By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
No more hand-me-down digs for Wood County’s senior citizens.
Later this month, the staff of the Wood County Committee on Aging will be moving from the old post office building on North Main Street to their new home at 140 S. Grove St., Bowling Green.
Seniors will follow as soon as COVID regulations allow.
“This community deserves this. This county deserves this,” said Dr. Nancy Orel, a Wood County Committee on Aging board member. “What a wonderful way to come out of the pandemic – to this.”
The new 38,000 square foot building is more than twice the size of the current senior center, which is 107 years old and has been cobbled together to try to meet the needs of local seniors.
The new site has more space for yoga classes, pool games, matinee movies, art classes and bingo.
The price tag for the facility, built by Mosser Construction, is $7.9 million.
“We stayed within our budget,” said Denise Niese, executive director of the Wood County Committee on Aging.
“It’s just absolutely beautiful and it will serve the needs so much better than the current building,” said Colleen Smith. “We’re excited to get in.”
Unlike the current location, the new center has a reliable elevator, an adult day services area, and 84 parking spaces. It has space so staff won’t be bumping into each other while they work, and so seniors can spread out and socialize.
Upon entering the building, seniors will pass a gift shop and reception area – then view a grand stairway to the right, and a large cozy gas fireplace to the left. Books and coffee will be waiting for seniors gathering in the coffee lounge.
“I just want a comfortable space where the people can sit and enjoy,” Niese said.
At the other end of the hallway, a large dining room will be able to serve 217 at a time, compared to the 114 limit at the current senior center. A massive screen can be lowered for programs.
“No one will be able to say they can’t see,” Niese said with a smile.
Off the dining area is a huge shiny kitchen – able to cook evening meals and furnish food for special events.
“It’s a cook’s paradise,” said Nadine Edwards, who serves on the Friends of WCCOA.
The building boasts five sizable activity rooms, with two downstairs and three upstairs.
There is a fitness room – “this will fit 20 yoga mats,” Niese said.
There is a pool room, which Niese prefers to call the billiards room, lest someone think they splurged on a swimming pool.
“The guys are asking about it,” she said of the fellows who meet regularly to play pool.
There is an art room, with windows facing the south since the artists requested better natural light.
And there is a “comfort room,” with a wall full of movies and a popcorn maker.
To meet an unmet need in Wood County, the senior center will have an area devoted to adult day services. That area will have a different entrance, and will feature a sensory room to give seniors a break from others, and an outdoor patio.
“We just wanted them to feel like they are sitting in their backyard,” Niese said.
The adult day services will be able to handle 24 people. The Alzheimer’s Resource Center in Toledo has offered to provide the day services. Currently, local residents needing adult day services have to travel to Toledo or Findlay.
Upstairs are more activity rooms, plus office and storage space. Some office space has been dedicated to the BGSU Optimum Aging Institute, which will be teaming up with the senior center at the site.
In the open basement, there is room for future growth, with ideas already being tossed around about shuffleboard courts.
The building has a gas operated generator to keep the center functioning if the power goes out. It has systems to melt snow off the sidewalks approaching the building. And it will have functional WiFi – unlike the current site.
“People will be able to sit down and use their devices and not worry about getting booted off,” Niese said.
“This is a miracle,” Edwards said as she toured the site on Tuesday. She served on a team that helped select items like the paint colors and flooring for the new facility. “It’s such a relief that everything worked out.”
Edwards noted the large lounge fireplace plus the sunlight and views that will greet people in the dining area.
“It’s going to make people happy,” she said.
Niese agreed.
“I’m hoping they will be pleased and excited,” she said. “We’ve got space now to offer different activities. So we want them to let us know what else they would like to see.”
The next step may possibly be offering weekend activities, Niese said.
Senior center staff will be moving into the new building on March 22 and 23, and begin training on the phone systems and get their computers hooked up.
Volunteers will be trained to greet people at the reception desk.
“We want some ambassadors at the first desk, welcoming people,” Niese said.
