Elise Varner
Founder & Administrator
Memory care · Siloam Springs, Arkansas
Dear Ellen, the roses are up. Love, Dad.
Hartwell House is a 36-resident memory care home near Sager Creek, where residents still write letters home, and families still find them in the mailbox.
Why letters
A phone call is gone the minute it ends. A letter stays.
When my father lived with Alzheimer's, our phone calls got harder. He'd lose the thread, get frustrated and hand the phone back to the aide. But one afternoon he wrote me a postcard: four lines about the roses outside his window. It took him an hour. I still have it on my refrigerator.
At Hartwell House, the writing desk is the center of the house. Every afternoon a caregiver sits with anyone who wants to write: a postcard, a birthday card, a few lines to a grandchild in college. Some residents dictate and we write it down for them. We buy the stamps and walk the letters to the post office on Broadway. Families tell us those envelopes are the best thing in the mail all week.
— Elise Varner, founder
Photo tour
Life at Hartwell House
Sample family reviews
Letters from families
I've gotten a postcard from Dad every Friday for two years. Some are one line. I've kept every one.
Mom can't hold a conversation on the phone anymore, but she dictates a letter to Theo every week, and it sounds exactly like her.
My grandson in the Army got a letter from his grandma at basic training. He called me crying.
Paula took Mother off two medications she didn't need. She's sharper than she's been in a year.
It's quiet here. No TV blaring in the hallway, no overhead pages. Dad sleeps again.
They wrote Mom's life story with us before she moved in. Every caregiver read it.
Dad's pen pal is a nursing student at the university. They've written each other for a year.
Kiana helped us apply for VA benefits for Dad and kept after it until it was approved.
Every birthday, the whole household signs a card. Mom keeps them all in a shoebox.
Marcus walks the letters to the post office every day, rain or shine. The postmaster knows them all by name.
After Mom passed, Elise sent us a handwritten letter about her last good week. We read it at the funeral.
Our team
The people at Hartwell
Paula Reyes, RN
Director of Nursing
Dr. Samuel Haddad
Medical Director
Sophie Tran, APRN
Nurse Practitioner
- 36residents in three households
- 2,400+letters mailed home last year
- 2011first stamp licked
- 1:5caregivers to residents by day
What sets us apart
Where we shine
01
Dementia-trained caregivers
The same small team in each household, so faces stay familiar.
24/7
02
Afternoon writing hour
Postcards, cards and letters, with a caregiver to help or take dictation.
Daily
03
Stamps and the walk to the post office
We mail every letter, every weekday.
IncludedRooms & suites
Rooms
Every room is private, with a window, a small writing table and space for the things that make it home.
01
Private room
A window, a writing table and room for a favorite chair.
- Private
- Writing table
02
Garden room
Looks out on the roses and the birdbath.
- Garden view
03
Room with private bath
An accessible bath and walk-in shower.
- Private bath
- Walk-in shower
04
Corner room
Two windows and morning light.
- Two windows
05
Companion suite
Two rooms and a shared bath for couples or sisters.
- Two rooms
- Suits couples
We believe that people living with dementia still have things to say, and deserve the time and the paper to say them. Every letter that leaves this house is proof of a person still here.
Admissions
Moving to Hartwell House
We handle the details so your family can focus on each other.
- A home visit from our nurse
- A life-story interview with your family
- Movers and room setup arranged
- A first-week call every evening
- A box of stamped postcards addressed to you
Ratings & recognition · sample
- Readers’ Choice · Best Memory Care
- Chamber of Commerce · Small Business of the Year
- Regional Medical Center · Preferred Partner
- Statewide Aging Network · Person-Centered Care
- Area Agency on Aging · Community Partner
- University Nursing School · Clinical Site
- Literacy Council · Partner
- Hospice Alliance · Partner
- Library Friends · Community Award
Now hiring
Patient caregivers with good handwriting, or the willingness to learn.
Visit
Find us in Siloam Springs
- 604 S Hartwell Street
Siloam Springs, AR
Park along Hartwell Street or in the side lot. The front door is beneath the brass mail slot. - (479) 555-0168
- Text us
- letters@hartwellhouse.example
- Hartwell House Memory Care
Tour & office hours
- Tours, Mon – Sat10a – 5p
- Office, Mon – Fri8a – 5p
- Families visitAny time
Families visit any time. The writing hour is 2 to 3 every afternoon; you're welcome to join.
Write to us. Or better, come by.
Call or text Elise to set a time. Bring a stamp and we'll help your mother write her first letter home.