RiverWoods Exeter

Title: RiverWoods Retirement Community, New England's premier CCRC in Exeter, NH
Time: 9 min 4 sec

Description:

This nine minute film covers the rich history of RiverWoods Retirement Community in Exeter, NH, and pays tribute to the the amazing people who have made RiverWoods such a special place to retire. RiverWoods, the Seacoast Region's Premier Life Care Community is committed to enriching the freedom of retirement while easing the challenges of aging. RiverWoods is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Charitable organization that owns and operates three vibrant, self-contained, life care communities with easy access to all the charms of New Hampshire and New England. Conceived by a grassroots group of seacoast area residents, RiverWoods opened in 1994 and remains true to its founders' original inspiration - that growing older should enhance, not diminish, the opportunity for a productive and rewarding life. Here, you can enjoy life to the fullest in an inspiring setting with people who share your interests and way of thinking. RiverWoods is Nationally Accredited by the Continuing Care Retirement Commission. More information at: RiverWoods Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) 7 RiverWoods Drive Exeter, NH 03833

Transcript:

I think people are living a better life because Riverwoods exist people really believe it is their own home and treat it as her own home the stuff it's warm and friendly to the residents and that's what makes the place so good for the residents you know they took great pride in their houses and they're able to live that sense of pride because they truly believe that this is their home life life is easy and people live longer when life is easy the people who work here me and 400 others we have an opportunity to do good work every day for good people this spirit is adjusting to a new life new friends really making the most of the years left our mission is what motivates us when we make decisions there's a person at the end of it we're making decisions about providing the best opportunity for the best way of life for our residents and her staff forever for perpetuity you know I walked down the hallway and see Mariana hatch our founder and I just screwed back to my office and tried to do a better job I was going to night school to complete my degree and the man that I took the course from believed that by the year 2000 there would be more elderly people in need of care than you could possibly imagine he was bound and determined that he was going to recruit me to to become involved in this sort of thing well indeed that happened and two women Marianna and rosemary had this dream Mariana hatch and rosemary coffin they persisted they just kept persisting they said no that this can be done this can be done we have to figure out how to do it we came looking for land and found this place that was the beginning and what they produce is a place to have a great way of life to live to really live there are three aspects of your life that River which is really good for financial social and medical there is a great social aspect to it the Riverwood says all these people and they're right down the hall next door there across the hall I'll go up with anybody who brand-new they're asking questions where did you come from and that pervades the atmosphere there and actually no question about it now we have a discussion group that I go to and we play bridge I've been a Potter for thirty years I guess roughly yeah I show them you know what how we use clay here and what we do and we in fact can do almost anything here River woods adapt to the residents situation if they can be if a resident can be completely independent and played tennis every day and play golf and go shopping in Boston that's fine and if a resident can only go to the supermarket in a bus or woods bus with someone to help them walk through the aisles because they can't see and pick out things that can be done to all the way to skilled care nursing remember woods provides the appropriate level of health care for the resident all the way from a little bit of help to a lot of help but also the the food situation there is very beneficial you get urged to eat right on all sides good food and that contributes steel to longevity and financially many are worried what if I go in a nursing home and I use up all my money my kids won't inherit anything and so Everwood solves that problem if you can afford to live here independently you know that the same essentially the same monthly rate will carry you through even if you're in skilled care for ten years and remember what's part of its charitable purposes it says we will keep you even if you can't afford us anymore with your monthly rate we will figure out to keep you with us so financially it makes sense I think one of the things that people who aren't there don't realize is how much of the running of the operation is done by their residents the committee's there really have a big impact on the way the place is run the teamwork between our residents our board and our staff is how we can best make Riverwoods the most special place no one member of that group not the residents not the staff not the board should be making every decision in a vacuum we've been financially strong for a number of years and what that means I think for the community is that it gives reassurance to our residents this institution is supposed to be here forever and the promise is to take care of all its residents forever and so it needs to really look way down the road when we open I didn't expect her words to to grow outside of the woods campus the woods campus was River woods to me really our residents were the first to to come to the board and say you know if we can buy land across the street because we had this opportunity we really ought to take that chance we really ought to move forward and give this opportunity to more people here an extra we have three campuses they've added financial strength they've allowed us to bring in new employees who have greatly benefited the organization I think each one of our three units are a bit different and I think that's good I think it should be allowed because different age groups have different priorities it seems to do the other thing that the expansion has allowed us to do is to share the river woods way with more people and we're confident that by adding these additional facilities we'll be able to share that mission with that many more people who will benefit from their Riverwoods way and get the enjoyment of their senior years in a great community and be active and participate in this wonderful organization what River which was just this original building we had 200 families that we were helping every day and that might be thousands of people but then we grew to the ridge and it was 300 families and now with the boulders 400 and it might be 500 with the Health Center family involved and then definitely be 1012 thousand people that everyday are having a better day because we exist we have a mission and that is to provide outstanding resident care to seniors and we have demonstrated over the years that we do an outstanding job of that we've had people who are residents who have have made new best friends at seventy five groups of friends it's almost like high school again no people have gotten married found new love they may have cared for a spouse for years and then after new opportunities for love and excitement and travel and adventure and education because they came here is it likely is it going to work is it needed can we do a good job it's about being a part of something bigger it's about doing good work every day the talent that we have been acquired is just remarkable we have attracted wonderful people and they have it you know initiated so many things on their own and I hope that we can keep the spirit Riverwoods going