LA Times Feature

Originally appeared in LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2023-01-20/hoag-vivante-collaborate-to-help-newport-mesa-seniors-age-in-place

Hoag and Vivante recently announced the healthcare network and the assisted living and memory care provider are joining hands in a collaboration that allows residents to age in place.

Cory Alder, president of real estate development firm Nexus, the developer of Vivante, said the complex already provides a number of services that address medical needs as directed by the individual’s primary physician and family, and offers daily living activities, medicine management and grooming. But Vivante is not licensed to provide direct medical care.

That’s where Hoag will come in.

“We believe we’re best in class in our senior housing — the assisted living and medical care — and Hoag is obviously the best in class in the medical services,” Alder said. “So, the collaboration provides what we do great for our residents on a daily basis, and then with Hoag in our Vivante Hoag Wellness Center, we can provide doctors’ offices here on site, Hoag At Home specifically.”

Through the partnership, Alder said, Vivante can offer occupational therapy, physical therapy and hospice care. He noted the neurological departments at Hoag provide both support for the memory care community and education.

“Combining both of those organizations provides a complete program for the seniors in our community,” Alder said.

Hoag staff are available full time at the two Vivante campuses in Orange County: the Newport-Mesa location on Monrovia Avenue that opened in October 2013 and the second location on San Clemente Drive that opened in late November. Officials from Hoag and Vivante said the partnership allows for residents to remain in place for critical rehabilitation and medical treatment and streamlines the transition from inpatient at Hoag to outpatient at Vivante.

“From the Hoag perspective, I think our goal is to help our senior citizens age in place and Vivante offers a great service here. I think what we’re trying to do is make it so convenient for seniors to try and receive care that there’s no excuse for them not to,” said Jeff Hammond, executive director of post-acute care at Hoag. “If they need primary care, if they need medication refills, our physicians are here and our team is here to really support the Vivante staff.”

Hammond said Hoag picks up where Vivante’s licenses end.

“Anything that is more medical in nature, we can provide that, and it’s really just to make it so convenient for the residents and to build that community … where they can stay here, can age in place and don’t have to go to a higher level of care,” said Hammond. “I think the biggest fear for seniors is going to skilled nursing or being taken out of the place they live, and we don’t want that fear for them.

The Vivante location near Fashion Island has 99 assisted living and memory care units. By comparison, the Newport-Mesa location, when it initially opened, had about 185 units. An additional 111 units opened in August 2020.

Alder estimated seniors are renting 28 units at San Clemente Drive and roughly 330 at Monrovia Avenue. Monthly rates range, depending on the size of the unit, from $5,000 to $25,000.

The community features a number of amenities that include an indoor pool, bowling alley, virtual golfing range, gym, art studio, yoga studio, a dog park and a number of dining options. Alder noted all the units were designed to be accessible and come with full-service kitchens.

The partnership comes on the heels of Vivante’s 2021 launch of its Vivante Vitality Program, an eight-week series that tracks changes in physical, nutritional, cognitive and mental health for seniors who voluntarily participate.