The new Tockwotton aims to be place to call home

HOME AT LAST: Residents Neva Hantover, Dorothy Coward and Selma Fischman (front row, from left) at the Feb. 15 grand opening of Tockwotton on the Waterfront. The five-story, Nantucket-style building took 18 months and $52.3 million to complete. / COURTESY CONSTANCE BROWN
HOME AT LAST: Residents Neva Hantover, Dorothy Coward and Selma Fischman (front row, from left) at the Feb. 15 grand opening of Tockwotton on the Waterfront. The five-story, Nantucket-style building took 18 months and $52.3 million to complete. / COURTESY CONSTANCE BROWN

(Corrected: Monday, March 11)
It had been a busy day for Eleanor M. Davis, who turned 79 on Feb. 22, as she finished moving into her private apartment at Tockwotton on the Waterfront on the Providence River, the brand-new, $52.3 million facility that features a patient-centered model of living and continuum of care for seniors.
With the help of her daughter, Jennifer Davis, from Providence, and her former son-in-law, Michael Wilson, from Narragansett, Eleanor was now mostly settled into her one-bedroom assisted living suite on the fourth floor, overlooking the East Providence waterfront.
Her artwork still needed to be hung on the walls, and a few cardboard boxes still needed to be unpacked. The boxes provided an excellent foil for Eleanor’s black-and-white cat, Maura, which darted in and out among them as she explored her new environs during the conversation with a reporter (cats and small dogs are allowed at Tockwotton).
A proud, independent woman, Eleanor settled into her comfortable armchair, wrapped in a brightly colored shawl, and talked – with the help of Jennifer and Michael – about the difficult changes in the last year that had brought her to Tockwotton.
A former psychologist in private practice in New York City, and before that, a professional model, Eleanor had suffered a stroke during the last year, making it difficult for her to speak at times. Then her husband, George, had died. She had been forced to move out of her brownstone and into a very small room at an assisted-care facility with limited facilities.
Now, thanks in large part to the intervention of her daughter, Jennifer, who put Eleanor’s name on the waiting list back in August, Tockwotton is her new home. “Everyone’s really nice here,” Eleanor said, with a smile, saying that a number of her neighbors had already introduced themselves. For Jennifer, a health care professional who works as a rehabilitation therapist, the quality of the care and Tockwotton’s philosophy of designing the new facility to serve as a home for seniors made all the difference. “I love the continuum of care,” she said, and the sense of independence and privacy.
At the recent grand opening on Feb. 15 of the new Tockwotton on the Waterfront, Jennifer sat next to Dr. Michael Fine, the director of the R.I. Department of Health, whom she first met when Fine was a family care practitioner.
More than 400 people gathered to be part of the ceremony, among them Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who praised the collaboration between federal, state and local officials to make the new Tockwotton a reality, and quipped: “Where do you sign up for the waiting list?”
The five-story building was designed by the DiMella Shaffer architecture and design firm, based in Boston and Seattle; it was built by Cutler Associates construction firm based in Worcester.
Within the Nantucket-styled facility there are 156 private apartments with private bathrooms. The facility includes a café, a pub, a dining room, a physical training room, a theater, a community room and a courtyard. Planning for a rooftop garden is now under way.
The new facility has ushered in a new household model of care, in which the residents determine how they’d like to live each day: self-determination is a personal right for residents, according to Tockwotton Executive Director Kevin McKay. The changes mean that the staff no longer adheres strictly to a specific job description. Traditional hierarchies have disappeared, with the opinions of a dietary aide and a housekeeper held in equal regard to a nurse on the care team, according to McKay. “Residents and staff alike are happier, and no employees have left because of their modified job description,” he said. Tockwotton was 63 percent full as of Feb. 26, according to Mary K. Talbot, Tockwotton spokeswoman. Thirty of the 73 assisted-living apartments are filled, 21 of the 31 memory-care apartments are filled, 13 of the 17 short-term rehabilitation apartments are filled, and all of the 35 long-term care apartments are filled.
“Were rolling in admissions to allow our newly expanded staff to become oriented with Tockwotton’s resident-centered care philosophy – and for our tenured employees to become acquainted with the new building,” Talbot said. She said Tockwotton will continue to accept new admissions as they feel ready to accommodate them. “We will be at 72 percent occupancy in one month.”
In terms of Tockwotton’s waiting list, Talbot said that Tockwotton has had more than 100 active inquiries in the past month as well as 116 people who have placed a deposit in anticipation of a future need. “Those indicators give us confidence that we’ll be virtually full in the fall, when staff is fully trained and oriented to meet the needs of 156 residents,” Talbot said.
The planned rooftop garden, to be built atop the fourth-floor, will be funded through an ongoing capital campaign. About 90 percent of the first $3 million phase of the campaign has been completed, a second phase to raise another $2 million to fund a variety of initiatives, including the garden.
Of course, in terms of what activities residents decide to participate in, there sometimes may be a gap between the enthusiasm of adult children and their parents regarding participation. Jennifer asked her mother whether she was interested in a Zumba exercise class – done in chairs – that she had seen posted.
“We can put taps on your shoes,” Jennifer suggested.
“Doesn’t matter to me at all,” her mother replied. •

(CORRECTION: The original story said that $2 million was earmarked solely for the creation of a rooftop garden. The $2 million will be used to fund a variety of initiatives, including the garden.)

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