Month: March 2022

Over the last couple of years, you have found yourself doing more work than usual to help your aging loved ones. You’ve decided it’s time to look for a senior living facility, but you aren’t sure who to trust. Use this guide to learn about the two types of websites to find reviews and how to tell if they’re honest so you can find excellent assisted living communities near you.

Third-Party Review Sites

Third-party review sites (like Yelp!) are a great way to find objective reviews on senior living communities. When scouring these sources, you want to employ a method I like to call “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” adopted from Clint Eastwood’s hit film, to help you find the perfect assisted living facility.

• The Good–These five-star reviews praise the community and elaborate on specific aspects of care and life. These reviews should be 20-30% of the thoughts you read.
• The Bad–These are the three-star reviews. Family members who rate a service three stars share good and bad things. These reviews should make up 40-60% of your readings.

• The Ugly–These reviews are the worst of the worst. Please don’t spend too much time in this section since nobody has anything good to say, but don’t completely overlook it either. Ugly reviews can shed light on serious issues that might present themselves when you visit senior living facilities. Nonetheless, don’t spend more than 10-30% of your time reading these reviews.

When you implement this strategy on third-party reviews, you can synthesize the information and make an educated decision. But don’t stop there–visit the parent site for each assisted living community you consider.

The Parent Website

It’s essential to visit the assisted living facility’s website, so you can learn about the offered services and whether it’s a fit. While on this page, look for reviews, but take them with a grain of salt–companies traditionally only share raving reviews.

When looking at these reviews, pay close attention to ones that specify services and amenities–these will give you a clear indication of whether or not the review is credible and if the community fulfills its promises. 

How To Tell If Reviews Are Honest

The hardest part about this entire process is knowing whether you can trust a review. To help you harmonize dozens and hundreds of reviews, use these three tips:

1. The General Consensus–Try to get a feel for how the general population using the specific community feel about their loved one’s treatment.
2. Rating Average–Cross-reference the average rating with the reviews in that category, and that will give you a clear picture.
3. Website Reputation–This tip is specifically for third-party reviews websites. If you find a review site you’ve never heard of and there aren’t many reviews available, don’t invest much time. Finding reputable reviews starts with a reputable site.

Conclusion

Finding the perfect independent living community is tough, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. With the right tools, you can quickly navigate the online community to find a new home for your aging loved one that improves everyone’s life.

If you’re in the Midwest, look for a Pivotal Health Care community near you. We have over 50 years of experience in the management of assisted living facilities, so we know what it takes to provide top-tier senior care. Schedule a tour with us today at the nearest location to take the next step into your future.

Americans lost $29.8 billion between 2020 and 2021 from phone scams. These threats are highly manipulative and make it impossible to recover your money. While these people can trick you into giving them your money, they cannot force you. But how do you know if someone is trying to scam you? Use this helpful guide the next time an unknown number calls you.

Five Warning Signs of a Phone Scam

The ruse may change, but the purpose remains the same–phone scammers want your money, and they are willing to say anything to get it. Since these scammers can make verbal threats, it’s essential you know what to expect from them and how you can report phone scams. 

Here are five straightforward ways to know when to hang up on a scammer.

1. Prizes Don’t Exist

When we think of prizes, we think of an award or gift we receive after accomplishing something, and one of the most common phone scams is a promise of an award after payment. This request is a warning sign–no one pays for a real prize.

2. No One Can Arrest You

Fear-mongering is a scammer’s best friend. To get you to do what they want, a phone scammer will lie to you, threaten you, and promise your arrest. However, the police can’t arrest you based on a phone call like this.

3. You Have Time to Think

Legitimate businesses will never pressure you to decide on the spot. Even if the calling company is the IRS or your credit card company, they will never request a final decision over the phone. However, spam calls pressure you to decide before you take the time to think about it.

4. Never Pay with Cash or a Gift Card

Scammers know that a debit or credit card is traceable and that you can seek legitimate refunds for money lost. Scammers will request you to pay in cash, wire transfer, or with a gift card to avoid getting caught and stay anonymous. They want you to pay this way because there isn’t a way to recoup your lost money, and it keeps them free from liability and tracking.

5. Government Agencies Don’t Use Phone Calls to Confirm Sensitive Information

One of the most common ruses is the government agency front. If you receive a call from a specific agency asking about your sensitive information, hang up the phone immediately. 

A federal agency will never ask about your social security number, bank account numbers, or other private information over the phone.

Conclusion

As technology develops and changes over time, so do the ploys for taking people’s money. When dealing with phone scammers, it’s always best not to answer a call from a number you don’t recognize. However, that is not always possible to avoid unwanted calls, so make sure you know how to recognize phone scams and use caller id. When talking on the phone with a suspected phone scam, listen for clues about prizes, arrests, government entities seeking private information, and payment methods. The moment you notice one of these warning signs, hang up the phone and report them.