The Perry Lutheran Homes announced Friday it will reconvert nine assisted-living units at its Willis Avenus campus into skilled-nursing units and relocate its assisted-living residents to its Spring Valley campus.
The new arrangements will centralize all the Perry Lutheran Homes’ assisted-living consumers at the Spring Valley campus and permit the non-profit company to renovate and transform the nine Willis Avenue units into private, skilled-nursing suites, the Friday statement said.
“This allows Perry Lutheran Homes to care for more Perry elders in need of a higher level of care and also those in need of rehabilitative therapy,” the statement said. “Construction is set to begin this fall with a completion date of early next year.”
The nine assisted-living apartments at the Willis Avenue campus were originally programmed for skilled nursing but were repurposed in 1999 for assisted living as part of the Perry Lutheran Homes’ development of a continuum-of-care model of service delivery. With the acquisition of Spring Valley Retirement Community in 2013 from the Dallas County Hospital Foundation, the company’s assisted-living supply grew by 39 units.
“After nearly a year of prayerful consideration,” said Max Phillips, CEO of the Perry Lutheran Homes, “we firmly believe that serving all of those in need of independent and assisted living at our Spring Valley Campus will help us better provide an appropriate environment and focused level of service for all tenants. In turn, with Willis Campus returning back to a skilled nursing facility, we will be able to provide a higher level of focused care to those in need of rehabilitative therapy and long-term care.”
For consumers in need of rehabilitative therapy following illness, accident or surgery, the private suites will offer accommodations helpful for patient recovery, with more home-like accommodations such as private, in-room showers, Phillips said.
“Over the years, we’ve have had to turn away many people in need of skilled nursing care because of no private room availability,'” said Melissa Gannon, chief operating officer and administrator of the Perry Lutheran Homes. “This forced tenants who lived at our Spring Valley Campus to leave our continuum of care that we promised as part of our Christian Caring Community. Soon they will be able to seamlessly transition from their apartment at Spring Valley Campus to a private suite at Willis Campus as care needs progress. Although this will be a change for us all, we firmly believe that tenants, residents and families served will benefit greatly from this transition once complete.”
Gannon said assisted-living tenants who live at the Willis Campus are already making plans, with the support of the Perry Lutheran Homes’ staff, for their transition to Spring Valley Campus or to another level of care at the Willis Campus. Many consumers have toured the Spring Valley Campus and expressed excitement over their soon-to-be apartments and the friends they already know who live at the 12th Street facility, she said.
Once this project is complete, it is estimated that Perry Lutheran Homes will hire three additional staff members to join the other 125 team members who provide services and care to tenants and residents daily at both the Willis campus and Spring Valley campus.
The Perry Lutheran Homes said it will host a community open-house and ribbon cutting event once construction nears completion. Learn more at the Perry Lutheran Homes website.
