Forest Hills of DC

The courtyard at Forest Hills of DC

A few weeks ago I was able to tour Forest Hills of DC, a not-for-profit assisted living,  rehabilitation, and long-term care community located in NW, off Connecticut Ave.  Jennifer Brown, the Director of Admission and Marketing, was my tour guide.   Forest Hills also has another community called Forest Side, which specializes in Memory Care.  It is located nearby on Military Rd.  Forest Hills of DC was founded in 1926 as the Methodist Home of DC, though it is no longer affiliated with the Methodist Church.

Forest Hills is a leasing community, meaning residents pay by the month to live there, rather than buying into the community.  There are 57 studio, one-bedroom, and three-room assisted living apartments in the community, as well as 50 long-term care beds.    On-site services and amenities include a library, a full-service beauty salon and barber shop, a gift and convenience store, a professional clinic, including a furnished dental suite— and a well-equipped fitness and rehabilitation center.

Its location is ideal for residents who want to enjoy city living, as it’s an easy walk to restaurants, a pharmacy, and a bookstore.  There are also regularly scheduled trips to see and do things in the city.  As with the other assisted living and long-term care communities I’ve visited, there’s a dining hall that serves three meals a day, and a calendar full of activities to keep residents as busy as they’d like to be. 

A unique feature of Forest Hills of DC is that the Northwest Neighbors Village is located there.  You may have heard of the village concept—they are basically organizations that cater to seniors who want to age in place.  So the Northwest Neighbors Village holds activities, classes, and talks inside the Forest Hills community, which means the seniors in the neighborhood get to mingle with the residents of Forest Hills and attend one another’s activities.

The long-term care section of the community is in the same building as the assisted living section, which makes it easy for residents to visit friends in one section or another.  It also means if an assisted living resident has to make a temporary or permanent move to the long-term care part of the building, they don’t have to go far or get used to a new place.

I enjoyed touring Forest Hills of DC very much, and I appreciate all of the knowledge and time Jennifer Brown shared with me. 

A living room in an assisted-living apartment at Forest Hills of DC