By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON — Primrose Retirement Community residents don’t have to step outside to visit an ice cream parlor, movie theater, pub or spa.
The independent- and assisted-living home for seniors over 65 contains all those amenities, plus a fitness room, beauty salon and game room, within its walls, added touches that Primrose home office marketing associate Abby Kroupa said “put the exclamation back in seniors’ lives.”
Primrose celebrated its one-year anniversary in Anderson with a fall festival Saturday that offered a hog roast, horse and buggy rides and a live band. The facility opened in October 2008 and is one of 25 Primrose communities in 13 states.
“It’s a retirement home,” marketing manager Christy Mudd said. “It’s not a nursing home. It’s that in-between step.”
Mudd said Primrose was like “a cruise ship on the land,” offering meals, events, social time and amenities all contained within the facility.
“We have a great time here,” Mudd said. “We’ve got amenities that most people haven’t even thought of. The littlest details, they’ve thought of everything.”
The Anderson Primrose location has 46 residents and is about two-thirds full, Kroupa said. Apartments are open to seniors with private pay and long-term care insurance and, Kroupa said, “you have to want to have fun.”
Residents can choose from different apartments when they come to live at Primrose, including ones with different bathroom, bedroom, laundry room and closet layouts. Each apartment has a standard living area, kitchen and porch. The apartments are pet-friendly.
Mudd said those already living at Primrose often jump in when she’s showing the facilities off to prospective residents.
“We will actually have our residents jump in on our tour and tell them how much they love it here and how lucky they feel that this is their home,” she said.
Kroupa said Primrose associates focus on resident care and convenience.
“We really feel that it’s just unmatched in the local market,” she said. “We really believe that family comes first. When we eat together at lunch, it’s a family coming together.
“Without the residents, Primrose wouldn’t be what it is.”
Resident George Lackey has lived in his Primrose apartment in northeast Anderson since September, decorating the walls with paintings done by his wife, Betty. Lackey likes his home at Primrose because it’s close to the nursing home where he visits Betty every day and he can check out books from the facility’s library to fulfill his love of reading.
“It’s nice facilities,” said Lackey, 91. “I like it pretty well.”
When asked what she liked best about living at Primrose, resident Geneva Boone replied, “Everything!” Boone has lived there for about eight months. The sense of community at Primrose is important, she said.
“When you get our age and have the problems we have, you hang together and look out for each other,” she said. “It’s clean, it’s neat and it has a nice staff.
“They didn’t have anything like this when my mother was this age and I was looking after her.”
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley @heraldbulletin.com.
