By Jonathan Maze, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
Jan. 29–For 16 years, J.C. and Connie Hare invited the residents of Bishop Gadsden’s assisted-living facility to their West Ashley home to watch July Fourth fireworks across the river.
Last month, the Hares became their neighbor.
“We figured we’d go there when we decided we couldn’t take care of ourselves,” Connie Hare said. “I’ve always liked it.”
The Hares moved into a new two-bedroom, assisted-living apartment, one of 40 new units in a nearly complete $12 million expansion at the James Island retirement community. Bishop Gadsden also is working on a $2.5 million chapel that is being paid for largely out of funds raised from community residents.
It’s only the latest in a string of expansions for the community, which in less than 20 years has grown from a single assisted-living facility to a retirement behemoth with 425 residents in 369 units.
Nor will this project be the last. Bishop Gadsden has been gobbling up land next to its facility on Camp Road. The nonprofit now owns 20 acres for future expansion of its 50-acre-plus site.
“When you’ve got a facility this large, you have to continue to work it over,” said Executive Director Bill Trawick. “When you’re finished with one project, you start another.”
The building boom is just the latest chapter in a history that goes back to 1850, when the Rt. Rev. Christopher E. Gadsden, fourth bishop of South Carolina, established the first diocesan ministry for the aging, the Episcopal Church Home. Its original site was on Anson Street in downtown Charleston, and it later moved to Bee Street. The facility was named for Gadsden when it moved to James Island in the 1980s.
Trawick moved to Charleston in 1985 to raise money and oversee development for Bishop Gadsden. The first building, with 70 assisted-living beds, opened in 1987 on 7 acres of land donated by St. James Episcopal Church across the street.
Five years after it opened, the community added a 44-bed nursing center. In 1999, it added independent cottages and apartments in a $55 million project that completed its transition into what is known as a “life care” retirement community.
Such communities are designed to attract younger retirees 62 and older with the prospect of staying there for the rest of their retirement, regardless of the amount of care they need. They typically include a large number of senior apartments with a range of long-term care services on the same campus.
These communities began emerging in retiree-heavy states such as Florida, California and Arizona in the 1970s and have grown in popularity in recent years. Their popularity is expected to increase as baby boomers head toward retirement.
Trawick, however, voiced a note of caution on the prospect of a boomer bonanza for facilities such as his. “I hope they’ve saved,” he said, wondering aloud whether that generation has as much in the bank as the one that now lives in such communities.
Moving into Bishop Gadsden isn’t cheap. Residents pay an entrance fee ranging from $134,700 to $350,900 and enter into a life-care contract for long-term care services. They also pay a monthly fee between $2,020 and $2,750 that, among other things, pays for dining, utilities, security, housekeeping, laundry and maintenance.
As residents need more assistance, they can move into the assisted-living facility or the nursing home.
The community’s rules governing those moves came under fire last year when former resident Blanche Bell filed a lawsuit alleging that the home violated federal disabilities and fair housing laws by requiring her to move into the nursing home.
Bell, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), hired her own personal caregivers and wanted to stay in her apartment. She died a month after filing the lawsuit but was able to stay in her apartment until then.
The family recently settled the lawsuit after Bishop Gadsden agreed to ease some of their transfer rules.
Still, many residents say they like the on-campus care options.
Put Putnam moved into an apartment at Bishop Gadsden with his wife five years ago from their Kiawah Island home. Last year, Putnam had three major surgeries on his back, kidney and one on his arm after he fell and hit it on a table. “I almost lost it,” he said.
He spent some time in the nursing home for rehabilitation. A month ago, he decided to move into one of the one-bedroom, assisted-living apartments for the extra care.
Demand for Bishop Gadsden is heavy. There is a waiting list to get into the apartments and cottages, as units typically are full.
This enables the community to forgo Medicare or Medicaid for residents’ stays in its nursing home. That’s an approach few communities take: Medicare pays for rehabilitation and Medicaid funds as much as 80 percent of nursing home beds in the state.
But forgoing the government money allows the community to avoid the associated bureaucracy, including many of the regulations and reporting requirements that come with it.
Despite the lack of government payments, or perhaps because of it, the community has enjoyed an enviable financial position that has enabled it to keep expanding and renovating.
In 2004, Bishop Gadsden took in $19.5 million in revenue and earned nearly $1.9 million over expenses. Overall, the nonprofit finished the year with a fund balance of $13.6 million.
“One of Bishop Gadsden’s strengths is its strong financial position,” Trawick said. “It allows us to continually keep facilities fresh and new and appealing to the market.”
The latest expansion may be a perfect example. The expansion replaced 26 modest-size, assisted-living units with 40 larger assisted-living apartments, including eight with two bedrooms, a rarity among assisted-living facilities.
The project cost was $12 million. Bishop Gadsden was able to pay for the project out of its reserve funds.
In addition, the project took 26 units out of commission for two years, a loss of revenue that many communities might not have withstood.
Trawick, however, said the project needed to be done. Market tastes have changed dramatically since the facility was built in the 1980s. Residents, especially those who are more well-to-do, don’t want units that are little more than single rooms.
Few organizations, Trawick said, would have taken the risk of leveling usable units.
“Most people just let facilities age,” Trawick said. “They don’t make the hard decisions.”
BY THE NUMBERS
–$12 million -Cost of expansion of Bishop Gadsden’s assisted-living facility
–$2.5 million — Cost of new chapel
–680,000 — Total square footage of community’s buildings
–425 — Number of residents
–369 — Total number of residential units
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