Tockwotton Moves Into Waterfront Home

Tockwotton has moved into its new home on the East Providence waterfront.

Here’s what one resident, Selma Fischman, a resident of Tockwotton for six years, said about her new home Monday morning: “I think I’m in heaven.” 

Fischman, who was quick-stepping around the new 156-apartment facility with her walker, added: “I think I may have to dress up around here.”

You walk through the front door and it sure seems like a resort hotel.

Moving vans were parked out front on Monday morning. By around noon, the administration had joined the rest of the staff and the 60 residents who moved in on Saturday from their former 19th-century home on East Street in Providence. 

A red carpet actually was laid out for the residents to make their entrance, said Executive Director Kevin McKay. 

Tockwotton now includes 73 assisted living apartments, 41 memory-care apartments in a locked unit, 17 beds for rehabilitation, and 35 skilled nursing beds for short-term stays. Everyone has access to a café, a home theater, gym space, common space, courtyards, and views of the Providence skyline through large windows – just about anything residents want. 

The new facility, in fact, said McKay, reflects training over the past two years that focuses on “patient-centered individual care” -- not the old model of “efficiency first.”

Patient-centered, he said, as in being able to sleep in, take a shower whenever, and eat home-cooked food served to order anytime of the day. Every staff member has received training that revolves around patient-centered care, including cooking to order.

The five-story building sits on 6 waterfront acres on an 11.5-acre parcel just south of the Washington Bridge. Tockwotton has donated 1.3 acres to East Providence that will be turned into a park where the fire boat will be docked in the summer. 

“Jean Boyle, the city’s planning director, describes us as an “anchor store” in the waterfront,” said McKay. “We couldn’t be happier with the location.”

Tockwotton spent more than $53 million on the facility; it is adding 45 jobs to its payroll to fully staff the new building.

The nonprofit also has adopted a new name: Tockwotton on the Waterfront.