Enhancing the Lives of Residents
The new Pine Run Community Center reinforces a commitment to healthy senior living.
Widely recognized for its success in enhancing the lives of its residents, Doylestown’s Pine Run Retirement Community is broadening its effort to ensure that every senior has the ability to live his or her healthiest life.
Stretching across 43 acres of bucolic Bucks County, the highly regarded continuing care community has for decades provided seniors with a sophisticated selection of home styles, the finest amenities, and enriching activities, all in an unparalleled environment. Today, it continues that legacy with the opening of the new Pine Run Community Center, affectionately known as “The Hub.”
Pine Run is reinforcing its commitment to wellness with the addition of the 37,000-square-foot Community Center, which features an auditorium, dining venues, a library, activity rooms, a fitness center, and an indoor pool.
The new Community Center is part of a comprehensive $96 million master plan that also includes renovations to the Pine Run Health Center, new cottage designs, and scenic courtyards.
“The investment in our new Community Center and all that it has to offer is a wonderful opportunity to enrich every life touched by the Pine Run community,” says Pine Run Executive Director Maria Santangelo. “Our team is proud to be forward thinking, dedicated to promoting wellness and independence, while providing exceptional care. Our interactive programs and inviting facilities offer options to best serve the needs of our residents and to cultivate a culture of healthy living. Pine Run’s goal is to be the destination for retirement living in Bucks County.”
Pine Run Retirement Community is an integral part of Doylestown Health, which has embarked on an exciting ONE VISION: The Campaign for Doylestown Health.
“Our ambitious plans invest in our best-in-class services with new facilities in heart and vascular care, critical care medicine, surgery, outpatient services, and retirement living—enhancing our capabilities across our entire health system,” says Jim Brexler, President and CEO of the nonprofit community health system. “As the newest addition to the Pine Run landscape, this community center is a refined signature space for Villagers to gather for fellowship, friendship, and fitness. Carrying on the legacy of our founders—the Village Improvement Association of Doylestown—today, we are inspiring a wellness lifestyle at Pine Run that paves the way for all we serve.”
Jim Mangol, Pine Run’s Senior Director of Healthy Living, has been at the forefront of the creation of the new fitness center. A longtime member of Senior Exercise Professionals of Pennsylvania, Mangol holds a degree in Kinesiology and is a fitness and wellness consultant. He joined Pine Run in 2018, inspired by Santangelo’s vision for the pivotal new program. Together they made the right architectural decisions so Pine Run’s team could deliver a multidimensional approach to health and wellness.
“The research is clear: No matter one’s age, it’s never too late to start or get back into physical activity,” says Mangol. “Exercise, whether it’s swimming, walking, yoga, Tai Chi, or lifting weights, is one of the best things you can do to maintain all aspects of health. From improving sleep to reducing depression and promoting overall health, a wellness program offers seniors the opportunity to really thrive.”
The 6,777-square-foot fitness and aquatic center is equipped with televisions and offers 13 fitness machines, a hotel-sized pool, and more. Fitness is highly personalized, at the individual’s own pace, and supported by caring and trained professionals.
The complementary scope of improvements to the grounds include a beautifully enhanced shuffleboard area and all-new bocce court, bordered by sweeping views of the lush landscape. Ample outdoor seating allows residents, staff, and visitors alike to take in the serenity of the quiet space overlooking a thriving pond that is home to fish, turtles, frogs, and many feathered friends. This unique area includes a greenhouse, a rain garden, and a small waterfall. The nearby deck and patio have tables and umbrellas that enable residents and guests to dine outdoors and enjoy the natural beauty.
The new heated pool brings aquatic programming to Pine Run, offering opportunities to enjoy the benefits of swimming and water exercise in a beautiful space flooded with natural light with floor-to-ceiling windows. Featuring tiles in soothing colors, the pool includes a wheelchair lift, specially designed stairs, and surrounding railings for full access. It is enclosed in a welcoming room with 12-foot-high stacked stone accent walls, decorative sconces, lighting for evening activities, acoustic block to soften the noise, and speakers for music and other programming.
To develop the aquatics program, Kevin Mallon has joined Pine Run as Director of Fitness and Aquatics. With nearly 20 years of experience in senior fitness, Mallon is a member of Senior Exercise Professionals of Pennsylvania and graduated from Ursinus College with a B.S. in Exercise and Sports Science. He will be developing several multilevel aquatic therapy classes at the always-supervised pool to meet the needs of residents. Mallon is planning programs for water volleyball and even scuba diving.
Speaking of his colleague, Mangol says, “Kevin is an extraordinary teacher. He brings a love of swimming that is never pushy or overwhelming to anyone. He is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable experience for those who are looking for water-based activities.”
Complete with mosaic tiles, specially designed benches and single-surface Corian tiled floors, the locker rooms are designed with the highest standards of style and comfort while remaining ADA compliant. In the Fitness Center’s spa-like environment, residents will find five spacious private changing rooms that can accommodate a couple who may wish to help one another, or a caregiver.
Open from 5 a.m. until midnight, Pine Run’s Community Center provides residents with four approaches to wellness:
* More than 30 group classes to select from each week, providing a communal group setting in which to pursue fitness.
* Alternatively, people can be trained to use the fitness equipment by degreed, credentialed staff and then choose to work out independently.
* A third option is to work with a professional and experienced on-staff personal trainer during routine exercise, either alone or with others.
* A fourth choice is to hire a dedicated personal trainer to work one on one.
“We will be meeting people where they are,” says Mangol, “as we move to integrate and innovate wellness options for all at Pine Run.”
Pine Run Retirement Community
777 Ferry Road
Doylestown, Pa.
(800) 992-8992
pinerun.org
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, November 2019.