Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio (MHCO) invites the community to participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house as it celebrates the opening of its Transition to Home Rehabilitation Center on Sunday, Feb. 23, from 1:30-3 p.m. 

The Transition to Home Rehabilitation Center is located at Mennonite Memorial Home, 410 W. Elm St., Bluffton. Northwest Physical Therapy, Ottawa, is the therapy provider for the Transition to Home Center.

Mennonite Memorial Home has provided excellent short-term rehabilitation services for many years in semi-private rooms. The newly renovated Center will provide 12 private rooms with in-room bathrooms and showers, a spacious dining room and lounge specifically for therapy clients and a well-equipped therapy room available to both resident and out-patient therapy clients.

The name Transition to Home Rehabilitation Center may sound familiar as it is the name of the therapy center located at Hilty Home in Pandora as well. Hilty Home became an affiliate of MHCO in 2012. 

Regarding the name, Laura Voth, CEO said, “The Transition to Home program at Hilty Home, which opened in 2010, is so successful that it made sense to adopt the name for the program at Mennonite Memorial Home as well. We are pleased to demonstrate our continued integration as we find more ways to serve together with our Hilty Home campus.”

There have been additional renovations throughout Mennonite Memorial Home. The open house will provide opportunity to see the changes on all three floors. Regarding the purpose for the changes, Voth said that the goal was to brighten and open up the living spaces for our elders. 

Windows were added, brighter lighting was installed, some walls were removed, a fresh coat of paint was given and new carpeting was installed in many areas. 

"We hope the community will come and see the new Transition to Home Rehabilitation Center and the other improvements that have been made,” she said.

The $1.3 million project was made possible by generous contributors to the New Vision; Transforming Elder Living campaign as well as financing through Citizens National Bank. This same campaign made the Willow Ridge Green House homes possible as well. M&W construction, Lima, was the general contractor for the project.

The Bluffton and Pandora communities of MHCO provide independent living, assisted living, nursing care, rehab services, home health, senior services, mobile meals and child care on four campuses. In 2012, MHCO served 742 elders and 110 children throughout the area.