Assisted living community derailed by the pandemic now is opening under new ownership

Among the many things the coronavirus pandemic derailed were plans that some local physicians had to open Fremont HomePlus near 21st and 127th East.

The first of what were to be three buildings at the assisted living community was supposed to open in early 2020, but the group didn’t move forward.

“COVID came along, and they decided that it was too much of a liability . . . because they all have other practices,” said Jim Guarino, CEO of a new company that is now opening the renamed Comfort and Love Senior Care Homes.

Bryon McNeil, a representative for the Fremont group, didn’t return a call for comment.

Guarino, who is based in Nashville, Tenn., called the property a great opportunity in the just the right spot of an upscale area of Wichita with “very, very pleasant surroundings,” including a pond on the property.

There are two buildings so far, each about 7,500 square feet on a single level with room for 12 residents each.

“We’ve literally just opened, and we don’t have any residents yet,” Guarino said.

As soon as the first building is what he called stabilized, Guarino said work will begin on a third building, which likely will be by fall.

Comfort and Love offers memory care assisted living that is focused on residents with what Guarino called brain change. He said people who going through brain change do better in smaller communities and controlled surroundings.

With a lot of assisted-living facilities, he said residents have to leave their rooms and perhaps walk down a 90-foot hallway, take an elevator and then walk further still to get to a cafeteria. That compares to Comfort Homes where residents can walk out of their bedrooms and be mere steps from a dining room where caregivers who know them well are ready to serve them.

“That’s home versus a facility,” he said.

“This whole residential model is something that is beginning to sweep the country,” Guarino said. “Bigger developers don’t always want to do smaller homes. That’s what makes this unique.”

Comfort and Love will have a staffing ratio of 6 to 1, which the group said compares to an average of 15 to 1 in the industry.

Guarino said a lot of homes like this don’t offer private bedrooms or full bathrooms as Comfort and Love does.

He said the Fremont was “a purpose-built project very much in line with what we do.”

His partners include his brother, David, who is based in New York. When their mother needed care, Jim Guarino said that’s when they started learning about available options, and that ended up being his career. He’s on the board of the Residential Assisted Living National Association and has written books on senior housing.

Missouri-based Joseph Greaves also is a partner and president of the group, and Becky Papa will be the on-site executive director of Comfort and Love.

Comfort and Love is not a medical facility, although it has a director of nursing and 24-7 access to physicians.

Cost of care will be based on what residents need. Guarino said Comfort and Love is competitive but on the upper end at $7,000 to $9,000 a month.

While people who choose to remain in their own homes can pay for caregivers to stop by, Guarino said home health is only the first line of support. For round-the-clock help, he said, that kind of care quickly becomes out of reach compared to what Comfort and Love can offer.

Also, Guarino said, “Many times people in their homes, they become secluded because they’re not able to get out.”

Comfort and Love is working on the details for an event within the next month or two “to help families understand how to deal with family members going through this and how they can manage it,” Guarino said. “It’s something that resource wise, people don’t know where to go.”

He said his team “would like to do another whole project about the same size” in another area of Wichita.

That’s after this one is much further along.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”

Still, Guarino said he believes “there’s a huge need” for homes like this in Wichita.

“There’s just not enough of it here.”