Need to Know
Inspections of assisted living facilities lagging
A new state audit says state inspectors are failing to inspect assisted living facilities regularly and often delay responding to serious complaints. A state inspector is supposed to show up every 18 months to routinely inspect state-licensed facilities. Instead, 43% of assisted living facilities had no routine inspections at all during a period of more than five years, from January 2019 to November 2024. There are 2,800 facilities and 32 surveyors.
Plan Now to Pay for Long-Term Care
Imagine that your parent or spouse needs long-term care. The cost: $120,000 per year for every year they are alive.
Do you have that kind of money laying around? Most people don’t. So, how do you pay for long-term care? Medicare won’t cover it. Health insurance won’t cover it. Medicaid might cover it, but only after you’ve spent everything.
Qualifying an elderly loved one for Medicaid isn’t easy. People who try this process on their own often make innocent mistakes that add up to many thousands of dollars in penalties and delays.
Here are five of the most common mistakes.
- Taking spend-down advice from a non-expert
- Thinking that IRS gifting rules apply to Medicaid
- Not keeping accurate financial records
- Co-mingling assets
- Not making provisions for the well spouse
Your best bet is to plan for Medicaid qualification as early as possible, relying on an experienced elder law attorney to guide you through the process. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be.
Kimbrough Law
Good to Know
Study on dementia caregiving seeks participants
UGA doctoral student Shannon Power is conducting a study on the experience of dementia caregiving in Georgia. Participants can be unpaid/informal family or friend caregivers, but it can also be paid workers who encounter dementia patients. These can be aides, nurses, pharmacists, doctors and others. Participants will take a brief online survey with a chance to win 1 of 10 available $50 gift cards. To get the survey link, email Shannonpower@uga.edu.
Nude modeling, at my age?
When artists are tasked with learning to draw the human body, they need to learn all aspects of it, including smooth skin and wrinkled skin, curved muscle and sagging muscle. For that reason, Athens area art model coordinator Dr. Rick Waters prefers diversity in models, meaning old/young, buff/wrinkles & folds, lightweight/not so much, colors, and all spectrums in-between.
Waters says you don’t have to be “fit,” you just need to be still and creative in the poses you choose — and just show up. “You might hold a series of 1 or 2 minute ‘gesture’ poses like the one shown and then relax into a ‘long pose’ broken into 20-minute blocks with 5-minute breaks, Waters explains. Read more on Waters’ modeling experience online in the Winter 2025 issue of Boom. You’re invited to learn more and join in. Visit drawathens.org for more information.
Fun to Do
Sunflower Concert Series
The State Botanical Garden has a fun line-up of music this summer, starting with the New Orleans Jazz Stompers on July 15, Abbey Road Live on Aug. 19 and 80s Walkmen on Sept. 16. Performances start at 7 p.m. so the worst of the day’s heat is over. The setting is beautiful, and visitors are invited to bring a picnic dinner or purchase snacks and drinks at the venue. For tickets, go to botgarden.uga.edu/events.
BikeAthens presents “Breaking Away”
One of Dennis Quaid’s early movies will be featured at a fundraiser for BikeAthens and the Winterville Firefly Trail on July 18. “Breaking Away” begins at 7;30 p.m. in the Marigold Auditorium. Doors open at 7; bar with ID.
The Eagles Tribute Band
The Marigold Auditorium in Winterville has a fun night in store on July 19 with “Tribute to The Eagles and Friends,” like Jackson Brown, Bob Segar and Linda Ronstadt. Starts at 7 p.m. with tickets online at wintervillecenter.com/marigold-auditorium/
Museum exhibit: American women in Paris
During the first four decades of the 20th century, American women made crucial contributions to the vibrant creative milieu of Paris. “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 – 1939” features approximately 65 portraits of remarkable women. It recaptures the experiences of these unorthodox women who found in Paris the freedom to blaze new trails in a variety of fields. Opening July 19 through Nov. 2.
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame induction
Join the UGA Special Collections Libraries on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 1 p.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Library for the induction of 2025 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame inductee Anthony “Tony” Grooms, celebrated author of Bombingham and The Vain Conversation. Grooms is an award-winning author, poet, and educator of creative writing for over 30 years
In conversation with filmmaker Jesse Freeman, Grooms will discuss how fiction can bear witness to history and the role, and craft, of storytelling in confronting the past. The event will feature a reading, behind-the-scenes reflections on Grooms’s writing process, and an opportunity for audience questions. Following the Q&A with the audience, Anthony Grooms will be formally inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and a light reception will begin. This event is free and open to the public.
OLLI Fest 2025
Save the date for OLLI Fest 2025 on Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at River’s Crossing! Come explore everything OLLI@UGA has to offer. Browse tables showcasing our Shared Interest Groups, upcoming trips (local, national, and international), social events, and hundreds of classes planned for the Fall.
Meet SIG and committee leaders, OLLI sponsors, and partners from UGA and the Athens community. Enjoy refreshments provided by Wesley Woods of Athens and bring a friend to introduce them to the OLLI experience.
Happiness Is…
The Classic City Community Chorus has big plans for its summer show at the Marigold Auditorium. “Happiness is…” is described as a feel-good musical cabaret packed with big laughs, uplifting songs, and pure joy. Two days, three performances, Aug. 15 and 16. Tickets $15 at https://www.classiccitycommunitychorus.org/.
Film lovers’ heaven
The second annual Athens Film Festival gets underway Aug. 14 – 17, over four days, five venues, and 80+ films. The showings will include animation, narrative shorts, comedy shorts, music videos, documentaries, features, music videos, narrative shorts as well as presentations by film makers and others in the film industry. Plus, red carpet events and happy hours. For a schedule and tickets, visit athensfilm.com.
Attention, pottery addicts!
Your favorite event of the year is coming up: “Perspectives” at the Oconee Cultural Arts Center in Watkinsville gets underway Aug. 23 through Sept. 7, with an opening reception Aug. 22. Over 5,000 pieces from 50 of the top potters in Georgia will be on exhibit and for sale.
