The most innovative amenity at the new CopperStone Senior Living community will be the staff.
The new community is 72,000 square feet on a 62-acre property located on the west side of Fox Crossing. There are plans to expand the facility once it is fully occupied.
When the doors open on the company’s second residence in the Fox Valley, care levels for assisted living and memory care will surpass other communities.
“We planned to get ahead of the curve and develop a high-care setting for people with complex needs that 10 years ago would have been in a nursing home,” said owner Nicole Barrett. “Our caregivers are the heart of our building.”
The facility has 56 assisted living units and 20 memory care units and is staffed by one full-time RN and two full-time LPNs. The nursing staff is scheduled so there is skilled care 24/7 and there are plans to add additional nursing staff. CopperStone plans to create 50-55 additional jobs.
The community will provide specific on-site care to limit the need to transport residents to outside clinics or hospitals. CopperStone nursing staff provide the following care among other services:
- Staff is trained to perform onsite lab/blood draws which are then sent by courier to labs, and care givers automatically update residents’ physicians.
- Nurses coordinate wound care for residents with a third-party provider.
- Diabetic foot care is provided on site.
- Nurses coordinate medication changes directly with residents’ physicians and pharmacies.
- Catheters/Ostomy management is taken care of onsite.
- The CopperStone chef maintains certifications to safely provide therapeutic diets.
Locating the expanded facility in a rural area was intentional to provide care for residents in smaller communities outside of the Fox Cities. Both Aaron and Nicole Barrett are from small towns and realized the challenge for rural seniors and their families.
“Many small towns don’t have the level of care seniors need, causing seniors to move to big cities despite wanting to stay in country setting,” Barrett said. “Because we worked in rural health care, we know It’s hard to operate a successful community in a small town, because you need significant capacity to cover overhead.”
The new facility has one-bedroom and studio apartments with private bathrooms, full-service dining, coffee bar, library, private spaces, walking trails and a covered patio within an enclosed courtyard for memory care residents.
Residents will start moving in Aug. 10.
