(New York Public Radio) Seventy-eight-year-old Angelita Perez is a working senior who truly cares about the men and women of her generation as they walk through the sunset of their lives. She owns and still opts to be an active caregiver at Hillcrest Care, a small assisted living facility she founded in 2014 in El Dorado Hills, Calif.
What looks like a middle-class residence perched on the elevated suburban outskirts of El Dorado Hills — which lies 30 miles to the east of California’s capital of Sacramento — is actually a haven for six male seniors, five aged 85-97 and a 52-year-old Navy veteran under hospice care. With most assisted living facilities and nursing homes tending to at least 20 wards, Hillcrest Care is a much smaller operation.
But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in better care and homelier ambience — Perez says that, in such an intimate setting, seniors’ needs are more easily monitored and served. Helping frail seniors perform even the most basic chores may be easier said than done, but Perez — who goes by “Lita” to friends and family and “Angel” to a grateful patient’s family — mastered the work with a natural ease.. Read More
