As the Woodlands, TX-based Methodist Retirement Communities marks its 60th anniversary, President and CEO Alan Brown told the McKnight’s Business Daily that he would like to see the organization expand into serving the middle market via senior living.
MRC already offers both affordable senior housing and entrance fee continuing care retirement communities, but he would like to see MRC add some rental housing options for middle-income older adults.
The organization welcomed its first residents in 1962 and this year is marking six decades with celebrations at each of its 12 communities in nine cities across the Lone Star state.
Five of the communities qualify as affordable housing. MRC’s properties encompass the full continuum of long-term care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitations services and home health services. A 13th community is set to open in Fort Worth in May, said Brown, who joined MRC as the president and CEO in April 2020, bringing more than 27 years of experience in the not-for-profit senior living and care industry, including experience as chief operations officer for Methodist Senior Services, a Tupelo, MI-based system.
The organization’s first community came to MRC by way of a hurricane, quite literally. The faith-based operator received a gift in 1961 of a 1920s-era Galveston hotel that had been damaged during Hurricane Carla. The next year, the old Buccaneer Hotel was converted to a retirement community, first named Moody House and later, Edgewater. The former hotel opened its doors to residents on Jan. 1, 1962.
The Texas Annual Conference had chartered the Methodist Home for Older People, later to be renamed Methodist Retirement Communities, in 1958, and the gift of a suitable building turned the concept of elder care into a reality. Thirty-nine older adults, each paying $135 per month, would become the first residents of MRC.
In 1969, the organization expanded the site by adding 104 nursing beds at the Turner Geriatric Center. The expansion cost $1.75 million, with a $350,000 grant coming from the Isla Carroll Turner Friendship Trust.
In the 1960s, Brown said, skilled nursing was the sole function of the faith-based community. As times changed, MRC added additional layers of care and services. MRC is registered with the Eden Alternative, he said.
As the organization observes its 60th anniversary, occupancy at MRC is starting to rebound to near pre-pandemic levels, with skilled nursing the slowest area to recover, Brown said. Like most long-term care providers, MRC has been affected by staffing challenges, he said, adding that turnover has not been an issue, but it has been difficult to replace caregivers who resign.
