAKER_05 8:50

That's a great question. So we are a restaurant style dining. Everything is freshly prepared, made to order. I love walking around the dining room at mealtimes because our residents are very engaged organically. I think they find who they connect with and choose who they want to sit with. So

SPEAKER_01 9:09

friendships have blossomed there too.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

Absolutely, absolutely. And so everything that they would want is right at their fingertips when it comes to a meal, although they have the convenience of not having to cook it.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

And I know one of my clients that was there, we went to a Christmas show that they were offering right there in your main lounge. And You brought in singers, a singing group that did a phenomenal job entertaining them, and there were other arts and crafts that were available, and cookies, can't forget the cookies, that were available for the families and the grandkids that would come visit them. So that's part of the social interaction that goes on at your place.

SPEAKER_05 9:52

Absolutely. We find any reason to celebrate. We are often having, we have performers who come almost every day. Just recently we had a cellist, we had a pianist. For St. Patrick's Day we had a huge Irish band come. So we have, because we're on the town's property, we often have the community come right in to visit our residence. We offer in our community a movie theater. We have a beauty salon. And so there are lots of opportunities for our residents to be engaged. Now, our most popular activity is definitely bingo. And in our movie theater, the Turner Classic movies happen to be the favorited.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Very good. Now, there seems to be a lot of possibilities to get engaged. How do they find out about that?

SPEAKER_05 10:47

Sure. So we have a monthly calendar that we give to our residents at the start of the month. We have it posted right by our lobby. Every day, we have a daily packet of what our residents can expect, and that's available to them after breakfast. In our elevators, we have it posted, and it's also explained during mealtimes what they can do next.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

And this schedule, is it required attendance, or do they get to look at the schedule and say, hmm, that looks like fun. I'll do that, but I don't want to do this.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

Definitely not forced to do anything that they don't want to do. We always encourage them. And I would say our staff is very seasoned and knows how to motivate our residents to be involved. Sometimes we even have more than two activities at a time. So there are lots of choices for our residents.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Now, of course, there may be an individual that's coming from the outside to your home there. And maybe they're not getting involved. You just mentioned you've got seasoned staff. What do you notice that they do to try to engage that individual to get more involved in the community to the extent they want to be?

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Sure. That's a great question. When residents first move in, there are things that we put in place to make sure that they're connecting with people. One of those programs is called an ambassador program. It's a group of five or six people who have lived there for many years, who love living there, who want to be the resource to our residents. And they're a great liaison between the staff and the residents there. So from day one, they're assigned an ambassador where it's someone they'll eat their first meal with Someone who will give them the lay of the land and motivate them from a different perspective that's not the staff. In addition to that, we have an Atria Discover program where our Engage Life director will sit down with that resident and ask them a series of questions of, you know, what's their background, what kind of things were they interested in, their hobbies. And from that, we actually input it into our system where an algorithm will spit out 10 to 15 residents that should connect with them. And so then the matchmaking process begins. So one by one, they're introduced to them. And by the The end of the first month of living there, they've already met at least 15 residents.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Wow, that's very interesting. That I've never heard before. That's fantastic. Yes. So let's start with square one, because you really just now started talking about integrating into the community. So let's say you get the first phone call. I assume they'd reach out to you? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:33

Anyone can answer the phone and give them information about our community.

UNKNOWN 13:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

So they reach out to you. What is the next step?

SPEAKER_05 13:42

Sure. So I like to always get a background, hear about individual needs of their loved one or sometimes for themselves and what kind of lifestyle they have now and what they're looking for. I also ask about care. You know, care is very individualized and personalized, and so we make sure we cater to that. And so it's an interesting conversation to hear more of a backstory. Sometimes I feel more like a therapist, just listening to everyone's life and what they're looking for. And

SPEAKER_01 14:15

when you're talking to somebody, do you have an understanding of maybe what type of individual or care needs would not be appropriate for Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

We can cater to residents who need all sorts of help. I would definitely say that we're not able to help residents who are the most frail. So our community really does cater to residents who, we have a lot of residents who don't even need any care. seniors who may be living very independent lives. We have residents who drive. We have a resident who works. But the assurance is living in a community, knowing that care is available on the horizon. So we have a lot of residents who may need help with their basic ADLs, including grooming, showering, medication management, those kind of things. If someone needs extensive care, such as being in a wheelchair and needing a one-person transfer or your lift, these are some of the things that we are not able to provide. So we do have sister communities that can, but the great thing about our community is that we are very vibrant and a very social community, so it offers a lot to our residents.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So that's got to be extremely helpful for the families. So as you're screening somebody, if they have their mind set that they want to come to Atria and you're now screening what their care needs are, the fact that you can also guide them and steer them in a different direction that would be more appropriate for their aging process can be extremely helpful and helpful. give another sense of peace of mind to the family themselves in that regard. Instead of them coming into the community with these high expectations only to realize that, wow, you can't deliver those expectations in this community. Is that pretty accurate?

SPEAKER_05 16:17

Absolutely. I would say Atria Briarcliff is all about enhancing a resident's life and making it better. So if we are not able to help with that, then we will absolutely help with communities that can. We will try our best. I believe that residents want to stay there as long as they can, but the truth is nobody has a crystal ball, so they don't know where their care level may be. So we just try to help people live their very best life today.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

And a natural follow-up to that would be, okay, they're suitable to come to Atria, and now they've lived there for several years. At what point in time... is there a need to transition to a higher level of care elsewhere?

SPEAKER_05 17:02

So there may never come a time like that. We have residents who want to stay and age in place. We often have hospice come to our community. So we also offer a memory care community that offers 24 care for those residents with advanced dementia. So there are lots of opportunities to progress and live in our community.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

So I've got a question for you. So let's say that I'm having a dialogue with my family. And I really see that aging here in their house is getting tough. The home is getting away from them. And they can have such a better quality of life if they came to a place like Atria Barcliffe. So what are some of my options to help them experience it without... committing to it because there's some resistance that I'm experiencing from the loved one I'm talking to.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

That's a great question. So it's a big move wherever they're moving from, whether it's a rehab, whether it's a hospital, whether it's a family's home or their own home that they're just not able to maintain. It can be scary to think about making this huge transition in their lives and which is great that we offer something called respite or short-term stay. You know, they... can get all the conveniences of someone who may stay more permanently. They get the three meals a day, they get house cleaning, transportation, all the activities. But it's a nice taste and stepping stone into what this feels like. Do I think that I would belong in this community? Am I interested in these activities? Do I find the staff warm and friendly? So all these things are a great chance for them to try and just experience it without making a commitment. Well, that's fantastic. So

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Alyssa, how do they get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_05 19:29

Oh, well, they can go to our website, atriasseniorliving.com, and click on Atria Briarcliff. They can also call us, 914-923-4400, and those are the best ways to reach us. We also have online chat available on our website, so we're instantly connected to anyone who's showing interest.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Excellent. So, Alyssa, we're going to take a quick commercial break. And when we get back, we're going to have Takesha here, who is the executive director of Atria Briarcliff. And Takesha is going to really focus on running Atria Briarcliff, what she brings to the table, what Atria corporate brings to the table, and really try to give you some good exposure into the inner workings of Atria. So Alyssa, thank you for being here to tell us about a day in the life and what it's like to live there and experience the community. And if you've missed any part of the show, just log on to our website at eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. And we'll be right back after this quick commercial break.

SPEAKER_05 20:36

Thank you for having

SPEAKER_01 20:37

me. You bet.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Amoruso and Amoruso LLP advises clients on how to obtain public benefits, including Medicaid, and more importantly, how to protect and preserve their assets, whether they be modest or significant. Find Amoruso and Amoruso online at eldercareontheair.com. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner.

SPEAKER_04 20:57

Amoruso and Amoruso Empowering you to care for the ones you love

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Welcome back to Eldercare on the Air. I'm Michael Amoruso, and I'm so happy to have our second guest today from Atria Briarcliff. This is Takesha Maringola. So if you've missed any part of this show, just log on to our website at eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. But right now, Takesha is going to tell you a bit about herself. She is the executive director of Atria Briarcliff. And Takesha, you're relatively new there, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

I am. Thank you, Michael, for having me here today.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Absolutely. Why don't you tell them how you got here?

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Yes. So approximately 11 and a half years ago, I started with Atria as a resident service assistant. I am one of Atria's many success stories. I started as frontline staff. I was working part-time, went into full-time. I utilized their tuition reimbursement program, and I received my bachelor's degree from Queens College in psychology. With that, I was able to promote into our resident relations director position, which is basically the company's social worker position for New York State. There I went to the life guidance director, which is our memory care director. I oversaw a neighborhood of about 50 units. From there, I became the community business director, which is finance, HR. And then after that, I was luckily promoted to executive director here at Atria Briarcliff Manor.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

That is truly a success story. Good for you.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

So tell me about Atria. Why did you choose Atria? And what do you think about your current place at Briarcliff?

SPEAKER_02 23:00

So I was introduced to Atria through a friend of mine who were working there. There were two girls that brought me in. And very quickly I was able to see that Atria was a company that cared about their employees. They constantly would ask me, all the directors would ask, how are you doing? How is your life? How's your family? And it made going to work so much better. It was never something that you would dread being there. It was never something that, you know, you wouldn't want to help out because you knew you were cared for as well. So it's a place where you have a lot of these connections with each other. You have a lot of connections with residents. You have a the resident families. So it's an amazing place to work. But just being there with the residents is something else that just brings ease to my work day. So it's an amazing place to be. Atria Briarcliff Manor, I am new to. I was promoted on November 6th of 2022, and I was able to go to the community a few times before having the position to meet the directors and some of the residents. That is probably one of the most welcoming communities I've ever been to. All Atrias are welcoming, but this one in particular had a very... quaint, intimate feel to it. All of the residents were so excited to get to know me. We've had about three executive director meetings with just the residents at their request, which is very unheard of.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

That is unheard of, yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Yes. Typically, you kind of put out a notice saying, I'm new to the community. You introduce yourself to family, residents, and the employees, and that's it. You kind of go about your workday. But these residents are so invested in the directors, into the leadership team, that they want to make sure that they have relationships with you. So they implemented chats with the ED on a monthly basis. So that is something where they just have the opportunity to talk to me about anything they want to talk about. And last week we spoke about spring weddings.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Oh, my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

So it's just a really good place to be in order to have true intimate relationships with all different types of individuals, whether it's residents, families, the employees themselves. I really couldn't ask for a better community to be in.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

That is so wonderful to hear. And when we started this show with Alyssa, we were talking about the healthcare worker shortage. And I know you mentioned to me before you came on the air about your employees there.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

That's such a valuable point I want the audience to hear. Why don't you tell them about your workers?

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yes. So our employees in this community have some of the most longevity terms that many communities have. We just celebrated a resident service assistant who has been with the company for 18 years. Oh

SPEAKER_01 26:12

my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

So that would seem like a lot, but she's actually beat by two others in her department who have been there for 24 years each. Wow. So towards the end of this year, they'll be hitting their 25-year mark.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

You know, folks, I don't know if you're catching the subtlety here, but... Think about it. When you have a healthcare worker shortage, that means that healthcare workers can go wherever they want and command top dollar. But the fact that you have folks that are here for 18, 24 years, that says something about the organization.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Absolutely. And money talks. Money is what pulls people in. And because there's so many different places that everybody can choose to work from, they want somewhere not only that they will receive compensation for their work, but it's somewhere that they don't mind going to. It's somewhere that they know that they're going to grow internally from. They're going to make connections. They're going to have these relationships for as long as they want them. And again, because of the type of company Atria is, where they like to shine light on their employees, we run constant employee programs to benefit their external lives as well as their work with us.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

That's wonderful. We have a couple minutes left. Okay. And you just started talking about money there. So how does somebody pay for Atriot? Yeah, for this level of care.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

So Atriot is a private pay company. A lot of individuals pre-plan this time of their life, their retirement, and when they're ready to no longer cook their own meals or figure out their own social calendars, when they're ready to kind of just lay back and have that done for them. So most of the time, a family will come in and they'll be prepared financially to make those payments. Another way we're finding that residents are able to pay is through long-term care policies. So a long-term care policy is a policy that resident has previously put money into over a certain amount of years, once they are of age and they're able to go into assisted living, then the policy kind of reimburses them each month for the payments they're making to the community. So they're having that assistance as well. And then some families find that mom and dad, you know, no longer need a four or five bedroom home, that they have to go up two to three flights of stairs to do laundry, to bring in groceries. And they want to really downsize and not worry about having that responsibility. And it's a great time for them to sell, especially in the market. And they use that to kind of enjoy their time at Atria.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

So, Takesha, is there any last... words you'd like to give to the audience about your job there or how much you like being there at Atria?

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Yes, I love Atria Briarcliff Manor. I love the community. And again, I've only been here for a few months and I can't wait to see what the spring and summer brings. Our community specifically likes to bring in the Briarcliff Manor community. So being on the community property, we kind of love seeing families at the park next door. It brings a lot of light for our residents. And I just want everybody to know that being there, it's still provides you a sense of community and you're never leaving your home.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Well, Takesha, thank you so much for being on the show, bringing Alyssa with you. Thank you. It's been a pleasure to have you. And if you've missed any part of this broadcast, just log on to our website after this live broadcast, eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. And you will hear Takesha and Alyssa tell you all about Atria Bright. I will talk to you all again next week. But until then, be safe, Be happy and start to enjoy some of the warm weather we're

SPEAKER_04 30:07

starting to experience. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak, ask the expert partner. Visit eldercareontheair.com for more details. Amoruso and Amoruso, empowering you to care for the ones you love.