Elderly Find Help At New Assisted Living Center

Marguerite Miller keeps a memento from her 50th wedding anniversary on top of her dresser.

Her room at the Moran Vista assisted living center is decorated with Mother’s Day cards and watercolors her mother painted years ago.

The retired Spokane schoolteacher is alone now. Her husband died three years ago after 60 years of marriage.

She doesn’t manage on her own any more, so she’s moved into the assisted living center, where the staff cooks her meals and monitors her health.

“It’s nice and clean,” Miller said.

She is one of the first residents to move into the facility at 3319 E. 57th.

Down the hall, retired bus driver Ray Cox said he couldn’t live on his own after his wife died two years ago. At 87, he is crippled with arthritis.

He never really learned how to cook when he was married.

The center helps him with those basic needs.

It’s not cheap. Rooms start at $1,800 a month at this private, family-run center.

Dr. Robert Shanewise and his wife, Helen, own and operate the center with other members of their family.

One of their daughters, Katie Hunt, is the business manager, and another daughter, Habtamua Melaku, is the director of resident care.

They said assisted living centers are gaining in popularity nationwide as the number of elderly increases.

The center combines the convenience of congregate care with a homelike atmosphere. There are private and group dining areas, an activity center, a living room with plenty of easy chairs, and even a beauty parlor. The wide halls and doorways are handicap accessible.

Skylights in the ceilings create a bright atmosphere.

Residents can maintain their privacy and sense of independence at an assisted living center, Helen Shanewise said.

This month, the center is planning to open a wing for Alzheimer’s patients. The center also offers short-term respite care for a minimum of three days.

Built on a 4.6-acre site, the center opened last month with a total of 50 rooms. About a dozen are occupied so far.

Plans call for building a second phase with another 50 rooms as demand grows, Robert Shanewise said.

The single-story center was designed to blend with the residential character of the neighborhood.

“We sort of fit into the landscape,” Helen Shanewise said.

The center has 13 employees, including a staff of nursing assistants.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo