New Amenities and Upgrades Delight Willow Towers Residents
November 30
You may have noticed some changes here at Willow Towers, where we have recently completed a major renovations project! We’re always looking at how we can enhance our community to best serve our residents, and these improvements provide new amenities and spaces for you or your loved one to receive care and enjoy time with friends and family.
The Willow Towers makeover includes a new and improved beauty salon, an enhanced nursing care station, a new private room for the social gatherings, fresh paint and carpeting, new LED light fixtures throughout the building, and expanded program space in our Phoenix Memory Care Neighborhood.
The new spaces and services have already benefitted residents, notes Nora O’Brien, PT, DPT, who serves as the executive director for both Willow Towers Assisted Living and Willow Gardens Memory Care.
“We’ve not only made our community more beautiful, but enhanced our environment to better serve our residents with the most challenging needs,” she says.
Enhanced memory care
Dementia is a progressive disease, and residents of the Phoenix memory care unit at Willow Towers are at different stages of impairment. Reconfiguring the space to allow for more individualized programming for its 30 memory care residents was a main goal of the renovations, according to the project architect, John Baumgarten. The hair salon and a waiting room were removed to expand activity space.
“By moving some service areas, we were able to create a new program room adjacent to the existing program space, separated by beautiful French pocket doors,” says Mr. Baumgarten, whose firm, JWB Architecture, specializes in healthcare, long-term care, and senior living community design. “The result is a large, sunny, and inviting area that can accommodate large gatherings or be divided for separate activities.”
The unit’s specially trained staff now has ample space to plan activities tailored for different levels of memory care, notes Dr. O’Brien. “That means our residents with moderate memory loss may be engaged in a more dynamic program such as art or music therapy, while those with more advanced dementia may be enjoying an activity geared toward reminiscing and having a pleasant time.”
The memory care neighborhood also features a light and soothing color palette; non-slip floor finishes for mobility aids such as walkers and wheelchairs; and LED lighting that is indirect and diffuse to reduce glare for diminished eyesight, adds Baumgarten.
New amenities
The first floor of the building underwent significant changes. In the former nursing care station, a new, elegant hair salon with spa serviced opened. Upgrades include new washing, styling, and drying stations, and space for residents to receive manicures. The nursing station was expanded and relocated to an administrative area, which offers separate spaces for residents to receive medications, and treatment.
A cozy new activity room was created on the second floor, as an addition to Willow Towers’ existing community spaces, which include activity rooms, art rooms, a kitchen for cooking classes, library, and large outdoor courtyard. Formerly a loft space overlooking the two-story atrium-style dining room, the new enclosed room is open to residents for social activities and special occasions. The Willow Towers’ Men’s Club gathers there for its weekly happy hour and families of residents have celebrated birthdays and other special occasions in that space since it was opened.
The best way to see our space, of course, is on a tour. We’d be happy to show you around!
