New housing facility enhances senior center

WASILLA -- The Wasilla Senior Center Campus is taking a huge step toward fulfilling the needs of the city's population of seniors by building a new assisted care living facility.

Knik Manor, a building designed to house seniors requiring additional help in handling the basic tasks of day-to-day life, is under construction and is planned to open in early March.

Knik Manor will contain such amenities as two-story glass ceilings for natural light throughout the building, indoor carpeted "porches" for each unit, a beauty parlor, a gift shop, a special therapy bathtub, common areas for family gatherings and other activities, and a state-of-the-art atrium designed using the Eden Principles, which advocate the use of natural light and greenery to combat depression and loneliness. The entire building is designed to counter the traditional image of a sterile, unwelcoming home for seniors.

"We didn't want the units to feel like hospital rooms," said Mary Haley, deputy director of the facility. "We didn't want them to feel small." Claustrophobia is a small concern for planning crews at the Knik Manor; each double unit is slated to be 980 square feet at last count. "These units offer a little more independence, a little more dignity," Haley said.

The project was funded by a loan from the Division of Agriculture, a grant from the Mental Health Trust Foundation, and a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation.

The building contains 30 total units: 21 units designed for independent living and nine designed for assisted living. Two staff members will be awake and ready to aid residents at all hours of the day and night. "I never feel comfortable leaving just one person awake and on staff," Haley said. "What if there's an emergency and one of them leaves their post?"

The 21 independent living units on the first floor have two bedrooms and are suited for couples, but have been designed to be renovated if necessary, creating two individual living spaces. Although such a renovation is not planned, the campus wants to anticipate any eventuality.

"We put renovations in our plans ahead of time just to be prepared for the future," Haley said. The assisted care facility is designed for residents who "may have needs that they can't handle themselves," and need assistance in such matters as personal hygiene, bathing and dressing.

Though the campus has been providing independent living facilities for more than six years, the Knik Manor is their first complex to accommodate assisted living, granting it a unique position among complexes on the campus. Knik Manor is also unique inasmuch as it is the first assisted living facility in the state to use low income tax credits.

"It's kind of a pilot project for the rest of the state," Haley said. "If we do it right, we're a template for other projects." The funding process involved is perpetually tricky, however.

The campus is undergoing a period of protracted growth as more residents move in and more living facilities are being constructed. Knik Manor is set to open on March 1, and a groundbreaking ceremony for work on Alderview, a new complex, is scheduled for April 1. The campus has a waiting list of 200 applicants for general housing and 30 for assisted living.

Haley attributes the popularity of the living complexes to their strong interpersonal ties. "We want people to stay in one place with the friends and community they know," she said. Haley also said the grounds are referred to as a "campus" owing to their similarity in layout to a college campus, with the senior center as its hub. In addition to providing living space and assorted services to Wasilla's senior population, the campus is home to the second-largest food bank in the state, entirely staffed by senior volunteers.

Haley is happy about the intensive interaction between workers and residents at the center. "We adopt them as a family, and they adopt us as a family. This is really a community of neighbors watching over neighbors."