The Inn Thing : Providing Shelter and Care to Meet the Needs of the Nation’s Active Elderly Is a Growing Industry

Florence E. Albiston, who had lived in the Leisure World retirement community in Laguna Hills for 14 years, broke her back 18 months ago and was unable to care for herself. Instead of moving in with relatives in the East, however, she was able to keep the independence she had long enjoyed by renting a studio apartment at the Retirement Inn of Fullerton.

For $1,025 a month, she gets three meals a day, complete housekeeping services, an assortment of recreational activities and local transportation. As long as her health permits, Albiston, 84, can come and go as she pleases: to church, to visit friends, on daylong excursions to museums or to the shopping malls.

It’s an arrangement that puts Albiston in the middle of a new wave. Construction that is taking place across the country to meet the needs of elderly people who are in relatively good health. Keeping their independence is essential to this group of people, experts say, and today they are finding more facilities that can meet that demand.

Operators of Retirement Inns of America, which are owned by the cosmetics conglomerate Avon, and health-care analysts agree that comfortable housing geared strictly to the elderly is not only a viable alternative to living alone or in a convalescent home but can be a profitable enterprise, too.

At present, there are eight Retirement Inns in the state, all but one of them in Northern California. Next year, another will open in Mission Viejo, and there are plans to build several more on the West Coast within the next three or four years.

The 73 residents of the Retirement Inn of Fullerton average 80 years of age. Most are infirm to some degree but still active enough that they can enjoy a semi-autonomous life style.

Except for four couples, all the residents at the Fullerton facility have lost their mates or are single. The couples, who share studio apartments equipped with kitchenettes, pay $1,400.

Residents have several living rooms in which to relax and chat. Bible classes, bingo and other recreational activities are planned by the staff every day.

“I see this as an answer to living alone in an apartment or a big house,” said Dorothy J. Bauer, general manager of the Fullerton Retirement Inn. “It’s like living in a nice hotel, but this becomes their home.”

Bruno Cantine, director of operations of Los Angeles-based Retirement Inns of America, said the company’s recent expansion plans were developed only after careful research.

“Retirement Inns have been around for more than a decade, but they were unique until now,” Cantinue said. “Now the study of aging has swept the country. There is a recognition now that there is a special need for these people. There will be more construction of these types of facilities.”

Cantine said that the Mission Viejo facility, which will open next summer, will have 121 one- and two-bedroom units and will have more amenities to offer than the Fullerton facility. The new Retirement Inn will cater to a slightly younger population--residents between 60 and 70--and will have outdoor swimming pools and spas.

The price also will be higher, ranging from $1,250 to $1,850 a month for the “hotel and resort-type facility.”

Because Americans are living longer, healthier lives and are more financially secure, said Victor Regnier, a professor at the Andrus Gerontology Center of USC in Los Angeles, the elderly need more housing geared to their specific needs.

“The over-65 population segment is growing at staggering rates and the need for quality retirement housing is increasing tremendously,” he said.

Candace R. Nicholson, president of a research and consulting company that advises builders and developers on what type of facilities will satisfy the needs of the elderly, agrees.

Nicholson’s firm, Senior Living Research Associates in Los Angeles, was started only eight months ago.

“Better housing for the elderly is crucial,” she said. “It is a product that consumers seem to be demanding.”

But a note of caution was sounded by Larry Selwitz, a health care industry analyst with the Los Angeles investment firm of Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards Inc.

“Although there is money to be made, especially by large companies, it would be wise to conduct more studies to determine how large of a market there is,” Selwitz said.

Still, he said, “I’m finding more privately held companies moving into this area of care for the elderly.” He said he knows of at least four Los Angeles companies that are building housing specifically for the elderly.

Bauer, the general manager in Fullerton, said living in such a facility gives the elderly a more rounded daily life.

“When people get into their late 70s and are living alone, whether in a house or an apartment, they have no motivation,” she said. “Most of the time, their only contact is with the TV. Here, they have friends and activities. Their minds are still really sharp, so they need the stimulation.”

After her injury, Albiston could no longer manage by herself at the Leisure World retirement community where she had been responsible for the upkeep of her privately owned home.

She said the Retirement Inn gave her the opportunity to continue living comfortably and independently by doing for her only what she could no longer do for herself.

“In today’s world,” she says, “it is better to retain your independence no matter what your age.”