Beverly Hills and Citrus Springs Seniors — Care Options Close to Home

In this article

1. Why the search in your own town comes up short
2. Work through it in this order
3. Memory care is a separate question
4. The drive is the part that decides it
5. The part that works against us
6. Comparing what is actually near you

If your parent lives in Beverly Hills, there is no licensed assisted living community inside the town at all. Citrus Springs has two, both small. So a family in either place is almost always choosing among communities twenty to thirty five minutes away, and the decision comes down to four checks: whether the community is licensed for the care your parent needs, whether memory care is in the same building, whether it accepts Medicaid, and how long the drive is for whoever visits most.

That is a better position than it sounds. Every one of those four is checkable from a state website and two phone calls, before anyone tours anything.

Why the search in your own town comes up short

Beverly Hills and Citrus Springs are both large residential communities rather than towns with a commercial core, which is exactly why they are pleasant places to retire and exactly why care is somewhere else. The doctors, the hospital, the pharmacy and the licensed communities all sit in Crystal River, Lecanto and Inverness.

You can confirm the care part yourself in about two minutes. FloridaHealthFinder, the state's facility locator, lists every licensed assisted living community in Florida with its city, its license status and its inspection history. Filter it to Citrus County and the county's communities appear in Crystal River, Homosassa, Inverness, Lecanto, Hernando and Citrus Springs. Beverly Hills is not among them.

So when a search for assisted living in Beverly Hills returns results, it is returning communities somewhere else that serve Beverly Hills families. That is not a trick, but it does mean the distances on the page are the thing to read first.

Work through it in this order

Most families do these steps out of order and lose a month. The order below settles the cheapest questions first, so you only tour communities that can actually take your parent.

Steps 1 and 2 are the ones families skip, and they are the ones that prevent a second move. Florida licenses assisted living in classes. A standard license covers the ordinary parts of a day: medications, bathing, dressing, meals, getting around. A limited nursing services license adds certain nursing tasks on site. An extended congregate care license lets a community keep a resident whose needs have grown past what a standard license allows. The classes are published by the Agency for Health Care Administration and they are the single best predictor of whether your parent moves once or twice.

Memory care is a separate question

Assisted living and memory care are not the same thing, and a community can be good at the first without offering the second. Memory care is a secured area with a steadier routine and more attention from staff, for someone living with Alzheimer's or another dementia.

This matters more in a place like Citrus Springs or Beverly Hills than it does in a city, because the alternative to a community that offers both is a second move out of the county entirely. If your parent is already getting turned around on familiar streets or wandering at night, ask about it now rather than after the move. Both of our communities have a secured memory care section alongside assisted living, so a change in needs is a change of hallway. What memory care actually involves is worth a read if the term is new, and when assisted living is no longer enough covers the signs families notice first.

The drive is the part that decides it

The map makes both towns look equally far from everything. In practice the drive out of Citrus Springs and the drive out of Beverly Hills are different roads and the same rough half hour.

From Beverly Hills the route runs down County Road 491 to the Norvell Bryant Highway and across to the coast. From Citrus Springs it is a straighter run south, about twelve miles, on county roads most of the way. Sugarmill Manor in Homosassa is the longer drive from either town, further south on US 19.

Whether that drive is acceptable depends entirely on who visits. A daughter who stops in after work every day feels twenty five minutes very differently from a son who flies down twice a year. It is worth driving it once, at the hour you would actually be driving it, before you decide anything.

We keep town pages for assisted living near Beverly Hills and assisted living near Citrus Springs with more on each route. If hospital care is the reason this came up, we also wrote about senior living near HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness.

The part that works against us

Here is the honest version of our own position. Neither of our communities is in your parent's town, and for some families that is the whole answer. If your mother's church, her hairdresser, her neighbors and her afternoon walk are all inside Beverly Hills, a move to the coast costs her every one of them, and no tour changes that. Help at home for another year is a real option, and sometimes it is the better one.

The second thing worth saying plainly: whether a community accepts Medicaid is the operator's choice, not a rule. That means a family can win a Medicaid approval and still find that the nearest community that takes it is an hour away. It is why step 5 in that table is a separate step. Both of our communities accept Medicaid, in assisted living and in the secured memory care section, and you should get that answer in a sentence from any community you call.

Comparing what is actually near you

We operate Sugarmill Manor and The Gardens.

We keep one page that lists every licensed assisted living community in Citrus County side by side, built from the state roster rather than a sales list, so the Crystal River, Lecanto and Inverness options a Beverly Hills family is really choosing between are all in one place: the Citrus County assisted living guide. It shows who offers secured memory care, who accepts Medicaid, and a direct number for each.

If you want a straight read on whether either of ours fits your parent, call and ask for the administrator. In a small family owned community she knows every resident by name, and she will tell you when the answer is no.

Frequently asked questions

Is there assisted living in Beverly Hills, Florida?

Not inside Beverly Hills itself. Florida's facility locator at FloridaHealthFinder.gov lists no licensed assisted living community with a Beverly Hills address. The nearest licensed communities are in Crystal River, Lecanto and Inverness, and The Gardens in Crystal River is about 25 minutes away.

Is there assisted living in Citrus Springs?

Yes. The state roster lists two licensed communities with a Citrus Springs address, both small. Families in Citrus Springs also look at Crystal River, about 12 miles and roughly 25 minutes south, where The Gardens offers assisted living and secured memory care in one building.

How far is assisted living from Beverly Hills?

About 25 minutes and roughly 15 miles to The Gardens in Crystal River, down County Road 491 to the Norvell Bryant Highway and across to the coast. Sugarmill Manor in Homosassa is a longer drive south on US 19.

Who do I call first if my parent in Beverly Hills needs care?

Start with Elder Options, the area agency on aging that covers Citrus County, at (800) 262-2243. They can tell you what your parent may qualify for and which local programs have a waiting list. If Medicaid is likely, start that application with the Department of Children and Families at (850) 300-4323, because eligibility takes weeks.

Is memory care available near Beverly Hills and Citrus Springs?

Yes, though not at every community. Both Sugarmill Manor and The Gardens have a secured memory care section alongside assisted living, so a resident whose needs change moves down the hall instead of to a new community. Ask any community you call whether memory care is in the same building.

Sources

• FloridaHealthFinder, assisted living facility locator
• Florida AHCA, assisted living facility licensure and specialty licenses
• Elder Options, area agency on aging for Citrus County
• Florida Department of Children and Families, public assistance

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Written by

Cameron Hernando Clark

Community Relations Director

Cameron Hernando Clark is the Community Relations Director for The Manors of Citrus. He writes this family guide to help Citrus County families make sense of assisted living and memory care, drawing on the day to day of running two family owned communities on Florida's Nature Coast.