Caroline Field, 84, shows her garden in a communal plot at Assumption Village.
Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois
When George Fortun, 85, moved into an Assumption Village apartment six years ago, he assumed he’d soon relocate to a unit with nursing care. His diabetes was on a rampage.
But he got better.
Fortun, who came to the University of Portland in 1950 on the GI Bill and decided to stay in the neighborhood, still lives in his flat, enjoying the mix of relationships and independence at this North Portland community for elders. He’s glad to know that, when he does need more care, he can just move across a courtyard.
Of course, not everyone experiences healing after they move in. But almost all Assumption Village residents feel a glimmer brought on by stepping out of isolation and into communal relationships.
“That’s what I came here for — to be with the people,” says Caroline Field, 84.
Field, who grew up near the St. Johns Bridge when it was being constructed in the early 1930s, also resides in one of the independent living apartments facing a quiet residential street not far from Roosevelt High School. But she’s often in the main building, listening to concerts, playing cards and sipping coffee with less independent neighbors. This time of year, she’s in the community garden plot, tending her vegetables and flowers.
In general, seniors prefer to stay in their houses as long as possible. But some are ready for something new, or fed up with taking care of the home, or just too sick. Assumption Village welcomes them all.
Greg Buzzy, administrator for four years, has observed that, no matter the reason they come, residents tend to experience a reawakened sense of adventure.
“I like to use the word blossom,” he says, listing the many activities that re-energize those who have been slogging it out alone for years: daily Mass, games, walks, outings for ice cream. Many meet old friends from childhood, or get to know that person who always sat behind them at church.
“Here, they have an outlet to get out and do things,” says Rose Marie Davis, who enrolls new residents and gets out word about Assumption. “I’ve seen people come out of depression and discover they are still vital.”
Assumption Village, on the grounds of the former Assumption Parish, was dedicated in 2002 by Archbishop John Vlazny.
Faith is in the air here and that sets Assumption Village apart from other assisted living developments in the district. Resident council meetings begin with prayer, as does Buzzy’s monthly fireside chats with residents. When someone is dying, all are called to prayer. Residents often ask each other to pray for special intentions.
There is Mass here five days a week in Assumption Church, renovated into a bright and roomy chapel with easy access for walkers, scooters and wheelchairs.
The chapel and the Mass “create community,” says Janet Robinson, a resident for the last four months. “There is a great sense of family here and it’s a spiritual family,” Robinson says.
The fundamental mission of Assumption Village is to follow the command of Jesus to care for those in need. The mission comes from Village Enterprises, which also founded St. Anthony Village, Villa St. Margaret and Sacred Heart Village in Southeast Portland.
Drawing people out of themselves and into the community is the idea behind the villages, initiated by Father Mike Maslowsky, a Portland priest.
“The fundamental dynamic of every life is its relational character,” says Father Maslowsky, pointing out that even the trinitarian God is relational. “That’s what is most profound about any person.”
When Buzzy hires staff for Assumption, he tells them about the mission and advises them that if they are just after a paycheck, it would be better to go elsewhere.
“This is a good place,” says Buzzy. “It’s truly a family. We play well together, we fight well together.”
Buzzy, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Vancouver, Wash., urges honest, straightforward relations. Staff, including chefs, are urged to mingle among residents to find out how things are going and to enter into relationship. If the chicken was succulent and out of this world, the cooks should hear it. Same goes when the green beans are too tough.
Assumption Village is full now, with a waiting list.
Medicaid is welcome here. Aside from that, apartments and rooms cost anything from $2,000 to $6,000 per month, on a sliding scale according to income.
About 75 percent of residents come from the neighborhood. Around 65 percent are Catholic.
Those who live here have a good deal of influence. Committees discuss food, ways to welcome new people and rites for bidding farewell to those who die, among other issues.
There’s a group that walks each day before lunch. On occasion a cadre of residents called the Lunch Bunch heads out for the midday meal.
Each spring, as the weather gets fine, residents hold races in their power scooters. Staff have been invited to join in the competition, but must use manual wheelchairs.
Residents go shopping two days per week. Plans call for an increase in live music offerings at the coffee shop.
Each August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the village holds a party in the courtyard, which is centered on a large Italian fountain. Around the campus are several statues of Mary in her elder years, joyful and seemingly about to be taken home, with arms outstretched toward the sky.
‘Take things as they come’
Irene Huddle, 108, has the honor of being the eldest Assumption resident. Alert and mobile, this woman voted for Calvin Coolidge just four years after women won the right to vote in the U.S. She taught school and worked in a department store, was widowed in 1930 and never remarried. She has no children but does have a great many nieces and nephews who care for her.
Huddle has always eaten lightly and is sanguine.
“I take things as they come and I’m very level-tempered,” she says. “It’s the only way to live.”
