by RENEE PATRICK Cascade Business News Feature Writer
Created from a desire to offer exceptional care to seniors, mother and daughter team Vicki Alloy and Lori Sullivan has created a unique model of luxury living in a home setting. Honoring Elders combines a continuum of care for the elderly with boutique offerings like organic ingredients in home-cooked meals, a day spa and ADA gardening.
“We found this fabulous property,” Sullivan explained. “We looked for about four months all over the state, and found this unique place; it’s 5.3 acres and a mile from the hospital. It’s quiet and serene.”
Alloy and Sullivan have spent the last four months renovating the former NorthStar home including some major structural improvements to make it ADA accessible. “We just kept going [beyond the foundational improvements]because we wanted to do the best we could, so kept improving and updating the house. It’s a beautiful setting and feels very comfortable, relaxing, high end and unique.”
Driven by years of frustrations in the corporate elder care business, Alloy, a RN, found it was getting harder to provide the level of care she thought was adequate; at times she was the only skilled nurse in charge of 60 residents.
“I grew up with my mother working at these facilities, and [I saw] decades of her being disappointed or frustrated, and knowing what was lacking,” Sullivan said. “She knew what was missing and we wanted to create something like a boutique nursing home.
With over 30 years as a skilled nurse, Alloy knew an important key to their success would be a high level of care for their residents. The house is designed for five seniors (spouses are welcome) with Alloy as a live-in RN.
“We are the only elder care/foster home in Central Oregon that offers the 1-5 ratio with a full time RN. We are licensed by the state as a class 3 facility, which means we can accommodate the highest degree of medical need, and we can offer a continuum of care throughout a resident’s process, such as hospice and end of life care,” said Sullivan.
“We have this interesting merge of providing a home but with enhanced amenities,” she explained. “The house is 4,500 square feet, and there is an annex right next door that houses our day spa, hair salon, medical therapy suite for physical therapy treatments and art studio, all under one roof. We also have a beautiful pond that’s great for wildlife viewing.
Something else that makes Honoring Elders unique is their flexibility in meeting senior’s needs. “We are able to personalize each resident’s experience.” Sullivan explained. Whether it is offering special activities or exercises, meeting dietary needs or bringing in special entertainment, the women want their house to feel like home.
Alloy was the chef in their former family-owned restaurant on the Mendocino coast, and has brought her expertise in the kitchen to the house. Many ingredients in her home-cooking are organic and sourced locally, and the eggs couldn’t get fresher as they have chickens on the property. “We are merging healthy food with comfort food,” she said. “Flavor is really important, we are all about creating delicious food according to the resident’s diet.”
Sullivan and Alloy hope extended family will feel welcome as well. They plan to offer day-care services and a family event room will be available for family reunions or parties complete with a drop-down movie screen and stage.
“Other foster care homes don’t really pay a lot of attention to the interior design, but I wanted to create something where families feel comfortable and want to spend time at,” Sullivan said. “We have family areas, like a private sitting room and a large dining room table; we are all about having the family be involved as much as they can.”
Honoring Elders is truly a family owned business as the home was created in honor of Alloy’s father who recently passed away. “We were able to do this financially with the inheritance from her father,” Sullivan explained. “We built this in his honor.” Sullivan’s two young children are frequent visitors as well. “They are very excited to take care of the grandmas,” she laughed.
The Bend Chamber ribbon cutting and open house is scheduled for November 12, 4:15-7pm with refreshments and tours. 2820 NE Faith Dr., (the private drive at the end of Faith Dr.)
http://honoringeldersafh.com/, 541-306-6906.
