JANUARY 2019

Senior living
New apartment complex opening next to Holy Martyrs
BY VANESSA DENHA GARMO
Inside Holy Martyrs church last
November both Fr. Manuel Boji
and Nohra Hailo offered a sneak
peek into the new residence being
built next to the church in Sterling
Heights. “It is an independent living
residence,” explained Fr. Boji. “As
long as one family member is 55 years
or older, they qualify to rent one of
the apartments.”
It’s been a few years since the
Chaldean Diocese built a senior
living facility. The first one – Chaldean
Manor – next to the Mother
of God Cathedral was built in 2000
with the second phase being built in
2002. There are 68 units at Chaldean
Manor.
About 50 percent of the 98 units
next to Holy Martyrs are leased and
are priced at lower than market value.
There are both one and two-bedroom
apartments along with a deluxe room
that has a bonus room. The units are
available inside the three-story building
set to open early 2019. The rooms
range from 730 square feet to more
than 800 square feet ranging from
$750 to $975 a month. Water is included
in the price. Each apartment
is equipped with appliances, granite
countertops, washer and dryer in a
carpet-free environment.
“The community here is larger
than the Southfield Location,” said
Fr. Boji. “The need is greater here in
terms of offering a senior living facility.
We struggled in the beginning at
the Mother of God Location. It was
a new concept for us. There was this
belief that people were abandoning
the parents when in fact this offers
more care for them. This does not
mean the children are not taking
care of their parents.”
Hailo, who will be moving her
office inside the apartment complex
and running the day-to-day operations,
already has a variety of activities
planned for the residents. “We
are already creating a calendar for
next year that will have monthly activities
on it,” she said. “We will host
cooking classes and exercise classes
as well as religious classes.”
The calendar will be passed out
to residents and displayed inside the
dining room, Chapel and exercise
room. The plan is to have activities
every single day. Hailo has already
reached out to various members to
lead some of the activities.
She is also considering having
cooking contests like who can make
the best pot of dolma. “We can have
so much fun and we plan to create a
great living environment.”
The facility is equipped with a
public kitchen with warming stations
where events can be held. “We are
planning for potluck nights where
each resident cooks a different dish
and we enjoy a meal together in the
first-floor kitchen,” said Hailo.
She also has outside activities
planned where she hopes to take
field trips and bus tours such as a tour
of Churches. “We want to keep our
families busy and entertained,” she
said. “We are creating a quality of
life for them.” Hailo is also considering
a bus tour to Frankenmuth, for
instance.
Currently, there are Chaldeans
living in Senior Living facilities in
the area but they are not Chaldean
owned. “This enables them to engage
with their own community members.
They are making new friends,” said
Fr. Boji. “They can speak the language
and enjoy our food and feel
like they are living in one big extended
family together.”
In addition to having a shared
kitchen and exercise room, the facility
has a chapel. “We plan on celebrating
mass there, especially in the
winter when it may be too difficult
for some residents to walk over to the
church,” noted Fr. Boji.
They had a meet and greet scheduled
for last December and will have
a ribbon cutting scheduled for this
year. The grounds also include a
community garden with a Stations of
the Cross path.
A volunteer committee of community
members with experience
in the buildings and trades helped
facilitate the project. The oversite
committee members included:
Fr. Manuel Boji, Fr. Andrew
Seba, Naji Abdal, Fadi Seman, Steve
Kranjnik, Francis Boji, and Isam
Yaldo. Architects for the project is
GAV Associates, Inc. (Ghassan Abdulnoor).
Construction management
for the project is provided by K4
General Contractor, Construction
Management is Jamal Kalabat and
Aram Palanjian.
20 CHALDEAN NEWS JANUARY 2019