The Rosewood at Fort Oglethorpe Assisted Living Community held a groundbreaking on Thursday, May 3. Rosewood is expanding to meet the community’s needs, Rosewood executive director Connor Overbeek said. The Regency Senior Living facility is adding a Remembrance Village to its Fort Oglethorpe campus.

The senior population here and across the U.S. is increasing and therefore the demand for assisted living has grown, Overbeek said.

“We’re doubling in size,” she said.

The expansion will include a new dining room, conference area and library as well as adding residential suites, Overbeek said. Rosewood administrators say the expansion also will create about 30 more jobs. The project is expected to be complete by summer or fall of 2013. Rosewood has contracted architect Marvin Johnston and builders Darrell Starkey and Randy Lippert for the expansion, according to Overbeek.

Data released in 2010 by the National Center for Health Statistics, a CDC agency, found that four in 10 senior residents in assisted living facilities receive assistance with three or more daily living activities. The report, posted on the Assisted Living Federation of America website, states 72 percent receive help with bathing, 52 are helped to dress and 36 percent need assistance with toileting. Fifty-four percent of assisted living community residents are 85 years old or older and 70 percent are women. The average stay in a residential care community is 22 months, according to the study.

Residents in assisted living communities also were diagnosed as having two of the “10 most chronic conditions,” according to alfa.org. These conditions include stroke, cancer, COPD, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, depression, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and high blood pressure, the website states.

Overbeek said rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses has increased dramatically in the past several years, and therefore these patients’ needs also must be addressed. Rosewood’s expansion will provide memory care for residents who suffer from Alzheimer’s and other dementias, she said. Overbeek pointed to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organization that estimates the number of dementia patients around the world will triple by 2050. Two years ago, the global cost of dementia was estimated at $604 million, and is expected to rise, according to alfa.org.

Rosewood is owned and operated by Regency Senior Living based in Ooltewah, Tenn. The company has 10 senior living communities, with campuses in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, Overbeek said.

The Rosewood at Fort Oglethorpe Assisted Living Community

· Regency Senior Living opened Rosewood in 2001

· Currently serves 52 residents

· Located at 14 Fort Town Drive off Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe

· Call 706-866-4443 to schedule a personal visit