The Resident
Community
SJ gains more senior housing at former convent
to release book about son this month
ByMary Gottschalk
The former convent of the Sisters of the Holy Family in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood is once again a home--this time for seniors.
The Roman Catholic sisters who once lived there, adjacent to the still-operating St. Elizabeth's Day Home they founded, moved out long ago. In 2004, the order sold its 28,223-square-foot building to Self-Help for the Elderly.
Now SHE has completed a four-year, multimillion-dollar renovation and has opened the Kwok Yuen Assisted Living Facility, joining the M.T. Liang Senior Center, which opened in November 2007.
Antonia Tu, who chaired the $2.5 million fundraising campaign, is the person who first spotted the convent and urged SHE to buy it.
"I've been involved with Self-Help for the Elderly for 20 years. I helped to bring it to the South Bay, starting in Palo Alto, Cupertino, Santa Clara and now San Jose," she says.
The Tu family donated $500,000, in honor of Antonia Tu's parents, Lee Chun Kwok and Lo Kwei Yuen, for whom the center is named.
SHE's roots are in San Francisco's Chinatown community, where the group started in 1966 as a "War On Poverty" program.
It has grown and now serves more than 25,000 seniors in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara County, 90 percent of whom are low-income and from minority communities.
Beverly Karnatz, manager of the new facility near to Willow Glen and the Rose Garden area, says, "What makes Self-Help very unique is, yes, we started in a specific ethnic community, but because of the skills of our staff and the quality of our services we were able to expand.
"Now we have centers throughout San Francisco and our staff speaks not only many dialects of Chinese, but we also speak Russian, Cambodian, Tagalog and Spanish. We're very diversified in that way," she says.
Karnatz tells of one client who had looked at many facilities, trying to find the right fit for her mother.
"She needed to find a place that spoke Cantonese, and many just speak Mandarin," Karnatz says. "As a person ages, they want things that are familiar and they feel comfortable with, including their original language, even if they do speak English."
Karnatz says it may seem contradictory that an organization with the mission of helping seniors maintain their independence operates an assisted living facility, but it's not.
"It just provides that little extra help where they can still be somewhat independent. It's not a nursing home," she says.
There are no nurses on staff, and residents can't be bedridden. The facility does plan to accept a few patients with Alzheimer's or dementia, and there are pull cords in each room to summon assistance if needed.
Karnatz says the fact the senior center is in the same building gives residents more options when it comes to activities.
There are six rooms that have private baths and 40 rooms that share a bath between adjoining rooms. Shower rooms are on each floor, and one floor has a Jacuzzi bathtub.
Each wing has a specific color that is found in the hallways and on one wall inside each room. The furniture is also color-coordinated, although residents may opt to bring in their own furniture.
The hallway carpeting has a subtle pattern change at each door, signifying where the entrance is.
Colors, carpeting and fabric choices were made by Teri Pollard, an interior designer who volunteers with Design Response, a nonprofit agency that works to improve environments for nonprofit agencies and schools serving the needy.
"Design Response is a wonderful agency," Tu says. "I heard about it and wrote a proposal, and the designers volunteered their time. They got vendors to donate or give at cost; otherwise we couldn't have these facilities."
Pollard says, "We maximize the budget from one to 10 times."
On the wall by each resident's door is a frame to hold their photo and their name.
There are small sitting rooms on each floor set aside for visiting families or residents who prefer a quieter spot than the larger day rooms and senior center.
Laundry and housekeeping services are provided for residents, along with all their meals.
A large central courtyard, which is undergoing landscaping, provides a visual break between the residence wings and the center.
The M.T. Liang Senior Center is named in honor of the mother of Eva Jones and Flora Zee, who donated $300,000.
It includes a variety of classes, including citizenship, nutrition and English as a second language, as well as activities such as karaoke, social dancing and exercise.
There's a large room with a television and tables for those who want to do picture puzzles or play mah-jongg or cards.
A key part of the senior center services is the nutritional lunch program offered at noon on weekdays.
Helen Yuen, director of the nutrition program, says the lunches are free to anyone. If they can pay, a donation of $2 for those 65 and older is suggested, and $5 for those 64 and under.
The lunches of Chinese cuisine have proven popular with residents of Chai House, the Jewish senior living facility down the same street.
Karnatz says Western food has been tried, but it wasn't popular with Asians or non-Asians who attend.
Among those attending the recent dedication of the facility was Doris Guinasso, a former member of the Sisters of the Holy Family religious order.
"I lived here from 1964 to 1967, then I transferred to Southern California," she recalls. "There were about 35 sisters here then, but they're slimmer in numbers now because a young person can do the same work as a lay person.
"I loved my religious life and the religious community."
Throughout the transition from convent to senior center and assisted living facility, Guinasso came every day to make sure all the windows were closed and doors locked at the end of the day "to protect the building."
"I volunteer now," she says. "I want a reason to get up in the morning."
Guinasso takes pleasure in remembering the still operating St. Elizabeth's Day Home next door and how the convent has transitioned into a senior center.
"I see children dropping their parents off here in the morning now, when it used to be parents dropping their children off next door," she says.
Kwok Yuen Assisted Living Facility and M.T. Liang Senior Center, 1050 St. Elizabeth Dr., San Jose. For additional information, visit www.selfhelpelderly.org or call 408.961.7073.
