BENEFITS
Services & Amenities
Since our facility is just 30 units, you have frequent contact with staff and personal care assistants, and regular social interactions with neighbors and friends. Our size allows us to be especially sensitive to your needs and keenly aware of any health challenges. We can better offer assistance with your medical necessities and encouragement with life’s challenges, and be a friend when you need comfort. This intimate setting benefits residents with limited mobility and memory challenges, allowing for a variety of stimulation without feeling overwhelmed.
OUR VERY OWN COMMUNITY
Everything you could need or want is right inside our doors. Three home-cooked meals per day are served in our dining room at the Shore House Bistro. Snacks, personal products, postage and seasonal gift items are available in Nellie’s General Store. Salon services are available at Connie’s Cuts and Curls. Every activity that you could want—from cookouts to concerts to cribbage—is on site. Religious services are celebrated regularly here as well.
PRIVATE UNITS FOR ALL
All of our 30 units are single occupancy with private baths. Enjoy the same privacy that you would in your own home, while having the peace of mind to know that assistance is available when you need it, 24 hours a day. You will still maintain your own private telephone number for personal calls, and you’ll have a direct line to the on-duty staff 24 hours each day along with an emergency response pendant that notifies our staff if you need emergency assistance. You will have expanded high definition cable television offerings, as well as the ability to contract with Comcast for optional cable television stations. Free wireless internet is available throughout the residence.
AFFORDABILITY & FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Our rates are the most affordable in the region. We can help you stretch out your life’s savings while receiving the best personal care and quality living environment around. Being a local, nonprofit organization, we work diligently to provide the best quality at the best all-inclusive rates.
You may be eligible for subsidy programs regardless of which state you currently call home. Medicaid coverage for personal care services may be available if you meet clinical and financial guidelines. We participate in Massachusetts programs through MassHealth.
If you meet certain financial guidelines established by the Social Security Administration, you may be eligible for SSI-G , which is a supplemental Social Security program that could increase your monthly Social Security income to help you afford the monthly room and board payments at our residence.
There is also a very popular program for wartime veterans and their spouses called Veterans Aid & Attendance Benefit, administered by the Veteran's Administration. The Aid & Attendance Benefit provides financial assistance for those who require regular assistance from health care workers with activities of daily living as provided for in our assisted living residence.
If your income and assets exceed the maximum allowed for assistance programs, a private pay rate is also available that can be as much as 50% less than other assisted living residences.
PERSONAL CARE
You will have an individualized Comprehensive Care Plan established, with input from our Director of Nursing Services, your primary care physician, supportive family members, and—most importantly—yourself. Together, you will develop a care plan that’s designed just for you to assure that you get the care and attention that you need – when you need it.
MEDICATION REMINDERS
Our trained staff assists with a Self-Administered Medication Management (SAMM) program, reminding you each time you need to take medication. We check all information to make sure you are taking the correct medication at the correct dose at the correct time. Regular medication inventories are performed, and documentation of your participation in the program is recorded each time a medication dosage is due.
PHARMACY DELIVERY & SUPPLY PROGRAM
Prescriptions are delivered in “bubble pack” cassettes (monthly cards in which pills are placed into bubbles that are punched out for each dose.) This type of packaging, in conjunction with the SAMM program, saves you or your family from having to run to the pharmacy for refills and prescription change. It also provides a visual record of whether or not your medication has been taken. Packaging also helps separate drugs that should not be taken together.
SPECIAL SERVICES COORDINATION
Specialized on-site services like visiting nursing care, podiatrist, geriatric psychological counseling, or physical and occupational therapy are coordinated between our resident services program nurse, social worker and your primary care physician. Off-site adult day health programs are arranged for residents who meet participation guidelines.
HOUSEKEEPING & LAUNDRY SERVICES
We are happy to assist with housekeeping tasks that you can no longer safely accomplish independently. We also help with laundering clothes, towels and linens weekly.
24/7 COVERAGE
A staff member is in the residence around the clock, available at the push of a speed-dial button on your telephone. Additionally, all of our residents are enrolled with a personal emergency response system (PERS) provider.
MEALS
Our meals are the talk of the town! Enjoy the most varied, homestyle meals of any assisted living residence around. Our residents often remark on how thy eat better here than they did when they had to cook for themselves. And when their families and friends join them for meals, they agree. In our casual dining room, enjoy all of the wonderful sounds and aromas of home cooking—in an intimate environment with personalized meal service.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Our activities programming is a blend of cultural, social, and musical events—and just plain fun. We celebrate every holiday imaginable. If there is music, we are singing it; if there is a game, we are playing it; if there is a good movie, we are watching it. Otherwise, we are cooking, planting, discussing, exercising or heading off to the local elementary school for an intergenerational activity.
CABARET LOUNGE
The favorite in our activities lineup is our piano bar in our Cabaret Lounge. We have some of New England's best piano bar pianists/entertainers lead us in song, laughs, and merriment along with afternoon cocktails. Families and friends have made this a regular activity as well.
EXERCISE & GERIATRIC FITNESS PROGRAMS
There are multiple opportunities to stay active. Participate in our Armchair Exercise Group. We also offer other opportunities through our Springtime Walking Club.
BENEFITS
Comprehensive Care Plans
Prior to moving in—and following consultations with your primary care physician and other care providers—we build a customized program to identify your personal care needs, like assistance with showering; oral hygiene; dental care; dressing/undressing; laundry; housekeeping; medical monitoring and reminders; and medical appointment assistance and transportation arrangements.
Together, we will also identify conditions that are specific to you—like environmental allergies; food allergies; mobility; sleep patterns; and nutrition/hydration—and address your needs accordingly.
Some residents can benefit from on-site services that can be coordinated through your primary care physician and outside providers, like podiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy and geriatric mental health counseling.
BENEFITS
Independence & Privacy
COMING AND GOING
You are welcome to leave the residence and return at your leisure as often as you like; we just require that you inform a member of the personal care staff that you will be leaving so we do not become concerned about your absence from a meal or when not responding to a telephone call or a knock on your door.
EVENING/OVERNIGHT ACCESS
The main entrance door is usually locked at dusk. If you plan to return after dusk or have guests who will be visiting after that time, please let the on-duty staff member know by calling the 24-hour staff line at 978-463-9176.
VISITORS
We encourage family and friends to visit as often as you like, either in your unit or in community areas. We ask that you use 9 p.m. as a curfew for visitors, as most of your neighbors have settled in for the night by then.
Overnight visitors are not permitted. On occasion, during a period of medical rehabilitation, we will consider allowing an overnight guest to stay with you.
BENEFITS
Frequently Asked Questions
“It is not a question of how old you are, but a question of how you are old.”
~ Jules Renard
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY?
To provide affordable living, support, encouragement, friendship and assistance with medical necessities, all based on a community of caring.
WHO IS APPROPRIATE FOR ASSISTED LIVING?
Assisted living is the best alternative for older individuals not requiring 24-hour medical or skilled nursing care. Residents need to be able to function somewhat independently, with intermittent assistance from our personal care staff. The resident needs to be able to get around their unit and around the building independently (although they may use a cane, walker or wheelchair), must be able to get themselves in and out of bed and toilet themselves, and make basic decisions about their safety and well-being. Additionally, every resident would need to be able to feed themself in the dining room, although assistance with cutting and special plating of meals is available.
HOW IS ASSISTED LIVING DIFFERENT FROM LONG-TERM CARE (NURSING HOME)?
Our residence provides personal care assistance with daily activities like dressing, grooming, medication reminders and housekeeping. We do not provide skilled care, but instead, our registered nurse oversees resident health and wellness and assists with coordinating medical care needs with primary care physicians and/or other care providers. Assisted living gives residents the opportunity to not only live life independently but to get support and assistance when needed and friendship and caring when wanted, allowing them to live independently longer.
HOW IS THE ASSISTED LIVING CENTER – SALISBURY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ASSISTED LIVING RESIDENCES?
We’re a nonprofit organization, focused on caring for the residents of this one facility only. All decisions about the care and well-being of residents are made in-house by a management and care team that knows residents and their families personally. In a center of this size (only 30 private units), personal familiarity, consistent attention and detailed follow-through are made possible on a daily basis.
WHY IS THE ASSISTED LIVING CENTER – SALISBURY MORE AFFORDABLE THAN OTHER RESIDENCES?
We operate as a nonprofit organization focusing resources on outstanding services for elderly rather than on set corporate profits. Today, through a strong commitment to efficient operating practices, smart purchasing decisions, and aggressive fundraising and grant solicitation programs, we are able to offset some of the costs that would normally be passed on to residents.
WHEN IS STAFF AVAILABLE?
Trained staff are on duty 24 hours a day. There is a registered nurse available on-call at times when not physically present in the building. Other members of the administrative, maintenance and personal care staff are on call 24 hours a day as well in case of emergency.
WHEN ARE RESIDENTS ALLOWED TO HAVE GUESTS?
Anytime, but we do ask that you have respect for your neighbors and try to keep visitors to daytimes and the earlier evening hours.
ARE OVERNIGHT GUESTS ALLOWED?
Overnight visitors are not allowed, except when approved by the resident services program director or nurse on the occasion when your recovery from an illness or minor surgery could be hastened by having a loved one close by, or when in hospice care on a per case basis.
ARE RESIDENTS ALLOWED TO LEAVE FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME OR OVERNIGHT?
Absolutely. We encourage you to enjoy as active a lifestyle as you wish. You may come and go from the facility as often as you want. Enjoy day or overnight trips with family and friends when the opportunity is there for you.
HOW ARE THE UNITS DECORATED?
Another nice thing about our residence is that the units provide you with a freshly painted, clean palate to decorate as you wish. Each resident brings in their own furniture, curtains and wall hangings, so the space truly becomes your own home.
HOW OFTEN ARE THE UNITS REFURBISHED?
We are constantly replacing, upgrading and improving. Units receive fresh coats of paint between residents, and are currently having new cabinets, tile countertops, bathroom floors, sinks, toilets and medicine cabinets replaced.
BENEFITS
Socializing Opportunities
“In a dream, you are never eighty.”
~Anne Sexton