I started with Lutheran Home and Harwood Place in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin 33 years ago as a high school student working part-time in the kitchen. It was there that I discovered how much I enjoyed working with seniors.
I went on to earn my degree in social work and spent about eight years working in our adult day program, where I had the opportunity to work with individuals with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other needs. After earning my master’s degree in business management, I moved to Harwood Place and served in several roles across the organization before becoming executive director about six years ago.
Having worked in so many different areas has given me a unique perspective on our organization and the people we serve. Today, Lutheran Home and Harwood Place provide a full continuum of care and senior living in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, from skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitation to adult day services, memory care, independent living and assisted living.
Through all those services, one of our biggest priorities is making sure our community feels like home. Residents should feel safe, comfortable and, most importantly, connected to those around them. The physical environment plays an important role in that, too. Everything from lighting and accessibility to dining and common spaces can impact a resident’s day. That makes renovating a senior living community both exciting and challenging.
When we began planning our recent renovation at Harwood Place, we partnered with Catalyst Construction, a longtime partner of our organization that understands the unique considerations of working within an active senior living community.
A Construction Site That’s Also Someone’s Home
One of the biggest challenges in senior living construction is balancing the need to improve our buildings with our responsibility to the people who live and work here. Our residents still need their routines, meals, activities, care and social connections throughout a construction project. We also must consider residents with mobility needs, vision changes or cognitive changes and make sure we adapt to meet their needs.
Most importantly, we must remember that this is someone’s home. It’s a construction project, but it’s not happening in an empty building. That perspective guided us throughout our recent renovation at Harwood Place.
The project was an opportunity to think about what the next generation of residents will be looking for and how we could make an already beautiful community even better. We created a grander entry, transformed our library into more of a destination, refreshed our dining room and created an art gallery to showcase the work of our many resident artists. We also created a dedicated chapel and significantly enhanced our wellness spaces with an aerobics room, fitness center and physical therapy gym.
Wellness is such an important part of our residents’ days. We have daily exercise classes, and these new spaces reflect the shift we’re seeing toward helping residents remain active, healthy and independent.
Planning Around the Resident Experience
When you’re renovating an occupied senior living community, safety has to be built into every phase. For us, that meant secure construction barriers, clear and accessible walkways, dust and noise control, and making sure floors remained as even as possible for walkers and other mobility devices. It also meant anticipating how changes to familiar pathways could affect residents who had lived at Harwood Place for 10 years or more.
We learned early in the process that it’s key to anticipate challenges rather than reacting to them. We worked as a team to identify residents who might need additional support. If someone couldn’t make the longer walk created by a temporary route, for example, we made sure wheelchair assistance was available. We paid close attention to signage and regularly checked in with residents and families to make sure they understood changes.
We also found ways to maintain the services and activities that are important to residents. During one phase, we temporarily relocated our salon so residents could continue receiving services without having to leave the community. We modified programming spaces so we could continue offering a full daily activity schedule without eliminating the groups residents love. It required a lot of scheduling and coordination, but maintaining that sense of normalcy mattered.
Bringing Residents Along with Us
Communication was just as important as the physical planning. Before construction began, we surveyed residents about which spaces were most important to them and incorporated that feedback where we could. They’re the ones living in the space, so having their input was really important.
We also held town halls to prepare residents for what was coming, provided maps and explained the plans for each phase. Every Friday throughout the project, we sent communication outlining what had been accomplished that week and what residents could expect the following week. Residents really grew to look for those updates. It allowed them to be part of the process, helped build excitement and ultimately gave us their buy-in.
Catalyst found other ways to make residents part of the transformation, too. They created windows in the temporary walking tunnels so residents, families and staff could watch the progress happening on the other side. Rather than construction simply being something happening to their community, residents could see their new spaces taking shape.
Finding a Partner Who Understands the Environment
Our relationship with Catalyst has been longstanding. They have played an important role in helping our organization transform over the years and remain viable in the community, including building Elaine’s Hope, our memory care community.
What stood out during our Harwood Place renovation was that Catalyst truly understood the environment they were working in. From our earliest conversations, safety was the number one priority. Their team involved our leadership and staff from the beginning and focused on understanding the needs of our community rather than approaching Harwood Place as simply another construction site.
That collaboration also improved the project itself. Our renovation was originally planned in three phases, but through conversations with Catalyst and our architect, we moved to two phases to shorten the overall construction timeline.
Having a consistent, full-time Catalyst superintendent on-site was also a game changer. Our superintendents truly became part of our team. Residents and staff knew them and understood their role in the construction process. They kept us updated, communicated when something needed to change and worked with us to minimize disruption.
There were times when plans needed to adapt. At one point, for example, we determined that completing some flooring work during second shift would ultimately be better for residents and staff. Having a construction partner willing to listen, pivot and problem-solve with us made those adjustments possible. Throughout the project, I never felt that changes were simply happening around us, we were always part of the conversation.
What Senior Living Leaders Should Look For
For other senior living leaders considering a renovation, I would encourage them to spend time thinking through the resident experience before construction begins. Walk the hallways that are going to be renovated and look at the project through residents’ eyes. Where are meals going to be served? How will families access the building? How will walking patterns change and when they are temporarily relocated, have the emergency egress doors been maintained throughout all phases? What will residents see and hear every day? Those details matter because they can eliminate frustration before it happens.
When interviewing construction teams, I also recommend specifically looking for experience working in occupied spaces and asking about their plans for resident safety, noise and dust control, accessibility and daily traffic patterns. Just as important is collaboration between the construction team, architect, leadership and frontline staff from the very beginning of planning through completion. We know our community. We understand our residents’ needs. A strong construction partner brings its own expertise to the table and works with us to find the right solution.
As senior living continues to evolve, our industry faces the challenge of modernizing physical spaces while meeting changing resident needs and expectations, all while balancing aging buildings and rising construction and operating costs. But there’s also a tremendous opportunity to rethink how our spaces support independence, social connection, accessibility and overall wellness.
At Harwood Place, that’s what this renovation was ultimately about. We weren’t changing our community simply for the sake of change. We were investing in the spaces that help our residents live well today while preparing to serve the next generation. And throughout that process, the most important thing was never losing sight of the fact that this isn’t simply a building. It’s home.
Learn more about how Catalyst Construction partners with senior living organizations to navigate complex projects and create spaces designed for the future.
Learn more about Harwood Place and its commitment to creating a vibrant, welcoming community where older adults can live well and stay connected.
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