Some stories get more interesting with age. Meet Stan Jacobson, one of my clients at Utah Senior Care Advisors. Stan is now 92 years old, and he still enjoys sharing one of the most remarkable stories from his childhood. In February 1945, when Stan was just 10 years old, his grandfather, Commissioner Rosco Boden, pulled him out of school and told him, “I want you to meet somebody.” They drove to the Newhouse Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. Stan’s grandfather returned with a

I grew up in my family's assisted living communities and worked in them for decades. In all that time, we never displayed obituaries or memorials in our lobbies. When funeral flower arrangements were donated, we broke them down and distributed the flowers to residents' rooms. That wasn't because we were insensitive. It was because of who walks through the front door. Picture the tour…Imagine you've been begging your dad to tour an assisted living community for months. He fina

Back in 2010, when I was executive director of a memory care community, I made a decision some people questioned: our residents went on the same kinds of outings as the more independent assisted living residents next door. Not movies or the symphony — nothing that needed a long attention span. Every week, we did a scenic drive and a lunch bunch outing. Twice a month, we added a destination field trip — the Air Force Base, Festival of Trees, minor league baseball games, the tu

Every day, seniors face new scams designed to trick them out of their money and personal information. Families often try to protect their parents by warning them about specific scams they have heard about. But these warnings rarely work. Scammers change their stories and tactics constantly, making yesterday’s warning useless today. Instead of focusing on the details of each scam, it’s more effective to teach seniors the common tactics scammers use. Understanding these tactics

I grew up inside an assisted living community in Salt Lake City. While other kids had neighborhood friends, I had Holocaust survivors, World War II veterans, a presidential photographer, the first woman bank president, and the secretary to a U.S. vice president. And for a few unforgettable months — I had Elvis's rhythm guitar player. His name was John. A surgeon friend of my father's had operated on him and suggested he recover with us at Alta Ridge, our assisted living commu