After several months of renovations and only additional staff and residents left to find, Tannous Loving Care Senior Living will soon be opening its doors.

The property at 228 Mueller Lane in Waterloo earlier this year came under the ownership of Cheryl Rayot-Tannous and Jamil Tannous, known in the community for their chiropractic business and health food store.

The couple gave a rundown of the facility, describing it as “independent living with a heart.”

The facility, formerly home to the Rosedale House independent senior living community, includes 16 rooms and a central space that serves as a dining room with a nearby sitting area. 

Jamil likened the building to a college dorm with the sense of community the smaller space would promote.

Jamil also pointed to a number of amenities and features meant to keep seniors safe, particularly a slip-resistant floor in the dining area.

Speaking to their overall reason to open a senior living facility, Cheryl – who has lived in Waterloo her whole life – described a desire to give back to the community, especially given the hardships of the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We feel like it’s our turn to give back to the seniors,” Cheryl said. “All the things that they lost due to COVID and the things that went on the last few years, we don’t want to see that going forward. We want to see them loved and cared for and valued.”

Jamil spoke passionately about frustrations he experienced seeing the treatment of seniors in care facilities during the pandemic.

He said policies intended to quarantine and protect seniors from COVID ended up keeping them from interacting with their family, which only managed to hurt their mental health.

“Let’s not forget what COVID did,” Jamil said. “It put these people in a depressed state. Let’s not forget that. Let’s not forget that what we did to them set them off to where they didn’t even feel they had any worth.”

While Cheryl said the facility would observe pandemic guidelines and requirements, the couple noted that a focus of theirs is ensuring that their residents are still connected to the world.

Cheryl said they are already considering ways of bringing the community into the facility or taking residents out into the community more frequently than other senior living facilities.

“We really want this community, the Tannous Loving Care community, to be a vibrant part of the community,” Cheryl said. “We don’t want it to be its own little circle where they come in and they never go anywhere.”

They both also spoke about their goal to keep residents healthy and active, with quality food and learning opportunities for residents a particular focus for Jamil.

The couple placed special emphasis on the sense of community they hope to achieve in the facility, noting that seniors ought to be able to maintain relationships with those close to them.

“This is a new type of living center where people are not here to die. They’re here for another chapter of their life,” Jamil said. “I want them to live, not be, ‘This is my last stop.’ And I want them to feel that this is part of their family.”

The facility will officially open Dec. 22 with personalized tours available.

For more information on Tannous Loving Care Senior Living, visit tannouslovingcare.com.