Hard to know where to start. What has been painfully obvious to us for too many years is our deep seated understanding of the meaning of “staying at home.” We have been the hard-headed advocates of the safety, security, comfort and importance to our overall well being guaranteed by the intrinsic desire to age in place. Over 80 percent of all care takes place at home. There has never been a buyer of long term care protection sold that began with a primary desire to languish in an institutional setting. This was of course most clear to those who had witnessed that possible eventuality within their own inventory of family and friends. Our problem, of course, is that consumers understand exactly what they do not want but, as we know all too well, have serious difficulty coming to grips with what they should want.
For 30 years I have had the privilege of standing with a fanatic cohort of dedicated professionals who rose each morning to help as many as possible Stay at Home. Listening to the endless monologues of talking heads evaluating the pandemic, it’s almost as if they have uncovered an underground religious cult. It is certainly safe to say that a new culturally permanent personal understanding of the good and bad of staying at home will become a measure of historical progression on a global scale.
What matters is that all our lives will be changed forever. When we again feel truly safe, the last “phase” will be a time of reflection. What did we learn? Which past expediencies are now permanent? How can we be better prepared if and when there may be a next time?
Originally published in the June 2020 edition of Broker World Magazine
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