Compare retirement communities as to how they are ranked overall. Of all the retirement communities specified in a recent survey conducted by Erickson Vice President of Research Bill Tamulonis and Market Research Analyst Amy Reilly, Henry Ford Village received the highest ratings in the categories of “familiarity” and “one of the best.”
How do they rank?
The survey involved 2,000-plus homeowners, each with at least one person over 70 in the home. One of the survey’s main objectives was to measure opinions of various senior housing categories—comparing strengths and weaknesses. A survey such as this helps substantially when you’re researching retirement living options.
While the average familiarity rating was 30% for all retirement communities, Henry Ford Village rated 61% among people surveyed. When compared to other retirement communities across the country, the Dearborn community led the pack and was rated “one of the best”.
Planning ahead
Henry Ford Village has more than 1,200 community members, as well as more than 700 Priority List members—people who are waiting to move. One former Priority List member, Raylene Donaldson, was planning to move to Michigan from Lake Arrowhead, Calif. She wanted to be closer to her only daughter, Kathy, who researched retirement communities in Michigan for her mother.
“Kathy looked at every available place in Michigan and sent me pictures of them on the computer,” Donaldson says. “I remember she called me one Friday afternoon, totally excited, and said, ‘Mom, Henry Ford Village is the only place for you … there isn’t any place else.’ So I told her to go ahead and start the process.”
Long-distance arrangements
Do some digging and find out what your options are if you are moving a long distance like Donaldson. Or invite your family to get involved in helping you make the decision.
Although she was thousands of miles away, Donaldson was able to arrange new kitchen cabinet and carpeting installations for her home-to-be in Michigan.
Donaldson sold her condo in California. And when she arrived at Henry Ford Village before her furniture, she was impressed with the response from staff members, who provided her with comfortable sleeping and dining arrangements in the interim.
“Everybody here was just wonderful; everything was ready for me,” she says.
“My new home has an outside patio, which I love dearly,” she says. “I’m an outdoor person, so I knew I would spend a lot of time out there. I was thrilled with everything about it.”
Donaldson has been using the medical center on campus, as well as Erickson Advantage, a Medicare Advantage plan only available to residents of Erickson Retirement Communities. “There isn’t anything in California like this,” she says.
“I’m so happy here. I definitely made the right decision to move here, and I think so more every day. This place just has it all,” she says.
It’s never too early to do some comparison shopping and number crunching to find out where you’ll be spending some of the most important years of your life—the “freedom years.” Savvy retirees such as Donaldson have done their homework and can now sit back, relax, and enjoy their new homes.