The need to upgrade the infrastructure and to compete with new communities

For almost 60 years, Golden West Senior Living has provided housing and related services for seniors in Boulder.

It has been our mission from day one to develop and foster a community that honors older adults and their contributions to making the Boulder area so special.

We have provided residences and services at the most affordable rates possible over the years.

Our community consists of two segments: The Towers, which offers independent living apartments, and the Mezzanine, which provides assisted living housing and services to low-income seniors.

On Jan. 4, we announced we will be closing the Mezzanine assisted living portion of our community and no longer be able to deliver assisted living housing and services as of March 4.

This decision impacts 33 seniors and their families. While this was an incredibly sad and difficult decision, it was one we had to make for many reasons, and our team is doing everything possible to find homes for residents living in the Mezzanine during this transitional period.

The Towers at Golden West will continue to provide independent living housing to more than 250 seniors.

Why did the Board of Directors and community leadership arrive at this difficult decision? There has been speculation about this decision, so I wanted to share some details. program for low-income elderly and vulnerable populations. No matter how we tried to work the numbers, the Medicaid payments simply could not cover the rapidly rising and true cost of staffing and running an assisted living community.

In addition to the increased cost to staff and operate our assisted living services, we also have an aging facility. To bring these apartments up to the standard that residents and families need and expect — and the market demands — we would have had to completely renovate the Mezzanine, funds we did not have to perform such extensive renovations. storm that pushed occupancy levels down significantly.

For a community operating on thin margins already, this below-occupancy scenario over an extended period pushed us into the red month after month.

I have been asked why Golden West could perform such extensive renovations on the Towers and not use that money to keep assisted living operating. To clarify, the construction money used to renovate the Towers could only be used for that purpose, not for operations. They are entirely separate funding sources.

Since we announced we are closing the Mezzanine, our staff has been working tirelessly with the affected residents and their families to find alternative homes.

We even had former staff and volunteers reach out to graciously ask how they could help these seniors find new homes.

We thank many other local senior living organizations who have capacity and generously offered housing for residents and jobs for our staff.

We have heard from city and county officials and state and local politicians, offering ideas and support. We thank everyone for their suggestions and help during this challenging time.

We will continue our commitment and our mission in the Towers to provide seniors with good, independent and affordable housing in Boulder for many years to come.

John Torres is the interim chief executive officer for Golden West Senior Living. He previously served as the CEO for 26 years before retiring in 2020.

On a sunny winter morning heralding a radiant Mardi Gras, Beatrice and Karl Kersten don’t have a minute to spare.

In their warm workshop decorated with ancestral photos, the couple bend over their sewing machines. They are busy putting the finishing touches to the delicate lace details adorning the carnival costumes that will send a whole town into rapture once paraded through the cobbled streets of Binche.

“It’s a total rush, we are late,” said Karl, a fourthgeneration tailor.

But to the Kerstens and their son Quentin, now in charge of the family business in the medieval western Belgian town, this year the pressure feels really good.

After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic that brutally brought one of Europe’s oldest Mardi Gras celebrations to a halt — and the Kerstens to the verge of bankruptcy — celebrations are back with a vengeance this winter.

“There is a real excitement and enthusiasm,” said Quentin. “People came much earlier to reserve their costumes than in other years.”

The earliest records of the Binche Mardi Gras, which draws thousands of revelers, date to the 14th century. Many Belgian towns hold ebullient carnival processions before Lent. But what makes Binche unique are the “Gilles” — local men deemed fit to wear the Mardi Gras costumes.

Under rules established by the local folklore defense association, only men from Binche families or resident there for at least five years can wear the Gille costume. Other characters — the Peasant, the Sailor, the Harlequin, the Pierrot or the Gille’s Wife — also play a role in the carnival.

The Unesco-listed event starts three days before Lent and reaches its climax on Mardi Gras, when the Gilles — in wax masks sporting green spectacles and thin moustaches — dance in their wooden clogs to the sound of brass instruments and clarinets until the early morning hours. Women can join in, but only men wear the Gille outfit.

“The carnival is really the soul of the city of Binche, so we have been really sad over the past two years” said Patrick Haumont, a town hall staffer who often takes part in the celebrations, dressed in the red, yellow and black attire.

Over the past three weeks, rehearsals for the main parade have attracted more participants than usual. And at weekends, excitement in the bars filling the town’s main square hits unprecedented levels.

“Instead of the one beer you would normally drink, it’s now five,” Haumont said.

After the economic struggles of the pandemic years, and amid pain from energy bills that went through the roof after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the people of Binche want to make this year’s carnival one for the ages.

Although taking part requires a big financial commitment — renting a Gille costume and a lavish ostrich-feather hat costs around 300 euros ($327) — some 1,000 Gilles are expected to parade through the narrow streets of brick row houses to the beat of the drum and the tinkling bells of their outfits.

“People have rented more costumes, more hats. Everybody wants to do it again.

We can see that there is a need,” Haumont said.

For Christian Mostade, an 88-year-old member of the biggest Gilles company, it will be his 38th carnival as a Gille.

“In normal times, we would be around 140 or 145,” he said. “This year we’ll be 158. There are oldtimers who have not participated for a long time who have returned, and also many new ones.”

Charly Rombaux is among the newcomers. The 35-year-old delivery driver does not want to wear the daunting traditional hat that weighs nearly 8.8 pounds for his grand debut as a Gille.

The experienced Mostade had the solution pat.

“The solution is to find three men in your company with the same head size, so you can alternate with the hat on,” Mostade said as the two met for the first time this week and quickly engaged in a passionate conversation.

That need to get together again in a city where the Carnival creates a unique sense of belonging is a relief for the “louageurs” — the craftsmen making the costumes and renting them to the Gilles.

At some point during the pandemic, as he struggled to make ends meet, Quentin Kersten thought about calling it quits and starting anew as an electrician. His parents had to dip into their savings, forgetting about the trips they envisaged for their retirement days to salvage their business instead.

“It was a catastrophe,” Karl Kersten summed up.

But that dark chapter is now closed.

Haumont marks his words: “For a regular carnival, there is effervescence. But this year, it is just going to be madness.”