TidePointe, A Vi Community

What does a continuing care option look like on Hilton Head Island? TidePointe, a Vi Community, sits on 63 acres at 700 TidePointe Way and is operated by LCS as a Life Plan Community. Homes here are purchased as real estate rather than rented, and that purchase price sets the membership fee that gives a resident priority access to continuing care.

TidePointe is a Type C, fee-for-service community, so members pay for assisted living or skilled nursing only when they use it rather than folding those costs into a flat monthly fee ahead of time. Priority access to assisted living and skilled nursing is provided at Broad Creek Care Center, which sits inside the same community. Families should ask how the purchase price is set for different home styles and what happens to that value if a resident later moves out.

Members can walk out the gates to reach Sea Pines Resort, area restaurants and grocery stores along Palmetto Bay Road, and day trips run to Bluffton, to performances at the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and to the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. Golf outings are arranged across the island's courses for residents who still play. Anyone comparing this model with a rental community can look at senior living in Hilton Head Island for other options.

Memory care is not among the levels of care offered at this address, so a family anticipating that need later should ask directly how the community and Broad Creek Care Center would handle it. Getting a written explanation of the real estate purchase agreement and the fee-for-service rates before signing is worth the time it takes.