Fox Meadows

Fun in the Sun..thanks so much to the staff at the Inlet Bay Marina at Horsetooth for your hospitality in making our day extra special!

Providing life enriching care to elderly persons in a home setting. Responsibilities include assisting with all activities of daily living with a person centered approach.

Had a great surprise from CUPS yesterday...they brought coffee and goodies to the staff and ladies at Fox Meadows. Thanks Amy!

Elderly People Look At Their Younger Reflections In This Beautiful Photo Series By Tom Hussey ‘Reflections of The Past’ is an award-winning photo series by commercial advertising photographer Tom Hussey. The photographs show an elderly person looking pensively at the reflection of his/her younger self in the mirror. Hussey was inspired by a World War II veteran who said “I can’t beli...

The shorter version of our mission:

We are a group of assisted living administrators/ business owners specializing in small assisted living homes. Most of us have over 10 years of experience in the Assisted Living Residence industry (ALRs) and up to 35 years in other Geriatric – related occupations. We understand the responsibility that has been entrusted to us in caring for older individuals and we are honored. We are very passionate about our industry and the ability to care for older individuals; it is our choice and calling. These small communities afford small staff to resident ratios which fosters more opportunities to deliver “person centered care” and enhanced life enrichment experiences. This “person centered care” approach also extends to our staff and resident families.

What are our concerns with the revision / re-write of Chapter 7 final draft:

CDPHE has invested 2 years in revising the Assisted Living Regulations and has proposed a final draft to be voted on by the Board of Health on April 18, 2018. These regulations, as they stand, present an over-reach in many areas that are onerous to the ALR industry, especially the small facilities that service 19 residents or less. In Colorado, there are more small assisted living homes (currently 400+) than larger facilities. As a result, if the final draft of Chapter 7 is adopted as written without modifications, it is likely that many of these facilities will be forced to close. In perspective, this would potentially displace more than 4000 older individuals in Colorado into institutional or higher cost care facilities, such as nursing homes.

Many of the proposed regulations interfere with “person-centered care” and prohibit “aging in place” causing older individuals to experience increased stress and changes at most vulnerable times in life

What can you do to help?

• Request from the Board of Health a cost – benefit analysis to determine the potential detrimental fiscal impact of Chapter 7 to our aging population BY MARCH 15, 2018.

• Write or email the Board of Health with comments or concerns by April 10, 2018-- [email protected]
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
Denver, CO 80246

• Write or email Randy Kuykendall – Facilities director CDPHE – [email protected] and / or Larry Wolk – Executive Director CDPHE – [email protected] - Address same as BOH.

• Attend the Board of Health hearing on April 18, 2018 at the Colorado Department of Public Health (above address) in the Sabin-Cleere Conference Room, Building A at 10:00 AM; prepare to testify if asked

With the impending Silver Tsunami movement, we understand that the Assisted Living industry is exploding and many are interested in “catching the wave.” As a result of this growing industry, we also realize the need to monitor and regulate to ensure our residents safety and security are upheld to high standards.

We appreciate the efforts that CDPHE and the ALR advisory board have contributed in preparing the Chapter 7 ALR revisions. However, we feel these proposed regulations have not considered the fiscal challenges to facilities, pass-through costs to residents, the likely destruction of the small ALR industry, nor the potential displacement of many seniors.

Recent random sampling of 60 facilities with fewer than 20 beds revealed a 97% deficiency free practice. This would suggest that overall and under current regulations, we are doing an incredible job at caring for our seniors.

We support continual quality improvement of any industry, especially in the ALR realm, but these new regulations will limit affordable, home-centered health care for aging senior citizens. The practical and fiscal impact of some of the rules will likely force small, high quality assisted living facilities to close and/ or experience dramatically increased costs to remain in business. These costs will filter through to consumers. With less ALR beds, less options will be available for older individuals, especially those with financial constraints / Medicaid.

Please support our mission to delay the implementation of Chapter 7 as it is currently written and allow further investigation and revisions to minimize the detrimental effects to our senior population.

For more information and resources:
• Draft of Proposed Rules (they start on page 64) https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/board-health-meetings
• Find Your Legislator https://leg.colorado.gov/find-my-legislator
• Legislators with phone number, email and committees https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators
• Members of the Board of Health https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/about-board-health
• Northern Colorado Coalition of Assisted Living Homes [email protected]