By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life. It is the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President

Consider what makes a fulfilled life.

Lay them down in front of you – moments and emotions - as if they are rare pearls discovered in oyster shells. 

Give each of them a name.

When Harmony at Hockessin, a new senior care residence on McGovern Road, welcomed its first four residents in late August, it had already burnished the following words found in Harmony Senior Services’ core mission into the fabric of what it wished to achieve, before even one person had moved there.

Movement and motion. Curiosity and culture. Feelings and fellowship. Clarity and purpose. Compassion and connection. Leadership and volunteerism.

To walk through the Pike Creek Bistro and the Ashland Courtyard and the Marshall Steam Living Room and the Tweeds Tavern at Harmony at Hockessin is to see these words not just used as marketing tools but as active verbs, and as each new resident begins to call it home – as each resident turns their pages to begin a new life -  the power of those words magnifies the magic of what is happening there.

‘One family committed to yours’

When Harmony founder James R. Smith began his company in 1982, he did not start by speaking to potential investors and visiting boardrooms – many of whom had never lived in a senior care facility - but rather, to those who actually lived there, to hear for himself what they wanted most from senior care living. Now the 48th Harmony senior living community in the United States and the third in Delaware, Harmony at Hockessin is a model for other senior care centers to follow.

“We have a strong brand development team that looks at market needs, demographics, geographics, and a lot of this is done through analytics, but then when you get to really evaluating where Harmony would next develop in Delaware, it came down to the fact that this is a great stake in the ground for this community,” said Harmony at Hockessin Executive Director Frank DeMarinis, who has been in the senior care profession for the past 35 years, dating back to when he was a student at Villanova University. “I have never been associated with a senior care living facility of this size that doesn’t have to partner with an investment fund or the stock exchange. But Harmony doesn’t answer to anyone but the people who live here. It is a family-run business – the Smith family - one family committed to yours.”

When it comes to the necessity of senior care, Harmony at Hockessin’s highly trained medical support team provides 24/7 individualized care, on-site physical and occupational therapy and for its memory care residents, they are enrolled in Harmony Reflections, Harmony’s signature memory care program. In addition, residents receive transportation to and from routine health appointments, and when a hospital visit is necessary, Harmony at Hockessin is conveniently located near hospitals and medical centers.

At Harmony at Hockessin, the amenities that a resident used to drive to are tucked within the framework of its design: a full-service salon, chapel, movie theater, two libraries, three game rooms, a bistro pub, a fitness center, a billiards parlor and seemingly at every stop, a cozy fireplace or a quiet nook to enjoy a good book or a great conversation. 

In senior living, location is everything, at Harmony at Hockessin, residents are within a few minutes’ drive to Lantana Square, local houses of faith, area restaurants, the Hockessin Athletic Club, and Chester County, Longwood Gardens, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and downtown Wilmington are all within 20 minutes of home.

At many senior care living residences, the social calendar is exclusively created by its staff, but at Harmony, the residents are its architects. During any given week, Harmony hums with activities as far ranging as participation in cancer and Alzheimer’s walks, book clubs and bird walks and even group knitting clubs that distribute hand-woven blankets to area nursing homes.

“When we first meet someone who is looking to begin the next chapter of their life, what we hope to hear and we often do is a desire to find a residential match that is more about nurturing their spirit of life as well as receiving medical care,” DeMarinis said. “What we often hear is, ‘I want to be in a place that provides great medical care, but I am really looking for a community that has a lively spirit that offers me options.’ 

“We embrace the culture of involvement, to see the people who live here not just in their apartments and coming out for a meal or two a day, but at the Hockessin Library or the Hockessin Athletic Club or enjoying a great meal at a local restaurant.”

Spacious living, smart options

Throughout the course of many people’s lives, it is often one defined by progression, transformation and migration, carved out of circumstance and necessity – from a childhood home to a college dorm to a starter home and then to a larger home. For anyone considering the concept of adding another chapter to that litany of residences, the idea of moving to a senior are facility is sometimes a traumatic experience – the possibility of moving from a four-bedroom home with a yard and a garage – now ancient with memories - to a new apartment in a new place.

Harmony at Hockessin is an open door that allows each of its residents to bring the life they have lived and the home they have lived in…there, with spacious independent living, assisted living, and secured memory care neighborhoods, in a wide variety of one- and two-bedroom pet-friendly apartments that feature garden patios, nature trails, restaurant-style dining and a packed, resident-driven social calendar that encourages active participation. In total, the residence offers 72 independent living apartments - which have been completed - and 70 assisted living apartments and 32 memory care apartments, which are scheduled to be completed in 2026. 

Harmony at Hockessin also fulfills another need: each apartment is a rental model, which provides residents with more financial flexibility.  

“I have met with so many people who are considering senior living who tell me, ‘I am in generally good health, but I don’t want to put down $500,000 at this stage of my life,’” DeMarinis said. “That’s a big admission ticket price. There is a need for rental models that are still at that high service level that before you could only get through a buy-in, and newer communities are beginning to see that niche. 

“Senior living communities are required to have larger apartment styles, more parking and more staff, but the payoff is in having a service satisfaction level that is superior to more traditional senior living models.”

Currently, Harmony at Hockessin is already at 60 percent of its capacity.

“That alone speaks to the need and the desire, because independent living is more of a want than a need,” DeMarinis said. “This is evidence that people are looking for an affordable option than the buy in option – fulfilling the need that is out there.” 

‘Enriching the spirit and celebrating life’

A common misperception about senior living is that when a new resident arrives at a senior care facility, they resign themselves to the belief that their best life is behind them. Contrary to this tired adage, there is a slogan on Harmony at Hockessin’s website: Your best life is waiting for you.

“You are not defined by your house or your things,” DeMarinis said. “You are defined by your memories and the fact that you are continuing to embrace life. What we want people to do is engage in their next chapter and not have us engage for them. 

“The words contained in our mission statement are part of the culture we want to attract. The more people you attract into your fold - friends and families and community members - the more self-fulfilling you become. Being at Harmony is about inclusion, enriching the spirit and celebrating life.” 

Harmony at Hockessin is located at 621 McGovern Road, Hockessin, Del. 19707. For additional information, visit its website: www.harmonyathockessin.com.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].