Welcome to Ann's Choice!

Hello, New Residents, and welcome to the community!

Although we have been here for some years, we can still remember what it was like to be new and tired of living among unpacked boxes!  We want you to be happy, active members of our community and so we've put together this page as a way to help orient you to Ann's Choice.

Below you will find information about how our campus is physically organized, explanations for some of the abbreviations and terms that are used around campus, suggestions on how to become informed about our community's activities (and you've made a great start by using this Resident Website), and links to make it easier to get to pages on this website that we think might be especially useful to you. 

This website is by residents for residents.  The members of the website team (we call ourselves the AC Websters) hope you will be as happy here as we are. 

One more thing:  in another section of this website there is a year-by-year history of our campus.  Reading those pages may give you a better sense of how our community has developed.  Click here to take a look.

Don't worry...we have all been lost!

There is no question that Ann's Choice is a big (over 100 acres!) and sometimes confusing place, and we have ALL been lost at one time or another as we've tried to navigate around campus.   So let's begin by explaining the basic layout.

Our independent living community is made up of three NEIGHBORHOODS:

• Neighborhood 1 (anchored by Village Clubhouse)
• Neighborhood 2 (anchored by Liberty Commons Clubhouse)
• Neighborhood 3 (anchored by Keystone Clubhouse)

Each neighborhood has one clubhouse and five apartment buildings.  The neighborhoods and apartment buildings are numbered in the order in which they were built. 

Each of the five apartment buildings within a neighborhood has a distinct name:  Dawson Terrace, Montgomery Court, Ivy Glen, etc.  Each of those names has a two-letter abbreviation:  DT, MC, IG, etc. 

Your apartment's postal address is made up of five numerals and each numeral signifies something. 

Here's a breakdown of the postal address  12419 Ann's Choice Way:

       "1" indicates the first neighborhood

       "2" indicates the order in which that building was added to that neighborhood

       "4" indicates the floor on which you live

       "19" represents your specific apartment

For inter-campus communication  we usually substitute your building's  letter abbreviation for the first two numerals of your postal address, so "12419" becomes "MC  (Montgomery Court) 419."

Our streets are named and there are street signs at intersections.    

Keep in mind that if you are using interior hallways that link building to building and neighborhood to neighborhood, the second floor in all buildings is the main "connecting" floor.

And here's a hint:  many residents have found that going outside and locating their apartments in relationship to the rest of the campus helps them get a better sense of the overall layout of the campus.

So with all of that in mind, here are the names of the apartment buildings (by neighborhood), their two-letter abbreviations, and the corresponding numerals:

Neighborhood 1 (Village): 

Dawson Terrace (DT) - 11

Montgomery Court (MC) - 12

Westwood Place (WP) - 13

Park View (PV) - 14

Hampton Ridge (HR) - 15

Neighborhood 2 (Liberty):

Bartlett Run (BR) -  21

Lewis Pointe (LP) - 22

Taylor Crossing (TC) - 23

Morris Square (MS) - 24

Braxton Court (BC) - 25

Neighborhood 3 (Keystone):

Magnolia Landing (ML) - 31

Bayberry Grove (BG) - 32

Ivy Glen (IV) - 33

Holly View (HV) - 34

Maple Terrace (MT) - 35

You may occasionally hear the clubhouses/neighborhoods referred to as CB 1, CB 2 and CB 3.  Those are older terms that relate to the way the clubhouses were identified on the archtectural plans, with CB standing for "community building." 

CLUBHOUSES

Each clubhouse is home to specific amenities that add to the enjoyment of living at Ann's Choice.

Clubhouse 1 (Village Clubhouse/VC) houses our bank branch; a beauty salon; and the fitness center.  It's also home to  our Administrative Offices; Finance Department; Human Resources (personnel); Security Department; General Services; and offices for Erickson Advantage.  In addition, our Medical Center is located in Village, including office space  provided to specialists.  Both Fireside Restaurant and Banners Cafe are in this clubhouse. 

The front desk of Village Clubhouse is staffed 24/7 and emergency calls should be made to that desk (215 443 3801).

Clubhouse 2 (Liberty Commons Clubhouse /LC) houses a day spa; our Performing Arts Center (theatre); a Catering Room for special events; and the Club Room, a large room used for meetings, exercise classes, etc.  Our closed circuit television station (ACTV) is also housed there as well as our resident-run library. The Treasure Chest Furniture Store (managed by residents) is there, too, and Physical Therapy is on the same floor (terrace level).  Pastoral Ministries, Philanthropy and Resident Life managers have offices, in this clubhouse.  Signatures Restaurant is on the second floor.

Clubhouse 3 (Keystone Clubhouse /KC) is home to our pharmacy/general store; the Multipurpose Room (a large meeting/ballroom sometimes abbreviated as MPR or KCMPR); the resident-managed Treasure Chest; and two restaurants, the Garden Room and the Pub. There is a link to our Chapel from Keystone, and you can also reach it by a more complicated route through the second neighborhood.  There is also a satellite fitness center in Maple Terrace (MT 111).

In each clubhouse you will find:

• a Resident Services Coordinator/social worker 
• a battery recycling container
• a locked box for  confidential papers that need to be shredded
• shopping carts (please return immediately after use!)
• a comfortable lounge on both the first and second floors
• a staffed information desk in the lobby

A Computer Lab with free internet access is available in each neighborhood.  You will need to provide your own paper if you want to print.

For photocopying , ask at one of the Clubhouse front desks.

And remember - the whole campus is yours!  You can use any facility, eat in any restaurant, and enjoy every amenity no matter which neighborhood you live in.

CLICK HERE to see a map of our campus.

Acronyms, Abbreviations and Special Terminology

Here are a few of the shorthand ways we communicate.  It won't be long before they are second nature to you...we promise!

ACH:   Each Erickson community has a three-letter identifier.  "ACH" is ours.

RAC:  Resident Advisory Council.  The RAC is a committee of residents annually elected by the  resident population that acts as an intermediary between Administration and residents.  As their name implies, RAC members represent the residents, conveying concerns and ideas to our administrators and managers. 

Click here to visit RAC's page for more information. 

PAC:  Performing Arts Center.  The PAC is our community's theatre located on the first floor of  Liberty Commons Clubhouse.  It is home to many activities including movies, entertainment, meetings and adult education classes.

RG:  Rose Gardens.  Rose Gardens is our "extended neighborhood" that houses our Continuing Care, Rehabilitation,  Personal Care, and Long Term Care (LTC).  The new addition, opened in 2019, is called "Chestnut Pointe."

IL:  Independent Living.  This term refers to our 15 resident apartment buildings and applies to those residents living in them. 

Cubby:  Your "cubby" is your internal/campus mailbox.  Cubbies are located in the same area as the U.S. Postal mail boxes in each clubhouse.  Cubbies are used for communication from various departments as well as resident-to-resident communication. 

Latch/Latch Check:   You have a brass latch on the hinge-side of your apartment door.  Each night, members of our Security Department go from apartment to apartment and put those latches in an "up" position.  When you open your door in the morning, the latch drops down.  At mid-day, Security will once again make the rounds, doing a "latch check."  They are looking for apartments where the latch hasn't  dropped.  When they find one, they will knock on your door or call you to check on your status.                                          Hint:  even if you don't leave your apartment by mid-day, you might want to open and close your door in the morning so your latch drops and Security knows that all is well in your apartment!

Cubby Chronicle:  The Chronicle is published and put in your cubby every week by the Resident Life Department.  The Chronicle  includes information about the week's activities plus the Ann's Choice (ACTV) TV guide to programs that will air that week.  

Annagram:  The Annagram is our monthly campus newsletter and is distributed via cubbies.  It includes information and articles about upcoming campus activities as well as a monthly letter to residents from our Executive Director.  Hint:  The Annagram and the Chronicle are great ways to stay informed about what's going on.  Read them!  They are also available on this website - click on the "Publications" link at the Home Page or CLICK HERE.

ACTV:  Ann's Choice television, our closed-circuit TV station [Channels 977 and 978].  In addition to being a great communication service, ACTV is a resident activity and many residents volunteer there.  Yes, you can be a TV star!  Comcast is our cable television provider.

My Erickson Website:  In addition to this resident-run website, Ann's Choice/Erickson now provides a staff-managed website, "MyErickson."  You will need to register to use that site (you need an email address and a password).  Contact anyone in Resident Life for information about how to register.

EBB:  Electronic bulletin board.  Announcements for campus activities are aired via ACTV channels 977 between programs and on 978 all of the time.

Chapel Channel:  Channel 980 broadcasts announcements pertinent to our faith groups and activities in the Ann's Choice Chapel.

BCF:  Benevolent Care Fund.  The fund assists residents who may, through no fault of their own, require financial assistance in order to remain as residents of Ann's Choice.  Funds come from resident donations, the proceeds from various fund raising activities, "in memory of " or "in honor of" contributions, etc.

Scholars Fund:  The Scholars Fund provides our student servers with scholarships for their expenses for post-secondary education.  Funds are raised in the same way as those for the BCF.

Staff Appreciation Fund:  Residents are encouraged to contribute to this fund, which provides an annual gratuity to our non-management staff in lieu of tipping throughout the year (we have a strict "NO TIPPING" rule).   Funds are distributed in late November or early December; the amount for each employee is based on the number of years and the number of hours each employee works.  Hint:  It is suggested that residents give the equivalent of one dollar per day for each household member, but participation is strictly voluntary.

Prospect Hill Library:  The name of our campus libraries.  The "main" library is located on the second floor of Liberty Commons (adjacent to Signatures Lounge).  There are "branch" libraries in the second floor lounges of the other two clubhouses.  All are open 24/7.  The main library has books (including paperback and large print books), DVDs, magazines, newspapers, voter registration materials,  various Ann's Choice-created reports, and internet service.   The branch libraries have books.

To go directly to the Library page, click here.

So here are our last words of advice:

GET INVOLVED!  Join clubs, meet your neighbors, and dine with different residents each evening so you can meet new people.

BE INFORMED!  Attend RAC meetings and the monthly Town Hall hosted by  our Executive Director Chris Donati.  Read the stuff that is put in your cubby.  Make use of the campus websites to investigate everything that is going on in your new community and to learn the practical aspects of living here (trash pick-up times, restaurant hours, etc.).  And don't be afraid to speak up and let us know what you think.

BECOME FAMILIAR WITH YOUR RESIDENCE AND CARE AGREEMENT. It explains what you can and cannot do here.

WEAR YOUR NAME TAG WHEN YOU'RE OUT AND ABOUT ON CAMPUS.  It helps others to put together your name and face and it will help Security in the event that you need assistance.

HAVE FUN!  This is a great place to live.  Remember, we didn't say "perfect."  We are a community of 2000+ people who have a wide variety of viewpoints, needs, and opinions!   Welcome to community living!

revised and updated 8/2022

This page was created by Joan Greenberg.  Contact Emma Schobel if you have a suggestion for something that should be included on this New Resident Orientation page (use the Resident Directory for contact information).