Dottie Guerra couldn’t have been happier when she received the phone call that her apartment at Metairie IV, on the Metairie Manor campus in Metairie, was ready. She said she was dining with friends and everyone celebrated with her. 

Growing up Catholic in the Irish Channel and being taught primarily by nuns at Notre Dame Grammar and Redemptorist High schools, Guerra attended daily Mass and sang in the choir at two Sunday Masses. So, moving into to a Catholic-owned and run, assisted-living complex made sense to Guerra.

Comforts of home
After all, Mass and rosary recitation are offered at Metairie IV along with other services such as transportation to medical appointments and the grocery, optional meals from Piccadilly Cafeteria, affordable satellite TV and access to community activities, a beauty parlor, exercise and computer room at adjacent Metairie Manor. 

“I don’t drive, so it is a great convenience for me,” she said. “My family was happy that I am here because I am around people. I am not alone.”

Celebrating Mass and reciting the rosary were only two reasons she chose Metairie IV. She was widowed two years ago, and she said the upkeep on her home was becoming overwhelming. Homeowner’s insurance alone was $3,300 a year.

“All the money was going out the front door and not coming back in the rear door,” she said.

She also missed her husband of 60 years tremendously. Memories of him surrounded her at home.

“I used to sit in the den and look over and see if he was sleeping in his chair,” Guerra said.

So, the mother of five, grandmother of 11 and great grandmother of 15 applied for one of the new units at the brand new Metairie IV in July.

With three floors of the five-story building now completed, residents have been moving into the five-story, 82-unit complex since late November.
 
Guerra was one of the first and requested and received a first-floor, one-bedroom apartment due to her fear of heights.

“They couldn’t have been nicer,” Guerra said about Metairie IV, run by Christopher Homes, the archdiocese’s entity that has provided affordable senior assisted-living apartments for more than 40 years. “They were accommodating, nice and polite.”

Population shift to Metairie
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, people moved to areas of the city where they had never lived. Such was the case with former St. Bernard residents who moved after the storm to Metairie and St. Tammany.

This fact led the Archdiocese of New Orleans to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local entities to make housing available where the senior population was post-Katrina, said Deacon Dennis Adams, executive director of Christopher Homes.

The $10 million in FEMA damages assigned to St. Bernard Manor II – a former assisted-living complex in Meraux that was destroyed by Katrina – were used to build Metairie IV. St. Bernard officials agreed that the returning population couldn’t support all three of the St. Bernard Manor buildings that existed before Katrina, so only one of the senior residences was rebuilt there.

St. Bernard III was relocated to Mandeville on the campus of Rouquette Lodge and rechristened as Rouquette IV.

“We built in Metairie to support the population growth there,” Deacon Adams said.

Residents of the former St. Bernard II complex were given first preference to apply at the newly constructed building in Metairie, Deacon Adams said, followed by those on the waiting list at Metairie Manor being informed of openings at the new building.

Next in line for an apartment at Metairie IV was anyone else who qualified on a first-come, first-served basis. Well over 100 people were on the waiting list for 82 units, Deacon Adams said. Applications are still being taken.

“You never know what happens,” he said. “Somebody may not be ready or has made other living arrangements. We always encourage someone to get their names on the list in order to possibly qualify for an apartment.”

Upgraded facility

Following the Stafford Act and FEMA requirements, the new Metairie building had to be rebuilt the same as before Katrina. Upgrades were allowed, according to current local building code requirements, Deacon Adams said, such as wheelchair accessibility required by the Americans With Disabilities Act, upgraded HVAC air conditioning and heating systems (now a chiller system), sprinkler and life-saving systems, plumbing and cabinetry.

“We have an updated building with better amenities in the apartments,” Deacon Adams said.

Christine Bordelon can be reached at cbordelon@clarion herald.org.