The iBirkshares.com web site reports that Kimball Farms is celebrating its twentieth anniversary of continuous service.  The continuing care retirement community located in Lenox Massachusetts.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:

While there have been other Lifecare communities established in the United States previous to inception of the Kimball Farms Lifecare model, it is the first Lifecare community in Berkshire County offering residents a unique and independent lifestyle while covering their long term health care needs. Kimball Farms is now the only Lifecare community in Western Massachusetts.

As the needs of the population have changed, Kimball Farms has evolved to better serve the community. In May, 2000, PineHill Assisted Living was added to the footprint of Kimball Farms on its Walker Street campus. PineHill consists of 48 apartments and offers 24-hour services for those needing help with daily living. In 2002, the long-term care services, Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center, was relocated into the vacated Edgecomb Nursing Home on Sunset Street in Lenox. The entire facility was renovated to increase its capacity from 41 to 74 beds.

Kimball Farms continues to add services providing an even more active and social atmosphere, particularly for aging baby-boomers who expect such amenities. Kimball will soon open the “Pleasant Pheasant Pub and Lounge,” which will offer residents an additional dining option with space for socializing and relaxation.

Kimball Farms

One option that is growing in popularity for seniors are Continuing Care Retirement Communities (often called a CCRC).  These are residential communities that offer a continuum of care starting with apartments or condominiums and extending to assisted living arrangements and nursing home all located on one campus which enables seniors to remain in a familiar setting as they grow older.   Many CCRCs require that a senior be healthy and active when they enter a CCRC.

CCRCs are attractive to seniors who no longer want to maintain the burden of maintainng a house and want the comfort of knowing that they have taken care of their future housing and care needs.

In Massachusetts, CCRCs are not currently regulated (although to the extent they offer nursing home or assisted living services those would be subject to Massachusetts regulation) so there is no fixed or required set of services they offer.  Typically, moving into a CCRC requires the payment of a large upfront entry fee which can range from $100,000 to more than $300,000 and an ongoing monthly fee which can range from $1,000 to $3,000.   Often, all or a portion of the entry fee is refundable to the senior’s heirs at death or upon termination of the contract.

In Massachusetts, there are currently nine CCRCs in Massachusetts:

Applewood at Amherst
One Spencer Drive
Amherst, MA  01002-3363
Phone: (413) 253-9833
Fax: (413) 258-8423
Website: www.applewood-at-amherst.com
Google Map Location

Google Satelite Image of Campus
Description

Briarwood Continuing Care Retirement Community
70 Briarwood Circle
Worcester, MA  01606
Phone: (508) 852-2670
Fax: (508) 856-0309

Briawrood Google Map Link
Google Satelite Image of Campus
Website
 

Brookhaven at Lexington
1010 Waltham Street
Lexington, MA  02421
Google Map Link
Phone: (781) 863-9660
Fax: (781) 863-9944

Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site

Brooksby Village
100 Brooksby Village Drive
Peabody, MA  01960
Phone: (978) 536-7810 or (800) 978-7276
Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site
 

Carleton – Willard Village
100 Old Billerica Road
Bedford, MA  01730
Google Map Link
Phone: (781) 275-8700
Fax: (781) 275-5787
Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site
 

Edgewood
575 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA  01845
Phone: (978) 725-3300
Fax: (978) 725-5997
Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site
 

Fox Hill Village
10 Longwood Drive
Westwood, MA  02090
Google Map Link
Phone: (781) 329-4433
Fax: (781) 461-2464
Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site
 

Glenmeadow Retirement Community
24 Tabor Crossing
Longmeadow, MA  01106
Google Map Link
Phone: (413) 567-7800
Fax: (413) 567-7945
Google Map Link
Google Satellite Photo Link
Web Site
 

Kimball Farms
235 Walker Street
Lenox, MA  01240
Google Map Link
Phone: (413) 637-7000 or 1-800-283-0061
Fax: (413) 637-7277

Google Map Link
Website