JONESBORO - Moving day is coming soon at St. Bernards Villa, a new Level II Assisted Living facility with a separate and secure memory care center.  The first residents will begin arriving within the next couple of weeks.

This week St. Bernards hosted community open houses so that Jonseboro area residents could get a look at the residential complex before the official “move in.”

Located at 2217 West Parker Road, The Villa is designed for seniors who can benefit from a higher level of assisted living care than previously has been available locally. It has a total of 75 one- and two-bedroom apartments, with 45 of those in the assisted living part of the facility and 30 in the secure Bill Rainwater Sr. Memory Care area.

Residents will enjoy spacious living areas, parlors and dining rooms, an activity rooms, card parlor, a theater built as a safe room for inclement weather safety, a chapel, a beauty/barber shop and spa, country store, ice cream parlor, on-site healthcare provider clinic, outpatient physical therapy services and more.

One of the features at The Villa is a rehabilitation therapy clinic that can be used by both Villa residents and others in the community who use physical therapy services and find the Parker Road location more convenient. The clinic has a pool for aquatic therapy with a treadmill built into the floor so that patients can take advantage of warm water that helps relax muscles and increases blood flow to injured areas as they do low impact, low stress exercises.

The Rainwater Memory Care area, named in memory of the late Bill Rainwater Sr., is a separate and secure facility specifically designed for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. It has its own entrance and will be operated by a staff specially trained and certified in dementia care.  It is divided into two “neighborhoods” with 15 apartments each so residents can live and function within small nurturing groups to foster a sense of community and encourage involvement of family and friends.

The memory care community has its own courtyard and gardens, lobby areas, dining rooms, activity rooms and whirlpool tub

It is the only facility in this region that offers a dedicated memory center program within an assisted living facility.

The construction created about 160 jobs over the course of the last 14 months, and during the peak of construction, 95 to 120 workers were on site each day. In addition to jobs created during construction, another 30 to 35 or permanent jobs will be added for Villa operation. And the facility will utilize a number of local vendors and/or suppliers on a continuing basis.