With fall soon upon us, we know that winter is close behind. Wouldn’t it be nice not to be worried about shoveling the snow or traveling snowy roads to the grocery store? If you were living in a retirement community, you would be able to relax and spend time with friends, rather than worrying about the snow and ice of winter.
Today’s retirement homes are as individual as you are, and they come with their own charm and amenities. If you are thinking about trading all the burdens of homeownership for this type of luxury, you will want to spend some time considering your options. The best way to learn more about these communities is to join your family and friends on the 17th annual Senior Living Tour. The tour will give you an in-depth look at what stress-free senior living could be.
Senior living is a far cry from the dated image many have in their minds. Contemporary retirement communities offer a wide selection of comfortable housing options, security, assistance, medical care, and luxurious amenities to enrich your post-retirement life.
With a variety of housing options available across many levels of care, there is sure to be housing to meet your needs and help you downsize to a comfortable new living space. Imagine the freedom of a more simplistic lifestyle that allows more time for fun than the typical day of chores and errands. No more grocery shopping, bringing in the bags, unloading the car, and cooking. Meals are prepared daily, and you can choose to dine with friends or by yourself. Then of course, there are no dishes to wash.
Retirement should be a time for freedom and enjoying our time to take up new hobbies, spending time with our families, or maybe traveling to some exotic location that has been on your bucket list for years. This freedom, however, can be imposed upon by the changes of aging. Retirement facilities are built with the concerns of aging in mind, so most apartments and duplexes are already fitted to accommodate those with mobility concerns. This means that you can circumvent the expenses and trouble of retrofitting your current home and leave maintenance to the staff—leaving you with more time to enjoy access to the amenities on the safe and secure campus.
Along with the freedom from maintenance and preparing meals, most retirement communities offer a “spectrum of care” model, meaning that residents receive as much or as little care and assistance as they want or is required. A popular model for retirement homes is to offer different neighborhoods designed to allow maximum freedom and independence based on a resident’s particular needs and options within those neighborhoods.
A retirement facility may contain duplexes and apartments for highly-independent retirees, assisted-living for those in need of occasional assistance or medical care, skilled-care for those in need of nursing care, and memory care for those with cognitive difficulties—residents can transfer between neighborhoods as their needs demand, all while staying within the community. A spectrum of care facility is especially beneficial for couples that are aging at a different pace from one another, as it allows them to be together within the same facility yet individually cared for.
In modern retirement communities, all of these housing, convenience, and care options are conveniently offered in a single campus, which are often centralized around an administrative or social center. In fact, most retirement homes are now more like community centers, offering services, amenities, and a social, active atmosphere to enrich your post-retirement life.
This year’s tour is on Tuesday, October 12th. For only $5, you will board luxurious charter coach buses at the Evergreen Square Shopping Center in Peoria and travel to five of the Peoria area’s finest retirement communities. This event is an ideal way to explore each community—without sales pressure. It’s no surprise that each year, we run out of seats.
When you visit the homes, you will find each one is a community of people with similar interests and life experiences. Making friends in this environment is easy, so take time to meet your future neighbors.
Each facility provides plenty of reference material to help determine if retirement community life is right for you. Family members also enjoy seeing for themselves how much is available to you, and they will find comfort in knowing the friendly staff will always be available to help.
You won’t go hungry from the day of touring and fact gathering. In addition to numerous snacks, you will also enjoy a scrumptious lunch in one of the communities’ relaxing dining areas—just one example of the dining options available when you make the move to a retirement community lifestyle.
The Senior Living Tour is a great way to show the communities to a large audience with no pressure. Some attendees may already be planning on making a move from their home, so the tour provides the opportunity to see and evaluate apartments or cottages. For those not yet ready to move, it’s a way to gather information in preparation for a possible future move.
When you join the Senior Living Tour, you’ll have a fun time learning how rich retirement can truly be. The cost to attend is only five dollars per person. To reserve your spot on this year’s Senior Living Tour, mail your check payable to Limelight Communications, Inc., 2001 E. Hartman Rd., Chillicothe, IL 61523, and include your name, address, and phone number. You will board the bus in Peoria and will receive your instructions by mail approximately two weeks before the tour.
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