• 11
  • September
    2010

Expansion has hit the horizon for the retirement community in North Carolina. Asheville's Deerfield retirement community has been in the works for some time and is almost complete. There will be room for many new residents with 83-apartments, 20-assisted living suites and 14 nursing home beds and facilities. With every large retirement community there comes with it the need for nurses and other medical professionals who specialize in assisted living care. The Deerfield nonprofit corporation will have approximately 295 employees once the project is finished.

The new facility will aid retirees as they age, allowing for a progression from independent apartments with close access to emergency facilities to full and complete nursing home care. The new $71 million dollar expansion includes full service lawn care, another chapel, an exercise facility and a café. 

The waiting list to get into the new facilities extends beyond 224 applicants. Thomas McRae, head of the community resident's council had a lot to say about the new expansion. He said it was a "major, major improvement...Every eight to twelve years [a retirement community] has to upgrade their facilities." He talked about the expanding population commenting that, "If you sit down with the same people all the time, you run out of things to talk about."

Although the large population will be good for the social atmosphere and the facilities will be new and shiny, one must look beyond the bells and whistles. When choosing a retirement community or nursing home, one should take the time to get to know the staff, their history and the safety procedures the community has in place. Especially when considering a nursing home, remember that you are putting your lives in that community's hands.

Source: Citizen-Times.com, "Expansion of Asheville's Deerfield retirement community almost complete," Mark Barrett, 9/5/10.