Epoch Senior Living Launches New High-end Brand, Expands Memory Care

Epoch Senior Living is continuing to grow in 2026, including with the launch of a new brand to support recent acquisitions and an expanded memory care program.

Epoch Senior Living Chairperson Laurie Gerber took over as the company’s top leader in 2023 following the death of her husband and former Epoch Founder and CEO, Larry Gerber.

In the last three years, Gerber has continued her late husband’s legacy of serving older adults by expanding the company’s Bridges memory care program while solidifying operations to support higher-acuity needs of residents joining communities later in life.

Epoch leaders have retooled operations to provide “unreasonable hospitality” and turn everyday familiarity between staff and residents into more personalized experiences. Inspiration for the change stems from the 2022 book “Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect” by Will Guidara.

Adding more hospitality services in daily operations, remembering preferences and anticipating needs helps the operator make residents feel “seen, heard and special,” Gerber said. The shift was in direct response to recently added independent living segments in new communities Epoch acquired in 2023, Gerber said, and has resulted in companywide hospitality training for staff.

“We’ve undergone a culture change in the last three years,” Gerber told Senior Housing News. “I realized that we were missing a piece on hospitality and it took us some time to get there.”

Results from the effort have helped improve resident satisfaction and prepare staff so they are more responsive to individual resident needs, an effort that “really solidified” over the last 18 months after years of internal efforts, Gerber noted.

At the same time, Epoch is investigating ways to expand its brain health offerings to older adults across the continuum, not just in memory care. Epoch is exploring a way to formalize its brain health efforts across the continuum in the coming months.

The company’s goal is to combine elements of wellness, such as nutrition, exercise, learning opportunities, sensory programming and social connection, to develop a brain health program that can reach more older adults living in Epoch communities.

Epoch is reframing operations and care practices around de-escalation, staff training and adaptive caregiving to use behavioral and environmental interventions to improve the experience of residents living in its Bridges memory care communities.

Inside the launch of the Rivermere brand

Epoch currently manages 18 communities following the two most recent acquisitions in Connecticut. The company has launched a new brand, Riveremere, aiming to offer welcoming communities that older adults can enjoy through focused engagement opportunities, culinary experiences, combined with hospitality to meet individual resident needs.

The two new properties to the Epoch banner include one full-continuum and one assisted living and memory care community. The communities will operate under the banners of Rivermere of Orange and Rivermere of Brookfield. The Brookfield property was built in 2022 and the Orange property was built in 2023.

Epoch has two existing brands, Bridges and Waterstone, but Gerber said the newly acquired communities stood out well enough to prompt the formation of a new brand. The Rivermere brand creates a “regional base” in Connecticut that expands the company’s regional footprint in the state to five properties.

“It was a strong team, they were well-built, new buildings and they fit into our geographic area,” Gerber said. “We’re excited about the opportunity because we can bring all of Epoch’s standards and some of our programming to these communities to better support residents.”

Epoch staff are working to roll out elements of the Bridges memory care program where needed at the communities, which starts with training staff and offering public-facing training for community groups like first responders who might interact with older adults who live with dementia.

With two Rivermere communities, Epoch is eyeing expanding the regional brand. Epoch could also eventually launch a different regional brand to complement it, Gerber said.

Each of the three Epoch brands has its own offerings, services and amenities to meet the needs of residents. Leaders with Epoch could add new Bridges- or Waterstone-branded communities in the coming months or years.

“I am a believer in never saying never, and there’s a lot that still has yet to be built as an industry from a development perspective and we’re evaluating our opportunities as they come up,” Gerber said.

The company’s leaders could seek future growth within driving distance of Epoch’s existing properties in the eastern U.S., including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, Gerber said.

“We’re focused on a part of the country that we know and can drive to and share resources between buildings when we need to in order to ensure we’re providing exceptional service,” Gerber said. That means going department by department with training, policies and procedures while also taking feedback from existing staff to identify potential best practices in operations,” Gerber added.

Epoch grows Bridges program

Epoch is growing and changing its Bridges memory care program to promote more nonpharmacological interventions in brain health and create more lifestyle opportunities for older adults experiencing cognitive change.

Recently, 12 Epoch communities received the Purple Flag for Dementia Care accreditation. The accreditation, developed by the Connecticut Assisted Living Association and the Institute for Senior Living Education, recognizes senior living, home care and hospice providers for adhering to 60 standards regarding safety, environment and quality of life for those in memory care. Gerber sees an opportunity to include the Rivermere-branded communities in the accreditation in the future.

To improve brain health initiatives at all levels of senior living, Gerber said Epoch has looked inward at operating systems underpinning its model, reviewing electronic medical records, medication management and programming.

The new brain health program, which is still in ongoing development, aims to expand brain health awareness and practices in operations to impact dining, lifestyle and programming offerings at Epoch communities, Gerber said. This includes little tweaks to operations like dining, for example, featuring snacks that are brain and heart healthy rather than offering processed or high-sugar foods.

“Bridges is vital and extremely important to what we do, and we want to help impact the lives of our residents before they get to that point,” Gerber said. “The brain health program really will span the whole organization.”

Currently, company leaders are reviewing standards, dining practices and programming, along with new technology, to help formalize the brain health program ahead of its future launch, Gerber added.

While there will be a need for Bridges memory care programming and services due to the rising incidence of dementia in older adults, Gerber said the company must adapt to the growing needs of older adults today through lifestyle interventions rather than jumping straight to clinical care.

“We will continue to evolve and change as our resident base changes and their needs change, alongside what we learn about cognitive change and dementia,” Gerber said.

New in 2026 is the Epoch Exchange, a resource guide for those seeking memory care and senior living education about cognitive change and brain health. Looking ahead, Gerber said future partnerships on brain health and healthcare could further improve care coordination and clinical outcomes for Epoch senior living residents.

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