A History of Growth and Excellence

Since Sunrise Senior Living opened our first community in 1981, the quality of our team members has remained one of the main characteristics that sets us apart. Sunrise currently operates approximately 400 senior living communities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany with a combined resident capacity of approximately 42,000 residents. Sunrise employs approximately 40,000 dedicated team members who experiance a unique, challenging and rewarding work environment, competitive salary and excellent benefits.

Our Mission:
To Champion the Quality of Life for All Seniors

LIVING OPTIONS AND SERVICES
At Sunrise Senior Living, we offer a wide choice of lifestyle options, making it easier for seniors and their families to find the type of service and care they require.

Independent Living
The perfect alternative for seniors who wish to enjoy an active fulfilling lifestyle without worrying about household maintenance. In independent living, our goal is to provide active seniors with those services and amenities that can reduce their routine commitments and enlarge their horizons in a setting that is as lovely as it is secure.

Assisted Living
The ideal solution for seniors who need some assistance with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and medication reminders. We focus on wellness and keeping residents as independent as possible by providing a tailored plan of assistance as well as daily activities.

Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care
We recognize the special needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other related memory disorders. Offering a fresh approach to Alzheimer’s Care, at Sunrise our residents thrive in environments that are secure, home-like and specially designed for their needs.

Nursing and Rehabilitative Care
Our Health Care Centers offer 24-hour skilled nursing, and post-hospital and post-surgical care for those who have complex round-the-clock care needs.

Hospice Care
The hospice care available at Sunrise makes it possible for our residents with end-of-life needs to receive high-quality, consistent hospice care while residing and remaining at Sunrise.

Short-Term Stays
Sunrise offers a respite care program that provides services to short-term residents who require help after surgery, during an illness or when family members are away or need a short break.

Caregivers, too, need time away

When an elderly relative being cared for at home can't go on vacation, what's a caregiver to do?

Hire a home health aide 24/7, but that's too pricey for many. And other family members may not be able to step in.

Enter assisted-living communities that offer short-term "respite stays," which allow caregivers to vacation or give them a break. With seniors' retirement portfolios at lows, there's more room at some communities, and more are accepting short-timers.

Rosalie Georgeadis of Arlington, Va., has forfeited family vacations for three years because her 95-year-old mother, Lena Manos, wasn't up to going along. She recently checked out the local Sunrise at Bluemont Park before signing her mom up for a trial stay while Georgeadis had surgery. Manos plans to return for two weeks in September while the Georgeadis family vacations.

"My concern was that my mother would be stuck in this apartment, and no one would be paying attention," Rosalie says. "But when we arrived, they had a banner saying 'Welcome, Lena Manos,' brought her a plant and seated her with a different group of people every night" so she could make friends.

The cost: about $150 a day, including meals and snacks, daily housekeeping, laundry, help bathing and multiple visits every day by a medical technician or nurse to give medication and keep an eye on Manos' health.

Manos says she was treated "extra, extra nicely. I had company all the time. I tell everybody it was excellent, except they give you too much food." Manos says she gained 5 pounds.

Sunrise Senior Living, with 371 residences in the USA, has traditionally allowed short stays for the growing number of seniors cared for by family. "But a lot of people don't know we do this," says Kurt Conway, Sunrise senior vice president of marketing.

Emeritus Senior Living, with 309 communities in 36 states, offers short-term stays in all communities "as long as there is availability," says Jayne Sallerson, senior vice president of marketing. Costs usually range from $100 to $200 a day depending on resident needs and region. Emeritus properties in Southern states also host "snowbirds" from the north. "It's easier not having to keep a (winter) home all year long," Sallerson says.

Classic Residence by Hyatt, with 19 communities across the USA, also provides respite stays, depending on availability.

A short visit can be arranged in an assisted-living apartment in a Hyatt rental community that offers nursing care or in a continuing-care retirement community, Classic Residence spokesman William Byrne says. Rates for a stay in a private apartment might run about $200 a day, he says.

Some communities that once insisted on long-term contracts now are accepting short-timers to fill beds in hard times, those in the industry say. Respite stays also may help recruit full-time residents for assisted-living facilities.

Elinor Ginzler, AARP caregiving columnist, applauds short stays because "caregivers absolutely need a break. This is a good opportunity (to get one) and give caregivers peace of mind. They often put themselves last.

"They need more respite than they get."

(From USA Today, July 23)

Sunrise Senior Living, which operates senior living communities in Westlake Village and Camarillo, has opened its latest community in Simi Valley.

Sunrise of Wood Ranch opened last week, offering a two-story community at 190 Tierra Rejada Road for more than 96 residents who need care assistance with activities such as bathing, dressing, medication management or eating.

The Simi Valley community also has a special area for residents with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of memory loss. Sunrise at Wood Ranch is the first Sunrise Senior Living community in the area to offer the Terrace Club, complete with cognitive stimulation for those are the early stages of memory loss.

It also offers special dietary and fitness offerings for brain health.

Sunrise of Wood Ranch will have open houses on Oct. 3 and 4. Contact the community at 584-8881 for more information or to arrange a tour.

(From Ventura County Star, August 23)

When Paula Barber and her husband, Russell, moved to Westminster in the 1940s, friends and family back home in Englewood thought they were moving to the end of the Earth.
The Barbers bought some land and started a poultry business. In 1963, they built a home. Paula worked full-time at the family business, even after Russell passed away in 1999. Paula, 83, said she never gave much thought to moving out of the family home and into a retirement facility. Those are for retired folks, after all.

But earlier this year, Barber's three children approached her with some news. They had made an appointment to take her on a tour of Stratford at FlatIrons, a new retirement community in Broomfield that includes a large independent-living portion.

"I thought, what do I need this for? I was prepared not to like it," Barber said from her chair in a plush sitting room at Stratford.

By tour's end, she understood why her children thought she'd want to live there.

"Before I left that day, I had paid the deposit," Barber said.

Stratford at FlatIrons, located just southwest of the FlatIron Crossing mall, is among a growing number of retirement communities that are planning for changing expectations of future residents as a wave of baby boomers prepare to retire and look to downsize their homes -- and chores.

Barber became one of the first residents in the independent-living part of Stratford, when she moved in June 1.

She said the transition was "kind of traumatic" at first, but "things have worked out fine."

Why wouldn't they? Stratford has all the amenities of a five-star resort -- living quarters equipped with kitchen and laundry rooms, cleaning services, spa, salon and exercise rooms, fine dining, non-stop activities and chauffeured outings to all sorts of cultural events.

As fellow Stratford resident Rachel Miron puts it, "I'm on vacation all year long."

Looking ahead

The first baby boomers turned 60 in 2006. According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, 14 percent of the U.S. population, more than 46 million people, will be 65 or older by the year 2015.

Karen McMurry, a managing partner of The Academy retirement community in Boulder, said boomers are roughly 12 years from entering retirement communities in massive numbers. But McMurry has already witnessed a shift in residents' desires since The Academy opened its doors 11 years ago.

"There's a significant difference in what people are expecting," McMurry said. "More and more people are wanting to have the wellness accoutrements."

Ten years ago, exercise classes there were small, and high-quality food wasn't a priority. No more.

"A primary thing of The Academy is the 9 o'clock exercise class," said John Richardson, 87.

Richardson trimmed 20 pounds from his frame after moving to The Academy in 2002 and honing his tennis game and taking the exercise classes.

"I actually believe that contributes to the long life of many people at The Academy," he said.

The Academy will begin construction on a new, large exercise and salon facility next month.

If you really want to see Richardson's face light up, though, you ask about the food. He recounts a recent week's menu -- filet mignon "cooked just right," fish, pasta, the soup courses, a decadent desert called "the chocolate bomb" and a daily offering of fresh fruit.

A testament to The Academy's cuisine could be this past Mother's Day, when the facility hosted 190 people, friends and family to the 62 residents and staff.

"The food is almost too good to be true," added 78-year-old Jerry Van Sickle, who moved to The Academy with his wife, Marty, in 2007.

Getting wired

At Stratford, planning for future residents has meant paying attention to new technology, said Executive Director Jennifer Teague. She said Stratford was built to cater to both today's residents, and to what baby boomers will want.

"Baby boomers are used to different technologies," Teague said. "For example, we have the wireless (Internet) throughout the building and in their apartments. The generations prior, they didn't need a lot of technology, or use computers. But we're seeing that more and more.

"Also, safety and security is a big concern for folks as they age. Having those safety and security systems in place that make it easy to utilize them is important."

Stratford at FlatIrons is part of Sunrise Senior Living, a company that operates more than 400 senior-living communities worldwide. Stratford offers 130 independent-living apartments, which range in size from 700- to 1,200-square feet, as well as 76 assisted-living and memory-care units.

The independent-living units and amenities at Stratford range in cost from $2,800 to $5,500 per month.

"We want people to move here and not have to worry about maintaining a home," Teague said.

Sixty percent of Stratford's independent-living residents owned their homes from 30 to 60 years before moving to their new residences in Broomfield, Teague said.

'A second family'

It's the social aspect of an independent-living community that's most appealing to the Van Sickles, said Marty Van Sickle.

"There are a lot of people around, and we sit and talk to people we already know and like," she said.

Even if they have distinct differences, it turns out. Among the many activities open to Academy residents is a bi-weekly "news and coffee" session where people gather and discuss current events.

"It's wonderfully pleasant. Nobody ever gets mad at anybody else, and they say extremely different things," Marty Van Sickle said. "We pretty much by now know each others' point of view, and it's OK."

Richardson, the 87-year-old who loves The Academy's tennis courts and food, goes so far as to call fellow residents "very much like a second family."

The Academy occupies a city block just north of Chautauqua and features 44 independent-living units (including two soon to be built), which range from 900-square-foot apartments to 2,800-square-foot bungalows. Leases, and the range of amenities begin at $5,000 a month.

The Academy offers assisted-living units and a memory-care facility, as well. The facility is available for people 62 and older, and current residents range in age from 67 to 98.

Unlike most retirement communities, The Academy is locally and independently owned and offers residents the opportunity to buy their units. Currently, two units are independently owned. People who buy a unit at The Academy maintain full equity in the property.

Richardson has ties to Boulder -- his grandparents moved to the city in 1904, he graduated from the University of Colorado and has family living here -- but spent most of his career in Washington, D.C. He lives in one of the detached bungalows at The Academy and said he weighed his options before moving back to Boulder from the East Coast.

"I faced a choice when I came here: Do I want to rent my own apartment and live alone or do I want to stay here and have a lot of things done for me, like mowing the grass and shoveling the snow, and have some company," he said. "I looked at the relative costs, and though the cost was considerably greater here, I think the intangible benefits made up for it."

In two short months, David Barber has seen how living at Stratford has benefited his mother, Paula.

"I think her quality of life has taken a 180-degree turn for the better," he said. "It's been a complete turnaround."

Originally, when Paula Barber moved into Stratford, she planned to keep nearly full-time hours at the family's office. Her son advised her to cut back, though.

"I told her that she probably ought to come in just a couple days a week," David Barber said.

It turns out, Paula is too busy with activities at the Stratford to work that much anymore.

"Within two weeks she announced that she could only come in one day a week," David said. "There were too many things to do."

(From Boulder Daily Camera, August 22)