Faubush Family Homes, where choice matters

Eileen Terry/ Arizona Silver Belt Faubush Family Homes is located on Six Shooter Canyon Road in Globe.

By Holly Sow

Editor

Globe — Faubush Family Homes of Globe is not a nursing home. There are no long white hallways reminiscent of a hospital ward. There are no loud speaker announcements, telling residents where they need to be. And most importantly, there are no prescribed daily itineraries.

Fausbush Family Homes is an assisted living home, offering services to seniors that need help with day-to-day living. Director Sharon Faubush explained, “Everybody functions here just like they do at home. We make life here as close to home environments as possible.”

This can include everything from setting up a sewing corner to continuing a life-long hobby to bringing in one’s favorite lounge chair when moving in. Residents are free to continue to make choices about how they want to spend their time. Sharon emphasized that while the facility is state-regulated as far as health and safety codes are concerned, the staff does not impose prescribed daily routines on anyone.

“Residents plan their day as they see fit. We want their lives to be as close to theirs at home as possible. We are all individuals and we all do things differently,” Sharon said.

Faubush Family Homes offers seniors an alternative to staying at home alone or being admitted to a nursing home. Faubush Family Homes is for those seniors who find themselves at an in-between stage, where they are no longer able to function fully independently at home but do not need nursing care yet. Nonetheless, Faubush Family Homes’ staff is onsite 24 hours a day to assist residents. Nursing agencies also make regular visits to provide services to those needing some nursing care.

The concept of Faubush Homes is to emphasize personal choices. “People often believe that when they go into an assisted living facility a lot of rights are taken away,” Sharon said. That is not true at Faubush. “We advocate choices. [Residents] can still come and go as they wish. This is their home, not ours.”

Residents enjoy visits from family members, friends, and acquaintances. They also can leave the home to go places. However, this does not mean that the home lacks organized activities. Activities are offered each day, such as group exercise, trips to the casino, etc. but no one is ever ‘forced’ to do anything. “It is a specific home environment tailored to each resident. There are still freedoms.” Sharon also added that family participation is always welcomed and encouraged. “It is very important to keep the residents active and it helps emotionally. Nothing brightens their faces more than when a family member comes in.”

Sharon and the staff at Faubush Family Homes go to great lengths to provide comfortable and dignified care to the residents. Of course, there are benefits to the job, which Sharon happily described. “One of the most rewarding parts of the job is hearing the stories the residents have to tell.” And some of these stories are very impressive. One resident met John Wayne. Another was t-boned by Clark Gable in L.A. Another spent years as an advocate for Native American children and fighting for their right to eat with white children in the schools’ cafeterias. Her efforts led the way to a desegregated lunch room in local schools. And still another resident was the proud owner of one of the first televisions in Globe. An employee of the mines at the time, he decided to ditch work for a few hours to sneak home and watch the first televised World Series. However, when he got to his home, the place was packed with people wanting to watch his television. The crowd was so big he couldn’t even make it through to his own television. He gave up and went back to work. These are just many of the amazing stories these seniors happily share with interested listeners. Sharon imparted, “physically life is more difficult (for the seniors) but mentally they are still fit.”

Faubush Family Homes was started in Globe in 2009. There were two smaller facilities at that time. In 2011, Faubush consolidated the two homes and moved to its current location in Six Shooter Canyon. This new location is much more senior friendly and can house up to 10 residents, allowing enough room for each to make his or her own nook. Faubush Family Homes also welcomes volunteers, whether in the form of an “Adopt a Senior” project or “just to be a friend.”

For more information on Faubush Family Homes contact Sharon Faubush at 425-3439 or sfaubush@gmail.com.