In this video, Mary Cate Spires, Digital Marketing Specialist for The Arbor Company talks to SVP of Sales & Marketing, Kelley Skarp about independent senior living and what can one expect in terms of lifestyle, options and cost. 

Video Transcript

-Hi everyone, my name is Mary Cate Spires and I am super excited to be here with Kelley Skarp, who is the Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at The Arbor Company. The Arbor Company is an operator of senior living communities and I am so excited to have you here because there's been a lot of buzz about the term independent living, but it seems to me people don't really what independent living actually means, so I would love if we could get started with you just explaining to us what independent living is like at The Arbor Company.

-I love to get to talk about independent living and I do think it's important that people know a little bit more about it and so I like to ask people to think about the last resort that they stayed at or maybe the last just nice hotel or cruise that they took and then when you think about independent living it would be very similar to that we intend for it to create a maintenance-free worry-free lifestyle for you.

-So people that find independent living to be the best fit for them are people that don't have a lot of unscheduled needs that they're going to need some assistance with from someone and so they're able to thrive in an independent living setting. I think the biggest difference is that assisted living is more of an need driven experience for folks they need help with something and so it has caused them to look at the options for assisted living our assisted living settings themselves are as lovely as an independent living setting would be, but the services are a little bit different because they are more need driven most of the time people are moving in and they may need help with more than one thing and so it becomes complicated for them to take care of that themselves at home for assisted living where independent living most of our residents are able to provide all of the care they need through self-care. However, we also do provide some services in independent living through outside sources.

-It's going to depend on your choices. We have community price ranges that depend on the market that you're in, but you also have a different in cost depending on the apartment style that you choose at The Arbor Company we have different options and styles that go from an apartment style living all into one roof for many or it could be one of our cottages that are much like a duplex you have your own private entrance in your own garage and we also have free-standing homes as well so the cost is going to depend a lot on your choosing, but typically what people find most convenient is you know what you're getting and you know what the price is. You're going to have a price you're going to move in you're going to pay that price any other costs really are based on your choosing what are different things that you would like to do. For example if you want to participate in an outing that's off off-site maybe it's a trip you may have to pay extra for that, but your housekeeping is taken care of again your maintenance is taken care of there are meals that are included there's also the option if you want to buy up and have some additional costs for additional meals, but for the most part you're going to write a check once a month that's for an amount that you know and you can expect it to be every month.

 

-There are so many reasons why people choose to move into independent living, but I think one of the most important reasons that people choose to move into independent living and is very common is that sense of community. As I said you have the ability to be in a lovely private space your home but, you also have others around you that if you want to go and have a meal with someone else you have them there to do that. If you want to play bridge you could be playing in a bridge tournament if you want to go hit golf balls on the putting green you can go hit golf balls on a petting group, but you have this sense of community that while you may choose times when you want to be alone and cozied up in your apartment you never have to feel isolated and I think that ends up being the most important reason that people are very happy with their choice to live in an independent living.

-So as you're trying to make a decision about moving to independent living, I always encourage you to start out going on our websites and taking a look at the communities that we have and then from there let's get you in to visit a community and experience what life in Arbor community is like get to meet some of our residents, get to see the lively environments that we have and then you also get to see the different floor plans and options that we have for independent living. Again, if you start out on our website you can certainly book a tour directly there but, we also are available for phone calls and we're gonna book a tour that is at a convenient time for you because we really believe that it's so important for you to actually come in an experience what life is like in our independent living community.

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Begin Your Senior Living Journey with Arbor

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