Staying in their own home for as long as possible is always the best option for people as they age. But for many, doing that eventually becomes impossible.

Fort Dodge is blessed to have many options for those people. And that array of options just got better thanks to the Marian Home and Village.

This week, the Marian Home and Village debuted its new assisted living apartments at 925 Martin Luther King Drive. Lots of people may recall that structure as the former Villa Cottages. After the Villa Care Center closed, the Marian Home bought all of its property. The main Villa Care Center was torn down and the former Villa Cottages was remodeled. The project was designed by Allers Associates Architects of Fort Dodge and was built by Sande Construction and Supply Co., of Humboldt. Renovation work began in July 2024.

The end result is 12 assisted living apartments that were celebrated Tuesday by a ribbon cutting ceremony conducted by the Ambassadors of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance.

These apartments are for people who do not need the services of a skilled nursing facility but do need some help with everyday living activities. This need for some help makes it tough and maybe even impossible for these folks to stay in their own homes.

At the new facility, they will live in their own private apartments. But there will always be staff on duty in the building to help the residents with anything they might need. The residents will be served three meals a day. They will have housekeeping and laundry service.

These new apartments are not the first assisted living units in Fort Dodge, but they are a welcome addition because the need for this kind of housing always seems to grow.

Everyone deserves to have good, comfortable and safe housing options as they grow old. And those options ought to be right where people live, so that they don’t have to move away from everyone and everything that they know.

By opening these new assisted living units, the Marian Home and Village has taken a big step to meeting our community’s needs. We thank everyone who made this possible.

We also look forward to what the Marian Home and Village will do next to benefit our community. The Marian Home owns property immediately north of its main facility at 2400 Sixth Ave. N. It also owns the former Villa Care Center property at 10th Avenue North and Martin Luther King Drive. We believe there will be some exciting new additions to local senior living options coming at those two locations in the future.