Welcome to the CMSA Senior Housing Locator help page. This guide describes how to use the many features available to help you find appropriate retirement housing options. Use the links below to learn more.
Topics
- Quick Search Panel – Use this to search by city, county, ZIP code, address, facility name or ID number.
- Search Options - Use these checkboxes to limit search results to the care categories selected.
- Advanced Search – Click this to expand the advanced search pane, allowing you to filter by a senior’s medical conditions, payment options and personal assistance needs..
- Register | Login – Sign into your user profile in order to save favorite listings and searches.
- Search Results – This displays the total number of facilities found and the parameters of your search.
- Expand/Narrow – Click the EXPAND button to double the number of search results by increasing the search area. Click the NARROW button to halve the search results by reducing the search area.
- License Type Filter – Use this dropdown menu to filter your results by specific care facility license types (e.g., “US DHHS Skilled Nursing Facility”).
- Availability – The words Accepting Inquiries indicate that a facility is currently accepting inquiries about residency.
- Memory Care – The words Memory Care Available indicate that a facility provides some form of dementia care.
The Quick Search allows you to search for senior housing by location (city, county, ZIP Code and address) and facility name or ID number. The Options section lets you to limit your search results to general care categories or bring facilities which list availability to the top of results.
To perform a quick search:
- Expand the search type you want by clicking on it (e.g., “City”).
- Enter what you would like to search for in the field (e.g., “Bellevue”).
- Select a state from the drop down menu if necessary (e.g., “Washington”).
- Qualify your search if desired by checking or un-checking the care category boxes in the Options section below the search panel.
- Click the
button to execute a quick search.
How to do an Advanced Search
The Advanced Search section allows you to limit your search results to facilities that have provided additional information. This feature allows you to filter your results by various medical conditions, payment options, and personal assistance needs.
- Back to Search Results – Click to go to the search results page.
- Contact Facility – Click for a contact form which lets you notify this facility of your interest.
- Tell a Friend – Click to send someone an e-mail containing a link to this facility’s detailed listing.
- Availability – Click to view specifics about what types of rooms are available (e.g., “individual room”) and for whom (e.g., “female”).
- Licenses – Click to view any state or federally issued licenses held by this facility, as well as their license numbers.
- Photo Gallery – Click to view this facility’s photo gallery and virtual tours. Some listings also feature audio tours.
- Map – Click to view a map with this facility on it, get directions to a facility, and see the location of neighboring facilities.
- Affiliations – Click to see any chains or organizations this facility is affiliated with (e.g., “AAHSA”).
- Highlight – This section provides a brief overview of this facility, which has been written by a member of its staff.
- Profile Details – Click these links to navigate to a section of the profile (e.g., “Care”). These sections describe various specifics about a facility’s offerings.
A facility’s detailed listing provides information about important care services and lifestyle amenities designed to help you select the option which best meets your needs. Listings are made up of information gathered from SNAP-Profiles—questionnaires that senior housing providers fill out which cover over 150 data elements. The main page of a listing contains most of the information from the SNAP-Profile, and can be returned to from any other page in the listing by clicking the Profile link.
Though filling out a SNAP-Profile and receiving a listing is free, not all providers have done so, which is why some facility listings display only minimal information. It should also be noted that listings are thought to be reliable but are not guaranteed to be accurate, as detailed facility information is self-reported. You are advised to verify facts and personally visit each facility you are considering.
To view a facility’s listing, simply click on one of the listing summaries that appears on the search results page (such as the one below).
How to Contact a Facility
The Contact Facility feature allows you to notify a facility of your interest. Filling out a contact form will allow a SNAPforSeniors representative to pass on your information to the facility you have selected. Your information will never be given to anyone without your permission.
To contact a facility:
- Click the Contact Facility link in the facility’s detailed listing.
- Fill out the form. Full name, phone number and valid e-mail address are required fields, and an optional “Notes” section allows you to make annotations (e.g., best time of day to be reached).
- Click the
button. By doing so, you agree to the SNAPforSeniors Terms of Use.
E-mail a Listing With Tell a Friend
The Tell a Friend feature allows you to send someone an e-mail containing a link to a facility listing, as well as the facility’s name, address and phone number.
To tell a friend:
- Click the Tell a Friend link in the facility’s listing. This will bring up an e-mail window with the prewritten message: “I have found a senior housing option that I would like to show you”. A link to the listing and the facility’s name, address and phone number are also included.
- If you would like to create a custom message, do so by clicking in the body of the e-mail and typing what you wish to say.
- If you would like to change the subject line of the e-mail, type what you would like it to say into the Subject: field.
- In the To… field, type the e-mail address to which you would like to send the message (e.g., john.doe@snapforseniors.com).
- Click the Send button to send the e-mail.
Clicking the Availability link brings you to a section of the listing which lets you know that a facility is currently accepting inquiries from potential residents. If provided, specifics about the type of available rooms (e.g., “Bedroom”) and desired residents (e.g., “husband and wife”) may also be displayed. Availability postings are an optional listing upgrade; it should not be assumed that facilities without them do not have vacancies.
About Licensing Information
Clicking on the Licenses link brings you to a section of the listing which displays any state or federal licenses held by a facility. The information includes the license type, the individual license number, and the state or federal entity which issued the license. Some facilities, such as Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC), may have more than one license type, all of which will be displayed here.
Viewing the Photo Gallery
Some facility listings include a Photo Gallery which lets you view photos and virtual tours of a facility. Upon clicking on the Photo Gallery link, a slide show featuring 12 photographs of the facility will automatically play. Click the stop button to stop the slideshow and the forward arrow and backward arrow to manually scroll through the photos.
The links to the right of the photos (e.g., “Dining Room”) bring up Virtual Tours which provide a 360 degree view of an area of the facility. Click the stop button to stop the rotation and the forward arrow and backward arrow to manually rotate the tour.
Some facilities also have Audio Tours, which are a brief spoken description of the facility. These tours will automatically play during the slide show, and can be restarted by clicking on the gray speaker icon at the left of the gallery control bar. Also found in the control bar are a volume slider and a button that mutes the audio.
Clicking the Map link brings you to a section of the listing which allows you to view a map with the facility on it, get directions to a facility and see the location of other nearby facilities.
General Map Navigation
- Move around the map by using the directional buttons (
) in the top left corner of the map window, or clicking and dragging with the mouse.
- Zoom in by using the
button in the top left corner of the map, double-clicking with the left mouse button, or scrolling the mouse wheel up.
- Zoom out by using the
button in the top left corner of the map, double-clicking with the right mouse button, or scrolling the mouse wheel down.
- Click the
button to display a traditional street map of the area.
- Click the
button in the top right corner to bring up a satellite image of the area with no topographical information.
- Click the
button to show the traditional street map’s topographical information overlaid onto the satellite image of the area.
- Check the Show Nearby Facilities checkbox to see neighboring facilities on the map, represented by blue house icons.
- To go to a nearby facility’s profile, click on its blue house icon and then click on the facility name which appears in the bubble.
How to Get Directions to a Facility
- Click the Map link in the facility’s listing.
- Click the pink house icon; this will bring up a bubble with the facility’s name, address and a Get Directions link.
- Click the Get Directions link.
- Type the address from which you would like to start your directions into the field titled Enter your starting address.
- Click the
button.
- This will generate both graphic directions on the map and written turn-by-turn directions located above.
- To print the directions, scroll to the top of the screen and click the Print This Page link.
- To start over, click the
button.
Becoming a registered CMSA Senior Housing Locator user enables you to perform a number of actions such as saving favorite profiles and search results. Becoming a registered user is free and only takes a few minutes.
How to Become a Registered User
- Click the register link near the top left corner of the screen (this link is available from all pages).
- Fill out the registration form. All fields are required.
- When all fields are filled out, click the
button at the bottom of the page.
- You will be routed to your CMSA Senior Housing Locator homepage which you can access while signed in by clicking the My Page tab.
- You will be sent a confirmation e-mail which you should save for your records.
- From My Page you can update your account information, change your password and browse useful resources.
- Click the Sign In link in the top right corner of the screen (this link is available from all pages).
- Type your user name into the field labeled User Name: (Note: Make sure that you enter your “User Name” and not your “Display Name”).
- Type your password into the field labeled Password.
- If you do not want to re-enter your information each time you log in, check the Remember Sign In box and your browser will automatically enter your user name and password when you return to the site.
- If you do not remember your password, click the Forgot Password? link and enter your user name. An e-mail with your password will be sent to the address you provided during registration.
- After entering your user name and password, click the
button and you will be returned to the page you were previously on, with the favorites menu accessible.
How to Manage Your Favorites
- To create a folder to store saved searches and favorite listings, click on the new folder icon (
) at the right hand side of the Favorites header.
- To rename a folder, right-click on it and select Rename. When the text is highlighted in blue, enter your desired name.
- To move a saved search or favorite listing to a folder, simply click and drag it into the desired location.
- To delete a folder, saved search or favorite listing, right-click the item you wish to remove and select Delete.
- To minimize the Favorites section, click the
button on the right hand side of the Favorites header. To expand the Favorites section, click the 
button that appears when it is minimized.
How to Save Search Criteria
- Perform the search you would like to save (e.g., Bellevue, WA); this can also be an advanced search.
- Click the
button located above the license type filter.
- A magnifying glass (
) with a description of the search (e.g., Bellevue, WA) will appear under the Favorites header on the left hand side of the screen.
- Clicking on the name or magnifying glass will automatically perform this search.
How to Save a Favorite Listing
- Open up the detailed listing of the facility which you wish to save.
- Under the Things To Do header, click the Save to Favorites link.
- A blue house icon (
) with the facility’s name next to it (e.g., “Bassett Manor”) will appear under the Favorites header on the left hand side of the screen.
- Your favorite listings will be marked with a heart (
) in the right hand corner of their listing summaries.
- Clicking on the facility name or blue house icon will automatically route you to the facility’s detailed listing.