Alexandria Retirement Community

A Wonderful Active Lifestyle

Every day, in one of our atrium areas, we have religious activities, including morning mediation and services for our Protestants, and Rosary and Mass for our Catholics. Exercise is also on the schedule every morning, along with frequent activities involving cooking and baking. Bingo is a big draw, and many of our residents meet every afternoon to work on a puzzle. We also have painting classes, a book club, traveling library services and arts and crafts. In fact, residents are always making something, whether it’s clay sculptures or Mardi gras masks! In addition, each of our managers leads a specific activity every month; for example, our Community Relations Director recently led a reminiscing activity. The 30 minutes quickly ran into a full hour, with so many interesting stories being shared! Our Maintenance Director leads a special breakfast once a month. We also hold monthly theme lunches, in which our chef prepares food from a particular country, like France or Mexico.

Partnering with the Local Neighborhood Community

Each month, we have a program called Ask the Nurse, during which a local registered nurse comes into our community and residents have the opportunity to ask health-related questions. She does a terrific job of explaining in laymen terms so that everyone can understand. We also offer a “foot ministry,” in which a local physician visits residents to examine their feet, check for wounds or calluses and clip their nails. This is a volunteer service he provides, and we are very grateful for his assistance. We also work closely with the Alzheimer’s Association and host its annual Memory Walk right here. In addition, we hold all kinds of fundraisers to help raise money for the association – a silent auction, a second hand sale, and Casual for a Cause in which employees give a dollar to wear blue jeans with their uniform tops on Fridays. At Christmastime, we hold a wonderful event – Candy Cane Lane – in which vendors are welcome to come into the community, giving residents the opportunity to shop for Christmas, with donations from the vendors going to the Alzheimer’s Association. The general community is also welcome to attend.

Fine Dining

Both memory care and assisted living have their own dining rooms. We encourage residents to eat with us and for the most part, they do unless they are sick, and we’ll bring their food to their apartment. All meals are served restaurant style, with the resident’s order taken at the table, and their food brought to them. The tables are set like an upscale restaurant, with linen table clothes and napkins. We offer three meals a day. At breakfast, residents can order anything they wish – eggs made-to-order, pancakes, waffles, cinnamon rolls, cereal – in fact, if you were to ask them, residents would likely say breakfast is their favorite meal. During lunch and dinner, we offer a main and alternate choice, several sides and an always-available menu, including salads, soups and sandwiches. There’s something for every one at every meal! Twice a day, snacks are brought around on pastry carts and set up in our living room for residents to help themselves. We are very proud of our food – and residents give it rave reviews!

In memory care, we serve three meals and three snacks a day, family style, to ensure residents get proper nutrition. Snacks are always nutritious – either fruit, cheese sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly.