The majority (78.7%) of those searching for a senior living community or skilled nursing facility for themselves or a family member to move into are looking to relocate to a community in six or fewer months, according to recently published research by Seniorly.
The results are based on an analysis of 15,000 users who signed up for the search service in the first half of this year.
Users of the platform mainly were adult children (49.3%), potential residents (28.5%) and spouses of older adults (8.3%). Of adult children, 45.3% said that they needed to find a community as soon as possible. ASAP relocation also was needed by 34.6% of spouses looking for a new residence for a spouse and for 23.1% of older adults looking for themselves. The older the potential resident was, the more likely he or she, or his or her family, wanted the relocation to take place as soon as possible.
“If a child, spouse or caretaker is the one searching for senior living, there’s almost a 50% chance that the moving timeline is immediate. On the other hand, if you’re searching for your own care, there’s less than a 25% chance you’ll find yourself in the position of having to rush to move-in ASAP,” Seniorly said. “This may seem obvious: of course those who need immediate care will also need help finding it. However, we’ve found over the years that seniors are often happiest when they make these choices themselves, or alongside family members, before life-changing events take the decision out of their hands.”
Most (45.7%) of the searches involved people in their 80s, with 24% involving people aged 71 to 80 and 19.9% involving people aged 91 or more years, Seniorly said.
“By the time a resident is older than 80 years old, it’s not hard to understand why so many of these moving decisions need to be made with haste, and by someone else,” according to the website.
