Georgia

Hello Georgia!

CareAvailability site expands into Georgia to help families navigate an additional 4,450 care and senior housing options.

CareAvailability is proud to announce its expansion into Georgia, further expanding its real-time availability of senior housing and care options in the Southeast. CareAvailability is a comprehensive database in which senior housing and care providers can report and update their availability in real- time. This is a new industry standard, providing a user-friendly experience for families and caregivers to navigate all levels of care and find openings. The site first launched in Oregon during the COVID pandemic as an effort to help hospitals find care for patients needing to transition out of beds. The site’s reach has quickly expanded across the country, now serving the senior population of Georgia.

CareAvailability lists every provider in the state for free and allows them to report their availability up to the minute at their leisure. The site delivers a comprehensive list of all levels of senior care for families to search with no need to provide personal details, notably increasing Family and Patient Freedom of Choice like never before.

Senior advocates and health professionals rely on CareAvailability to develop lists of available care options to monitor which providers have openings to receive patients on any given day and at any given time. Rather than providers needing to oversee and update multiple paid sites, CareAvailability is a full- scale resource for reporting, connecting, and searching. CareAvailability does not charge hospitals, physicians, health clinics, social workers or any health team for their services. Medicare Ratings are also included to support Patient Freedom of Choice.

CareAvailability serves to support families looking for care for a loved one in an already exhausting time. It provides the link between families, caregivers, and providers to search and coordinate action plans as soon as possible. Finding the right level of care can be a taxing experience, as many states have different terminology and specifications for different needs. The team at CareAvailability has taken extra steps to provide educational articles as well as links to state agencies to help families better understand Long Term Care and aging.

“The pandemic revealed the need to assist caregivers in finding openings for patients in real-time and in one place,” CareAvailability’s CEO, Amy Schmidt, says. Ms. Schmidt further explains, “We wanted to further fine tune this process, by allowing providers to report their openings in real time and allow families and caregivers to easily sift through these options and connect immediately.”

CareAvailability’s expansion to Georgia means an additional 4,450 providers are now listed in the database of resources. This includes more than: 290 assisted living communities, 370 skilled nursing facilities, 1,300 adult care homes, and over 2,500 home care, home health, and hospice agencies.

Fun Facts about Georgia

Georgia is nicknamed The Peach State! Georgia-grown peaches are recognized for their superior flavor, texture, appearance and nutritious qualities. Georgia also designated the peach as the official state fruit in 1995. The state produces about 2.6 million bushels of peaches a year.

Georgia was established as the 13th colony in 1733, and became the 4th state to join the union in 1788.

About CareAvailability

Care Availability is a website dedicated to helping seniors, their families, and healthcare professional
find care in real time. Specific questions can be directed to the Care Availability Team’s contact page or
connect with them on Facebook.

Colorado

Hello Colorado!

CareAvailability site expands into Colorado to help families navigate an additional 1,740 care and senior housing options.

CareAvailability is proud to announce its expansion into Colorado, further establishing its real-time availability of senior housing options in the mountainous Southwest. CareAvailability provides the real time reporting of availability for senior care up to the minute at provider locations. This is a new industry standard, delivering an easy one stop option for families and caregivers to navigate all levels of senior care. The site first launched in Oregon during the COVID pandemic as an effort to help hospitals find care for patients needing to transition out of beds.  The site is expanding quickly across the country, and further bolstering its presence in the Southwest.

This is a free resource that lists every provider in the area on the site and allows them to report availability their availability for free. Families and caregivers can also use the site free of cost to find available levels of care at any time and with no need to provide personal details, championing Family and Patient Freedom of Choice like never before.

Senior advocates and health professionals rely on CareAvailability to manage comprehensive lists of care options that they can easily monitor and check for active options at their leisure. Families can self navigate through different levels of care and find available options that they can claim or call as they please. Rather than care providers needing to manage multiple sites at cost, CareAvailability is an extensive resource that does not charge hospitals, physicians, health clinics, social workers or any health team for their services. Medicare Ratings are also included to support Patient Freedom of Choice.

CareAvailability allows families to have a reliable resource in one place to easily find care in a troubling time. Determining the right level of care can be an exhausting process, as many states have different terminology and standards for certain levels of care. The team at CareAvailability has taken extra steps to provide educational articles as well as links to state agencies to help families better understand Long Term Care and aging.

“We wanted to create a comprehensive database for families and caregivers to easily connect with providers without endless phone calls and uncertainty of available rooms,” CareAvailability’s CEO, Amy Schmidt, says. Ms. Schmidt further explains, “We saw the need for this kind of resource during the heart of the pandemic as caregivers tried to discharge patients, and now moving forward this reliable database exists for effective efficiency.”

CareAvailability’s expansion to Colorado means an additional 1,740 providers are now listed in the database of resources. This includes more than: 660 assisted living communities, 220 skilled nursing facilities, and over 850 home care, home health, and hospice agencies.

Fun Facts about Colorado

Colorado is nicknamed The Centennial State, due to becoming a state 100 years after the signing of the nation’s Declaration of Independence. Colorado is also called “Colorful Colorado” because of the magnificent scenery.

Colorado’s state motto is “Nil Sine Numine”, meaning “ Nothing without Providence or Deity.”

About CareAvailability

Care Availability is a website dedicated to helping seniors, their families, and healthcare professional find care in real time. Specific questions can be directed to the Care Availability Team’s contact page or connect with them on Facebook.

Utah

Hello Utah!

CareAvailability site expands into Utah to help families navigate an additional 469 care and senior housing options.

CareAvailability is proud to announce its expansion into Utah, further expanding its real-time availability of senior housing and care options in the Southwest. CareAvailability presents a new industry standard, providing ease of use for families and caregivers to navigate all levels of care in one place up to the minute. The site first launched in Oregon during the COVID pandemic as an effort to help hospitals find care for patients needing to transition out of beds. The site’s reach is expanding across the country, as Utah joins Arizona, California, and Texas as the premier online resource for care in the Southwest.

The site lists every senior housing and care provider in the state and allows them to report their real- time availability at no cost. The site delivers a comprehensive list of all levels of senior care for families to search with no need to provide personal details, significantly increasing Family and Patient Freedom of Choice like never before.

Senior advocates and health professionals champion CareAvailability’s versatility to construct extensive lists of care options, as well as allowing people to self-navigate searching for care providers. Rather than care providers needing to manage multiple pay-to-play sites, CareAvailability is a one stop resource, as they do not charge hospitals, physicians, health clinics, social workers or any health team for their services. Medicare Ratings are also included to support Patient Freedom of Choice.

CareAvailability serves to assist families seeking care for loved ones by easing an overwhelming process in an already difficult time. It’s hard to know where to start in finding the right level of care, as many states have different terminology and assessments for certain levels of care. The team at CareAvailability has taken extra steps to provide educational articles as well as links to state agencies to help families better understand Long Term Care and aging.

“We want to provide a direct connection between providers, caregivers, and families searching for care. No more endless phone calls, no more wait lists – you can now find available housing and care options right when you need them,” says CareAvailability’s CEO, Amy Schmidt, says.

CareAvailability’s expansion to Utah means an additional 469 providers are now listed in the database of resources. This includes more than: 230 assisted living communities, 90 skilled nursing facilities, and over 140 home care, home health, and hospice agencies.

Fun Facts about Utah

Utah is nicknamed The Beehive State, to symbolize hard work and industry. A beehive can be found on Utah’s state flag and state seal, and the state insect of Utah is the honeybee.

The name “Utah” originates from the Native American “Ute” tribe which means people of the mountains.

About CareAvailability

Care Availability is a website dedicated to helping seniors, their families, and healthcare professional find care in real time. Specific questions can be directed to the Care Availability Team’s contact page or connect with them on Facebook.

Downsizing, Bigger Is Not Always Better

For seniors downsizing, the kids may have left the nest decades ago, it’s hard to keep up with the yard, and the steps up to the second floor are now a hassle…

It’s time to right-size into a smaller home to improve and broaden your lifestyle.  

But, downsizing your home can be hard! 

We often see our things as irreplaceable because they have fond memories attached to them.  A houseful of “stuff” can be a lifetime of reminiscing strolling from room to room. Our life experiences are so much more than the things we accumulate.  But, how can we figure out how to part with certain things without a sense of loss and work toward reaching downsizing goals?

Where do you start?  Well, we have some tips that may help start the process and give you momentum along the way. 

Set a timeline starting with a move date and work backwards from there.  This date may be a moving target considering your destination or house sale, and that’s ok. 

Keep focused on what is moving with you!  Make sure you’re prioritizing what you want to keep.

Avoid getting bogged down with what to do with everything else.  Don’t worry though, there are quick, streamlined and relatively inexpensive solutions to the “stuff” you are leaving behind. 

Start with a floor plan, it really simplifies a downsize when you have measurements of your new home.  Start with the furniture, considering functionality (storage and display), sentimentality and size. Think about repurposing favorite pieces to use them in a new way.  You’ve decided not to bring your china but love the china cabinet? Change its function to linen storage or pantry.  

Notice the footprint of your furniture.  Real estate in your new space may be at a premium, so think about tall pieces that use the walls for storage and display.

The furniture is the easy part, now it’s time to tackle all the small stuff.  This can be physically & emotionally exhausting so work in 2-4 hour increments with family/friends or a professional downsizer.  Start with sorting like things together.  After doing so, you may realize that there is more duplication than you think and this makes decision making much easier.

During each session you want easy access to 4 boxes or bins to sort accordingly.

  • KEEP: These are the items that bring you joy and will move to your new home. Consider what your new lifestyle will look like? Will you be cooking in the same capacity? Do you need the KitchenAid, the Cuisinart and the blender? When was the last time you actually used the item you are considering.  When deciding on collections, its ok to break it up.  Our clients have found they have a higher appreciation for their collection after paring down a smaller representation of their favorites. 

  • FAMILY: These are the items you wish to pass on to your loved ones. Have the family walk through and put sticky notes with their names of items they would eventually appreciate in their own homes. In addition, fill a box of items that you would really like to offer to family. But understand that they may not want grandma’s china, so honor your loved ones’ decisions if they decide to pass on taking these things.
  • DONATE: These are the items that are still in good condition.  We recommend having a box or bag on each floor that you can consistently toss donations as you go about your day.  (ie.) You just put on and promptly took off the “eh” sweater you’ve never worn…toss is in the bag in the closet! But don’t run yourself ragged running back and forth to donation centers.  Save your energy and consider an estate sale or estate clean out.  Use this process to separate out what is to be packed for your move.   An average estate clean out generates 2 truckloads of donations so 10 runs to Goodwill in your sedan won’t put a dent in that average. 

Clients often consider selling items instead of donating, but this can be far more trouble than it’s worth. Consider consignment for furniture and jewelry.  If you decide to do an estate clean out with professionals, like us, they probably have a long list of trusted resources to sell items on your behalf. 

  • RECYCLE/ SHRED: Get rid of all the extraneous cardboard & paper. We recommend using yard debris bags to contain recycling. When it comes to shredding, instead of going through each and every piece of paper in a folder, remove the documents you need to keep shred the rest professionally by the pound. This is great for peace of mind and is quite inexpensive.  

Build in time between your move and clearing out your house.  This will relieve a lot of the stress in making final decisions on what you will keep.  You may settle into your new home and realize you actually have the perfect spot for your corner curio.  This is also a good time for family to plan to pick up what they really want. 

We recommend 2 solutions for the final clear out of your house, both reach your final goal…an empty house to put your biggest asset on the market!

ESTATE SALE vs ESTATE CLEAN OUT:

ESTATE SALE: There are positives and negatives to an estate sale. 

The positives are pretty obvious.  Estate sales do not cost homeowners anything out-of-pocket and they make 50-60% of gross sales.  Also, most companies include the final clean out in the sale. 

The negatives are things you may not have thought about.  First, you must qualify for an estate sale with a minimum of $8000 of perceived market value in the estate.  Second, if you are dealing with a reputable company, a sale has to be scheduled months in advance.  Also, from start to finish, an estate sale takes an average of 10 days to 2 weeks, which may take away from the real estate time line.  In addition, if the sale was successful, you probably had 100’s of people shopping around your house which can cause wear and tear. 

We recommend that you interview up to 3 estate sale companies and feel good about the level of trust your are putting into a respected organization. 

ESTATE CLEAN OUT: Estate Clean-Outs have their perks and drawbacks as well.  This is a great way to clear out your home quickly.  You can usually schedule an estate clean out within 2 weeks and they are completed within 2 days.  The remaining contents of the house is sorted into donations, recycling, garbage and chemicals and designated trucks deliver to ReStore, Teen Challenge, Community Warehouse, ECR and the transfer station.  Unfortunately estate buy-outs have gone by the wayside, so estate clean outs do have a cost attached to them. 

When a downsize has been accomplished by our clients, they are often surprised a much less time it took than they thought.  That happens when you keep your focus on building the contents of your new home.  If you are looking for a professional to assist you, we recommend the following search terms: Downsizing, professional organizer, move manager, and also search on the NASMM website.  If you have questions you can always call our office to arrange a free consult.  Managedmoves.com or 503-780-7136.

Family Fun

Family Fun: August 2022

August is Family Fun Month! This month focus on spending quality time with your family and those closest to you. Take that long awaited vacation, spend time outdoors, and connect with your people! Remember, family can be chosen as well. Make the time to have some Family Fun and surround yourself with those who you consider your family this month.

Other notable celebrations this month include…

  • Back to School Month
  • American Artists Appreciation Month
  • Immunization Awareness Month
  • Purple Heart Day
  • The Perseid Meteor Shower

August was first called Sextillia – the Roman word for “sixth”, as it was the sixth month of the Roman year. It was later changed to August by the Emperor Augustus, named after himself.

Learn more about the history of previous months here.