The Start of Thrive Where You Are 

In 2005, Homestead Village introduced our innovative Supportive Services program offering licensed personal care in our apartments – Thrive Where You Are.  The unique program allowed Homestead apartment residents to “age in place” in their apartments, avoiding the move to a health care facility.  Aging in place has been a goal of life plan communities for over twenty years and one of the top desires of residents. Homestead Village implemented it two decades ago!  It is still an elusive service at most life plan communities. One bonus of introducing Supportive Services in our apartment building was the addition of sprinkler system – surprisingly the apartment building was built in 1986 without a sprinkler system!  

Five years later, in 2010, Homestead Village Home Care Services was introduced.  It is a program to assist residents living in our neighborhood homes.  This was the second prong of our Thrive Where You Are programs. 

Memory Support Fills the Void 

Equally as important as Supportive Services and Home Care was the introduction of dedicated memory support small houses in both The Apostles Center (skilled nursing) and Westvue (personal care).  Gelhard House was the biggest game changer prior to its introduction in 2011, residents with early cognitive decline and prone to safety concerns were forced to leave Homestead Village to live at nearby secure memory programs.  With the opening of Gelhard House, no Homestead Village resident ever needed to go elsewhere for memory services again!  Young House opened in the Apostles Center shortly thereafter as a dedicated memory support house in our nursing home.   

During Covid, the memory support program was moved to Fickes House and Young House became our short-term rehabilitation wing.  In 2016, the second floor of Westvue was renovated to create Harvest House, our second small memory support house, featuring a newly constructed sunroom and outdoor balcony adjacent to the living room, dining room and kitchen.  Harvest House helped meet the memory support needs of Homestead Village and our surrounding community. 

Care Coordination 

Coming out of the Covid challenges, Homestead Village recognized the importance of proactive care coordination, especially for our frailest residents.  This need led to the creation of our innovative Thrive Team.  We took four separate jobs that functioned in silos and brought them together as a cohesive team working on challenges together – each bringing their unique perspective, training and discipline to the challenges our residents face.   

Accreditation Promotes Innovation 

One of the overarching benefits of pursuing accreditation is that the process promotes innovation.  Homestead Village has been accredited by CARF-CCAC for over twenty years.  CARF standards are updated every year, and onsite accreditation occurs every five years.  The CARF process consists of nearly a thousand standards, each asking the question, “How does Homestead Village conform to this standard?”  By standard, CARF refers to best practices in the life plan communities.  The process of thinking through how we achieve best practice in nearly every aspect of our organization naturally leads to both performance and process improvement! 

Thrive Where You Are 

At Homestead Village we redefined the concept of “aging in place” to “Thrive Where You Are.”  It is both our company vision, and it permeates every service we provide.  We want our residents to enjoy independence and dignity throughout their lives in the most independent setting possible.  Our goal is to minimize the nursing home stays of our residents.  With our new brain health programs, we also want to help our residents avoid memory loss and cognitive impairment through healthy living such as nutritious food, exercise, improved sleep, and the elimination of both toxins and stress. At Homestead Village, thriving is our number one goal!