Why Evergreen
We built the place we wished existed.
Long before Evergreen opened its doors, I had spent years working in senior living. I managed 13 assisted living communities and hundreds of employees, and saw firsthand how difficult the decisions around aging can become for families.
The gap I kept seeing
Again and again, I saw the same gap.
Many older adults weren’t ready to leave home. But staying home often meant spending more and more of the day alone — sleeping, watching television, withdrawing from friends and routines, and losing the sense of purpose that had always been part of their lives.
Their families were doing everything they could to help.
And then it became personal
When my dad needed help, I became the customer.
My father was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment after a fall led us to a neurologist. Suddenly, the challenges I’d spent years seeing professionally were happening in my own family.
Dad was living alone. He needed more structure, more activity and more connection during the day. He needed people around him who would notice whether he was eating, exercising and taking care of himself.
But he wasn’t ready for assisted living.
So I did what families do.
I started looking for another option.
I visited adult day programs with my dad hoping we’d find somewhere he could spend his days.
Instead, we often found environments that felt clinical and institutional. During one tour, we walked into a room where everyone was sitting together watching Family Feud.
My dad looked around.
“They’re watching television?!”
It was such a simple observation.
But it captured exactly what I had been feeling.
My dad didn’t just need somewhere safe to spend the day.
He needed somewhere worth going.
The idea
There had to be something between staying home alone and moving away from home.
- What if daytime senior care felt less like an institution and more like a community?
- What if activities weren't there simply to fill time, but to create purpose?
- What if there were great meals, movement, music, conversation, outings, friendships and people who genuinely knew you?
- What if families could get the support they desperately needed without asking someone they love to give up the home and community they know?
- And what if we approached all of it with the hospitality and customer service we'd expect for our own families?
In April 2024, we opened the first Evergreen in Stamford to find out.
Evergreen today
Would I want my own parent to spend the day here?
Today, that question isn’t theoretical. My dad comes to Evergreen himself.
That makes the standard deeply personal for me — and for the company we’ve built around it.
We want members to have somewhere they’re genuinely happy to go. We want families to know that while they’re working, raising children, running errands or simply taking some time for themselves, someone they love is surrounded by people who know them and care about them.
Because families shouldn’t have to choose between doing everything themselves and moving someone they love away from home.
We believe there should be another option.
We believe every family navigating cognitive decline deserves an Evergreen.
