A first glance, the 25-acre campus at San Joaquin Gardens in Fresno, California, appears more like a display garden than a retirement community. It’s actually both.
As a continuing-care retirement community (CCRC), San Joaquin Gardens has four levels of care: independent residential living, assisted living, health care center, and an Alzheimer’s/memory support service as well as Home Care services to the greater community. As a beautifully landscaped campus, it allows residents to participate in gardening activities and provides a beautiful place for all who come to the facility.
Operated by the American Baptist Homes of the West (ABHOW), San Joaquin Gardens currently has 313 housing units. A large renovation project underway will significantly increase that number and add several new amenities, including a variety of dining venues and activity centers. Tom Walls, director of facilities, has been with the community for 16 years. He manages six departments—maintenance, grounds, housekeeping, custodial, security and transportation—for a total 41 employees.
“Landscaping is a huge part of San Joaquin Gardens and one of its key guiding values: to create beautiful gardens that enhance the health, welfare and quality of life of our residents,” Walls explains. “We have a staff of five full-time grounds personnel who are busy year-round looking after the overall facility and tending to the landscape needs of residents.”
The only CCRC in Fresno, San Joaquin Gardens is one of 10 such communities operated by ABHOW. The minimum age of residents is 62, but the average age is 84 when looking at all levels of care—and it’s getting higher every year. In fact, the community was on the national news a couple of years ago for having the oldest living twins in the country. They were 108 years old.
“It’s been proven that living in a total care facility like this can add four or five years to an individual’s life,” says Walls. “Over my 16 years here, there has been a significant paradigm shift among the elderly. People are living longer and healthier lives, minimizing the demand and need for higher levels of care.”
One thing hasn’t changed, Walls adds. “ABHOW is committed to maintaining the gardens and green space that are so fundamental to its mission and the well-being of the residents.” The renovation project will be completed with that fundamental value in mind. There will be new garden areas that may include roof top green space and atriums.
Garden Paradise
“As you can see, the landscape has California redwoods, ash and a variety of other trees, including an orchard area with cherry, apricot, almond, plum and fig trees,” reports grounds manager Craig Medaris. “Residents also enjoy a rose garden and nearly a dozen other small gardens that highlight the campus. Our crew plants 400 flats of annuals three times a year and we mow seven acres of fescue turf.”
A former CalTrans employee, Medaris also worked for the state department of correction for 10 years as a vocational gardening instructor prior to joining Walls’ staff last year. As he explains, the campus is divided into quadrants (to provide a more personalized service to residents) and each of the groundskeepers oversees a section. On mowing days, or when the grounds department fertilizes, overseeds and provides other common services, they team up to get the job done.
Medaris points to the two-year-old Walker in the corner of the shop. “We now mow once a week on Wednesday,” he adds. “The Walker is ideal for picking up leaves and it maneuvers easily around garden beds and trees. Two of us mow, two edge and one other person uses the string trimmer. When we’re done, we tidy up the sidewalks.
“We alternate tasks so everyone gets a chance to use the Walker, including our most experienced operator Homero Carrillo,” Medaris continues. “He has been with the Gardens 16 years, while the Gardens have used Walker Mowers for 17.”
Carrillo doesn’t mind playing second fiddle to the mower’s tenure. “The Walker Mower runs smoothly, makes tight turns and helps us keep the campus clean,” he says with a smile. “I like running it, and it is reliable. I especially like the hydraulic lift and dump. We don’t use the lift as much as we use the hydraulic dump, though. On mowing days, we dump the grass clippings on tarps located around the campus. That saves us time running back and forth to the recycle bin.”
“This is actually our fourth Walker Mower,” adds Walls. “It is powered by a 20-hp engine and features a 48-inch GHS deck. We just retired the first Walker we purchased. Throughout its 17 years of service, it was very reliable with virtually no downtime or serious service issues. In fact, we’ve never had a serious service or repair issue with any of our Walkers.”
A mower doesn’t get the same use at a retirement community that a contractor would give it. Still, being used 16 hours a week all year long for most of its life adds up to a lot of mowing for the recently retired machine. Because it is used in tandem with a Toro Z-Master, the new Walker only works an eight-hour week. “That, too, is a good machine,” says Walls, referring to the Toro. “It’s no Walker Mower, though. If you put the two machines side by side and ask our grounds people to choose the one they want to use, it’s always the Walker. If our budget permits, we plan to purchase a new Walker with a 42-inch GHS deck next year.”
Customers First
Both Walls and Medaris emphasize that their role first and foremost is to provide excellent service for the residents. “Safety is of paramount importance here,” says Medaris. “We need to keep the walks clear of any kind of debris, and the first thing we do every Monday morning is police the grounds and check all pedestrian walkways.”
Walls walks the entire campus every day, checking and double checking to make sure everything is in place. “We have a lot of vegetation and new construction in our midst,” he relates, “and there’s just a lot of activity. Many of our residents maintain their own gardens. They enjoy a waterfall and Koi pond, the many interior courtyards and the gazebo lawn. There’s a health club, wood shop and community center, while a trolley service transports people around the campus. Residents can call transportation for a limo ride to area retail outlets, doctors’ offices and other places within a 20-mile radius.”
As Walls emphasizes, San Joaquin Gardens provides exceptional amenities, health care and other services for its residents. By promoting health and wellness, the landscaping is an extension of this service offering.
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