Residents at Shenandoah Senior Living benefit from facility upgrades,varied activities

The 33 residents currently at Front Royal-based Shenandoah Senior Living have gained an enhanced quality of life due to the stimulating programs, enhanced staff training, and new on-site remodeling since Beacon Communities Inc. took over management last year.

Beacon Communities, a senior housing management group headquartered in Cumming, Ga., has managed Shenandoah Senior Living since November 2017, according to Nancy Cooper, sales and marketing manager at the assisted-living facility.

“But corporate personnel are here almost on a weekly basis, sometimes biweekly, and takes great pride in their approach to overseeing hiring the right people for the right positions,” Cooper told the Royal Examiner this week.

Shenandoah Senior Living has over 25 employees and Cooper said they’re seeking to grow that number all the time.

“We have a great opportunity coming up with our job fair on Oct. 9th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” she said, adding that they also offer direct care aide classes, which allow “people interested in becoming part of a healthcare field to earn while they learn.”

“Then hopefully they decide to stay with our family and go on to a career in healthcare with further education,” added Cooper.

The professional care staff members at Shenandoah Senior Living are focused on meeting the varied needs of residents, each one of whom receives an individualized care plan. For their part, the staff has received advanced training and there’s ongoing support via Beacon Communities’ emphasis on empowering them to provide a positive and trusting culture for senior residents and their families.

“We are unapologetic about how attached we get to our residents and they truly become part of our family upon admission,” Cooper explained.
Nursing care at Shenandoah Senior Living also is outstanding, she added.

“We have a higher percentage of medical personnel and therapy personnel, so we can handle a higher medical acuity than most assisted-living communities,” said Cooper. “We also hope to expand into the memory care field in the near future.”

Residents also thrive because of Susan Bell, the activities director at Shenandoah Senior Living, who oversees many diverse, exciting and engaging programs, including activities like a weekly walking club on pretty days at the dog park, Bell told the Royal Examiner.

Most days of the week there’s also a book club, monthly bowling, weekly yoga classes, twice-weekly mental aerobics, and bi-monthly aromatherapy.
Additionally, there’s a drama club that’s held “depending on where we are in production,” Bell said. “Once a week to several times a week if we are close to opening the show.”

And there’s monthly Bunco. “We also do games like Family Feud, The Price Is Right, Scattergories, Spinner and anything else we can dream up to try,” she said.

These are open clubs, Bell explained, “so people can come and go as they please, and as their interests take them. They do enjoy being a part of something.”

Bell also designed the Let’s Get Wired! program to help everyone — seniors in particular — maintain or obtain better brain function and balance by prescribed body movements.

“Most folks know that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body,” Bell explained in an email earlier this week. “But what most people don’t know is that information is moving from front to back and up and down in your brain as well, and that the thing that makes you think is also the thing that makes you move.

“But conversely, the thing that makes you move is also the thing that makes you think!” she said.

For example, in working with children, Bell said researchers have found a relationship exists between benchmark physical cues, such as rolling over, sitting up and marching, and being able to do more cognitive tasks like reading.

“What Let’s Get Wired! does is gentle body movements to help force the synapses in the brain to fire and bring better brain balance in the two hemispheres of the brain making them work together more cohesively,” she said.

The renovations at Shenandoah Senior Living, which began shortly after Beacon Communities took on the management of the property, also improve living for the residents.

Cooper said that renovations are currently ongoing, however, the major part of them has been completed.

“We have a completely new lobby, a bistro that is open 24/7, a TV/library room and entranceway,” she said. “Our dining room was just recently renovated upstairs with work to begin on the downstairs dining room shortly.”

All the first-floor private rooms also have been completely redone and include new hard grain wood flooring, repainted walls, new blinds, new light fixtures, and new vanities, Cooper said.

Likewise, the same renovations have been done in the one-bedroom large and small apartments, and in the downstairs private rooms, shared rooms and one-bedroom apartments.

Cooper said several one-bedroom large and small apartments are currently available, as are several private rooms with shared baths and some shared rooms. “We have availability for just about any type of accommodation you would like,” she said.

What makes Shenandoah Senior Living different? Pretty much everything, according to staff.

“First, we have that million-dollar view. Our views are spectacular, and we are literally nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge,” Cooper said. “Even at night, you can see the cars going along Skyline Drive.”

There’s also a home-like atmosphere. Cooper said she’s had many tours in which people say that “they feel like they are in a lodge-type building with astounding views of the mountains just about every window you look out.”

The culture there is one of diversity, she added, noting that the residents, currently ages 51 to 102, range from those who only need a little assistance with activities of daily living, “right on up to hospice residents who we will love right out of here and on to their next journey.”

Cooper said laughter may be heard daily in the hallways — a good sign that people are happy and relaxed.

Above all else, though, Cooper said it’s the caring, loving staff. “They are truly dedicated to the enrichment of our seniors’ lives on a daily basis and devote themselves totally to this calling,” she said.

For more information, contact Nancy Cooper at (540) 635-7923 or Marketing@ShenandoahSL.com.