Two local families develop three new senior projects

What's new in senior housing?

Other ways to live

Housing I&A

Mary Beth Wolford comes to lead HSRC

New senior softball leagues forming

United Family Courts best serve families and children

Can you spring for library taxes?

The politics of aging

Welcome to Azalea Hall and Senior Expo

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Photo: Kendra and Don Johnson (Danco Builders) and Larona and Dr. Dan Farnum pause outside the main entry of Timber Ridge, a new senior residence they are developing that is scheduled to open May 1.

It was Christmas Eve several years ago when Dan and Larona Farnum were closing their Eureka orthopedic medical office to go home when one of their elderly patients was brought in in a wheelchair. The frantic daughter commented, "I don't know what to do with her," and turned on her heel and left.

The Farnums took care of their patient-the only place they could take her on Christmas Eve was the emergency room. They were frustrated. Their experience in the field of orthopedics over the years had often brought them in touch with senior citizens. Their Christmas Eve experience was not the first time they encountered a senior in crisis. They often saw situations when family support and home health care was not enough to keep a senior living independently in a safe environment.

At that point Dr. Dan Farnum had already spent years inspecting senior assisted living residences all over the west coast. Larona, his office manager, had seen many of the residences herself. The two had been dreaming of a place here on the north coast for someone like the elder patient who had just been dumped on them.

That dream led to the Farnums teaming with fellow Eurekans Dan and Kendra Johnson of Danco Builders. The four spent years in research and development that would bring creative alternatives for senior housing to the north coast.

As a result, they have presented the north coast with three different alternatives for seniors-the gated community of Foxwood Estates in Cutten already open, the 60-unit Timber Ridge assisted living facility opening May 1 in Eureka at Harris and Walford, and the 19-unit Alzheimer's and dementia facility Redwood Terrace on the same site which will open June 15. (See senior housing stories page 6.)

Dan and Kendra Johnson of Danco Builders had worked on several development projects with the Farnums-Northcoast Surgery Center and Eureka Family Practice. The two couples formed Western Living Concepts, a senior assisted living management company. They hired as executive director Becky G. Schiff who has participated in opening more than 40 assisted living campuses. She is a certified nursing home administrator (CNHA) and a certified assisted living administrator (CALA). Schiff is currently president of the American College of Health Care Administrators and in that capacity consults with residential administrators and owners of facilities on ethical and operations issues.

The team also hired David Kennedy with Soderstrom Architects, AIA, of Portland, a firm which specializes in senior residential facilities throughout the country.

One-time article Copyright 1998 by Humboldt Senior Resource Center.