Senior Tour of Homes
The first Senior Tour of Homes put on by Choice Connections was October 1st, 2012. Since then, there have been hundreds of people that have gone on our Senior Tour of Homes. Some of you reading this may recognize yourself in a picture of some Senior Tour of Homes in this video.We have a number of these events coming up this fall under Resources and Events on our website. Here is a link.
Why this Event to Showcase Senior Living
As Senior Living Placement Advisors, we often see the impact that a crisis move has on an older adult and on their family. Two thirds of our time or more is spent on moves that happen in less than a month due to urgent circumstances.
Exploring senior living in a one-day event is educational and fun. It also takes some pressure off looking at options with a group.
As Certified Senior Advisors®, we are committed to helping older adults. We encourage being proactive and to be as wise in their choices as they age. And most importantly, to have a ‘Plan B’ for where they will age, if they can’t remain in their home. We feel it is our mission to educate and serve older adults in this way.
Hopefully we have helped some older adults avoid a crisis move. Or, at a minimum we have educated them about options in their community so they know where they would move if they needed to.
What does a Senior Tour of Home Event include:
- Education on Aging: A Certifed Senior Advisor® as a facilitator sharing a lot of knowledge. Not just on senior living but on things like adapting your home, preparing important documents, explaining home care and hospice
- Tours of Senior Living Options: 4-5 stops of different types of senior living where we walk around the community and see units with different floor plans
- Education as to what senior living and assisted living care costs and how to pay for it
- Lunch at one of the sites
- Prizes
- Transportation on a handicap accessible bus
Kevin Bonine, a Financial Advisor with Thrivent Financial in 2013 connected me with his church to put on one of my first Senior Tour of Homes. “Pre-Planning is better than not,” Kevin Bonine told me. “I encouraged our congregation members to sign up. I don’t think the common individual knows what senior living is. Most people don’t know that there are independent people in senior living. Everyone was very positive and enthused about the event.”
Now more than a decade later, Kevin and his bride Pam have moved into an independent senior living apartment and left the big home with all its responsibilities. “We went on Eunice’s Woodbury Senior Tour of Homes in the Spring of 2024 and liked what we saw in Talamore Senior Living. We simply decided it was time to move to a place and do it on our own time. Thanks to Choice Connections we found a place that we liked” says Pam Bonine.
For more information about the Senior Tour of Homes coming up this Fall in various locations in the Twin Cities call us at 651-261-5379 or check out our events page.