|
Free
Methodist Senior Living Options Expand to Meet Needs
by Helen Kaufmann
As the vanguard of baby boomers begins to retire,
Free Methodist-affiliated retirement homes stand ready to meet their
needs. New buildings will soon expand the capacities of facilities
in Washington state and New York. Heritage Village — in Gerry,
NY — will break ground next year for 50 new cottages for retirees
and Warm Beach Senior Community will add new town homes and apartments
to house 160 residents in 2005. Other Free Methodist retirement
facilities are located across the country in Oklahoma, Illinois,
Michigan and South Carolina.
The Heritage Group in New York state operates the
oldest of the retirement communities. The Heritage facility opened
in 1886 as "The Orphanage and Home of the Free Methodist Church."
It grew out of Bishop Walter Sellew's desire "to establish,
operate and maintain a home for the destitute, abandoned, neglected
and dependent children," and included a separate building to
house older adults. Now the 100-acre Heritage Village Retirement
Campus has a full range of care options from independent living
to skilled nursing care. Heritage Group also runs two facilities
in Jamestown, NY — Heritage Park and Heritage Green —
as well as the Heritage House Childcare/Learning Center in Jamestown,
which provides care and activities for children 6:00 a.m. to midnight.
With 800 employees, The Heritage Group is the 7th largest employer
in Chautauqua County.
A relatively new facility, Carolina Village in Rock
Hill, SC, has also been operated by the Heritage Group, but management
will soon be transferred to an independent non-profit corporation.
The Free Methodist affiliation will be retained, however. Carolina
Village opened in April 2001 on a wooded 66-acre site near Charlotte,
NC. It can serve 220 residents in a variety of living arrangements
from independent living in duplex apartments to sheltered or skilled
nursing care.
Like Heritage Village, the Woodstock, IL, care facility
was founded by a Free Methodist leader with a vision. In this case
it was J.D. Kelsey who opened the "Old People's Rest Home"
in 1903. Although the name and the ministries have changed over
the years, the facility preserves the intent of the founder in its
vision statement: "Woodstock Christian Life Services honors
God by enabling all those we serve to live with dignity, hope and
personal fulfillment." The facility includes three divisions:
Hearthstone Village, for independent apartment living; Hearthstone
Manor for those needing sheltered, intermediate or skilled nursing
care; and Woodstock Early Learning Center with newborn day care
to after-school programs.
 |
In the Northwest seniors ready for retirement have
the option of Warm Beach Senior Community. Founded in 1967, the
organization is a ministry of the Pacific Northwest FM Conference.
Like other facilities, it offers independent living plus several
levels of assisted care on a 35-acre campus in Stanwood, WA. The
new SoundView complex, to be built next year, includes plans for
new apartments and townhouses overlooking Puget Sound. Warm Beach
recently received the best overall ranking for quality of a nursing
home serving long-term elderly residents in Washington state.
Clawson Manor in Clawson, MI, and the Retirement Village
at Copper Lake in Edmond, OK, round out the list of Free Methodist-affiiated
retirement homes. Since 1970 the East Michigan Conference has operated
Clawson Manor, a 255-apartment building suitable for independent
retirement living. The Retirement Village at Copper Lake consists
of a 32-acre facility that provides for both independent and assisted
living. It has had a 19-year Free Methodist affiliation; however,
current plans are for the complex to be sold to an independent non-profit
corporation in the near future.
All six retirement facilities are among the social
service agencies accredited by the denomination's Association of
Human Service Ministries. Click
here for contact information.
|
