Environments for Aging - Fall 2020 - 32

Bedrooms in the Evermore project were
specifically designed to have space for
queen beds, what most residents would
be used to from previous homes. Large
windows help capture views and bring
lots of natural light into the home.

Case study: Evermore Senior
Living of Lake Ridge
Rohde says that often her clients pursue the
RAL setting when looking for places for their
own parents. That was the case for Dave Risi,
an industrial hygienist and safety professional
who also invests in real estate and rental properties. He and his wife were looking for a place
for her then 88-year-old father, who lived with
his wife in New Jersey. "He had always lived in
a house," Risi says, "and wanted to continue
living in a house."
When the couple couldn't find the setting they wanted in Northern Virginia, Risi
decided to build his own. He spent six months
researching and connecting with organizations like Residential Assisted Living National
Association (RALNA), which provides support
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EFAmagazine.com * Fall 2020

services and information on owning and
operating an RAL.
Risi found two lots zoned residential in a
subdivision in Woodbridge, Va., and worked to
get approval from neighborhood homeowners
to change the language in their covenants to
allow the RAL. "My wife and I bought a lot of
coffee and cake and assured the neighbors
that we'd be building the quietest homes in
the neighborhood," Risi says. In April 2018,
Risi and JSR Associates began designing
what would become Evermore Senior Living
of Lake Ridge in Woodbridge, Va. The project
includes two 5,500 square-foot ranch homes,
each housing eight bedrooms with en suite
bathrooms, for memory care and assisted
living residents. The first home was finished in
July and received its certificate of occupancy
in August. Design plans for the second home
are in the works, with construction expected
to begin in early 2021.
The final design for Evermore features a
single-story house with an open floor plan,
including a large central kitchen, dining area
with a table that seats up to 10 people, and a
living room with a stone hearth and fireplace.
Where skilled nursing communities' hallways
are 6 feet wide, Evermore's hallways are 5 feet
wide "so it doesn't look institutional," Risi says.
With safety and health concerns front and
center, Rohde made sure that the house has
a pathway to allow clean materials, including food deliveries and packages, to come

Stacey Freed is a freelance writer based in
Pittsford, N.Y. She can be reached at stacey.
freed@gmail.com.

MORE ONLINE: This topic was explored in the session "Residential
Meets Assisted Living," part of the 2020 EFA Virtual Conference. To register
for on-demand access to the event, including 10 other educational sessions
and 11 CEUs, visit EFAmagazine.com/efa-virtual-conference.

VIRTUAL
CONFERENCE

NICOLE LOWDER, JSR ASSOCIATES

* Occasionally other staff members are
included (activity person, chef, etc.).
* Variety of private and shared bedroom and
bathroom spaces to support residents'
personal choice; as a result, there may not
be a 1:1 ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms.
* Direct visual and physical access to natural
areas or landscaped outdoor spaces for
residents and staff.
Rohde says the inclusion of RAL in the
updated guidelines is to support the segment
of the industry that comes from a residential
perspective in terms of providing care within
a home setting versus other types of assisted
living. The goal, she adds, is to not institutionalize elders based upon diagnosis but to allow
them to continue living in a home with normal
daily activities coupled with the care needed,
to support as much independence and choice
as possible.

through an exterior door on the side of the
house and directly into the kitchen. Throughout the house, all soiled materials and trash
get collected and go out a side door to the
outside, removing the need for waste to be
carried through the home. Another important
design feature is the HVAC system, which
is made up of three large heat pumps with
HEPA filters and UV-C filtration units. "HEPA
blocks bacteria and dust, but that doesn't do
enough for viruses, so the air is disinfected
with ultraviolet," Risi says. The home has
three zones, and each bedroom has its own
heating controls as well as a radiant heat
panel in the ceiling to provide comfort without
a more expensive overall system, Rohde says.
These safety and health features have taken
on added importance during the COVID-19
pandemic. And, in general, RALs and other
small-house models have proven beneficial
for residents, with less traffic through the
community and less square footage to clean
and disinfect. "There's recognition that smaller
homes with dedicated staff lower the potential
of exposure, and residents can be monitored
for early detection of any illnesses or changes
in behavior," Rohde says.
Risi's ultimate goal is to have four homes
in Virginia "to optimize the business, since by
law one executive director can operate up to
four homes in the state," he says. Although
Risi's father-in-law passed away last year and
was never able to reside at Evermore, Risi is
happy that others will have the opportunity to
live in a place he inspired. "Our seniors should
have the option to live in an environment that
resembles how they lived their lives up to that
point-in a residential home with a group that
resembles a family," he says. EFA

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Environments for Aging - Fall 2020

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