A Seabourn 53-day cruise is about as good as it can get at sea. A week ago I compared that adventure with 15 Craigside, a seniors' residence where I live. This was my conclusion:
While I have tried to compare 15 Craigside with the Seabourn Odyssey, that is not the point. The beauty of having both experiences is that they complement each other. 15 Craigside is a secure and comfortable environment with decent cuisine and a lot of activities. I do very little, but enjoy the freedom to do so. A cruise opens up the world to opportunities not available in Nuuanu and Hawaii. Now on to the rest of my life.
In short, 15C is an oasis of security and comfort. I've now lived here for nine years, and early in my stay posted twice about my home now being Purgatory.
Each one was a Sunday article, for I have long tended to be more spiritual on that day. So let me continue to make my case for this place, one reason being that we never have a waiting list. I'm trying to recruit future residents. To add to my previous efforts, we have numerous wellness activities to keep you healthy.
Take a walk around our location, and there are always flowers. Then again, this could be because we are surrounded by graveyards. From one viewpoint, very convenient, considering our age. Below, Jacarandas and plumerias are in bloom, and they come with a nice and different fragrance.
I actually only have three meals a week in the dining room, all dinners. I do take-out for an extra cost of $1.50, or go and pick up my food for the same surcharge, so that I can enhance the dishes, and watch TV. Below, only added a chutoro sashimi, plus hot sake and cold beer.
While the cuisine here at 15C is good enough, we do go out on occasion. Here ramen with curry and chicken.
Sometimes we buy something to take home.
Roast duck.
Here is an aerial view of 15 Craigside...that small building with two Craigside towers (not related except for name) dominate. I lived in the penthouse of the right structure for 32 years, and moved into 15C because I saw it coming up, got curious, and one day, in a fluke decision, after a short visit, decided to move. In most ways I'm glad I did.
I never actually counted, and can't seem to find the correct number with a quick computer search, but I think we have 16 apartments on 10 floors, or 160 apartments, studios and one-bedrooms. Ten to twenty of them are usually vacant or in some form of transition. There are four other floors: basement, with wellness center, clinic, small pool, etc., the street floor is mostly a dining room/kitchen and theater, second floor is an extended care facility (40 beds, and they're normally full) and a solarium at the top for parties, pool (billiards), ping pong and such. We usually have close to 230 residents, with 10% passing away each year. That's one negative. This is partly why I don't go to funerals anymore.
I said above that the administration wants to keep you healthy. Actually, from a financial point of view, they should want you to pass away in your first year of stay here. And maybe this is why we always have vacancies. There are three types of retirement homes (very much simplified):
No entrance fee, like The Plaza (right), where you pay a monthly fee of $5000/month or $7500 for two people. The obvious danger is that when you get really sick, they kick you out.- The 15 Craigside way, where there is an initial $400,000 entrance fee, but they promise to take care of you when you get really sick...forever, until you die. However, the administration keeps the entrance fee if you pass away after two months or so. Thus I say, fiscally, they would rather you die in a few months. But both Arcadia, our older sister, and 15C, are run by a church in Hawaii system (United Church of Christ), so of course this would never be their strategy.
The third type of retirement center, like Kahala Nui (right), is to pay more, say a million dollar, and probably a little more, but when you pass away, your family can recoup around 80% of the initial payment. Of course, in addition to that fee, you pay the usual $5000/month or $7500 for two.- For all the above, this $5000/$7500 monthly fee has actually probably increased to $5500/$8000 today.
Our average age must be in the low 80's. You can move in only if you are 62 and older. Remarkably, during the past three years of this pandemic, only one person has died from covid. In the U.S., 76% of all covid deaths were of those 65 and older. Thus, 1.4% of this age group passed away from covid. At 15C, 0.3% died. Thus, our death rate was more than three times lower than the U.S. age-group of elders.
In other words, if you have enough money to pay the initial fee of $400,000 or so (the higher the floor, the more expensive, and studios are cheaper than one bedrooms), can afford the $5000/$7500 monthly fee, and have the capability of covering $13,000/month when you move to the second floor extended care facility, don't have a family awaiting your wealth, and seek total security for the rest of your life, 15 Craigside is worthy of your inquiry.
To summarize:
Three nutritious meals per day
Meal tray or Take out service options
Housekeeping Services
Linen Services
Utilities included
Maintenance Services
On-site Security
Health
24-hour emergency care
Five free days in the Health Care Center boarder room
Resident outpatient clinic staffed by a licensed nurse
Assistance from the nursing staff for emergencies
Gerontological Nurse Practitioner assessments
Services
Social services
Spiritual well-being services
Fitness classes
Access to scheduled activities, programs and entertainment
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