River Garden Hebrew Home celebrates 30 years in Mandarin

River Garden Hebrew Home celebrates 30 years in Mandarin
River Garden Hebrew Home moved to its current location in 1989, pictured here at the time.

A little more than 30 years ago, an exodus took place on Riverside Avenue and Stockton Street when River Garden Hebrew Home made the unprecedented choice to move 167 residents and 300 volunteers from Riverside to a new home across the river in Mandarin.

The original facility had been there more than four decades and had survived fire, expansion and changing neighborhood dynamics. Yet the residents needed a larger home and desired to join the larger Jewish community that had moved further south across the river. So, on December 10, 1989, the residents spent the day journeying across the river to a new home.

As CEO of the senior living and rehab facility at the time of the move, Elliot Palevsky recalled moving day was cold and filled with the traffic of buses and ambulances donated by NAS Jacksonville and Century Ambulance, a true feat of logistical planning.

River Garden Hebrew Home as it looked when the facility opened in 1946. The address was 2508 Riverside Avenue.
River Garden Hebrew Home as it looked when the facility opened in 1946. The address was 2508 Riverside Avenue.

“People came on buses, they were wrapped up in blankets by volunteers, they were cuddled, they were given snacks, they were spent time with,” Palevsky said. “It was an amazing community volunteer effort.” In fact, each resident had at least one volunteer partnered with him or her.

The original River Garden facility was founded in a Victorian-style manse in 1946 by a group of Jewish women with a big vision. The home, which had the official address of 2508 Riverside Avenue, was impacted by a fire in 1950, said Kari Bell, a spokeswoman for River Garden. She said rebuilding and expansion were underway from 1954 through 1959, which changed the look and function of the building into a more modern, brick and concrete complex.

Martin A. Goetz, current River Garden CEO, was with residents when they made their move three decades ago.
Martin A. Goetz, current River Garden CEO, was with residents when they made their move three decades ago.

Martin Goetz, River Garden Senior Services CEO, said relocation was a hard but necessary decision at the time. By the end of the 1980s, the Jewish community had moved across the river and River Garden was the only Jewish agency still operating on the northside of the St. Johns River. While the former facility was hallowed ground, bought for around $37,000 in the 1940s, it was also aging and too small for leaders’ vision of what it could be. The site was later sold to St. Vincent’s and is now Saint Catherine Labouré Place.

In 1947, additions were made to the original home. The Victorian-era structure was impacted by a fire in 1950 and the home was rebuilt and expanded between 1954 and 1959.
In 1947, additions were made to the original home. The Victorian-era structure was impacted by a fire in 1950 and the home was rebuilt and expanded between 1954 and 1959.

“While River Garden serves the entire community (half Jewish, half not) our philanthropic support comes mostly from the Jewish community,” Goetz elaborated.  Palevsky added that “In the ’40s in Riverside there was a critical mass of Jewish presence, but by the late 70s, River Garden was becoming an outlier (to the Jewish community). They had moved to Mandarin and Southside. And the bridge for whatever psychological reason became a barrier people didn’t want to cross. We were essentially isolating ourselves from our community.”

There was also no Jewish place of worship; Palevsky said that there was only one temple on San Jose Boulevard, and it was empty.

The move, accomplished in a single day and in time for all residents to eat dinner in their new home, expanded the facility’s spread from 3-and-a-half acres in Riverside to 40 in Mandarin. Now, 80% of River Garden’s rooms are singles and of the remaining doubles, each resident gets a window. There are no triple-occupancy rooms. The facility is also specially designed for those with cognitive impairment and is designed to reduce agitation in those who wander.

“We focused on being able to introduce programming that made use of indoor/outdoor space for folks that are cognitively impaired and to do it thoughtfully. We also knew that we wanted to be more than just the nursing facility.”

River Garden Hebrew Home celebrated 30 years at its current location. This is how the location looks today.
River Garden Hebrew Home celebrated 30 years at its current location. This is how the location looks today.

Today, River Garden offers comprehensive senior care services with independent living, long-term skilled nursing, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, adult day services and home health care. Goetz foresees River Garden expanding its home health agency as more Baby Boomers age in place in their own homes. And, should the Jewish community once again shift, the facility is now well positioned to still be among the community.

“We will continue to expand our home health agency to continue what we always said River Garden would be, a nursing center without walls,” Goetz said.

While the 30th anniversary of the move has just passed, the facility has another coming up. River Garden will celebrate the 74th anniversary in March of its founding in 1946 by a group of Jewish women, according to River Garden’s website.

By Jennifer Edwards
Resident Community News

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