Published: May 08, 2008 05:19 pm         

Date set for Good Samaritan Society – Fairfield Glade random selection event for senior housing with services

Good Samaritan Society – Fairfield Glade is pleased to announce the date of the random selection event for senior housing with services. The event will take place Wednesday, June 25 at the new Fairfield Glade Community Center. All community members of Fairfield Glade are encouraged to attend the event, which starts at 2 p.m. More details about the process will be coming soon.

Random selection cards were mailed earlier in April to the Good Samaritan Society – Fairfield Glade mailing list. If you did not receive the card, please visit www.good-sam.com to download the card or give us a call at 888-GSS-GLADE. In order to be eligible for the random selection event, the Good Samaritan Society National Campus must receive your card by May 16.

On the construction front, the society has decided that rather than exclusively negotiating terms with one builder, the Fairfield Glade project will be opened up for bids. “We were working with a contractor on pre-construction work, but in an effort to keep costs (and future rates) down, we have decided to invite bids from pre-qualified general contractors,” said Greg Amble, the director of project development at the Good Samaritan Society.

What does this mean? The most immediate impact will be that an early groundbreaking will not take place, as had been hoped. Planning work will continue with the architectural firm and it is expected we will have a general contractor hired and will break ground in fall 2008. While some may perceive this as a delay, it really is not. This means the project will follow a more conventional building schedule, and does not necessarily mean the projected opening in fall 2009 will be delayed. It is still too early to tell. More information will be released as it becomes available.

“We are also presently working with a law firm in Tennessee to file the Certificate of Need (CON) application that will allow the society to build the skilled nursing center,” said Amble. “The process is complicated and lengthy, but the bottom line is that the state of Tennessee must approve the construction of any nursing home beds.” The expectation is to file the paperwork soon and to receive approval from the state this fall.

Wyndham Inc. donated the 23-acre site on Catoosa Blvd., which is in the northern end of Fairfield Glade. The campus is scheduled to open in fall 2009. The Good Samaritan Society – Fairfield Glade will feature several service levels, including senior living apartments, cottages and assisted living apartments. Pending state approval, a skilled nursing center will be part of the campus, as will a non-medical home services program. The Good Samaritan Society – Fairfield Glade also will have a chapel, community center, restaurant-style dining rooms, business center, library, wellness areas, walking paths and other common areas for activities and gatherings. The development will accommodate expansion of all levels of care.

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About the society:

The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society is the nation’s largest not-for-profit provider of long-term care and senior services. The society, founded in 1922, owns and operates more than 240 long-term healthcare centers and retirement living centers across the country. The society’s mission is to share God’s love in word and deed by providing shelter and services to older persons and others in need, believing that “In Christ’s love, everyone is someone.”

For more information, please call (888) GSS-GLADE.