TORRINGTON – The last bid packages are being hammered out, and within the next two years senior citizens in Goshen County will have their own assisted living community, complete with a theater that doubles as a chapel, indoor and outdoor walking paths and a salon. 

Paul Novak, Goshen Care Center Joints Powers Board Chairman, told the Goshen Cattlewomen last week that Evergreen Plaza  will help fill a hole in Goshen County’s senior care system and allow residents to remain in the local system for an additional six to eight years. 

“When we’re in Evergreen, it costs around $2,000 a month and we had no assisted living,” Novak said. “What happened to the people in Evergreen Court, when it was time for them to move, the only option they had was the care center. If they did that, they went from $2,000 a month to $6,000 a month, which is huge. All of the patients and residents at Evergreen Court are private-paying. 

“What we can do now, with this program, is keep people between six and eight years longer in assisted living instead of having them make a choice on where to go. The choices aren’t very good. They can go home with their family, or they can go 30 miles down the road. I’ll tell you, we want to shut that road down. At one time, it was costing about $4,000 a month for a personal room.”

Novak told the assembly that Evergreen Plaza will feature three types of rooms at different price points. The most affordable rooms will be studio rooms, while the deluxe rooms will feature more space and amenities.

The new facility, which will be built in a vacant lot on East D Street directly next to Evergreen Court, will have four unique ‘neighborhoods’ consisting of clusters of the different-sized rooms. In all, there will be 30 rooms in the facility to support up to 60 residents. Novak said the rooms will feature convenience kitchens with microwaves and refrigerators, bath areas, heating and air-conditioning with dedicated thermostats, TV and internet. 

“We’re not building floors or levels,” he said. “We’re building communities. There will be four communities in this facility.

“We are taking reservations. There are about 18 on the list. There are 30 rooms, but there are couples. I think out of that, half of them might be couples. I really feel that in a year or so we’ll be able to shoot for 50 in the 30 rooms.” 

The community and neighborhood concepts will continue throughout the facility. Novak took the assembly on a virtual tour of what the facility will be able to offer its residents. 

“When we leave our neighborhoods – and by the way, we call it a neighborhood because a lot of the people are from neighborhoods and they understand the camaraderie of a neighborhood,” he said. “That is a nice concept that we want to keep going. 

“When we leave the neighborhood, we are going to go down Evergreen Main Street. If we’re going to have a neighborhood, we have to have a community center. We’ll have a nurse’s station. When you’re in assisted living, there is going to a nursing facility right there. 

“As we go down Main Street, the first thing we’re going to run across is a chapel and a theater. We’re going to have 25 stations to watch a movie, then we’ll turn the chairs around and we’ll have a chapel.”

Next up on Main Street will be what Novak called one of the key components of the new facility – the dining room.

“People tell us they don’t like to cook and they don’t like to shop,” he said. “We’re going to have a nice dining room. We are going to have quality food. We’re going to be serving three meals a day. There will be a no-menu breakfast, where if you want scrambled eggs one day and you want pancakes the next day and waffles the next day, you’ll be able to get that.”

Essentially, the facilities at Evergreen Plaza will allow residents to enjoy being social and active. 

“Wouldn’t it be nice if on Friday we had a nice, wonderful dinner, maybe a glass of wine, and go and watch a John Wayne movie?” Novak said.

In addition to the aforementioned, the facility will also feature a fitness room which is being built in conjunction with North Platte Physical Therapy, a large multipurpose room and the Great Room, which will be like a large living room, Novak said. 

“We can do all sort of things,” he said. 

Novak said the facility will be open and ready for residents 16 months after construction begins.

“I get a little impatient because I think we should have a shovel in the ground,” he said. “Our contractor says we can’t build now anyhow, so don’t panic. It will probably be 16 months when we have the grand opening.”

The facility will add between 26 and 30 new jobs to the community, between the kitchen, maintenance of the facility and nursing staff.  Novak said the project will utilize local contractors and was financed in a joint deal with four local banks. 

“It’s about an $8 million-dollar project, and over $5 million will stay in Goshen County,” he said. 

“With this, we will have every level of care covered, which is great for the size of the county we have. At one point, we got calls for reservations from every community in the county. This is not just a Torrington project – it’s a Goshen County project.”