Ohi - 279 Essex sits on Essex Street in Brewer, Maine, and provides several types of care and housing for older adults, including assisted living, memory care, independent living, and skilled nursing care, so people here get help based on what they need as they age, and the staff stays present day and night to help with daily needs like bathing, dressing, medication management, meals, and moving around the building, and they keep an eye out for safety too, especially for those in the secure Memory Care Unit, which is set up for seniors with Alzheimer's and dementia with special activities and extra support. Everyone gets a furnished apartment-some with a semi-private arrangement, others with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms, in-law apartments for extended family if needed, and all have large living areas with wood floors and a natural gas furnace for heating, which makes things comfortable and home-like, and those little touches go a long way, as do telephones, cable or satellite TV, and Wi-Fi to help with keeping in touch and passing time. The staff helps do the housekeeping, laundry, and makes sure the community and rooms stay clean, and scheduled and all-day dining is available in a nice dining room, with attention paid to special diets like diabetes-friendly or allergy-sensitive foods, and there's a lovely garden and walking paths where folks can relax, plus outdoor activities from the Nature Trek program, scheduled community events, movie nights, and activities for everyone to get involved-though it's hard to say just how often those happen based on what's given.
The facility brings in resources for mental health and addiction prevention, and Kathryn Maietta LCSW offers virtual concierge therapy sessions, with a focus on anger management, stress control, self-esteem, and improving daily life and relationships, and because it's a nonprofit community-based agency, they work on helping those with autism, intellectual or developmental disabilities, and offer crisis stabilization support, case management, and even help with finding jobs or returning to work, which is more support than many other senior communities can offer, and the Ohi team runs supported residential and transitional housing programs for people who need extra help, so some folks live in shared arrangements or with host families too. Transportation gets arranged for doctor's visits, and there's parking, laundry, help moving in, and emergency alert systems for peace of mind, and the place is run by a staff of more than 550 people-so it's a rather large operation with a social services side and health care, and they have fundraising events throughout the year to keep these services going. Ohi - 279 Essex aims to cover physical, emotional, and social needs and while some amenities like social programming look a bit uncertain from the information, the place clearly welcomes people at many points in their life, and gives them privacy and help as needed, which is something many folks value a lot as they get older.
