About us

RETIREMENT ASSISTANCE FOR THOSE IN NEED

President Dwight D. and Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower personally led a world-wide fundraising campaign so the newly founded ADF could purchase a 16-acre property and build a community where people would age with dignity and grace. Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson presided as guest of honor on opening day in Januar y 1962, welcoming 15 women to their new home. At the same time, our founders established a donor-supported Financial Assistance Fund – active and vital to this day – to ensure any woman living in our facility was guaranteed meals, room and care through the rest of her life. By July 1963, our organization was home to 166 women.

PROVIDING SKILLED CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DECLINING HEALTH

People with compromised cognitive and physical health needed high-level care, often round-the-clock. In response, with the continued support of concerned donors, we expanded, enhanced, and modernized our facilities. We delivered skilled nursing care so people could age with dignity and feel purposeful at every stage of aging.

EXPANDING HEALTH AND WELLNESS SERVICES TO HELP MORE OLDER ADULTS

With advances in healthcare, it became clear more people needed our services. We responded by expanding our community to male and female officers of all seven uniformed services, as well as their female relatives. As our community grew, so did our reputation as a leader in healthy aging.

PEOPLE CARING FOR PEOPLE

As care needs became more complex, we pursued an unprecedented expansion to broaden and strengthen our health and wellness programs. We upgraded our skilled nursing services by establishing a federally-certified Health Services Center licensed to provide round-the-clock long-term care and rehabilitative therapies for people living in our community, as well as the general public.

Further, we expanded our community to be able to serve 45 people who needed 24/7 assistance with activities of daily living, such as grooming, bathing, and dressing. This vast expansion in person-centered care ensured that people would enjoy purposeful living at every age and stage of life.

SERVING PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

As the century turned, we further expanded to meet the needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Committed donors funded the building of a state-of-the-art Special Care Center to serve people with cognitive impairments. ADF collaborated with a panel of experts from the Alzheimer’s Association and communities with acclaimed special care programs to develop a dementia care program that reflected the latest research and practices.

APPLYING INNOVATION TO TRANSFORM THE EXPERIENCE OF AGING

Over the past decade, we initiated numerous important innovations to improve health and well-being for people in our community—as well as to inform the aging community at large through research and information-sharing. ADF re-committed itself to the bold spirit of leadership, innovation, solutions, and growth envisioned by our early founders, who imagined ADF as “…a shining example of the American way…” that would “…point the way to development of similar residences…”