A continuing care retirement community developer, Iowa-based LCS Development, is nearing the completion of its Phase II of Timber Ridge at Talus in Issaquah, a suburb east of Seattle. The $154.5 million expansion is now about 80 percent complete and will be finished sometime during this third quarter, according to the company’s Web site. LCS officials were not available for comment.
Once complete, the total project will provide 145 independent living residential units, 14 assisted living units, nine private nursing suites and a 12-bed memory care neighborhood, which is a service provided to those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or are experiencing symptoms of dementia. Other amenities include a state-of-the-art fitness center, creative arts studio, putting green, bocce ball court, library, woodworking shop, salon and bistro. Available activities for residents involve hiking, gardening, continuing education and day trips. According to sources, National Health Investors, a major healthcare REIT, provided funding for the expansion.
one in four adults aged 65 and older Do not have someone to help with chores if they are sick.
According to a report by Aging and Disability Services (ADS) for Seattle and King County, the county’s senior population has reached over two million. Of these, 78 percent have one or more chronic conditions and 38 percent have a disability. Alzheimer’s Disease is the third leading cause of death in King County and 110,000 individuals are estimated to have the disease or a related dementia, says the report. People caring for a relative with memory loss are more likely to seek placement for their relative in a long-term care facility within six months of a diagnosis. The cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s in the last five years of their life is $287,038, says ADS’s report.
The report also states that one in four adults aged 65 and older do not have someone to help with chores if they are sick. Twenty-one percent of those age 60 and older reported falling in the last three months.
In order to maintain the current ratio of affordable to low-income housing for adults, 936 additional subsidized housing units would need to be created each year, due to a climbing increase of the senior population. The ADS report says that the average rental rate paid by residents 60 and older is $957 per month, and for 59 percent of these renters this is more than 30 percent of their income.
