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Heritage of Green Hills Breaks Ground on State-Of-The-Art Health Care Center

by Heritage of Green Hills

May 04, 2021

The Heritage of Green Hills, a healthy lifeplan community in Shillington, Pa., celebrated the official start of construction of a new state-of-the-art Health Care Center with an exciting event featuring local leaders, current residents of the Personal Care neighborhood, and a bevy of senior poms cheerleaders — the Heritage Hotties.

This new personal care and memory care building will enhance the retirement community’s already comprehensive and popular offerings; The Heritage earned both the Berks County Living’s Best of Berks Award and the Reading Eagle’s Readers’ Choice Award for four years in a row.

The new building, which is set to open in summer 2022, will feature 70 spacious personal care and memory care one-bedroom and studio suites. Each home will include a private bath with top-of-the-line fixtures. The personal care suites will be among the largest assisted-living-style homes available in the market. Each one will include a kitchenette with deluxe finishes.

The Health Care Center’s concrete and steel construction will feature wide hallways and oversized windows to allow for an abundance of natural light and afford residents picturesque views of the community’s scenic 78-acre campus.

Residents in both personal care and memory suites will enjoy all the benefits of the Heritage of Green Hills’ community-wide Well by Design program. Personalized activities, programming and services in this mind, body and spirit initiative focus on eight dimensions of wellness — social, physical, intellectual, emotional, vocational, spiritual, environmental and health services — to empower residents to live rich, fulfilling lives.

“We’re very excited about the ways in which the current Well by Design program for personal care and memory care residents will be enhanced by our relocation to the new Health Care Center,” says Melissa Oley, Marketing & Admissions Liaison for Personal and Memory Care. “We’ll have inviting outdoor and multiple bright and airy indoor locations for visiting, gatherings, dining and activities.”

Among those who spoke at the groundbreaking were: Pa. State Senator Judy Schwank; Pa. State Representative Mark Gillen; Berks County Commissioner Christian Y. Leinbach; Heritage of Green Hills Executive Director Doug Walther; Christopher Conley, Managing Director of Lapis Advisers, LP whose company owns The Heritage; and the owner’s representative, Certus CEO William Haase.

Several other county and township officials were also in attendance, including Berks County Commissioner Michael S. Rivera; Cumru Township Manager Jeanne E. Johnston; and Cumru Township Commissioners William B. Miller, Ruth A. O’Leary, David Batdorf, Chip Bilge and Samuel Kalbach.

To ensure that the event adhered to local and community COVID-19 guidelines, most Heritage residents watched the groundbreaking live via Facebook and in the comfort of their own homes or at small “watch parties” in the community’s public gathering spots.

“Though it was important to keep our gathering relatively small, definitely did not want anybody to miss out on today’s excitement,” says The Heritage’s Well By Design Director Cheryl Anderson. The entire Heritage of Green Hills community, including its residents, staff and their families have spent more than a year working together to keep everyone healthy and safe, but still connected to each other and their friends and loved ones in the area and beyond.

The Heritage Hotties, the community’s cheerleading squad, were among the independent living neighborhood residents who did attend in person. As the epitome of the community’s young-at-heart attitude, they shook their blue and gold pom-poms as the ceremonial shovel went into the ground.

“Today is a great day for the Heritage,” says Heritage of Green Hills Executive Director Doug Walther. “We are always adapting and evolving to better serve our current and future residents, but the new Health Care Center is a big leap forward and certainly cause to celebrate. That having been said, we can’t wait for next summer’s grand opening, when the entire community should be able to get together for a big party!”

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