Life-care facility offers quality life-care for seniors

From one of the high rise apartment windows, one can see a sweeping panorama of San Francisco, which highlights the best of the city and leads the eye out over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day, one can see across the top of Mount Tamalpais to the Farallon Islands.

Downstairs, the dining rooms serves up fresh, organic food on starched cotton tablecloths. A woodshop, a sewing room, gym, library and post office are all available for the resident’s pleasure.

Sound like an upscale luxury condo? It’s actually the Sequoias, a life-care facility for seniors.

As one of three life-care facilities under the umbrella institution of Northern California Presbyterian Homes, the Sequoias has been operating out of its 1400 Geary Ave. facility for more than 40 years.

Candeice Lindstrom, the Sequoias’ director of marketing, described the non-profit institution primarily as a way to manage future healthcare costs while living in a supportive community. Lindstrom named the “unique selling point” of the Sequoias in that “if you need a higher level of care … we have both assisted or skilled nursing in the building, but your monthly fee does not increase.”

The Sequoias’ 285 apartments house 324 people age 65 or older. Many of these residents are local to the Japantown area, but others hail from as far as Somalia, Russia and Iraq.

“It’s a very representative group of people; it’s like a slice of life in San Francisco,”
Lindstrom said that the residents regularly take outings in a van around the Western Addition neighborhood – Trader Joe’s is one frequent destination – or as far as Half Moon Bay.

“If you are in a compromised health position, you can go see Muir Woods and go out,” Lindstrom said. “This is one of the beauties of living in a place like this; your life does not have to collapse, but stay rich.”

More than 200 monthly activities all contribute to the resident’s very rich lives. Classes range from mental aerobics to beginning Spanish and the inspirational aspects include rooftop gardens, a professional art gallery and resident committees. On these committees, residents join forces to advise the running of various aspects of the Sequoias such as the library or the dining room.

Lindstrom said the Sequoias’ prime location is one of its big draws for residents.

“We’re right near the cultural corridor of San Francisco: the opera, symphony, the Asian Art Museum, the library,” she said. “We have two buses on either side and you can hop on a bus and be downtown in 10 minutes. Or you can hop on the 38 and go to the beach.”

As the tallest building on San Francisco’s western horizon, the Sequoias offers spectacular views of the city. Lindstrom considers her building to be the best location to see Fourth of July fireworks and the annual Blue Angels flight show. For this reason, apartments on the northern side of the building have higher rents than those on the south side. As Lindstrom quips, you can “walk across the hall, save $20,000.”

Although entry fees of $100,000 and higher and monthly fees of $3,000 seem pricey to some, Lindstrom said she believes the Sequoias’ high level of care more than makes up for the hefty price tag.

“The great equalizer is health,” said Lindstrom, adding that resident’s monthly fees never rise no matter what level of care they need. Even if a resident needs full-time assistance, physical therapy and a hospital bed, the Sequoias will not raise his or her monthly rent.

For Lindstrom, working with the Sequoias has “given me a great perspective, I wake up everyday grateful for my health.” But being realistic, she said although the Sequoias’ physical setting is more reminiscent of life, death remains a fact in the building. It is difficult for anyone to choose a place to live out the remainder of his or her life, but the Sequoias faces the challenge head-on.