Lake Prince Center will be unveiling its new assisted living center, The Bay, later this month.

The retirement community is holding an open house from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25 to give local residents a chance to see the facilities. The event will include light refreshments, door prizes and tours of apartments.

Residents are already in eight of The Bay’s 52 assisted-living apartments and another two are pending, said Celia Soper, vice president for administration.

Sixteen of those beds are in a special unit, which features special accommodations designed to help residents suffering from Alzheimer’s or other memory difficulties.

For example, Soper said, apartments in that unit feature a large, fenced-in courtyard where residents can wander without the risk of getting lost.

Although patients will be served meals in the dining rooms, the unit also has a kitchen that will be used for group activities.

Lake Prince’s independent living facilities opened in July; already, approximately 90 percent of the apartments and cottages are occupied.

The Bay has been a little slower to fill, said Sope. She said the delay is primarily because people tend not to think much about assisted living services until they or their parents have a need for them.

Soper stressed that differences exist between nursing home and assisted living services. Nurses and other staff members are hand to dispense medication, bathe and handle minor illnesses in an assisted-living facility. Residents are usually more independent and mobile, tending to participate in exercise classes, field trips and the like.

Costs for The Bay’s services begin at $2,900 a day for short term visits, said Angela Greene, a Lake Prince spokeswoman.