Senior services community is home to nine centenarians
Jacksonville’s River Garden Senior Services has nine centenarians
Jacksonville’s River Garden Senior Services, which began 80 years ago as a Hebrew home, now has 270 residents, including nine centenarians.
River Garden Senior Services in Jacksonville is home to nine centenarians, including three who are 101 years old.The centenarians credit their longevity to humor, family, kindness and staying active with hobbies.River Garden, founded in 1946, provides a range of services to help its residents age well.
Among Bess Saliman’s favorite things are chocolate and maintaining a cherry red manicure.
Celia Bialik loves laughter, playing bingo and spending time with friends and family.
And Sam Newey is keen on stuffed grape leaves and French onion soup.
Those favored activities have helped keep Saliman, Bialik and Newey alive and kicking — each of them is age 101. They live at River Garden Senior Services in Jacksonville, a 40-acre senior living campus in Mandarin that is celebrating 80 years of being home to such venerable residents.
River Garden is home to nine centenarians — Sept. 22 is National Centenarian’s Day — and CEO Mauri Mizrahi said the nonprofit works to help all its residents age well. Older adults have become one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, she said.
“We’ve been proudly serving as a senior services community resource since 1946 and we are continually evolving to meet seniors where they are,” she said.
River Garden provides long-term nursing and memory care, short-term post-acute rehabilitation and adult day care. Also, it provides residential independent senior living in a gated community on campus called The Coves.
The overall community has 270 residents, with 40 in a rehabilitation facility, 130 in long-term care and 100 in The Coves.
The keys to longevity for Saliman, Bialik and Newey vary.
Saliman, who moved to The Coves in 2007 then to River Garden’s main campus in 2021, credits “having a good sense of humor … staying close to family and following strong Jewish traditions.”
Pre-retirement, she said she was a part-time book reviewer and “mostly a homemaker.” For most of her life, she kept active through daily swimming, golf and reading and still maintains her manicures and love of chocolate.
Bialik, who formerly worked in medical records at Pilgrim Psychiatric Hospital in Long Island, has been a resident of The Coves for 16 years. She credits her long life to spending time with family and friends and the help she receives in her community.
Singing and watching tennis are longtime hobbies. Currently, In addition to bingo and laughter, she also loves spending time with her sons.
How did Newey reach age 101?
By taking life “one day at a time,” he said.
In addition to stuffed grape leaves and French onion soup, he cites “kindness and giving” as critical components of the good life.
Newey has been at River Garden for two months. He formerly worked in commercial real estate in Jacksonville and as a narcotics investor in Chicago. In World War II, he was a medic who was wounded at age 20 in a German mortar attack in France as he ran to help a comrade, according to a 2022 Times-Union profile. He received multiple medals, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
At the time of the story, he was 98 and said he never thought he would live that long.
“It’s not depressing, but it’s not as much fun as you think it is. … I go to church, I go to meetings and I’m looking around to see if there’s anybody I know, if I’m the oldest guy in there,” he said.
Founded in 1946 as a Hebrew retirement home, River Garden now welcomes seniors from all religious and ethnic backgrounds and is a multi-year recipient of Florida’s Governor’s Gold Seal Award for Excellence in Long-Term Care.
“Our staff is committed to supporting the whole person — physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually,” Mizrahi said. “The key is blending stimulating social, cultural and recreational programs with personalized medical care and resources that continually strengthen their functional abilities.”
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
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