Luther Park puts new spin on assisted living

SANDPOINT – In 1959, the congregation of the First Lutheran Church invested $1 in a piece of property that, at the time, was considered to be on the westernmost outskirts of town.  A patriarch of the Hedlund family paid the balance of the $11,000 asking price for the 6-acre hayfield and, eventually, a new church was built and the congregation made its move.

Fifty years later, that same plot of land had a value of $2.5 million, which was leveraged into a partnership that resulted in a $14.9 million, 87-apartment senior living facility called Luther Park at Sandpoint.

"This has been a dream of First Lutheran Church for 20-plus years and a dream of Pastor Dave's for as long as he's been here," said Wendy Traffie, administrator for the retirement community.

The pastor who helped steer the congregational vision through to completion is Dave Olson.  He partnered with Ecumen - a non-profit group that shares an affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America - to develop a residential project that would answer an immediate need, but also appeal to those who are coming into retirement age.

Although the first wave of residents moving into Luther Park range in age from their mid-70s to the mid-90s, a much larger group is on the way, a group that is redefining the entire nature of assisted living, according to Traffie. "The Silver Tsunami," she said, referring to the nearly 80 million Baby Boomers born between 1945-1964 and whose vanguard is now in its mid-60s. 

Ecumen, Traffie pointed out, has spent years looking into what these consumers will want when they reach a transition stage where lawn mowing, snow shoveling and property maintenance can be turned over to someone else.  What they found in their research was that Boomers liked the idea of an extended stay at something like a luxury lodge.  Something, it turns out, that looks very much like Luther Park.

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10 years out," the administrator said.  "These are smart consumers who have no problem telling you what services they want, along with how, when and where they want them delivered.

"The early dawn of assisted living was about schedules and task orientation – they forgot about being resident-centered," Traffie added.  "Today's consumers want to drive their own needs – and why shouldn't they?  You wouldn't dream of paying someone to come into your home and force their schedule on you and that's why we've built our services around the residents' schedules.  You get up when you want to get up and you eat when you want to eat."

It's the same reason the facility allows pets – once they're vet-checked, immunized and licensed – to move in with residents, the administrator added.

"We also do a pet interview to make sure they can fit in," she said.  "As long as they can acclimate to being here, the pets can stay, because they're part of the family."

The church blessed Luther Park on Dec. 14, and the first residents started moving in the next day.  As of last week, 24 apartments had been leased in the main building – a three-story structure that includes 60 apartments set in an upscale rustic feel.  A separate, secure residential building with 27 apartments for residents requiring "enhanced" or "memory" care has six apartments leased at this point.

Enhanced care, Traffie explained, is a relatively new addition to elder services.  It's designed for residents who might have partial paralysis from a stroke, or those with Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia – a condition often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease.

"Enhanced care is for those people whose needs are more medically or physically complex," the administrator said.  "It's the step between assisted living and not wanting to – or being ready to – go into a nursing home.  There's a huge gap in between those two and we fill that gap."

The memory care apartments, meanwhile, are designed for residents with mild to moderate stages of memory loss.

At 85,000 square feet, Luther Park represents "the largest assisted living facility in town," according to Olson. 

"Why so many units?  Because of the demand," he said.  "With the aging population and the influx of retirees, the market is going to be increasing significantly."

Sandwiching fewer units into the same space in order to meet that demand was never an option, the pastor added.

"Building 20-foot by 20-foot apartments doesn't cut it anymore," he said.  "People want their space and they want it to feel like home."

In addition to traditional activities such as card clubs and bingo – "you'd have an uprising if you had a retirement community that didn't have bingo," Traffie said – Luther Park hosts women's and men's clubs, spa and massage classes, art lessons and exercise and yoga programs.

"And we have belly dancing classes," the administrator added, "but the residents actually call them 'pot belly' classes."

Luther Park has already begun an outreach program to work with the Sandpoint Senior Center and other elder services groups, Traffie said, seeking to "connect our community in here with the larger community out there."

"One of my goals was that this would not be an elder ghetto," Olson said.  "Too often, our elders are separated from the rest of society.  We're overlapping our seniors with the First Lutheran Church preschool program and we've designed this facility so it can be used for public events, concerts and recitals as a way to bring the community inside."

At the same time, the church community is growing as new residents move into the facility.  An indoor causeway physically connects Luther Park and the First Lutheran Church.  While churches around the world wring their hands over the impact of aging congregations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, at least, appears to see the movement as the crest of a wave, not the end of an era.

"There's a lot of research showing that, given the chance, Baby Boomers would embrace the church again," Olson said.  "What we've done here is unique.  There are very few senior-housing facilities where the church is attached.  Instead of a service that's held Sunday afternoons in the dining room, our residents are able to walk next door with no ice to deal with and no coats, to participate in a 'real' church service.  That's very meaningful to them."   

Olson has become a regular commuter to Boise, where an even bigger combined project is underway.  In that case, both the assisted living facility and the church will be new additions to the community.  Like Luther Park, the living arrangements in Idaho's capital city are designed for a new type of consumer that might be looking for an apartment, a spiritual reawakening and a community connection all in one package.

"It's going to be three times larger than Luther Park," the Sandpoint pastor said.  "They're building a new assisted living facility and a new congregation at the same time."

For information on Luther Park, visit: www.luther-park.org