After more than a year of work, Lutheran Community Home in Seymour is set to unveil upgrades that will bring improved amenities to its growing senior resident population.
The nursing home and assisted-living facility, at Gaiser Drive and Church Avenue, are among four newly completed projects that include a renovated memory care unit and expanded therapy department.
The other two projects — the construction of a memory-support household and expansion of the chapel — are also finished. Those projects will be unveiled to the public at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony.
The nearly $3 million project is the result of the increased number of residents at the facility.
“I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish through this project,” said Karyn Fleetwood, administrator at Lutheran Community Home. “Our present and future residents will be better served.”
Memory care unit
The memory care unit serves about 30 residents and now has new flooring and walls, more residential rooms and a new kitchen area.
Fleetwood said residents also will have more access to natural light coming through the windows and the previous large nurses station, which used to be the centerpiece of the room, was removed.
There’s now a team office for the nurses to use, allowing extra space for residents to walk and move around.
Therapy department
The therapy department, which is used mostly for short stays of 25 to 30 days, has doubled in size. Those patients are typically ones who leave the hospital but still need time to rehabilitate before going home.
Two years ago, Fleetwood said the number of therapy admissions had increased
by 121.
The therapy department has since been expanded into the courtyard and includes the addition of a kitchen and laundry room.
Fleetwood said those additions are useful for residents to practice real-life situations, like cooking and doing laundry, so when they return home, they can safely go back to their routines.
Forest Path
Forest Path is a new one-story, 10-bedroom memory-support household within walking distance of Lutheran Community Home. The building allows residents to be in a homelike setting while also receiving the care of skilled nurses.
Fleetwood said an increase in the number of people on the wait list for memory-loss residential services prompted the facility to construct the new building.
“It is a totally different option for long-term care,” she said. “However, anything we do in our main building we can do over there.”
The home, which has eight residents, will be used for those who have not reached the advanced stages of memory loss. Previously, the memory care unit housed patients with all levels of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“We’re hoping, in that setting, we’re kind of slowing the progression of the disease,” Fleetwood said.
The price tag of the memory-support facility was a little more than $1 million. It is staffed 24 hours a day by nursing staff.
Each room comes with a private bathroom. Residents share a gated courtyard, kitchen, dining area and living room. They also have access to a spa, beauty salon and therapy room.
Chapel
Sunday’s dedication in the newly renovated chapel will be the first time residents and family members have been able to use it since the renovations began. For the past three years, the main dining room has been used as a temporary chapel due to the insufficient amount of space in the existing chapel.
The $600,000 project expanded the front of the chapel toward Church Street so it can accommodate 90 people instead of 35. The space can be used for anything from funerals to Communion to church activities.
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Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Forest Path set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday. It is at Gaiser Drive and Church Avenue in Seymour.
Dedication service to follow for renovated chapel at 2 p.m. It’s at 111 Church Ave. in Seymour, inside the Lutheran Community Home.
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“I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish through this project. Our present and future residents will be better served.”
Karyn Fleetwood, administrator for Lutheran Community Home
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