Lutheran SeniorLife bringing more assisted living homes to Mars
MARS — Lutheran SeniorLife will expand its St. John Community building into a larger complex that includes assisted living homes for middle-income seniors, christening these new apartments as the Residence at St. John.
The building, which already serves as a full-time nursing home, soon will offer 39 assisted living apartments and 27 independent living apartments. The Residence at St. John, located off Wittenberg Way, will open Nov. 2.
Samantha Rapuk, who serves as executive director for Lutheran SeniorLife’s St. John Community, said assisted living in particular presents a happy medium of independence and stability for middle-income earners.
“There are personal care homes, assisted living homes for those who have a lot of money, and then there is Medicaid and Medicaid products for those who don’t have, really, any funds,” she said. “But there was a real gap in services for those who worked hard their whole lives, didn’t save a million dollars, but still had some money in savings and still needed care but weren’t ready for a skilled nursing facility and couldn’t live on their own and couldn’t stay in the house that they currently live in.”
The assisted living facilities will feature on-site medical care, fitness courses, hot meals and caregiving by skilled staff, who will be available around the clock for any falls, medication regimens or other concerns that can emerge with the elderly. The Residence at St. John will also include patios, lounges, a chapel and a library.
Alice Vogel, Rapuk’s grandmother, moved into the existing nursing home apartments at St. John Community in May after a fall rendered her immobile and propped against the front door of her last house during a rainstorm.
“I just knew I wanted to stay in my own home until I was leaving the Earth,” said Vogel, who is 90. “But that wasn’t in the plans for me.”
Up until that time, Vogel’s eight children had taken turns looking after her, but the shock of her fall convinced them she needed to move into a nursing home immediately.
For Vogel, the suddenness of the move, which happened overnight, was the toughest aspect of the change she had to face. It meant separating from her two cats, which are not allowed within the nursing home apartments. Vogel still visits with her cats once a week, though.
While the Residence at St. John will allow pets in its independent living apartments, it will not allow pets in its assisted living ones.
Vogel will move into an assisted living home at the Residence at St. John when these open in November, where she should live among more active neighbors and find more opportunities for her vibrant, social lifestyle.
She looks forward to the new chapel that will adjoin the newly-constructed Residence apartments in November. An organist, she often draws interest from neighbors for her music, and St. John had managed to accommodate her by bringing her organ to her current home.
Vogel said her first couple weeks at St. John were difficult for her, but that she has grown to really appreciate the kindness with which the staff treat her. She added that one of the caregivers calls her her grandmother.
“This is a good place for us — well, for me, how about that?” Vogel said. “My kids will faint when they hear that.”
She’s also grown to cherish some places in the complex, including an area outside called the Gazebo, where flowers and bushes grow and where group picnics take place.
Rapuk said looking after older loved ones is a complex undertaking, with families often finding compromises between its different members.
“I could go on and on about that transition and how difficult it is for seniors to finally make that decision, or have their families make that decision, or help them make that decision,” Rapuk said. “Because it is a tough transition. It’s a grief process, but that’s what we’re here for. That’s what we do. We make sure that transition happens smoothly, and then make it a positive experience for them, so that they know when they come that they made the right decision.”
