My father resisted moving into a community like Life Plan Humboldt for several years, even after my mother could no longer go up or down the stairs from their second floor condo by herself. Finally a fire in a nearby building broke through my father’s resistance, and my parents moved into a nearby 3-level facility.

I could see very soon that this move greatly improved my parents’ quality of life. My mother, a very social person, no longer needed my father to drive her to socialize. My father found new activities to engage him and made new friends. The quality of my parents’ diet improved since my mother no longer had to prepare every meal. And after several years when my parents needed assistance and them increased medical care, they received this while continuing to live in the same building where they were already living.

As my brothers and I supported our parents while each of us lived at considerable distance from them, it was evident to us that life in this community/facility improved both the quality and the length of our parents’ lives. Given the opportunity to observe my parents’ experience, I aspire to a similar opportunity for myself.

It would have been even better if my parents’ facility had been a nonprofit, because I trust nonprofits to operate at a higher ethical level.

Dave Marshak