OCEAN CITY – Assisted living facilities took on a new meaning this week, with the debut of Key Largo Villas Seniors By the Sea, a unique seniors community that offers everything from home-cooked meals to luxury units to full cleaning and laundering services.
Key Largo Villas Seniors by the Sea, located on 54th Street, held its open house Monday, providing a preview of Ocean City’s first assisted living facility and all of its unique amenities.
The four-story condominium building offers eight units with space for seven residents per unit.
“It’s very unique and really one of its kind,” said registered nurse and manager Dottie Ambrose this week.
The four-story building will be available for both assisted and independent living for seniors, providing a secure, luxury environment, just steps from the beach.
“The owner purchased the building about a year ago and he originally purchased it to sell individual, luxury condos. Of course, the market crashed, so he began looking for other options,” said Ambrose.
Realizing that an assisted living facility was absent in Ocean City, Ambrose and fellow manager Jonelle Jones were brought on board to create Ocean City’s first such facility.
The luxury units are each uniquely decorated and fully furnished, with five bedrooms and four and a half baths.
“Each unit is decorated differently, they each have something different to offer,” said Ambrose.
Private and semi-private rooms are available for the residents as well as a spacious kitchen, a dining and common area and a balcony with a calming view of the ocean.
Besides living in style and comfort, residents have the benefit of 24-hour service and supervision. Each assisted living unit maintains a registered nurse on site as well as a full-time assisted living manager.
“Usually both of us are here, but at least one of us are always here. Of course, we will add more staff as we grow,” explained Ambrose.
“We assist with all their showers and personal care, we cook all their meals,” added Jones.
Meals are just one of the amenities offered to the residents with three meals a day and two snacks provided, all cooked on site.
“We’re really unique in the fact that we really do all our meals home cooked. Its what they want really, within the guidelines of course,” Jones said.
Personal care, laundering and cleaning services, medication management service care and monitoring are also included in the facility as well as transportation. Each room is also equipped with cable and Internet.
Residents are provided with transportation for a variety of trips, whether it’s to a local restaurant, down to the Boardwalk or over to the beaches at Assateague.
Friends and family are also allowed to come and go as they please with no visiting hours or restrictions.
“It’s definitely a family atmosphere,” said Ambrose, adding that family and friends are free to join their loved ones for meals and activities. Residents are also free to come and go as they please with their families.
“That’s not going to change when we get seven people in each unit. That’s the difference here, it’s about what they want,” said Ambrose.
Monday’s open house gave interested parties a chance to tour the brand new facility and see first hand the comfort and luxury of Key Largo Villas.
“We had our open house Monday and we had a great response,” said Ambrose. “We’ve had a positive response from everywhere, from everybody.”
Ambrose noted inquires from Baltimore, New York and New Jersey so far.
While the website provides a glimpse into the units, Ambrose suggests scheduling an individual tour.
“Because it’s so unique and so different from your other assisted living facilities, you have to see it in person. Once people see it, they fall in love with it.”