Gracewell, An Eventide Community

Gracewell, An Eventide Community, is a non-profit senior living campus that sits within the Eventide Lutheran Home grounds and offers several living and care choices, so you'll find independent living at Heritage Heights and Realife, where Heritage Heights has 35 affordable HUD-subsidized apartments with rent based on income, and Realife operates as a cooperative where members purchase shares to live in one of 27 apartments, then there's Silveridge Assisted Living, with 36 assisted units for people needing some personal or health-related help, and the Gracewell Nursing Facility, which is an 84-bed skilled nursing and rehab center that supports both short-term rehab and long-term care, plus memory care, hospice, and round-the-clock nursing. The nursing facility includes 60 private rooms and 12 semi-private rooms, so most residents have their own space, and the center offers medication management, catheter or colostomy care, wound care, and specialized diets, alongside therapies like physical, occupational, and speech. You'll also see education programs for families and caregivers, a photo gallery called Gracewell Gallery to let folks see what community life looks like, and a calendar with newsletters to help people stay connected, because they aim for family involvement. Care teams at Gracewell have 24-hour RNs and LPNs, with 3.37 nurse hours per resident each day, which is a bit below state average, but the nurse turnover rate of 25.4% is much lower than most other places, which helps keep staff familiar with residents. People with dementia or Alzheimer's can live in a secure memory care wing with structured activities and continuity of caregivers trained in memory support, and there's also a social work department that partners with the Alzheimer's Association to host a caregiver support group, while palliative and hospice programs focus on both comfort and emotional support during end-of-life care. Residents get free cable TV, scheduled transportation in town for appointments or shopping, and a volunteer program helps folks bring comfort to those in need. A local Board of Directors with members from Lutheran churches and the Chamber oversees the non-profit, and proceeds get reinvested into better buildings, services, or programs each year, since finances go back into serving the community. Gracewell does have some recent history of inspection deficiencies, with 16 total-mostly in food quality, temperature, safety, and resident rights areas, plus nutrition, infection, and quality-of-life standards-so the campus gets regular inspections and keeps working on these things. Management comes from Empire, but direct owners aren't listed, and Eventide Foundation helps with funding and volunteer projects. The campus is dually certified for Medicaid and Medicare, and it offers both short-term rehab and long-term care, with outpatient rehab for those just needing to come by for therapy. Residents and families have access to resources about paying for care, moving, and planning the next steps. The Gracewell community values relationships among residents, families, staff, and the wider area, and works to be compassionate and inclusive, always adjusting as people's needs change, so there's a mix of independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing all found together in one place.