Mr. Lynn Spruill and his wife Susan hold the distinction of being the very first Mirabella Priority Depositors. As Lynn explains, “It’s an interesting story. Susan and I had been starting to think about moving to a CCRC. We have a daughter, and we didn’t want her to have to make tough decisions for us later on. We wanted to make the decisions now, while we’re still independent and healthy. Anyway, about that same time last fall, I remember having seen a press release about OHSU partnering with an organization in order to build some type of community here in Portland. I still work professionally, so I didn’t think too much about it again until Christmas time, when I received a card in the mail from a friend of mine. He lives on the East Coast, but he said he was moving to a CCRC in Seattle called Mirabella. I looked into that, and when I learned that Pacific Retirement Services was building a Mirabella CCRC here in Portland too, well, I got on the phone and within a half an hour I’d put a check in the mail!”
Susan and Lynn currently live in the River Place Condominiums, which is about a half mile from where Mirabella will be located. “Mirabella’s location was very attractive to Susan and me,” says Lynn. “We love living near the water. We like walking along the riverfront, looking out at the water, listening to it. We’re very happy that we’ll have that same opportunity at Mirabella. We also like that we’ll have such easy access to the streetcar, to shopping, to restaurants, to entertainment—all without having to use an automobile.”
Another thing that attracted the Spruills to Mirabella was the fact that it is part of the Pacific Retirement Services (PRS) family of CCRCs. PRS operates Holladay Park Plaza, another CCRC in Portland, and Susan’s mother had lived there. “She was treated absolutely wonderfully there, by everyone,” says Lynn. “We visited her there almost everyday, and we’re still in touch with several people who live there.”
Lynn says that, unfortunately, Susan’s mother waited too long to move to Holladay Park Plaza. “She was still independent when she moved in, but she really wasn’t able to take advantage of everything the community offers. Susan and I want to move to a CCRC while we can still be an active part of the community.”
And of course, the availability of health care was very important to the Spruills. “Knowing there is health care if you need it is very comforting,” says Lynn. “It’s not very likely that Susan and I will pass away at exactly the same time. By moving to Mirabella, we know that the other will be surrounded by a community of friends, with all the services and care they need.”
