Thoughts of nursing care facilities often suggest stagnant white walls, grim fluorescent lights, bingo, and knitting circles. The halls are generally quiet, the silence broken mostly by the humming sounds of hushed televisions, and squeaky shoes shuffling across well-worn linoleum floors.

At Oakwood Creative Care, we strive to break away from this image. Instead, we’ve implemented an environment that offers a refreshingly welcomed breath of curiosity, independence, and, most importantly, fun! Now, we’re excited to continue offering a unique and personable approach to standard senior care practices, with a whole new look unveiled with the recently completed renovation projects at our Red Mountain Day Club.

The Red Mountain Day Club first opened in March of 1999 as an innovative collaboration with the City of Mesa in creating a Multigenerational center for the Mesa Community. The walls were stark, the flooring was colored pink and scattered with areas prone to increasing fall risks, and the space was overall limiting to the accessibility of our Members. After 22 years of serving the community, it was time for an update.

Thanks to the Community Development Block Grant, our adult day center was provided with $42,000 to enhance the aesthetic and function of the Red Mountain Day Club and, with the combined efforts of the City of Mesa and Streamline Development, reconstruct its floor plan into a space more supportive of our mission of enhancing quality of life, promoting safety, and encouraging self-sufficiency in seniors and those with age-related issues such as Alzheimers and dementia.

One of the first renovations made included fresh flooring that replaced the pasty pink and damaged linoleum with soft and evenly smoothed wooden walkways, perfect for Members and guests who often utilize wheelchairs and walkers.

In addition to improving the functionality of the flooring within this space, dated partitions were removed from the bodywork for optimal accessibility and flow.

By removing these partitions and reimagining the potential offered by the spaces within the Red Mountain Day Club, we were able to include a quiet lounge room, perfect for soothing relaxation and refreshment.

As many of our Members spend most of their day interacting within our clubs, we also felt it necessary to improve upon the kitchen area within the Red Mountain Day Club. With help from Streamline Development, renovations made to the club were rounded out with the installation of the crisp, clean, white storage cabinets generously provided by HG Cabinets Direct, as well as sleek marble counter spaces and an open island top.

Furthermore, the inclusion of bright, cheery paint replaced the dull colors that once spread across the walls of the club and are symbolic of Oakwood Creative Care’s fun, supportive and engaging nature.

Many of the art pieces that will soon be put on display can now be crafted within either of the two art spaces added to the Red Mountain Day Club as a part of this project. Additional art spaces mean more opportunities to implement and expand some of the many diverse and mixed media classes offered by our wonderful teachers and volunteers.