St. Louis Altenheim, which is one of the oldest senior care centers in the city, is planning an upgrade.
The facility is considering spending $2.5 million to transform its fourth floor into a memory care area. The floor currently comprises spaces for independent living, but that would be renovated into 30 beds for what's known as 'assisted living memory care'.
The care center has filed a 'Certificate of Need' application with the Missouri Health Facilities Review Commission for the project. In the application, facility officials explained their belief that the changes will help both current and future residents stay in Altenheim as their conditions progress.
The conversion efforts will also include transforming two storage rooms into a dining/kitchen area. Another storage area will be remodeled into a small room for family conferences.
The name of the new unit is to be 'The Chouteau'.
The new floor will have a total square footage of 11,370 square feet, and officials at Altenheim hope to start construction this October, with a completion date sometime in December. Nine of the facility's current residents would be eligible to move into the new space upon completion.
Altenheim officials might want to work with brochure printers to create a booklet that describes the new facility and the care available there. They could distribute the booklet to other health care facilities in the area, as well as the families of their current residents.
