At home on Hawthorne

A llama, geckos, chickens and ducks were the featured guests last week at Rockwood at Hawthorne’s fall fair.

Residents also played country fair-inspired games at the event, one of many entertainments offered at the north Spokane senior living center.

This month Rockwood at Hawthorne, formerly known as Hawthorne Manor, celebrates 50 years.

Presbyterian Church leaders wanted to create a nonprofit Christian home for elderly people where they could live active, creative lives and not fear being kicked to the curb, if they lost the ability to pay.

It was a new concept in senior living.

“If a place is a for-profit corporation, the investors are the top responsibility,” said events director Joy Morgan. “Here you take care of the people first.”

Hawthorne Manor was later purchased in 1999 by Rockwood Retirement Communities of Spokane and renamed Rockwood at Hawthorne.

Though apartment wings, gardens and 20 row houses have been added over the years, many features of the original building remain, including the front lobby library and a fallout shelter in the basement.

Residents say they appreciate the community’s comprehensive approach to care and that once they buy a life care contract and move in they don’t have to worry about leaving.

“It’s very friendly and a family atmosphere,” said Frances Jungers, who has lived there for 18 years.

On the last Wednesday of the month, residents celebrate all the birthdays that month, and they regularly get together for shopping trips, concerts and other outside activities.

When residents need more assistance than they can get in the row houses or apartments, they can move into Rockwood at Hawthorne’s health center where nursing care is available.

That can be very convenient for couples living together at Hawthorne. If one becomes ill, he or she is still living in the same facility as his or her spouse, making eating meals together and spending time together easy.

“They’re really accommodating to every phase of the aging process,” said Stella Brown.

Brown for 10 years cared for a woman living in Hawthorne Manor. She got to know the staff and other residents.

So when it came time three years ago for her to move into a retirement community, Brown chose Hawthorne.

“I knew this is where I wanted to come,” she said. “I have been very, very content here.”