Spokane Valley-based Orchard Crest LLC, which operates as Orchard Crest Retirement Community, is preparing for a flood of baby boomer retirees by offering multiple levels of care and new amenities.

"A lot of the current residents, their wants and needs might be a little different than that younger resident coming in," says Susanne Lunt, chief operating officer at Orchard Crest. "It's always kind of a challenge of how to balance that and meet the needs of the changing clientele."

Orchard Crest was established in 2000 by Jaclin Smith and Norm Lunt, Susanne Lunt’s husband. The property is ranked as the No. 4 largest retirement community in the Spokane area, according to the Journal's annual Largest Retirement Homes list, published Sept. 25. It currently has 238 residents in independent, assisted-living, and memory care residences.

Lunt, who’s been at Orchard Crest for 17 years, says the company is focused on providing options to residents with changing care needs.

“You can stay in your three-bedroom apartment with the fireplace and the wraparound deck and get that care, or if you feel like you want a little smaller environment, then living in our assisted-living portion of the building might better suit that particular person,” she says.

 Orchard Crest, located at 222 S. Evergreen Road in Spokane Valley, has 132 employees, including 53 caregivers, who provide meals, health care, and entertainment to residents. 

Orchard Crest opened in August 2000 offering independent and assisted-living units to seniors initially. The company has since expanded with the addition of a memory care facility about four years ago to provide residents additional care as they age.

“This was built specifically for people with memory care, and so the colors are chosen to be calming," she says. "The lighting is unique, because it's controlled by a computer program and is made to change with the time and day.”

Orchard Crest uses the Best Friends approach in its memory care facility, a method of care specifically designed for individuals with memory loss or dementia that’s an accumulation of the industry's best practices, Lunt says.

A variety of providers, including in-house occupational, physical, and speech therapists also are available to provide care to residents who need it, she says. 

“(Medical professionals) get to know our residents and their unique needs and care for them over their time with us,” says Lunt.

A community relations staff member facilitates communication between residents, their families, hospitals, and the retirement community to provide a high level of care to residents with health issues or those who receive treatment at a hospital, Lunt adds.

Jacki Schmick, director of marketing for Orchard Crest, says that outside of meeting resident's health care needs, the company is also focused on building up the community around their interests.

“Our motto is, ‘It's your life, it's your home,’” Schmick says. “We tailor our building and change with the times as people's desires and wants and needs change.”

Residents take surveys and participate in town hall meetings to give feedback about what amenities and activities they’d like to see. For example, after receiving resident feedback, Orchard Crest opened a bistro on the property five months ago, Schmick adds.

Other amenities at the property include an indoor pool, scheduled activities, libraries, a choir, and outings to events.

“People can participate as much as they want or they don't have to participate at all if they don't want,” Lunt says. “People go to concerts and the orchestra, they may go to plays, they may go to a museum. So it’s a pretty wide variety of things."

Orchard Crest celebrated its 25-year anniversary in August, but Lunt says its longevity in the community hasn't been without challenges. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic caused major shifts in how care was provided in a high-risk location such as a retirement community.

“COVID was a very difficult time, and that really called on us to hone our creativity and how to make the situation more pleasant and try and mitigate the impact of restrictions that were put on communities like us,” she says.

Schmick says Orchard Crest has something to show for 25 years of operation.

“It's very rare that any community that offers assisted-living or skilled facilities receive a deficiency-free survey, but we just received our second,” she says.

A deficiency-free survey shows a retirement community passed a random, in-depth inspection by the state of Washington in which no shortcomings in care are discovered. Orchard Crest received their second in August of this year.

Going forward, Lunt says her goal is to stay on top of changing regulations to keep Orchard Crest deficiency-free.

“Currently, we're just assessing what we feel the community may need and how it may fit into our existing community right now,” she says. “There’s been some real changes in regulations, and so we have to have an eye on current operations to make sure that we can meet all those changes.”