Business Spotlight: Holbrook Sugar Hill

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

RE-ENGINEERING SENIOR LIVING

Gwinnett’s newest assisted living community encourages its residents to embrace this next chapter of life with an active lifestyle and enriched activities.

By Alicia Carter / Photos by Karl Lamb

OCATED WITHIN walking distance to Sugar Hill’s vibrant downtown, Gwinnett’s newest senior living community is reinventing assisted living and memory care services. Holbrook Sugar Hill shies away from old-school ideas surrounding senior living, and instead emphasizes socialization, wellness and activities in a sophisticated environment that inspires its residents to fully embrace their next chapter of life. With six locations across the Southeast and more on the way, Holbrook’s modern approach is catching on, with more and more people seeking out this refreshing take on senior living.

“We've completely re-engineered what senior living is,” says Chairman Al Holbrook. “We don't use ‘senior,’ we don't use ‘retirement.’ We call our assisted living ‘enriched living.’ We call our memory care ‘inspired living,’ and our independent living option is called ‘active passionate.’”

By eliminating the stigma behind aging and the needs that come along with it, Holbrook fully encourages independence

Holbrook Sugar Hill offers plenty of space for residents to enjoy, including a large outdoor courtyard and multiple common spaces inside.

while also offering the support and amenities for its residents to be successful. When entering Holbrook Sugar Hill, guests will find a modern, elegant and comfortable community with resort-style offerings and plenty of room to mingle. In fact, socializing is encouraged through a number of common spaces, regular activities and events, and even matchmaking services. Overall, Holbrook isn’t offering end-of-life care, but the opportunity to begin a brand-new life.

Enriched Living

In addition to the beautiful pet-friendly apartments, which include studio, onebedroom and two-bedroom suites, residents will also enjoy Holbrook’s stunning grounds with a sunny courtyard, walking paths and landscaped gardens. Residents can also take advantage of the community’s library, exercise facility, TV and game rooms, as well as an onsite beauty salon and barber services.

For its enriched living community, residents will work with Holbrook’s professional team of nurses to create an individualized care plan.

General Manager Starla Gleaton and Chairman Al Holbrook

We don't use ‘senior,’ we don't use ‘retirement.’ We call our assisted living ‘enriched living.’ We call our memory care ‘inspired living,’ and our independent living option is called ‘active passionate.’

- Al Holbrook, Chairman

Chef Tom McEachern oversees the menu at all of Holbrook’s locations.

Holbrook Sugar Hill boats beautiful common areas, a hydrotherapy pool and large, comfortable dining room.

This can include holistic wellness and fitness programs, daily activities and life enrichment programs, as well as weekly devotional and spiritual gatherings. Residents will also be able to enjoy three delicious, therapeutic meals a day along with healthy snacks provided in its onsite bistros.

Inspired Living

Holbrook Sugar Hill also offers memory care services, which they refer to as “inspired living.” The Inspirations Neighborhood is a secure, independent section of the community that meets the unique needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s and other memory impairment conditions, overseen by Holbrook’s team of specially trained caregivers.

Inspired living residents can receive nondrug therapy programs, which help access long-term memories that are more resistant to dementia and can help root residents in a sense of time and place. Incorporating activities, sounds, scents, and innovative surroundings, the inspired living residents will enjoy programs that help stimulate the senses for memory recall to keep them feeling connected.

Food With a Purpose

Holbrook hired Tom McEachern — a former contestant on the Food Network’s “Chopped” cooking show — to oversee the menu of all of its locations. With more than 25 years of experience as an executive chef in award-winning restaurants, McEachern has a true passion for food. In fact, the James Beard Foundation named McEachern as a Rising Star of American Cuisine and featured him as a guest chef twice. Hiring a chef with a resume like McEachern’s is a clear sign that Holbrook takes the food it serves seriously. “Food is your medicine, medicine is your food — we live by that,” Holbrook says. “We attempt in every way to know where the food we serve is coming from and where we can have local farms deliver. We are developing a menu that tells you what the food does to the body. Let's say you have a B12 deficiency, which is pretty common in older women and results in depression, etc. So we serve shrimp, which has a high vitamin B12 content. So on the side of the menu with each entree and side item, it will tell you what the mineral and vitamin content should be.”

High-Tech Healing

Holbrook places an emphasis on overall wellness for its residents, who will enjoy filtered water and air, as well as UV lighting. “Our buildings are some of the safest in the world with the UV lighting and negative ion emission in the HVAC system to kill viruses,” Holbrook says. “Our full building water filtration systems limit foreign particles that stress our immune system.”

Holbrook also offers hydrotherapy to its residents, which is a unique offering among senior living communities. This revolutionary therapy uses HydroWorx aquatic therapy pools to help residents improve balance and stability. The benefits of hydrotherapy include conditioning for older adults, which helps improve sleep quality, flexibility and joint pain. It can also be utilized for neurological and spinal cord rehabilitation to help regain lost motor skills. Finally, hydrotherapy can encourage weight loss by reducing pressure on the joints and improving balance, making it easier for people to exercise.

Holbrook’s unique approach to senior living ensures that families will feel confident that their loved ones are getting the most out of this next season of life. By incorporating wellness, a multitude of activities, and an environment that encourages socialization, Holbrook is writing the next chapter in care for our senior community. ■

Holbrook Sugar Hill is located at 5135 W. Broad St. in Sugar Hill. For more information, call 404-445-7777 or visit HolbrookLife.com.

BY: Bill and Cindi Porter,

AILERON INVESTMENT ADVISORS

Q&A

Q: IS IT WISE TO GET OUT OF THE STOCK MARKET GIVEN THE RECENT VOLATILITY?

Answer: Probably not. Warren Buffet once famously said, “It is wise for investors to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” *1

Buffet is putting his money (Berkshire Hathaway’s) where his mouth is. In the past couple of months while the market has been lowering its price for shares – he is buying – tens of billions in stocks. Given that the market has always recovered from setbacks and gone on to reach record highs, and while many people are fearful, he is being (as he puts it) greedy.*2

History has been very informative on this topic. If you had tried to get in, and out, and back in the stock market based upon your comfort zone, your investment results would have been very different. Consider this.

If you had invested $10,000 on January 1, 2002, in the S&P 500 index and let it stay invested the entire time your account would have grown to $61,324 on December 31, 2021.

If instead you had jumped in and out of the market and missed the 10 best days over that 20 years, your account would have only grown to $28,095. If you missed the best 20 days, you would have gained only $16,706. If you missed the top 50 days you would have lost nearly half of your investment ($5,132.) *3

Investing in the stock market is a long-term investment spread out over many years. You need to be invested when the big jumps occur unexpectedly. Finally, where you invest in the stock market also matters. There are 11 sectors in the S&P 500. Ten are down for the year so far, but energy is up 58.66%. *4

It is a good time to visit with your advisor to ensure you are on track with your goals. ■

1."Chairman's Letter, 1986,https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1986.html 2.https://www.thestreet.com/investing/buffett-buying-stocks-on-the-dip 3.https://www.franklintempleton.com/tools-and-resources/market-volatility-resources 4.https://eresearch.fidelity.com/eresearch/markets_sectors/sectors/si_performance. jhtml?tab=siperformance

Securities and advisory services are offered through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC (MAS), a registered investment adviser & Member FINRA/SIPC. MAS and Aileron Investment Advisors are not affiliated companies. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Neither the firm nor its agents or representatives may give tax or legal advice. Individuals should consult with a qualified professional for guidance before making any purchasing decisions.

Send your investment questions to: submissions@ SuwaneeMagazine.com

For this year’s Food Issue, we wanted to highlight the incredible food scene here in our community and shine a light on the diversity of restaurants that call Gwinnett home. Throughout these pages, you’ll find a guide to some of the best local restaurants that will help you find a new favorite spot for pizza, Thai, barbecue or brunch — whatever you’re in the mood for. If the craving for a burger strikes, then our Best Burger competition will hit the spot. We also call attention to a few of our favorite hidden gems, spotlight cold treats that will get you through another hot Georgia summer, and share the story of a local baker who makes works of art with cake. Enjoy!

Bare Bones Steakhouse unveils a new vertical expansion with its new rooftop space, featuring a bar and limited menu with items like the popular BB Shrimp.