Touchmark occupancy high as it passes threshold

Operators of the upscale Touchmark on South Hill retirement community believe the complex stays near full capacity because of the comforts it offers and wide-array of services for seniors spanning different ages.

Upon first entering Touchmark's lobby, visitors might be left with the impression they're at a hotel or resort and not a retirement home.

"I think that's what makes us unique," says Jeff Bair, Touchmark's Spokanebased regional vice president of operations for parent company Touchmark LLC, of beaverton, Ore. "We're a full-service retirement community. You can be just as active and engaged or private as you want to be. There's activity here every single day."

Touchmark just celebrated its 25th anniversary on its 20-acre property located at 2929 S. Waterford.

Touchmark LLC has retirement communities in nine states and one in Alberta, Canada. The company was established in 1980. Bair has worked for Touchmark for 23 years and at the South Hill campus since 2000, he says.

Touchmark operates 13 retirement communities and is building two more, one in Portland and the other in Prescott, Ariz. Touchmark Development & Construction Co., a Touchmark subsidiary, develops the retirement communities, says the company's website.

In Washington, Touchmark operates the South Hill facility here and another in Vancouver. The company has one retirement facility in Idaho, located in Meridian near Boise, and one in Helena, Montana. In Oregon, it operates facilities in Bend and Beaverton, its website says.

Touchmark founded the nonprofit Touchmark Foundation in 2002 to improve the lives of seniors. Currently, the foundation is focused heavily on increasing and retaining the number of nurses at Touchmark facilities to care for an increasing senior population, the website says.

More than 2,800 people live in Touchmark communities and the company employs 2,000 workers, the website says.

Touchmark's South Hill facility is the company's only retirement community in the country to offer all of the following: assisted and independent living, memory care and home health care, health and fitness training, and full on-site nursing services, Bair says.

Touchmark on South Hill features 60 cottages that are duplex-style structures that range from 1,200 square feet to 2,200 square feet of space. Monthly costs run between $1,200 and $1,600 per month, depending on the level of services a resident receives, Bair says.

Touchmark has slightly more than 100 apartment-style units ranging from 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet that cost between $2,200 and $5,000 per month, Bair says.

The facility's assisted-living wing also has just more than 100 units between 400 square feet and 1,600 square feet, with monthly costs starting at $3,500. Nursing staff is there to provide support 24 hours a day and seven day per week, Bair says.

He says 20 of the residences in the assisted-living unit are called memory care as they are more specifically designed to cater to residents suffering from dementia.

"There's a more secured perimeter, and alarms are in place to protect those residents from just leaving without knowing where they're going," Bair says.

Altogether, about 10 percent of the total 312 on-site residences are at least 2,000 square feet with at least two bedrooms and two bathrooms, he says.

Monthly costs for residents include two meals a day and daily housekeeping. Touchmark has a staff size totaling 283 employees with a total residential population between 340 and 350 people, Bair says. Touchmark's occupancy rate is 98 percent, Bair says.

With full nursing services on-site, Touchmark also offers rehabilitative services for nonresidents who are over 55, and Spokane County residents requiring post hospital care.

"We have 50 (rehabilitative) beds available, and on average I'd says we serve 30 to 35 people per month," Bair says. "I would say that rehabilitative recovery usually lasts 27 to 28 days."

Patients must receive approval from their insurance provider in order for them to qualify for rehab services at Touchmark, Bair says.

He says Touchmark prides itself in offering a wide-range of social activities and resources for its residents. The South Hill site has several meeting and banquet rooms for large-scale and small group activities as well as its own fitness room.

"We're always looking for ways to keep residents engaged," including by bringing local artists and musicians, he says.

At Touchmark's July 14 celebration of its 25th anniversary, 20-year resident Bette Westover described to residents what the retirement community now means to her. She moved into Touchmark a year and a half after her husband died and struggled to maintain her 3,000-square foot home at the time.

Says Westover, "For those who say, 'I'm not ready for that yet,' I say, "What are you not ready for-having meals prepared for you, someone to look after you, or having someone around when you're lonely?"