INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Nearly 120 residents will begin to make the move into Indian River Estates’ new, larger skilled care center later this month after having a chance Tuesday to tour the unveiled 100,000-square-foot, $28 million facility. ACTS Retirement-Life Communities held a ribbon cutting for its new building, a first for any retirement community in Florida.
For resident Cynthia Kinsella, Tuesday marked the first time she could see for herself the improvements her and her fellow residents’ donations contributed, including the flat screen televisions, landscaping and patios.
“It’s fantastic,” she said, standing inside the entrance after the ceremony. She stood for a few minutes, taking in all the details. “So many of us have said, ‘How long? How long?’”
For years, Kinsella worked with the administration at the community and those higher up the ladder to get the 40,000-square-foot hospital-like WillowBrooke Court Skilled Care Center replaced.
After touring the center, Kinsella said she was happy with what she saw.
“I feel it was worth every minute I put in, and more!” she said. “It increases my gratitude to the administration for listening.”
Construction on the larger, resident-focused center got underway in 2010 and faced budget cuts, prompting residents, including Kinsella, to raise the lost funds to further enhance the center.
“We are grateful to each of you who had a role to play,” ACTS President Marvin Masher told the audience of mostly residents that gathered outside the center Tuesday.
He explained that it was through the shared vision and combined efforts of the facility and the residents that such a center could have happened.
“It changes the type of care that can be offered,” Masher said.
Secretary of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs Charles T. Corley attended the celebration, commending ACTS and Indian River Estates for its model facility.
“This is just a model of what we could have throughout the state,” Sec. Corley said, adding that it would surely be a model for years to come.
“This is a wonderful community,” said Florida Senator Thad Altman. “You have a lot to be proud of.”
Indian River County Commissioner Wesley Davis agreed.
“It’s not an institution,” Davis said of Indian River Estates, though many have categorized it as such. “It’s a community” and more than that “I call it a home.”
He explained that it’s the residents and staff within the community that keeps it thriving and growing.
“It’s nice to know as I get older that we have such a wonderful home where I’ll have a place to stay,” Davis said, hinting at where he’d like to retire one day.
Other dignitaries who spoke included Florida Representatives Debbie Mayfield and Tom Goodson, and Janegale Boyd, president and CEO of LeadingAge Florida.
As residents gathered inside, many voiced approval of the warm, inviting colors of the walls and floors, the themed residential wing and even the size of the elevators.
“That’s one of the things I was anxious about,” Kinsella told a fellow resident as they waited for the elevator doors to open, “seeing the size of the elevator.”
While it had the approximate width of a standard elevator, it was far deeper, allowing numerous residents with walkers and scooters alike to comfortably fit in.
The new center will be able to house 120 residents in private and semi-private rooms with their own bathrooms. Each residential wing has its own large kitchen and dining area as well as living room.
The wings each have a spa, equipped with a large tub and flat-screen TV, and the center itself has a salon/barbershop and chapel along with meeting rooms for the residents to use.
The first 20 residents will make the move to the new center on April 16 and 100 will be settled in by the end of that first week. Several more, who were displaced from other centers, will make the move shortly thereafter.
