Episcopal Church Home and Episcopal Retirement Services have announced some exciting changes that the ECH community will undergo in the coming years. These changes will allow ECH to continue its mission and legacy of serving older adults in a person-centered, innovative, and spiritually based way and respond to changing market trends and consumer preferences.

Every ten years, ERS undergoes what we call a Master Plan for our communities which reviews market trends and evaluates current and future residents’ needs and preferences.  The result typically leads to renovations, new buildings, and/or the establishment of new services. ECH also has a rich tradition of innovation to meet the needs of older adults in the Louisville area. Whether it was the construction of the healthcare building on Westport Road in the 1970s, the expansion of the campus to include innovative memory care neighborhoods in the 1990s, or the addition of Dudley Square patio homes in the 2000s, ECH has reinvented itself and gone through several Master Plans throughout the years. 

To undergo the Master Plan work, we assembled a team of ERS and ECH leaders and industry experts.  This team has been hard at work for more than a year defining the project's parameters, collecting data including demographics, market trends, consumer preferences, a facility assessment, and developing a plan.

We are excited to share that ECH has developed a bold vision to reimagine the campus for its current and future residents. ECH will do this by creating more intimate, person-centered healthcare households that meet consumer preferences and will be supported with dynamic programming and therapies. We will also expand the number of independent living patio homes and additional amenities not seen at ECH in the past. Based on the facility assessment, demographics, and competitive data and our desire to continue to offer high-quality care for our residents and families, we have come to the difficult conclusion that the original healthcare building is no longer sustainable, and we will be making the following upgrades to the ECH campus (refer the numbers listed below to the areas on this map that can be downloaded):

• Skilled Nursing (2): we will create smaller, more personal neighborhoods that will meet the needs of our residents should they require care. We will have two households for those that need long-term care or short-term rehabilitation. These rooms will offer the privacy residents desire but also quaint common areas for dining and activities to maintain social engagement with other residents and staff.
  
  
• Personal Care Memory Care (1): we will create a more intimate environment for residents with cognitive loss who require personal care services. The new Memory Care Center of Excellence will also feature two neighborhoods that will offer a suite of memory support services developed by ERS to keep residents stimulated and engaged.  Our Living Well Memory Support services will feature programs such as art, music, cognitive and physical therapies that are designed to meet their person-centered needs daily.
  
  
• Personal Care (3): we will feature personal care apartments, which will be constructed between the current administration/memory care building and the chapel, which will better meet the desires of consumers who have become accustomed to larger spaces and better amenities than ECH currently offers.
  
  
• New Patio Homes (4): we will add new patio homes where the original healthcare building currently stands and two new model homes (5) to the eastern side of the green space within the current Dudley Square footprint. These spacious patio homes will feature the latest in design features for older adults who are seeking a retirement community setting with the backdrop of quality personal care and skilled nursing services should their healthcare needs change. We will also build a new clubhouse (6) on the green space on the westside of the current Dudley Square footprint.  This new feature will provide a gathering area for residents to participate in activities and events and state-of-the-art wellness equipment to support our residents who want to remain active and healthy.

The cornerstone of our community, St. Luke Chapel (7), will remain where it currently sits on the campus and continue to offer interdenominational services for all of ECH’s residents and the community. Additionally, a new and exciting dining venue will be created in the administration building (8) that will cater to the entire campus and offer the latest in dining trends to our residents and guests. 

These exciting changes will begin in the Spring of this year and end in approximately three years. We will continue to provide information as the project advances. We will do everything we can to make the transition as smooth and problem-free as possible for our residents as we create a better living experience for them and an enhanced work environment for our staff.

We understand you will have additional questions about the renovations and the impacts they may have on yourself or your loved one.  We commit to meeting with our residents and family members regularly, particularly as important milestones in the Master Plan process present themselves. Should you have questions, please get in touch with Beverly Edwards, Executive Director of ECH, at (502) 736-7802 or by email at bedwards@erslife.org.

Also, click here to view a presentation from our President & CEO, Laura Lamb, which provides an overview of the ECH Master Plan.

Click on the image below to view the upcoming ECH Master Plan.

We have developed a list of expected questions for residents, family members, and staff and have created a booklet to help answer them.  Click here to download this booklet which reviews our plans, expected timelines, and more.