I had the opportunity last week to visit Evergreen Village of Bloomington, an affordable assisted living community that Gardant manages.
The reason for my visit is that Erin Houchin, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, was visiting the community. She is running for election in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District.
The Evergreen Village community features 115 private studio and one-bedroom apartments and is designed to serve older adults of all incomes who need some help to maintain their independence. Low-income older adults, including those who are on or who would quality for a Medicaid-waiver for assisted living, can benefit from the lifestyle that is available.
Earlier this year, Evergreen Village was one of the more than 20 Gardant-managed assisted living and memory care communities cited by U.S. News & World Report as being among the best in the nation.
Josh Dodds, the community’s Administrator; Nick Goodwin, who is with the Indiana Health Care Association/Indiana Center for Assisted Living, and I had to opportunity to talk with candidate Houchin, and Parker Armstrong, an aide, about all that Evergreen Village has to offer and the challenges facing communities at the federal level. We toured the community areas and visited resident apartments.
Houchin and Armstrong were able to see how the community was designed with the needs of older adults in mind and how residents are able to furnish and decorate their apartments to their taste.
They were able to spend time talking to residents, asking them how long they have lived at Evergreen Village and how they liked it.
What struck me the most were the residents who talked about all of the opportunities that were available to socialize and to participate in a wide variety of activities.
One resident said living at Evergreen Village was so much better than being isolated alone at home. There is so much to do here. If she needed someone to talk with, all she had to do was knock on a few doors.
Another resident was leaving her apartment after our visit so she could round up other residents for the exercise class she led.
Another group of residents were out with the community’s Resident Service Coordinator on a shopping trip.
Our mission at the communities we manage is to enrich the lives of residents. Our focus is on providing residents with the Love, Compassion, and Dignity they deserve in addition to the personal assistance, help with medications, and support services they need. Our objective is to help residents achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible. This includes offering a calendar of social, recreational, educational, and wellness activities and scheduled transportation.
For more information on Evergreen Village of Bloomington, click here.
To see a list of other Gardant-managed communities, click here.