Danville: The Reutlinger officially affiliates with Eskaton network

The East Bay’s only Jewish retirement residential community, Danville’s The Reutlinger Community (TRC), has announced its official affiliation with regionally-based senior living nonprofit Eskaton, a move that may allow the Danville community to expand its services throughout the Bay Area.

Officials from both agencies say that the affiliation will enable TRC to update its infrastructure and services to its current residents, while still preserving TRC’s Jewish heritage, values and ideals.

“Our main goal is to improve the lives of seniors in our care throughout Northern California. This agreement is another step forward for us,” Eskaton president and CEO Todd Murch said in a statement. “We never had reservations about the financial, care quality and religious stipulations from the community. Everything Reutlinger communicated as a priority has become a necessity for Eskaton as well.”

Currently celebrating its 50th year of operations, Eskaton owns and operates senior focused communities and programs throughout Northern California.

“We know there is a need in the East Bay Jewish retirement community for added services,” Reutlinger Community president and CEO Jay Zimmer added. “Prior to discussions with Eskaton, we had reached a point where it became obvious we couldn’t develop and invest in those services on our own.”

According to Zimmer, TRC will receive support from Eskaton’s partnerships with larger hospitals like Kaiser, while TRC will also maintain control of its assets and subject to the direction and control of the TRC Board of Directors. Zimmer added that he hopes during the first year of assimilation into the Eskaton network, Eskaton officials will be able to establish home care services for TRC residents and the broader Danville community.

Under the agreement, Eskaton will invest up to $5 million for physical upgrades at TRC, during a time when affiliate officials say the nation’s senior population is rapidly growing and the not-for-profit senior housing sector is declining nationwide.

Specifically affiliated officials say nationwide the senior population is expected to double by 2030. Regionally, of the 350,000 Jewish residents in the Bay Area, 19% — or approximately 66,500 — are over the age of 60, according to a 2018 study published by the San Francisco Jewish Federation. Those figures are expected to grow even larger as the baby-boomer generation reaches retirement.

“We simply don’t have the number of beds for hospital systems looking for the scale to develop protocols for care admissions and discharges,” Zimmer said. “Now, The Reutlinger Community will have access to additional programs and services through relationships with health care providers Eskaton developed for other communities throughout the region.”

Located at 4000 Camino Tassajara, The Reutlinger Community is a nonprofit senior living community that offers assisted living, memory care and short-term rehabilitation services for up to 180 Tri-Valley residents, with a specific commitment to preserving Jewish cultural values.