Saratoga Retirement Community
Saratoga, CA - Assisted Living, Nursing Home, Independent Living, CCRC
Saratoga Retirement Community is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of residents through the provision of quality retirement housing, compassionate healthcare services, and life-enhancing activities promoting personal dignity and self-esteem.
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Title: Saratoga Retirement Community Interview and Tour
Time: 16 min 56 sec
Description:
Brian Schwatka, creator of the Stay Or Go Classes interviews Erin Farrell of Saratoga Retirement Community. This is part of the larger "Stay Or Go Homeowner: class which covers the following topics: - Financial Planning - Reverse Mortgages - Taxes - Estate Planning - Real Estate - In Home Care and Home Upgrades - Downsizing and Moving - Seniors Communities For more info, visit: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Disclaimer: The information contained in this video is for informational purposes only and does not form a professional relationship. The content is provided "As Is" and without warranties of any kind, either implied or expressed. Brian Schwatka does not promise or guarantee any income or particular result from your use of the information contained in this video and assumes no liability or responsibility for errors, omissions, or other results from your use of the information contained herein. Please contact Brian Schwatka to make an appointment to evaluate your specific situation and to determine the best course of action for you.
Transcript:
hello homeowners brian schweitzer here creator of the stair go home owner class and i'm here with aaron farrell the director of sales at saratoga retirement community which is silicon valley's finest destination for extraordinary senior living you got that one thank you and we're going to ask aaron a couple of questions take a look around and get you familiar with the community so thanks for having us Aaron yeah thank you for for coming here and visiting us wait so Director of Sales what does that entail you're the first person people see when they come I'm one of them we certainly have a large wonderful welcoming staff so you might meet our receptionist you might meet our any one of our team members but you'll eventually find your way to me okay great and there are different types of seniors communities out there there's independent living there's assisted living there's skilled nursing and then there's memory care and then the the ultimate community would be the continuing care retirement community or the CCRC what kind of community is saratoga retirement well we're actually what you just mentioned we're a CCRC we're continuing care retirement community basically what that means is we have all levels of care right here on campus so the community was certainly built for independent living new we have a very robust beautiful independent living 37 acres of independent living we do also have a beautiful assisted living center and that's for if we ever come to the point where we might need a little bit of additional pair right we also have a beautiful memory care center on campus nice it's absolutely it's just beautiful it incorporates a lot of wonderful things such as a dedicated activity director it has animal therapy and all kinds of wonderful programs yes we also have a beautiful skilled nursing program as well on campus with the reach full rehabilitation room we have many rehabilitation therapists on campus as well so we pretty much have it all for for the residents who live here okay and so that almost answers the question with the benefit of a CCRC or continuing care retirement community where the homeowner doesn't have to leave this community to transition in their lives you know what and that's a good point Brian I mean certainly we all want to be as independent as we possibly can as long as we can but the benefit of having all levels of care right here on campus is if I ever needed a higher level of care I could certainly move on to assisted living we're still I'm surrounded by people who know me right no my desires know my wishes know my hobbies I've got my friends on hand if I ever needed memory care the same thing I've got a caring loving staff who already know me right if I ever need skilled nursing maybe I'm maybe I'm rehabilitating from some sort of surgery or just need a little additional 24 hour care yeah I can I can go to our health center again but people who know me with my neighbors who can visit me right right on campus exactly okay so it's a full-service CCRC is it a month-to-month situation or a buying situation or is it a combination of both great question Brian so so we're owned by The Odd Fellows work or nonprofit community what makes a huge difference it's a big deal it really is we are designed for independent living so when you come into this community and independent living you pay an entrance fee okay and the benefit for that for you is that you become what we call a contracted resident and so that means you pay that entrance fee once you move into independent living and then should you ever need assisted living you are contracted resident so you have preferential treatment really you go you get to pick your assisted living apartment with a view that you like with as many you know one bedroom or two bedroom if you prefer so you get the preference of being able to choose what you want for your higher levels of care okay whereas we do take people in into assisted living or beautiful assisted living and beautiful skilled nursing and memory care we do take people who are not contracted residents okay but the contracted residents get the apartments that they particularly want and desire and that's that's a big distinction something that people do ask us a lot and that is why people tend to move in that younger right and come into independent living so that they are secure and knowing that their preferences will be met throughout any level of care exactly beautiful so the area around the community tell us a little bit about we're here in Saratoga California which is near Los Gatos near Los Altos near montessori no it's tech demo foothills here yeah tell us a little bit about what's around here well I'll tell you what there's so much to see you know we've got the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains we have hakone gardens which is absolutely lovely oh I've been there they have their koi pond yeah the walking path yeah it is absolutely beautiful and you know we're jacent to west valley college and i'll tell you what Brian that that means so much to our residents our residents often the audit classes over there we do a lot with West Valley College in fact a couple of our residents actually runs their community theater program Oh mate yeah well and I know that across from West Valley College there's a Senior Center recreation center there's the Saratoga library there on the corner you've also got a you've also got the little cute little town of Saratoga with shops and restaurants and fine dining and wineries there and then a little bit further up the road you were talking about how Cooney gardens and then there's the mountain winery that's up there where there's concerts and whatnot so it's just a really mellow beautiful rural area out here very calming it's an amazing way of life yeah it really is yeah seems like a very nice place to be run us through a typical day there took a retirement community for a senior that's living here you know it's different for everybody you know we certainly have people who move to the community who are retired and who really just want to relax and just enjoy a serene environment or maybe they'll go toke up by the way I reach our residents have over 40 groups and committees oh my god so right so some people want to move here and jump in and get involved in all the many different activities and clubs and everything else but again some some want to come here and just really enjoy the peaceful nature of the community maybe they'll want to visit our aquatic center for water aerobics class in the morning maybe they'll want to take a jewelry class later in the afternoon in one of our many common areas or maybe they want to play bridge with one of the many bridge groups that we have on campus we have play reading groups that sometimes people really enjoy just reading through a play though some of our residents really enjoy spending time in the resident run libraries on campus of course they take advantage of the fine dining that we offer on campus a very unique thing about our campus we don't outsource our dining all we have many chefs on staff here we have an executive chef we have a pastry chef we have sous chefs so makes a big difference and the dining room it doesn't look like a cafeteria it looks like an actual dining room where you would go out to eat at a restaurant it is very much restaurant style dining you know we have a full beautiful menu on in every level of care that we offer it is it's beautiful again it's a beautiful life style no kidding ok and the demographic here typical age search on retirement community I mean I'm moving in as soon as I guess so but what's the minimum age and what's the average age a brand I have a great apartment take a look at later but um people are moving in a little younger I think in this community than some okay I'd say people moving in their mid to late 60s early 70s of course some people decided to wait a little bit longer is there any sort of entrance requirements or you know admittance expectations well when you decide to move here we will go through some a little bit of paperwork okay you know I certainly want to get to know you know some of your likes and dislikes we do a financial work work up for you and that helps you determine whether or not we're good financial fit for you exactly is there any physical requirements to move in you know independent living that's a great question so every CCRC is licensed by the state that they're in and the california state license requirements do require our residents to get a physical okay making sure that their TV test is clean and things like that okay great so independent living you need to be independent to go into independent living can you enter the community in assisted living or do you have to start with independent then move to assisted living how does that work well we always recommend if you can to start an independent living that way you you become what I what we call a contracted resident yeah and there are many many benefits to doing that but you can certainly assisted living for memory care or even skilled nursing mm-hmm okay and if someone was thinking about a senior's community in general and they wanted to start evaluating seniors communities what would you tell them to do next well Brian I've had the benefit of volunteering and retirement communities for over 20 years so I've seen many many different types of communities I would highly recommend if they possibly can work with a non-profit community yeah there's a big difference between nonprofit and for-profit nonprofit communities there a lot they're able to take their money and basically reinvest into their community where a for-profit community there are many lovely for-profit communities out there but they're needing to worry about shareholders and and and things like that whereas a non-profit communities it tends to be mission driven and tenant or the senior centric yeah definitely it makes a big difference if I could recommend that to anybody I would recommend right I really consider the nonprofit difference yeah also resident satisfaction is higher in nonprofits as opposed to for profits so definitely look into that Google that check out leading age there are a lot of great resources out there okay now deposit and waiting list how does that work so in order to get on our waitlist you would pay a thousand dollars it's completely refundable should you not move in you would get your money back and just let us know but it's a great way to get to know the community and and by that I mean we have many events throughout the year for our the people who who are on our weight lifting all of our applicants so we have many applicant events where we invite professionals such as yourself to inform and educate our applicants we have we host many dinners and lunches for them before we invite our residents so they can get to know people that actually live here and yes ask the tough questions you know about what life is really like right on campus yeah and so it's a great way to really get to know the community yeah you know you can't just get the vibe or the culture of a community by visiting one time yeah you know if you could come back a few times and get that feel of how it really is to live there talk with the people that live here and then also maybe even have a meal here or something to see what it's really like oh I really recommend it i'll tell you if you're if you're thinking about a retirement community i recommend that you visit several when people visit us we always tell them you know we we love us we're amazing and I don't think there's anything better but but it is wonderful to really do your homework and visit several communities because once you decide on the community that you really love and meet the residents and try the food once you move you'll be extremely happy knowing that you made an educated choice agreed so here you have our beautiful entryway beautiful floor hardwood floors fully appointed kitchen granite counters new appliances Wow dining area living area it's so bright in here mm-hmm the builders architects really took advantage of the beautiful Helen nature of campus they captured someone most lovely lick observatory smells brand new I can see that the bedrooms are separated it's two suites actually indoor laundry so here's one of our bedrooms good size bedroom nice tall ceilings you don't feel claustrophobic in here beautiful view nice closets with organizers large bathroom yeah this is actually a beautiful full bath so you know some people like taking a nice soak in the tub even though we have a beautiful Jacuzzi our aquatic center and the second suite is on the other side of the unit wow this is a very large space again with the windows so two master suites so if he snores he can have his own room beautiful bathroom the walk-in shower and walk-in closet you you Oh alright well I think you've answered all of our questions we've seen a little bit about the community as we've been talking and I really want to thank you for your time all right thank you so much for all right and then the next thing they should do is just give you a call for to make an appointment maybe to come down for lunch and a tour and I'll take about an hour or two and there's no expectations and those strings attached Darren just wants to show you the community and you're not a high-pressure sales person we don't need to be brain you know what our job in any of these communities is really to educate you and to help you find the best place for you right alright well thanks alright thank you
Time: 16 min 56 sec
Description:
Brian Schwatka, creator of the Stay Or Go Classes interviews Erin Farrell of Saratoga Retirement Community. This is part of the larger "Stay Or Go Homeowner: class which covers the following topics: - Financial Planning - Reverse Mortgages - Taxes - Estate Planning - Real Estate - In Home Care and Home Upgrades - Downsizing and Moving - Seniors Communities For more info, visit: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Disclaimer: The information contained in this video is for informational purposes only and does not form a professional relationship. The content is provided "As Is" and without warranties of any kind, either implied or expressed. Brian Schwatka does not promise or guarantee any income or particular result from your use of the information contained in this video and assumes no liability or responsibility for errors, omissions, or other results from your use of the information contained herein. Please contact Brian Schwatka to make an appointment to evaluate your specific situation and to determine the best course of action for you.
Transcript:
hello homeowners brian schweitzer here creator of the stair go home owner class and i'm here with aaron farrell the director of sales at saratoga retirement community which is silicon valley's finest destination for extraordinary senior living you got that one thank you and we're going to ask aaron a couple of questions take a look around and get you familiar with the community so thanks for having us Aaron yeah thank you for for coming here and visiting us wait so Director of Sales what does that entail you're the first person people see when they come I'm one of them we certainly have a large wonderful welcoming staff so you might meet our receptionist you might meet our any one of our team members but you'll eventually find your way to me okay great and there are different types of seniors communities out there there's independent living there's assisted living there's skilled nursing and then there's memory care and then the the ultimate community would be the continuing care retirement community or the CCRC what kind of community is saratoga retirement well we're actually what you just mentioned we're a CCRC we're continuing care retirement community basically what that means is we have all levels of care right here on campus so the community was certainly built for independent living new we have a very robust beautiful independent living 37 acres of independent living we do also have a beautiful assisted living center and that's for if we ever come to the point where we might need a little bit of additional pair right we also have a beautiful memory care center on campus nice it's absolutely it's just beautiful it incorporates a lot of wonderful things such as a dedicated activity director it has animal therapy and all kinds of wonderful programs yes we also have a beautiful skilled nursing program as well on campus with the reach full rehabilitation room we have many rehabilitation therapists on campus as well so we pretty much have it all for for the residents who live here okay and so that almost answers the question with the benefit of a CCRC or continuing care retirement community where the homeowner doesn't have to leave this community to transition in their lives you know what and that's a good point Brian I mean certainly we all want to be as independent as we possibly can as long as we can but the benefit of having all levels of care right here on campus is if I ever needed a higher level of care I could certainly move on to assisted living we're still I'm surrounded by people who know me right no my desires know my wishes know my hobbies I've got my friends on hand if I ever needed memory care the same thing I've got a caring loving staff who already know me right if I ever need skilled nursing maybe I'm maybe I'm rehabilitating from some sort of surgery or just need a little additional 24 hour care yeah I can I can go to our health center again but people who know me with my neighbors who can visit me right right on campus exactly okay so it's a full-service CCRC is it a month-to-month situation or a buying situation or is it a combination of both great question Brian so so we're owned by The Odd Fellows work or nonprofit community what makes a huge difference it's a big deal it really is we are designed for independent living so when you come into this community and independent living you pay an entrance fee okay and the benefit for that for you is that you become what we call a contracted resident and so that means you pay that entrance fee once you move into independent living and then should you ever need assisted living you are contracted resident so you have preferential treatment really you go you get to pick your assisted living apartment with a view that you like with as many you know one bedroom or two bedroom if you prefer so you get the preference of being able to choose what you want for your higher levels of care okay whereas we do take people in into assisted living or beautiful assisted living and beautiful skilled nursing and memory care we do take people who are not contracted residents okay but the contracted residents get the apartments that they particularly want and desire and that's that's a big distinction something that people do ask us a lot and that is why people tend to move in that younger right and come into independent living so that they are secure and knowing that their preferences will be met throughout any level of care exactly beautiful so the area around the community tell us a little bit about we're here in Saratoga California which is near Los Gatos near Los Altos near montessori no it's tech demo foothills here yeah tell us a little bit about what's around here well I'll tell you what there's so much to see you know we've got the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains we have hakone gardens which is absolutely lovely oh I've been there they have their koi pond yeah the walking path yeah it is absolutely beautiful and you know we're jacent to west valley college and i'll tell you what Brian that that means so much to our residents our residents often the audit classes over there we do a lot with West Valley College in fact a couple of our residents actually runs their community theater program Oh mate yeah well and I know that across from West Valley College there's a Senior Center recreation center there's the Saratoga library there on the corner you've also got a you've also got the little cute little town of Saratoga with shops and restaurants and fine dining and wineries there and then a little bit further up the road you were talking about how Cooney gardens and then there's the mountain winery that's up there where there's concerts and whatnot so it's just a really mellow beautiful rural area out here very calming it's an amazing way of life yeah it really is yeah seems like a very nice place to be run us through a typical day there took a retirement community for a senior that's living here you know it's different for everybody you know we certainly have people who move to the community who are retired and who really just want to relax and just enjoy a serene environment or maybe they'll go toke up by the way I reach our residents have over 40 groups and committees oh my god so right so some people want to move here and jump in and get involved in all the many different activities and clubs and everything else but again some some want to come here and just really enjoy the peaceful nature of the community maybe they'll want to visit our aquatic center for water aerobics class in the morning maybe they'll want to take a jewelry class later in the afternoon in one of our many common areas or maybe they want to play bridge with one of the many bridge groups that we have on campus we have play reading groups that sometimes people really enjoy just reading through a play though some of our residents really enjoy spending time in the resident run libraries on campus of course they take advantage of the fine dining that we offer on campus a very unique thing about our campus we don't outsource our dining all we have many chefs on staff here we have an executive chef we have a pastry chef we have sous chefs so makes a big difference and the dining room it doesn't look like a cafeteria it looks like an actual dining room where you would go out to eat at a restaurant it is very much restaurant style dining you know we have a full beautiful menu on in every level of care that we offer it is it's beautiful again it's a beautiful life style no kidding ok and the demographic here typical age search on retirement community I mean I'm moving in as soon as I guess so but what's the minimum age and what's the average age a brand I have a great apartment take a look at later but um people are moving in a little younger I think in this community than some okay I'd say people moving in their mid to late 60s early 70s of course some people decided to wait a little bit longer is there any sort of entrance requirements or you know admittance expectations well when you decide to move here we will go through some a little bit of paperwork okay you know I certainly want to get to know you know some of your likes and dislikes we do a financial work work up for you and that helps you determine whether or not we're good financial fit for you exactly is there any physical requirements to move in you know independent living that's a great question so every CCRC is licensed by the state that they're in and the california state license requirements do require our residents to get a physical okay making sure that their TV test is clean and things like that okay great so independent living you need to be independent to go into independent living can you enter the community in assisted living or do you have to start with independent then move to assisted living how does that work well we always recommend if you can to start an independent living that way you you become what I what we call a contracted resident yeah and there are many many benefits to doing that but you can certainly assisted living for memory care or even skilled nursing mm-hmm okay and if someone was thinking about a senior's community in general and they wanted to start evaluating seniors communities what would you tell them to do next well Brian I've had the benefit of volunteering and retirement communities for over 20 years so I've seen many many different types of communities I would highly recommend if they possibly can work with a non-profit community yeah there's a big difference between nonprofit and for-profit nonprofit communities there a lot they're able to take their money and basically reinvest into their community where a for-profit community there are many lovely for-profit communities out there but they're needing to worry about shareholders and and and things like that whereas a non-profit communities it tends to be mission driven and tenant or the senior centric yeah definitely it makes a big difference if I could recommend that to anybody I would recommend right I really consider the nonprofit difference yeah also resident satisfaction is higher in nonprofits as opposed to for profits so definitely look into that Google that check out leading age there are a lot of great resources out there okay now deposit and waiting list how does that work so in order to get on our waitlist you would pay a thousand dollars it's completely refundable should you not move in you would get your money back and just let us know but it's a great way to get to know the community and and by that I mean we have many events throughout the year for our the people who who are on our weight lifting all of our applicants so we have many applicant events where we invite professionals such as yourself to inform and educate our applicants we have we host many dinners and lunches for them before we invite our residents so they can get to know people that actually live here and yes ask the tough questions you know about what life is really like right on campus yeah and so it's a great way to really get to know the community yeah you know you can't just get the vibe or the culture of a community by visiting one time yeah you know if you could come back a few times and get that feel of how it really is to live there talk with the people that live here and then also maybe even have a meal here or something to see what it's really like oh I really recommend it i'll tell you if you're if you're thinking about a retirement community i recommend that you visit several when people visit us we always tell them you know we we love us we're amazing and I don't think there's anything better but but it is wonderful to really do your homework and visit several communities because once you decide on the community that you really love and meet the residents and try the food once you move you'll be extremely happy knowing that you made an educated choice agreed so here you have our beautiful entryway beautiful floor hardwood floors fully appointed kitchen granite counters new appliances Wow dining area living area it's so bright in here mm-hmm the builders architects really took advantage of the beautiful Helen nature of campus they captured someone most lovely lick observatory smells brand new I can see that the bedrooms are separated it's two suites actually indoor laundry so here's one of our bedrooms good size bedroom nice tall ceilings you don't feel claustrophobic in here beautiful view nice closets with organizers large bathroom yeah this is actually a beautiful full bath so you know some people like taking a nice soak in the tub even though we have a beautiful Jacuzzi our aquatic center and the second suite is on the other side of the unit wow this is a very large space again with the windows so two master suites so if he snores he can have his own room beautiful bathroom the walk-in shower and walk-in closet you you Oh alright well I think you've answered all of our questions we've seen a little bit about the community as we've been talking and I really want to thank you for your time all right thank you so much for all right and then the next thing they should do is just give you a call for to make an appointment maybe to come down for lunch and a tour and I'll take about an hour or two and there's no expectations and those strings attached Darren just wants to show you the community and you're not a high-pressure sales person we don't need to be brain you know what our job in any of these communities is really to educate you and to help you find the best place for you right alright well thanks alright thank you
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