Today’s “Friday’s Featured Facility” is The Veranda of Pensacola, a Florida continuing care retirement community. This means that The Veranda offers both independent living and assisted living options, which allows elderly residents to “age in place” – ie – transition from independent to assisted living as their needs increase.

According to their website, the apartments at The Veranda retirement community are spacious, modern and well-equipped one and two bedroom units with fully equipped kitchens.  Utilities and expanded cable TV are included. The amenities at The Veranda include common areas inside and out, an indoor heated pool, fitness center, and a own stadium seating movie theatre.

The Veranda provides housekeeping, linen and laundry service, scheduled transportation for independent residents and coordination of transportation for assisted living residents, a personal emergency response system and maintenance inside and out. The Veranda also has 24-hour camera surveillance.

The dining service provides a healthy breakfast, lunch (main meal of the day) and light meal in the evening. When it is time for community outings, shopping and personal appointments, the professional staff at The Veranda retirement community will schedule the necessary transportation.

The Veranda is just one of many Florida continuing care retirement communities. To see a complete list, searchable by region, visit Florida Senior Living Advisor. The database also includes assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers, independent living communities, hospice and skilled nursing units.

The Florida Department of Children and Families is investigating an alleged case of sexual abuse of an elderly resident at a Jacksonville nursing home. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested 35-year-old Anthony Mgugua Njorge early Sunday morning at Regents Park nursing home. He is charged with sexual battery on a mentally impaired and physically helpless victim.

The latest inspection report of Regents Park, conducted by the Florida Agency on Health Care Administration in August, gives the facility just one star out of five in most categories. According to the AHCA website, “The fewer stars a facility receives, the more the facility was found to be in noncompliance with the regulations governing nursing homes.” The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also publishes a Nursing Home Compare web site that provides additional information to compare nursing homes in Florida and the nation.

In this particular incident, a witness told police she heard something from one of the rooms, and when she went in she saw Njorge engaged in a sexual activity with a woman in the room. The woman is disabled.The witness told police she reached for her cell phone, but Njorge tried to stop her.She was able to make a call and someone else came into the room. That witness told police she saw Njorge cleaning up and then throw something in the disposal room.

DCF Spokesperson John Harrell says his agency has investigated eight allegations of abuse at Regents Park in the past year, though none have been verified.

“Of those eight reports, four showed no findings, but four had some findings, including inadequate supervision [of patients]. That happened a couple of times,” Harrell said.

Njorge also worked at Life Care Center, another Southside nursing home. DCF is now looking into whether the attack is an isolated incident.Police are withholding any further information due to the nature of the crime and the investigation. Njorge remains in jail on a $500,000 bond.

Florida Senior Living Advisor offers a complete searchable database of all senior living facilities in Florida, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers, skilled nursing units, independent living, continuing care retirement communities and hospice. As part of your research on particular facilities, you can check their rating in the AHCA guide; of course, you should always visit and inspect a facility in person before making such an important decision.