New whitepaper looks at developing senior housing for behavioral Alzheimer’s and dementia care
Shoreview, MN April 14, 2009 — http://www.ecumen.org – Senior housing and services provider Ecumen has released a new whitepaper to help others develop senior housing for those living with the challenges of behavioral Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“10 Tips from Ecumen for Developing a Successful Behavioral Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program for Senior Housing” is currently available for complimentary download by visiting The Library of Successful Aging on the Ecumen website. It was written by Ecumen team members Debbie Manthey, Director of Operations, and Janelle Meyers, Ecumen Housing Manager.
“Increasingly, senior housing professionals are seeing a subset of Alzheimer’s, when the affected person develops substantial and challenging behaviors,” write Manthey and Meyers in the whitepaper. “Many senior housing providers are forced to keep these residents heavily medicated or discharge them to a mental health hospital unit. At Ecumen, we sought to develop a better way to serve people experiencing such behaviors.”
Ecumen leader Kathryn Roberts highlights innovation opportunities in rapidly aging society
Minneapolis, MN April 2, 2009 — http://www.ecumen.org – Senior housing and services provider Ecumen sees the aging of America as an opportunity for substantial innovation in our country. Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts highlights 10 emerging changes in a new blog post entitled “10 Things Ecumen Sees Changing in an Aging America.” Readers are invited to share what changes they see or want to see in an aging America.
Businesses and organizations who fail to innovate for America’s new demographic reality, risk failure, People over 50 currently represent 43 percent of all U.S. households and by 2020, the senior population in American will number 115 million. As Roberts explains, this rapidly aging demographic will not be one that stands for being warehoused in an institution or for living in a community that does not provide products and services in line with their wants and needs.
Lutheran senior housing partnership provides model for expanding ministries and revenues
Sandpoint, Idaho (February 10, 2009) — http://www.ecumen.org – Churches, such as First Lutheran Church in Sandpoint, Idaho, and their senior housing development partner Ecumen, see aging as an opportunity to help people live better and expand ministries. The two recently collaborated on Luther Park at Sandpoint, a new senior housing community that opened in December 2008.
“We saw a greater purpose for the vacant land adjacent to our church than simply selling it to the highest bidder,” said Pastor Olson. “We wanted to build upon the Great Commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself and the Great Commission of spreading Jesus’ word and work. That led to our congregational vision of creating this community that will keep seniors vitally engaged in our church, will nurture multi-generational relationships, and will help us realize new revenue streams that will support and help us to expand our ministry.”
Ecumen, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and one of the country’s largest non-profit senior housing, services and development companies, led development of Luther Park of Sandpoint and now manages it for First Lutheran Church, which owns Luther Park.
New senior housing development could become one of country’s few LEED-Certified Communities
SHOREVIEW, MN, June 17, 2008 — http://www.ecumen.org – Aging services provider Ecumen, one of the country’s largest non-profit senior housing companies, is developing a green senior housing for North Country Health services in Bemidji, Minn. It is seeking to be one of the country’s few LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) senior housing developments.
The $20 million senior housing development, to be owned by North Country Health Services and developed by Ecumen, is being built using environmentally friendly or “green” features and methods. For example, underground parking will lessen impervious surface space and reduce water use, lighting features will prevent light and energy waste, and many construction materials will be harvested locally.
North Country Health Services and Ecumen plan to submit the project for third-party LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council.
“Three words stood out as we began to shape this project – mission, vibrancy and sustainability,” said Jim Hanko, president and CEO of North Country Health Services. “The new housing will complement our mission of assuring a lifetime continuum of quality healthcare services, it will be a vibrant community that allows people to live in Bemidji for a lifetime, and it will help sustain natural resources that we all share.”
Latest whitepaper divulges 10 questions designed to ensure senior housing providers partner with the right management partners
SHOREVIEW, MN – May 8, 2008– http://www.ecumen.org – Aging services provider Ecumen, one of America’s largest non-profit senior housing companies, is helping senior housing owners, who are thinking of hiring a management firm, with the release of its latest whitepaper designed to help create the best possible partnerships.
Ecumen’s latest whitepaper drives to help guide senior housing providers live up to and crate a home where elder adults will want to live rather than have to live there. Much of the advice offered in this latest whitepaper will help owners ask the right questions when it comes to selecting the right management partner.
The full version of this press release can be found on the Changing Aging Blog.
Senior housing, fully integrated with a suite of onsite assisted living services, to support independent living and serve as a model for other churches and communities.
Sandpoint, ID (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 — http://www.ecumen.org – Aging services provider Ecumen, one of the country’s largest non-profit senior housing companies, has collaborated with First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint and other Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) partners to break ground on Idaho’s first catered living senior housing development in Sandpoint, Idaho. Luther Park at Sandpoint will be physically connected to First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint and will open in November of 2008.
Catered living communities by Ecumen integrate senior housing focused on independent living with a suite of on site assisted living services. The catered living design focuses on promoting successful aging by enabling seniors to stay as independent as possible in a community they love even when they need assisted living services or memory care.
The senior housing development Luther Park is a multi-dimensional collaboration of Ecumen and its partners within the ELCA. First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint is the owner while Ecumen will develop and manage. The development’s primary lender is the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA, with additional financing being provided by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Tips developed via Ecumen’s real world experience provide organizations developing senior housing a strategic path towards achieving their development goals.
Shoreview, MN (PRWEB) September 21, 2007 — http://www.ecumen.org — Aging services provider Ecumen, Minnesota’s largest non-profit senior housing company, is helping firms or individuals who are considering taking on a senior housing development project to think through key initial steps before they make an investment decision. The non-profit has released a new whitepaper featuring key development tips.
Senior Housing Development Tips: Key Things to Consider Before Entering Into The Senior Housing Market was written on Ecumen’s behalf by journalist Frank Jossi. In it, Jossi articulates the dramatic need for more senior housing in many communities while underscoring necessary steps toward creating a successful community.
The whitepaper is based on Ecumen’s experience acquired through their own senior housing development projects with partners Pope Associates Inc., a leading architectural firm, and Adolfson & Peterson Construction. Together, they have worked on a number of senior housing developments, including The Villages of North Branch in North Branch, MN, and they will break ground on September 30 on Luther Park of Sandpoint in Sandpoint, ID, which will create a unique “catered living” community managed by Ecumen that combines independent living and assisted living services and which is physically connected to First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint.
Third straight bestowment for Ecumen, named as one of the state’s top ten large companies by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Shoreview, MN (PRWeb) September 5, 2007 — http://www.ecumen.org – Aging services provider Ecumen, Minnesota’s largest non-profit senior housing company, has yet again received the sought after tribute of being named by its employees as one of the best places in the state to work.
The award, presented by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, was based on anonymous team member surveys. Ecumen team members all contributed to the glowing results, from areas of focus ranging from elder care, senior housing and housing development.
“More than 200 companies vied for this award, and we are again honored and thrilled to be recognized,” said Ecumen’s CEO and president Kathryn Roberts.
The survey sought ratings on several topics such as work environment, embrace of innovations and new ideas and opportunity for personal growth and development.
Specific highlights in the article included Ecumen’s employee-run Innovation Station and Ecumen’s Family Helping Family initiative, providing interest-free loans to employees facing household and family emergencies. In 2006, more than $175,000 was granted for a number of events from house fires to paying for funerals. Many employees donate to this fund through payroll deduction.
The age wave presents new community planning and development opportunities for American cities
Shoreview, MN (PRWEB) August 24, 2007 — http://www.ecumen.org – Aging services provider Ecumen, Minnesota’s largest non-profit senior housing company, is encouraging cities to embrace strategies of creating livable communities for all ages as the United States faces an unprecedented demographic shift.
Kathryn Roberts, Ecumen’s CEO & president, described this strategy in her editorial piece “The Age Wave, Successful Aging and Liveable Communities” published August 10th in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It looks at how the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul need to prepare for a much older population.
“The Twin Cities area, like other communities nationwide, has an unprecedented opportunity to create communities that promote successful aging,” states Roberts.
Where the challenge, and opportunity, lies in the age wave, as articulated by Minnesota state demographer Tom Gillaspy, is that our population is aging in record numbers.
“These things usually creep along at the speed of a glacier,” states Gillaspy. “Not so with aging. In demographic terms, this is a tsunami.”
The Villages of North Branch transforms traditional nursing home into a community people are proud to call home.
Shoreview, MN (PRWEB) August 7, 2007 — Aging services provider Ecumen (http://www.ecumen.org), Minnesota’s largest non-profit senior housing company, is working to transform long-term care with the opening of the senior living community, The Villages of North Branch in North Branch, Minn. The new senior housing community is an example of how communities can meet growing assisted living and care needs.
The Villages of North Branch, a $22 million development, replaces a 1950s-style county-operated nursing home and departs from the traditional nursing home model. Institutional hallways are replaced by small neighborhoods and it features technology to help seniors live as independently as possible. The Villages of North Branch is senior housing that is designed to be an integral part of the larger community, with its café, chapel and meeting rooms open for use by community groups.
“Aging is all about living, even at the very end of life,” said Leah Killian-Smith, who is the Ecumen leader at The Villages of North Branch. “We’re eliminating the institutionalism and isolation that assisted living can sometimes be known for, by connecting people to each other and promoting vital, successful aging.”
