One of our highest priorities at Sunset Communities is preventing those who live here from experiencing the loneliness prevalent among society’s older adults. Toward that end, we nurture companionship by fostering close and continuing contact between residents and people inside and outside our buildings. But in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) have issued restrictions that significantly limit visitation and group activities at senior living facilities.

In the early 1990s, Bill and Julie Thomas began developing a new approach to elder care. Their cutting-edge method, now known as The Eden Alternative, gave nursing home residents greater privacy, independence, and control over their lives. With the goal to improve the wellbeing of older adults, The Eden Alternative aims to eliminate what Bill Thomas calls the “three plagues” commonly found in senior living facilities: loneliness, helplessness, and boredom.

The end of 2018 marked some big transitions for Sunset Communities. Fieldstone Villas grew its neighborhood with the opening of a 10,000 square foot Clubhouse. The expansive clubhouse provides a special gathering place for Fieldstone Villas residents

Ashanti Hospice and Palliative Care, a service of Sunset Communities, presents Take Direction: Navigating through the Maze of Advance Directives. This seminar will provide information and an engaging conversation about advance directives with local attorney Dean Horrigan. Join us on Tuesday, September 25 from 11:30am – 1:00pm, at Epworth United Methodist Church in Toledo, Ohio. Lunch will be provided.

We like to say that Sunset Communities is more than a great place to live—it’s also a wonderful place to work. Our Employee Wellness Program is just one reason why.

As college students get ready to begin classes over the coming weeks, Kallie Inman is gearing up for year two of an innovative Sunset resident engagement program. Kallie, Life Enrichment Assistant at Sunset Village, developed the program in 2017 as a way to connect veterans living at Sunset with ROTC students in universities around the country. The program proved highly popular among residents and students, alike. So Kallie is expanding this year to involve more schools and additional residents.

Walking through the front door of the Burgoon-style design at Fieldstone Villas for the very first time, you’re bound to experience an immediate sense of coming home. The most popular layout among Fieldstone’s newest construction phase, the Burgoon features a covered front porch that leads into an inviting entryway. Laminate floors spill into an open dining room that’s flanked by a modern kitchen on one side and a cozy living room on the other. It’s clear that great care went into designing this space.

Sunset House and Sunset Village have each received 5-star ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS gives longterm care facilities from one to 5 stars related to health inspection results, staffing, and quality of resident care measures, along with an overall rating.

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” —Eighteenth-century poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Rose Atkins has always found von Goethe’s famous quote inspiring. The message—more recently attributed to film actor Bruce Lee—motivates Rose to go above and beyond in serving Sunset Village’s residents and their families. Her much-more-than-enough efforts have earned Rose the Sunset Village 2018 Nurse of the Year award.