The Kenney looks at the needs of seniors

By R. Kevin McFeely

Within the next five years, the oldest members of the Boom Generation will begin to retire, thus beginning an era where one in almost every four persons in our community will be over the age of 60.

Within the next 13 years, the number of persons with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia will double. These are unprecedented changes in the demographic profile of West Seattle, as well as the United States.

At the Kenney, we see these coming shifts as a call to make sure our seniors and the most vulnerable members of our elder community have a loving, life-giving place to live. This is why we are taking steps now to plan for expansion of our West Seattle campus and increase the number of homes we can offer to seniors from our community.

As we examine plans to expand we face two important challenges:

- One, most of our facilities are 30 to 100 years old. Imagine moving from a three or four-bedroom home to a 300 to 600 square foot apartment. It's not difficult to see why today's seniors facing that kind of change are not content with the apartments and rigid meal schedules that are found today at the Kenney and other retirement communities.

- Second, the piecemeal approach to expansion we've historically taken at the Kenney has lead to operating inefficiencies of 20 percent to 25 percent.

Without taking steps to create homes that fit the needs and expectations of seniors today and tomorrow, and without streamlining our operations, the Kenney would lose its ability to operate in a self-sufficient manner, and would have to consider closing or selling to another entity that would likely redevelop the property.

Instead, we are inspired by the visionary example of our founders; Samuel and Jessie Kenney, to imagine the ideal home for seniors and engage our community leaders in bringing that vision to reality.

Expansion will allow us to create homes with the features and services seniors are looking for: homes that families can visit, places where their grandchildren and great grandchildren can play, meals on their schedules, and a variety of physical and cultural programs that they access on their own timetable.

Currently 70 percent of people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia are cared for at home due in part to lack of qualified, affordable facilities. We would create new homes for people in later stages of dementia, providing peace of mind to their families and caregivers.

We believe that redevelopment of our campus is the best solution for our residents and for West Seattle, because we are best positioned to respond quickly to the growing need for services.

The Kenney is the only Continuing Care Retirement Community in West Seattle. A not-for-profit organization, it exists to serve the community by providing the kind of home and care we all want for treasured parents, grandparents and elders. A Continuing Care Retirement Community provides a spectrum of residential settings - from very independent to highly skilled medical care - so that residents do not have to move if their needs change.

The Kenney's not-for-profit model, in contrast to for-profit corporate ownership, means that service to our mission is our top priority. We are governed by a local, volunteer board of directors, whose members oversee the operation of the organization for the good of the residents and our community. Because we are "owned" by the community, instead of a corporation, we are 100 percent accountable to our residents, their families and our community.

Thanks to the vision and support of our board and other community leaders, we have developed plans to expand the Kenney campus. During Phase I, we propose creating a new skilled nursing and memory support unit, built on the southern end of our campus, where currently there are multi-family rental homes. The memory support unit will serve residents in the later stages of Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. We will also build an additional 64 assisted living apartments on the southern end of the campus.

During Phase II, development plans include creation of new independent apartments, with a centralized Kenney community center, on the north and west portions of our campus. We will also create new garden/park space for neighbors and residents to share.

The Seaview, Sunrise and Ballymena buildings would be replaced by new buildings. Although we recognize that the Seaview has community significance, its original construction does not allow us to upgrade it for modern use. There is no waiting list for the Seaview and prospective residents find it depressing and institutional. We can't ask our residents, who are living on fixed incomes, to pay a premium on their fees for historical preservation of a building that can't be used efficiently for office space and where few will want to live. Our plans are to retain the cupola now visible on top of the Seaview and incorporate it into the new buildings.

The expansion project, which will take us from our current 185 residents to 400 residents upon completion, will be financed primarily by the sale of tax-exempt bonds. In addition to serving residents, expansion of the Kenney will enable us and residents to be more engaged with the community and to increase our commitment to environmental stewardship, by building to a LEED standard that allows us to operate more efficiently.

We look forward to meeting with a variety of community groups in the coming months to discuss these and other plans for how the Kenney can continue to serve the needs of West Seattle.

For further information or clarification, either visit our Web site (www.thekenney.org) contact McFeely at 937-2800, ext. 5250 or attend the Early Design Review meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 18th beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Madison Middle School.

R. Kevin McFeely has served as the president and CEO of The Kenney since 2003.