{"id":10504,"date":"2020-08-31T12:37:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T19:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10504"},"modified":"2020-08-31T12:37:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T19:37:32","slug":"when-families-help-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10504","title":{"rendered":"When Families Help Families"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"When<\/a>

When Families Help Families, from Santa Barbara Independent, Active Aging Special Section, July 30, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

MISSION VILLA\u2019S\u00a0BROTHER-SISTER TRANSITION TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to senior services,\u00a0the Newquists are keeping it in\u00a0the family.<\/p>\n

Sensitivity, understanding, and compassion\u00a0are so important when it comes\u00a0to helping people with the big changes\u00a0in their lives. When seniors are moving\u00a0out of family homes \u2014 either to \u201crightsize\u201d\u00a0into something more suitable, or\u00a0to transition into life in an assisted living\u00a0environment \u2014 it can have a\u00a0dramatic impact on the entire family.<\/p>\n

The brother-and-sister team of Dana\u00a0Newquist and Nancy Newquist-Nolan\u00a0works closely with families to help them\u00a0through these changes in this emotional\u00a0time in their lives.<\/p>\n

Dana Newquist, who owns and\u00a0operates the downtown Santa Barbara\u00a0assisted-living dementia care specialist\u00a0Mission Villa<\/a>, has been in the memory care\u00a0business for 24 years. He started his\u00a0career in the early days of tech, founding\u00a0Computer Plaza in 1981 (near Harry\u2019s\u00a0Plaza Caf\u00e9<\/a>), as well as Montecito\u00a0Video and Summerland Video. He was\u00a0looking for a new venture in the mid-1980s when his sister Lyn Lorenzo,\u00a0the oldest of the seven Newquist siblings,\u00a0came to him with her gerontology\u00a0degree in hand and\u00a0a thesis project describing\u00a0a new assisted-living\u00a0model that was more like\u00a0a home and less like an\u00a0institution.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d taken the thesis\u00a0to the bank for a loan, but\u00a0they wanted a business plan. \u201cWell, my\u00a0sister was a great gerontologist, but she\u00a0wasn\u2019t very well schooled in business,\u201d\u00a0said Dana. \u201cSo she called me to write\u00a0her a business plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

That plan turned into Country\u00a0Village (countryvillagecare.com<\/a>) in\u00a0Chico, California, which is still operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very progressive in\u00a0her thoughts,\u201d said Nancy about her\u00a0admired oldest sister, who is now 78\u00a0and still actively involved.<\/p>\n

The family ties keep coming. Nancy\u2019s\u00a0husband, Keith Nolan, principal\u00a0of ON Design Architects (ondesignarchitects.net<\/a> ), designed both Country\u00a0Village and Mission Villa senior care\u00a0homes. Meanwhile, Nancy is Coldwell\u00a0Banker\u2019s senior real estate specialist\u00a0(nancynewquistnolan.com<\/a> ), with training\u00a0from the California\u00a0Association of Realtors<\/a>\u00a0on understanding\u00a0what seniors need\u00a0when they go to sell a\u00a0house.<\/p>\n

Dana is also a Realtor\u00a0and frequently\u00a0works with Nancy\u00a0on deals. In addition,\u00a0Nancy used to own\u00a0an estate liquidation\u00a0business and brings\u00a0years of experience in\u00a0working with seniors\u00a0and their families to sell the contents\u00a0of their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re going into a house\u00a0to liquidate everything, you learn\u00a0about so many aspects of life,\u201d laughed\u00a0Nancy. \u201cWhen they get older, they\u00a0stuff everything in their pockets or\u00a0in books or in weird places. I always\u00a0tell the family prior to us coming in:\u00a0Please go through your family members\u2019\u00a0pants pockets, coat pockets, flip\u00a0through their books, because they\u00a0tend to get dementia and start putting\u00a0money in those places, and we\u00a0want to make sure that we didn\u2019t sell a\u00a0book by accident that had a thousand\u00a0dollars in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hardest thing is letting go.\u00a0\u201cThey love their home, they have\u00a0their memories, and they\u2019re afraid,\u201d\u00a0said Nancy. \u201cAnd you\u2019re telling them\u00a0to let go and move forward on to what\u00a0will be a safer place for them. We try\u00a0to be proactive instead of reactive.\u00a0And being proactive means they can\u00a0make the choice, and that\u2019s what we\u00a0highly suggest. That way, they still are\u00a0able to have their say in what happens\u00a0to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Dana, \u201cTrust is the\u00a0whole deal \u2014 you\u2019re dealing with the\u00a0most important thing they have, and\u00a0that could be a spouse, or a mom or\u00a0dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true when going\u00a0to a memory-care facility like Mission\u00a0Villa, which works closely with\u00a0hospice providers and is designed to\u00a0be the last home a person will live in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really an end-of-life kind of\u00a0facility,\u201d said Dana.<\/p>\n

The pandemic is only making compassionate\u00a0care more challenging,\u00a0as visitors are currently prohibited.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re dealing with dementia,\u00a0if you take a daughter or son away\u00a0for even a week, let\u2019s say, when the\u00a0dementia patient has to be reinforced\u00a0in memory all the time, they forget\u00a0who somebody is,\u201d said Dana. \u201cWe\u00a0totally become their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the Newquists are up to\u00a0the task. \u201cWhen you have seven kids in\u00a0the family, you have to have grace and\u00a0patience,\u201d said Nancy. \u201cWe all seem to\u00a0have that, which makes us really even keeled\u00a0to help the seniors as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mission Villa: mvcare.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Nancy Newquist-Nolan: nancynewquistnolan.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Active<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on July 30, 2020. To view the Active Aging Guide to Senior Life, Seen Through a Pandemic Lens, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>