Wired for the Internet.
Wired for a medical emergency.
But even more than that, each of the 155 new apartments at Rhoda Goldman Plaza is wired into a senior living experience that will be the first of its class — and not just locally.
“It will be the only facility of its kind in the entire country,” boasted Anita Friedman, the executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services.
When the seven-story, $37 million complex opens in August at the corner of Post and Scott streets in San Francisco, its uniqueness will be due to a combination of factors:
*It will be the only Jewish assisted-living facility in San Francisco, and one of a scarce few in the Bay Area.
*Located in the same complex as JFCS, it will have a tight relationship with the agency, which provides extensive social services for seniors as well as other age groups.
*In a city devoid of Jewish neighborhoods, a mini-Jewish enclave will blossom in the Western Addition, four blocks from Japantown.
*And though not meant to inspire “I’ve fallen and I can’t log-on” jokes, each of the building’s rental units will be wired with emergency pull-cords as well as with computer hookups.
“The community has always dreamt about having an assisted-living facility for seniors,” said Marianne Nannestad, executive director of Rhoda Goldman Plaza. “This is an absolutely spectacular project.”
Jerry Levine, executive director at the Jewish Home in San Francisco, praised the plaza as a landmark development.
He said the private facility will fill a major void, offering Jewish seniors an option other than home care or nursing homes.
“The plaza plays an important role in developing a continuum of care for our Jewish elderly,” Levine said. “It provides a home-like atmosphere for those aged who require light to moderate care. It’s a great program.”
The average age of residents is expected to be 85, and the level of activity will vary. Some people will be fully ambulatory but some will be using wheelchairs, walkers or canes.
Some will be able to do most things on their own but others will have attendants for assistance with bathing, dressing or getting around. Residents can also sign up for a medication-reminder service.
The hope is that most people will eat dinner in the dining hall — although room service is being offered — and many will take part in a wealth of activities such as shopping trips, art and crafts, computer classes and trips to the symphony.
Although people as young as 60 are welcome, no one below the age of 70 has yet to sign up. Of the applicants so far, the oldest is 96.
“Is this a Del Webb property and will people be out playing golf? No,” said Vivian Fragiacomo, the plaza’s director of resident services. “It will be a mixed population. Some people will need assisted living now, and others will need it a few years down the line.”
Perhaps the complex’s top drawing card is the strong link that will be established between residents and JFCS.
If, for instance, a resident needs some help paying bills, JFCS will be able to provide that service. And that is just one small example.
“There’s probably no service that the elderly need that won’t be provided for them right there in the complex,” said Friedman, citing the Help-At-Home program and counseling as further evidence.
Friedman added that she is also quite eager to get many of the future residents involved in volunteer work for JFCS.
“This is not just an assisted-living center located on a campus somewhere. It’ll be integrally linked to a whole social service system,” Friedman said. “There is no urban community in America that has a complex like this.”
There are other assisted-living centers in the country, and even the Esther and Jacques Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living in Danville offers assisted living.
But what makes Rhoda Goldman Plaza different is its connection to the JFCS. Other factors that make it different are its urban location and its sense of community.
Seniors at Rhoda Goldman Plaza will be served kosher meals only, and will have access to van service taking them to Jewish cultural events. There will be an on-site sanctuary and a part-time rabbi, with Shabbat services and facility observance of Jewish holidays.
Jewish-oriented senior institutions exist all over the country, but until recently most of them have been for the elderly who cannot take care of themselves.
However, in the past few years, as Americans live longer and healthier lives, the concept of assisted living as a new approach to senior living has caught fire.
“Any housing option that allows people to remain independent for as long as possible, even if it’s not in the home, is a real plus for the community,” said Steve Gold, president of the Goldman Institute on Aging, an S.F.-based agency that researches senior issues and provides services for the elderly. It is not affiliated with the new Rhoda Goldman Plaza.
The state-licensed residential care facility will accommodate about 175 tenants. As of this week, $1,000 deposits had been made on about 70 units, although no units have been assigned yet.
Each prospective resident must go through a medical assessment to determine whether she or he is a good fit for the complex.
Most of the applicants have been Jewish, according to a plaza marketing official, although the door is legally open to anyone and some non-Jews have recently made deposits.
Among the Jewish leaders excited about the plaza’s opening is Rabbi Malcolm Sparer, the president of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California from 1977 to 1996. He also served as the rabbi at the Jewish Home, a convalescent home in San Francisco, for nearly six years.
“The whole concept of a place for seniors who don’t need a skilled-nursing facility is wonderful,” said Sparer. “I think that this will be the future of senior care all over the United States.”
Sparer said he is thrilled about a community of Jewish seniors “who can still manage on their own, who can go downtown for a cup of coffee with friends. It can be very depressing to be in a facility where the majority of people are ill.”
Sparer credited Friedman for “having the foresight to provide this type of facility to the community.”
Located at 2180 Post St., Rhoda Goldman Plaza is a joint project of JFCS and the Mount Zion Health Fund but is run by a board that is separate from both entities. The total project, including moving costs for JFCS and other ramping-up costs, cost $50 million, half of which was raised by the Jewish community.
The complex is named after the late Rhoda Goldman, a community stalwart and philanthropist who died in 1996.
A politician-studded groundbreaking ceremony took place in October 1997, attended by Mayor Willie Brown and nearly every San Francisco supervisor. Another big splash will occur Oct. 29 at a grand opening for the 210,000-square-foot complex.
Seniors will live on the third through seventh floors, with the fourth floor reserved for residents living with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Each floor will have a small nursing station.
The lower two floors will include office space as well as amenities such as a dining room, a cafe for light snacks, a beauty parlor, a workout room, a library and fireplace lounge, an art center and a chapel.
A pamphlet touts a “light-filled atrium” and “warm Mediterranean colors.” There is also a garden courtyard and a state-of-the-art security system.
Nannestad, the plaza’s executive director, detailed the high-end furnishings and decor. “It’s an absolutely beautiful building. People who have seen it are blown away.”
“It’s a very spiritually inspiring and enriching place,” Friedman agreed.
Though under the same roof as the assisted-living area, JFCS headquarters will be in the Miriam Schultz Grunfeld Professional Building. It is named after an enthusiastic former JFCS board member who died in 1994.
Rent at Rhoda Goldman Plaza will start at $3,300 per month for a studio with a basic package of services. A two-bedroom unit with a basic package will run about $4,300 per month. All living quarters are unfurnished.
The basic package includes two meals per day, with additional costs for such amenities as units with better views, housekeeping services, a third meal per day and assisted-living services.
Each unit will have a kitchenette, equipped with a sink and refrigerator but no stove. Residents can add a microwave or other appliances if they desire.
Medicare will not cover anything related to assisted living, Fragiacomo said, but people might be able to qualify for reimbursement if they have a long-term health care supplement. Some financial assistance will be available.
Rhoda Goldman Plaza differs from other local Jewish facilities.
For example, both the 140-unit Chai House in San Jose and the 149-unit Menorah Park in San Francisco offer independent living only. Moreover, Menorah Park is mainly for low-income seniors who rely on federal housing subsidies.
The Jewish Home in San Francisco operates on the other end of the spectrum, offering skilled-nursing care or extensive medical care for all of its 425 residents.
There are many assisted-living facilities for seniors in the Bay Area and around the country, but most of them don’t have a Jewish orientation and some of them are much more expensive.
That’s a big reason why people are so eagerly awaiting the opening of Rhoda Goldman Plaza.
Yet another reason is that 155 more units of any kind — assisted living or not, Jewish or non-Jewish — will help ease a senior housing crunch in the Bay Area.
“It’s certainly a welcome addition to the community,” Gold said. “But I’m certain that Rhoda Goldman Plaza is going to fill up rather quickly — and then we’ll have a housing shortage again.”