River Garden Hebrew Home For The Aged

River Garden Hebrew Home For The Aged sits on a 40-acre campus in Northeast Florida and has been serving seniors since 1946, mainly those 62 and older, and even though it has a special focus on Jewish identity and values, it welcomes people from all backgrounds. The community runs a nonprofit, mission-driven program with a strong history, and it's gotten high marks, like the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission and 5-Star ratings from regulators, so you'll find people appreciate the care here, but nobody's claiming it's perfect. The main building holds 180 beds for skilled nursing services, and there's help for all sorts of needs, from short-stay and outpatient rehab to memory care for Alzheimer's or dementia, plus care for people with Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis and palliative care as well. River Garden accepts both Medicaid and Medicare. People who need it get help with daily tasks, managing medicine, and even non-ambulatory care, and there's nursing care 12 to 16 hours a day, plus a 24-hour call system, so help's never far away, and the care team takes an interdisciplinary approach. Residents get furnished rooms or suites, many with private bathrooms, cable TV, phone, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, kitchenettes, and if somebody needs to move in, there's help with that as well. Dining happens in a main dining room, and there are restaurant-style options, which gives people some choice, and there's a range of activities-from scheduled daily ones to resident-led clubs, arts and crafts in the arts room, book groups in the library, music programs, movies in the in-house theater, and fitness classes in the gym-with walking paths and gardens outside, where folks feed the turtles and ducks by the pond or try gardening for therapy. The place also provides housekeeping, laundry and dry cleaning, emergency alert systems, family support, business and activity rooms, spa and wellness services, and lots of outdoor seating. There's supervised memory care, an adult day program, outpatient therapies for those coming just for appointments, and home health care, and members of The Coves have access to 'boutique' home health services. River Garden gets support from the local Jewish Federation and runs its own foundation, and volunteers are welcome. The calendar fills with events, both on and off campus, so there's always something to keep people engaged, and, while the focus is on Jewish traditions, the whole community is invited to take part in all the programs and services available.