A New Vibe and Beginning for Personal Care at Episcopal Church Home

The new personal care building at Episcopal Church Home, named Lyndon House, features an open kitchen, dining area, and living room space

The new Personal Care household on the Episcopal Church Home (ECH) campus, known as Lyndon House, will have a new feel to it, more suited to the high level of person-centered care that team members provide to residents.

The atmosphere will be more relaxed and less institutional-feeling, partly because of more open and appealing interiors. The open kitchen and dining area, along with a shared living room space, will make it an inviting place for residents to gather, eat together, chat and enjoy activities.

Team members working in versatile ways

“Versatile workers” are another thing different about the care offered at Lyndon House.

Rather than seeing several people perform separate tasks for them – one doing laundry, another the housekeeping – Lyndon House residents will receive care from one compassionate team member, who will bond more closely with them.

The versatile ERS team members, who are State Registered Nurse Aides (SRNAs), will perform many tasks to care for the residents, including housekeeping, enrichment activities through the day, and helping with dining and with guests, among other things.

“Our goal was to create more intimate, person-centered healthcare households that meet consumer preferences,” ERS President and CEO Laura Lamb said at a recent ceremony that previewed the changes. That will be supported by dynamic activities programming and therapies.

While ECH has been a beloved place for generations of Louisville families, a Master Plan study ERS conducted found ways to better serve residents into the future.

Open floor plan

Lyndon House is one part of the continuing care retirement center (CCRC) that is the Episcopal Church Home campus. The household will have 22 apartments that, rather than being located along long, narrow hallways, will share open common areas, including the open kitchen, dining area and living room space.

Those apartments will be larger than traditionally are offered in what officially is known as personal care in Kentucky. The apartments also will look out onto a beautifully landscaped amenity garden.

In a few words, personal care is for seniors who need extra help moving around and taking care of their bodies.

More on Personal Care in Kentucky

And in the ERS person-centered care setting, residents are encouraged to make decisions on when they like to wake up, when they eat, and what activities they participate in.

ECH will continue the quality of care for which it long has been known in Louisville. High ratios of staff to residents will mean your loved one will receive the care they need and deserve.

A lovely campus

The personal care offered at Lyndon House is only part of the offerings at Episcopal Church Home. Here are other features:

• When the 25 new Dudley Square III patio homes are completed, there will be a neighborhood of 87 patio homes for seniors who enjoy Independent Living in a retirement community setting. Residents of the patio homes have access to quality personal care and skilled nursing services if their healthcare needs change.
• The campus has a beautiful amenity garden with tranquil walking paths that border on an attractive, tree-lined watershed area and a peaceful gazebo where people can meet friends and neighbors.
• An attractive clubhouse that opened in late 2021 lets residents gather for parties, activities, and games.
• ECH also is creating an updated environment for residents living with cognitive loss who require personal care services. The new memory care neighborhoods, located in newly named Morton House, will feature two neighborhoods with 13 beds in each and will offer our Living Well Memory Support Services, a suite of services developed by ERS specifically for those struggling with memory loss. That program may include activities including art, music, cognitive and physical therapies designed to keep residents’ minds stimulated and engaged.
• ECH also is creating smaller, more personal neighborhoods at Morton House for residents who require skilled-nursing care. Two households will have 13 beds each for people needing long-term care or rehabilitation services. One household will be dedicated to residents living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia; the other will cater to those needing more physical care.
• Luke’s Chapel, the traditional heart of the ERS community, will continue to follow the Episcopal Church calendar for services, and will be open to the community for interfaith and interdenominal services, as well as quiet moments of prayer for everyone.
• A new dining venue at Morton House, Grille 75, will serve the entire campus, with tasty yet nutritious food.

Lyndon House features many outdoor amenities.

A further upgrade of care

Rob King, chairman of ECH, said the architectural changes will further improve the quality of person-centered care residents receive, and the bonds between residents and ERS team members.

“It will allow us to take care of our residents in the best possible way.”

“It is intimate, attractive, and modern,” he said.

“The design lends itself to building relationships, rather than the institutional model of the 1970s in which our original healthcare building was created,” King said. “While it was the best-in-class in the 70s, it was time for the model to change.”

King noted he hasn’t only been an ECH board member for several years. His mother has lived at ECH since 2009, “and I am very grateful to the staff for the high-quality care they have provided throughout the year,” he said.

ECH for more than 140 years has enriched the lives of older adults in a person-centered, innovative, and spiritually based way. As a nonprofit, ECH delivers personalized living experiences to aging seniors in the Louisville area through a continuum of care that includes independent living, personal care, memory care and long-term nursing care.

For more information about the ECH Master Plan, including a detailed map of the new campus and the expected timing of its phased renovation, visit:  www.episcopalchurchhome.org/masterplan.