Montpelier assisted-living facility cuts ribbon on major expansion

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – The Gary Residence, an assisted-living facility in Montpelier, on Thursday celebrated both the opening of its new memory care unit as well as the reopening of parts of the building damaged in last summer’s flooding.

The July flooding took place during the midst of the construction of the memory care unit, which was built outside the floodplain.

Staff on Thursday welcomed home displaced residents and opened the new 18-bed unit. “When all this happened, I was, it was like PTSD every time I walked in here and just saw the total destruction over here where people lived and spent time… and this is just remarkable,” said Dawn Palowski, the facility’s executive director.

The memory care unit is already full and the residential care unit is almost at capacity.