Making a Change

If you haven’t been to Rigby, Idaho before 2018 you would probably never know that The Wildflower of Rigby used to not exist. Now that’s not to say that the building didn’t exist. It did. It was even an assisted living facility. Only it was called The Gardens of Rigby. Some who have heard of The Gardens as they were called may wonder why we would write an entire blog post dedicated to The Gardens. But this blog post isn’t about The Gardens, it’s about our beginning. This is the story of how The Wildflower of Rigby came to be.

Unfortunately, the beginning of our story is the ending of another. The Gardens of Rigby was a building that our owners, Leslie and John Bowen, rented out. The renter used the facilities as an assisted living facility. Our wonderful administrator Amber was even the administrator there. But running a business is hard. Pressure mounts, bills pile up, and rent comes due and the renter couldn’t keep up with it all. The renter sadly tried to evade the problems with the facilities as well. The buildings weren’t cared for, the residents weren’t looked after, and our administrator couldn’t do it all. The renter ran.

There are no words to express the disappointment we felt as we saw the catastrophe left in their wake. The money lost, the reputation ruined, the income for CNAs in jeopardy. The Gardens of Rigby was a tragedy. The reviews on Google made that fact perfectly clear. The bitter taste of the past was going to be hard to overcome. Especially for past residents and their families who had been so disappointed and hurt by what they had experienced. With all of this at stake, the small assisted living facility in Rigby, Idaho could have ended right then and there. There was no renter to manage the place, our administrator was overworked and understaffed, and the building was in need of some extreme TLC. But it could also become something more.

How do you confront someone who is dishonest? How do you recover from their mistakes with your money and property? We look to our owners, Leslie and John Bowen. Rather than scrap the facilities and turn out the residents who still needed us, despite their less than lackluster care from the renter, Leslie and John took the building that was once drab and unhappy and turned it into a home. A place of safety and care. Leslie puts her own furniture and art that she buys into these beautiful buildings. They paid to have the carpets cleaned, new beds and mattresses put in, and took the care to turn the place around. They put much of their time and effort into not only fixing the buildings but mending relationships. When we say that our owners know each resident by name, we really do mean that.

Many would have looked at the mess the old renter left behind and said that it wasn’t worth fixing. That we should have helped the residents find other homes and moved on. But Leslie and John have been business owners for a long time and knew that they could make something more out of The Gardens. We did of course change the name of the facility to The Wildflower of Rigby to help give the facilities a new start. We wanted to distance ourselves from The Gardens and it’s sad ending so we could have a bright beginning. And the beginning has been bright. We are so excited for our new residents, our new staff, the new social media, and so much more! Follow us on our socials to see our journey, hear about our residents and staff, and stay up to date on the blog!