Zoning approved for Alzheimer's personal care home and village in downtown Wilkes-Barre
Nov. 17—WILKES-BARRE — If Diane Cowman can pull it off, one of the few personal care homes in the world geared specifically for people with Alzheimer's disease would be right downtown.
The Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday approved the application for Cowman's company, Second Family Memory Care, LLC, to create the home and adjoining village with a gym, coffee shop, grocery, beauty salon and garden in leased space at 30 and 36 E. Northampton St. next to Wilkes-Barre Movies 14.
The first such facility was started in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1992 by two nurses who didn't want to send their parents to a nursing home, Cowman said at the Board's monthly public hearing at City Hall. Over the years, other facilities popped up in other countries, but not so in the United States, she added.
"Actually, it would be very groundbreaking for our area to have something like this," Cowman said.
The idea for the home came from the highs and lows Cowman experienced operating the day-care for adults with Alzheimer's around the corner.
The Board approved her application for a day-care facility in 2020. That center around the corner on South Washington Street has been thriving and growing, Cowman said. But, sadly, as some of the people progress with the disease, their families can't take care of them.
"I had five residents in this past year that left me walking and with good appetites and doing well with everything, except their cognition. And within two months in a nursing home they passed away," Cowman said. "This kind of lit a fire for me to open a residential facility for these folks to transition to where they would receive very skilled care that focuses on their disease; a small facility rather than a larger one like nursing homes tend to be."
The home would have 20 residents on the first floor, evenly split between singles and doubles. The village would be located on the second floor. It would be secure so the residents could not leave on their own. There would be three to four staff members on duty each shift, exceeding the state regulations of one staff per 12 residents, explained Cowman, who previously worked as the director of the Memory Care Unit at the Highland Park Senior Living personal care home in Wilkes-Barre Township.
"They have the ability to live a joyful life every day and go to walk over to the coffee shop per se and get a cup of coffee or read the newspaper," Cowman said of the home's intent. Residents would receive assistance from staff to maintain their quality of life. "Why can't that 90-year-old that's been baking apple pies her whole life, why can't she bake an apple pie," Cowman asked.
Judy Barr, who lives in one of the neighboring condominiums in the theater complex, raised concerns about parking. She said there were a few instances of residents having to wait to get in and out of the parking garage because they were blocked by vehicles dropping off and picking up people attending the day-care.
Cowman attributed the problem to ongoing road construction and said the contractor parked equipment in the handicapped parking space reserved for the day-care. There would be no daily drop-offs or pickups for the home, she said.
Board Chairman Leon Schuster suggested the city's Parking Enforcement or police be called if parking problems arise.
The home would require state licensing and funding to convert the space.Cowman said she requested a $200,000 grant from Luzerne County Council from the federal American Rescue Plan money allocated to the county. A decision might not come until the end of January, so in the meantime, she said, she's reached out to legislators about other grant funding and is looking at working with the Small Business Administration too.
"We don't want to wait on this. We want to get this up and moving ASAP," Cowman said.
Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.
