Rising Mountains assisted living opens Jan. 26

Bill Dale and Char Dale sat in a quiet, unoccupied corner of the Rising Mountains assisted living center in Bigfork last week, chatting enthusiastically while the final throes of construction pushed on around them.

Down a long hallway, painters moved in and out of rooms, putting the final touches on the walls. Fixtures sat in boxes on the floors, awaiting installation. It won’t be long now, and the sounds of construction will be replaced by the sounds of life — of laughter and talk, from the people who are going to live here.

The grand opening is Jan. 26 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and the public is invited to tour the facility. Rising Mountains assisted living center began construction May 13. It’s a process that’s been two years in the making, and the Dales are excited to see Rising Mountains come to fruition. The assisted living center, next to the Catholic church in Bigfork, will house 30 residents in two-room apartments. The wings of the facility provide views of the surrounding foothills and the Swan Mountains to the east.

It’s the third assisted-living facility that Bill and Char Dale have done together. The first was Prestige Assisted Living in Kalispell, followed by The Springs in Whitefish.

The center in Bigfork serves a growing market of families who want to stay close to where they spent their lives. “This is about Bigfork,” Char Dale said. “It’s a community within a community. Now, seniors have a place to live in the community.”

Bigfork’s other senior-care home is Lakeview Healthcare, which provides 24-hour nursing home care. Rising Mountains is geared for people who are still active. The new facility fills a market niche, Bill Dale said, for seniors who live alone but want to be part of a community of peers. “You see the change when they get here, among their friends,” he said. “It’s really remarkable what happens. A lot of people were having to leave Bigfork to go somewhere else. Bigfork is our home, and we saw the need for a smaller facility.”

Bill is the general manager on the construction side of their partnership. Char Dale has over 50 years experience on the nursing side of assisted living.

The Dales had looked for property around Bigfork to do a project like this. “We knew it was going to happen here,” Bill Dale said. It came together when the Catholic church offered to sell five acres to them. It helped that the property could be connected to the Bigfork Water and Sewer District.

Construction on the project provided a boost to the economy in Bigfork. Twelve contractors were used on the $4 million building. Fist Montana Bank provided funding for the project. “We are all Montanans,” Bill Dale said, “and we wanted to take care of Montana folks. The quality of construction here is unbelievable.”

Residents will begin moving to Rising Mountains in early February. Applications are still being accepted for new residents. “It will all start to come together in the spring,” Bill Dale said.

Last week, as the sun was going down, Char Dale talked about how special this piece of property is — and is going to be to the 30 new residents of Rising Mountains. “A few weeks ago I was sitting here, looking out at the sunset, with the mountains and the fields,” she said, “and I thought, what a beautiful place to live.”