Paul Roberts, along with two partners, is owner of Covenant Place (assisted living) and Covenant Woods (memory care assisted living) in Gardendale. Roberts took some time recently to tell about how and why he got into the business of caring for men and women who are in their “more experienced” years.



• When did you open the facility?

We began working on Covenant Place in 2000 and opened on April 15, 2002. Covenant Woods opened two years later.



• What was your goal?

When we first began, we asked the question, ‘Why are we doing this?’ The answer is in our mission statement: “To provide quality and guest-oriented hospitality services that allow our residents to live with grace, comfort, security, dignity and respect.”



• Do you have a background in assisted living?

No, my background is in banking. I was a banker for 26 years. I just realized one day that there’s a lot more to life than this.



• Why assisted living?

There’s absolutely no logical reason to tell you how I got into assisted living, but I can tell you that God has a lot to do with it. I had no background in this at all.



• I’ve heard that you dress up in costumes to make the residents laugh. Why are you so involved?

I can assure you, it’s not just me. We are all here for our residents. We’re here to make life enjoyable for them. We’re part entertainers, part caregivers, part family. If we can do something to make a smile cross somebody’s face, we’ve done our job.



• Did your family support your leap from banking to assisted living?

I have the best wife in the world. She was incredibly supportive, even though we had two kids about to go to college. She’s often out here for the events.



• Tell me about your family.

My wife Nancy and I have been married for 27 years and two weeks. Our daughter Rebecca is 25 and our son Richard is 22.



• What else do you want to include?

The thing that makes Covenant a special place is the staff who works here. We have an unusually good staff.