Assisted living a growing trend in elder care

By: Mike Danahey

Majel Drake has led an interesting, productive life. She was a teacher downstate who started out on a salary of $80 a month. One of her brothers went on to become a prominent labor lawyer who spent time at Yale University and now teaches at Penn. And she raised a family of her own.

She admits to being "so hard up for so many years that I stashed (money) away," including, over time, investments in certificates of deposit, land, pensions for her job and her deceased husband, and an inheritance from her grandfather.

"I had no goal in mind. I just saved." said Drake, 87, who suggests upcoming generations do the same. That thrift is allowing Drake to afford a certain quality of life and the care she needs in her later years.

Drake lives in a cozy, self-furnished unit at Westbridge, an assisted living facility on the Wyndemere Senior Living Campus in Wheaton. Monthly rents for such apartments range from $3,700 to $4,500 a month or more.

The campus is part of Central DuPage Health, a network of advanced health care services which is affiliated with the nonprofit Central DuPage Hospital.

Wyndemere (www.WyndemereSeniorLiving.com) offers three types of living arrangements to people 55 and over, and options should residents need to transition from one to the other: the Wyndemere Retirement Community consisting of apartments and townhomes for those who live independently; Wynscape Nursing and Rehabilitation Center home for those who need advanced care, and Westbridge Assisted Living.

Wyndemere director of marketing and sales Randalyn Kaye defines assisted living as "a bridge between independent living and a nursing home, for those who may not need a nurse but aren't doing well within an independent environment."

As people are living longer -- and with the first of the baby boomers now Modern Maturity subscribers -- assisted living has becoming a rapidly growing trend in the last decade or so.

In Drake's case, she moved into the Wyndemere campus seven years ago at the age of 80. She retired from teaching and moved up to the Fox Valley in 1980 to be near her grown children.

Drake learned of Wyndemere from her daughter, Norma DeMaar, whose mother-in-law moved onto the campus in 1993 and was one of its first residents.

"There wasn't anything else available like it at the time," recalled DeMaar, who lives in unincorporated Elgin/ St. Charles Township.

Drake started out at Wyndemere with her own apartment and drove her own car, which she sometimes used to travel to Missouri to visit a brother in Columbia. But a Memorial Day weekend fall due in large part to spinal ailments convinced her it was time to moved into Westbridge.

Westbridge Director Shirley Pollard noted that people who move to assisted living go through a wide range of emotions. Some feel like they are in control again, while others who may have been living in their own homes for decades feel a loss of control.

"Typically, we see adjustments within a month or so, with new residents taking hold and finding friends," said Pollard.

Such has been the case for Drake. DeMaar noted her mother's adjustments have come from being private about her business and giving up her home and losing the freedom that comes with driving.

Because of her trouble with falling, Drake doesn't get out of her room as much as she would like. Still, she goes to exercise classes three times a week, eats meals in the dining room, and enjoys playing games with other residents.

Drake also is involved in book, investment, current events and newcomers groups. And DeMaar frequently takes her mom to appointments, while great-grandchildren stop by for visits, too.

Pollard said that Westbridge has 74 units, is 90 percent full and mostly occupied by single women. Amenities include: three meals a day, which residents choose from a menu a day in advance; dining areas and laundry rooms on each floor; shower and bath assistance; medication reminders; laundry service; social activities; bus service; escort to activities; a computer room; exercise equipment and other programs; and even a polling place come election day.

Marketing director Kaye expects the cost of living at such facilities to at least double within the next 30 years, when the height of the post-World War II baby boom is in its 80s. People typically enter assisted living around the age of 84, she noted.

Drake is taking advantage of a payment schedule where her monthly rate has remained constant from the time she entered the campus, where she plans to live the rest of her life. She also had a nursing home care insurance policy. DeMaar admitted she doesn't understand how it works, but that it is a good policy, and that the facility is overseeing it for Drake.

"It's nice to know something like this exists," she said.