FORT MITCHELL, Ky. — The city of Fort Mitchell could become home to a new dementia assisted living facility.
The owners of the business, whose families have been affected by dementia, said this type of facility is sorely needed in the area.
Crystal Wilmhoff and Marky Kennedy have both seen up close the toll dementia can take on people who suffer from it and their families. They’ve also seen care that left a lot to be desired.
“We have made such memories with my granny. It’s been wonderful. But when you have a 14-year-old that wants to go to the soccer game, and then it’s time for granny’s dinner, you kind of have to, which one are you going to choose? It makes it hard,” Wilmhoff said.
While she takes care of her 97-year-old granny at home, Kennedy’s father passed away a few years ago at 71 years old.
“My dad being in a nursing home where it was a big box, where the ratio was like one to maybe 14 (patients to staff members), and he seemed to be unattended a lot. And I wanted something better for him,” Kennedy said.
The business partners became interested in real estate. With Wilmhoff’s background as a nurse practitioner for more than 23 years, and their family experience, residential assisted living for seniors made the most sense.
Wilmhoff said there’s a great need for one in the area.
“Currently, there are no residential assisted livings. And so the placement agents I have spoken with have told me they’re actually sending our residents here from Kentucky over into Ohio,” she said. “The problem is families aren’t going to cross the bridge to go see their families as often. So it’s just not OK for us to be sending our residents that far away.”
The two women started Sages of All Ages and are working to get all the approvals they need to build the facility in Fort Mitchell.
“It gets us very excited just to know the possibilities of what could be,” Kennedy said.
People suffering from dementia, and seniors in general, are often overlooked in society. Wilmhoff said they deserve a place where they'll get the right care.
“We’re all aging. The baby boomers are. There’s 77 million of them. Four thousand a day are turning 85 years old. Seventy-five percent of them are going to need care,” she said. “We all, at one point or another, are going to need some help with activities of daily living. So that’s bathing, dressing, medication management, all of that. So instead of being, again, in an institution, this is a home that’s safe.”
The staff to resident ratio will be about 1 to 6, which Wilmhoff said compares favorably to other facilities that often have 1 to 10 or even 1 to 20, which leads to issues.
“You just cannot take care of people who have memory issues. Because when they need help, if they forget that they can’t get up and walk by themselves, you need to have staff that are there, that know that resident,” she said. “Assisted living is also pricey. But it’s something that we want to provide and keep our seniors safe and have families feel comfortable and not guilty. And then they can be the daughter and the son again. They don’t have to be the caretaker. That’s a really difficult role to be in 24/7.”
Wilmhoff said she hopes her granny can be the first resident at the facility. She and Kennedy hope many others will join her. It’ll likely be the last place many of them ever live. Wilmhoff and Kennedy plan to provide them the best care possible till the end.
Wilmhoff said they just got a zoning change approval through Planning and Development Services. She said the next step is to go through Fort Mitchell Zoning. Then they can start building, with hopes to open late 2025 or early 2026.