"We have promised ourselves that we shall always treat our residents as we would our own loved ones. Nothing less than our best will do."
This is a simple promise that the staff at La Villa - and throughout Emeritus Senior Living communities - has shared since 1986, when our assisted living community first opened its doors. It's a simple promise to be compassionate and kind, understanding and respectful - a promise to become extended family to the seniors entrusted in our care and to our retirees who have chosen our community for its active lifestyle.
The Perfect Location
Located in Roswell, New Mexico, La Villa offers the best of all worlds. We’re on the north end of the town, right off Main Street, close to great shopping, boutiques, doctors’ offices and several hospitals, including Eastern New Mexico Hospital just two blocks away. In addition, there are many churches in the area, and a grocery store sits catty-corner from us. Yet we’re surrounded by beautiful countryside, including dairy farms, pecan orchards and acres of green chilies. Given the natural beauty of the area, our wonderful weather – ideal for people with arthritis – and many activities geared to seniors, it’s not surprising that Roswell has become a popular retirement destination.
Roswell is a thriving community of 50,000 people in the southeastern corner of New Mexico. While we are three hours in any direction to get to another major town, there’s so much to do right here, it’s easy to never leave! On Saturdays, we load up our van and take residents to the local Air Base, which is open once again. Many of our residents and their families worked at the base and thoroughly enjoying visiting. Roswell also has several parades each year, including our “Alien” parade on July 4th weekend. The parade, which residents never miss, is held in tribute to the “Roswell Incident,” which occurred on July 2, 1947 when a "flying disc" crashed during a severe thunderstorm, leaving behind material that local officials concluded was of alien origin. The International UFO Museum is also a big draw, even with the locals, as are the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art and the Roswell Museum and Art Center, with its collection of paintings by Peter Hurd, Henriette Wyeth and Georgia O’Keefe. Throughout the summer, we take residents to craft fairs and to our local farmer’s market. And harvest time is a wonderful opportunity for residents to visit area pecan orchards. Roswell is an “All-American” retirement city – the ideal location for anyone wanting to take advantage of our wonderful dry southwest climate.
A Wonderful Selection
At La Villa, we offer three different living arrangements. For our independent residents, we provide 12 large two-bedroom, two-bath stucco condominiums, each with a full kitchen, washer and dryer, fireplace to ward off the chilly days of winter, one-car garage and a small patio. In addition, residents are provided weekly housekeeping and three meals a day (served in our assisted living community), and all maintenance and landscaping is taken care of for them. The condos are located just down the street from our two-story assisted living community. Here we have a total of 80 senior apartments, including studio and one-bedroom units, decorated in warm southwestern colors. Each has a small kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave and sink; a large wheelchair accessible bathroom with a roll-in shower; individually controlled heat and air conditioning; and an emergency call system. In addition, most of our assisted living apartments offer many windows, ceiling fans and plenty of closet space. The monthly rent also includes weekly housekeeping, three meals a day and all utilities including cable (except landline telephones). Our memory care community offers 23 double-occupancy studio apartments, each with closets and private bath (although showers are in a separate area for safety reasons). All residents are welcome to decorate their apartments in any way they wish, including bringing in their own furniture. All well-behaved pets are welcome; in fact, many of our residents’ dogs and cats roam around our community and are loved by all! We also have a beautiful aquarium and birds in cages in our lobby.
As visitors, residents and staff first walk into our lovely two-story assisted living community, they are greeted by a sweeping staircase with a magnificent chandelier. There are several common rooms for residents to enjoy, including our spacious library/sun room, where our Bible study group meets. The library is located at the end of a hallway and has windows on three sides to take advantage of the gorgeous desert light. We also have a TV room, which is furnished with a large pool table and big-screen television. This is where many residents play games, enjoy Saturday movie nights and eat lunch with a local church group, which comes to our community once a month for our terrific food and great company. Our lovely dining room features a cozy corner with a fireplace, couches and a piano.
Often outside musicians entertain residents during mealtime. In our communal activities room, residents are almost always engaged in some kind of game – they especially love bingo – and downstairs, there’s a corner devoted to residents who love to put puzzles together. La Villa has its own beauty salon, which is open every day. Residents also have their own personal post office boxes.
Surrounding our assisted living community are beautifully landscaped grounds with many mature trees, sidewalks all around the community for those residents who love to walk, and benches outside for residents to sit and enjoy the warmth of the sun on their faces. Our Rose Garden, used by assisted living and memory care residents alike, is fully secured to keep residents safe while enjoying the outdoors. La Villa is truly an oasis in the middle of the desert!
Strong, Caring Professional Relationships
La Villa is proud of the relationships we have fostered with many healthcare providers in the community and we communicate frequently with area physicians in private practice, our local hospitals and even the pastors at our residents’ churches. In addition, for the convenience of our residents, we can arrange for physical, occupational and speech therapists as needed to provide therapy services at our community. As necessary, we also work with three wonderful Hospice groups in town that provide support and medical services in the resident’s final time of need. This is not only a great comfort to the families, but to our staff as well. We love our residents, who we consider part of our family. Being able to keep them here – instead of having to transfer them to skilled nursing – means the world to them and to us.
Our Staff
Numerous employees have been at La Villa more than nine years, including our Dietary Director/Chef, several of our caregivers and even our van driver, who has been working here for eight years. Because many of us have been together for so long, we work well as a team. We all support each other in order to make sure our residents are taken care of properly. We get to know our residents – their likes and dislikes – and we have fun together!
Our staff truly cares about the people we are honored to serve. They are wonderful, outgoing and loving people who make it easy to love them back. Every day, we remind ourselves that this is their home – and they have allowed us to take care of them. Because we are mindful to put ourselves in our residents’ shoes, we do everything we can to make sure their years with La Villa are productive, enjoyable and rewarding.