Our Butterfly Home assisted living opens in Ruskin
By LOIS KINDLE
Caroline Blesson, a licensed practical nurse, and her husband, Blesson Mannil, opened Our Butterfly Home, a new assisted living residence in Ruskin.
LOIS KINDLE PHOTOS
For some seniors, the thought of moving into a large assisted living facility is daunting. They would feel more comfortable in a smaller, personalized setting with a family-like atmosphere.
One such place is Our Butterfly Home, a 2,326-square-foot assisted-living residence in Ruskin that opened June 10. Owned and operated by Caroline Blesson, a licensed practical nurse, and her husband, Blesson Mannil, the home, purchased in September 2018, features two private and two semi-private bedrooms outfitted with Google Voice, a common living room, breakfast areas, kitchen and large, screened garden room. It is handicap accessible with ramps and grab bars.
“It’s very warm and inviting,” said Blesson, who worked as a nurse at Sun Towers for four years, before leaving to open Our Butterfly Home. “We consider our residents family, so I handpick my med techs and caregivers. They must be friendly, have a passion for caring for seniors and possess keen observational skills. Unlike a large facility, we’re more like a home, where we form personal connections with our residents and offer them highly individualized care.”
Our Butterfly Home in Ruskin is surrounded by plants that attract butterflies, like this monarch, to its grounds.
Services include three healthy homestyle meals; healthy snacks; daily housekeeping; medication management; an emergency call system; personal laundry service; 24-hour surveillance, Wi-Fi and computer access; cable TV; daily exercise programs, including yoga for those who’d like to participate, and scheduled activities or entertainment; 24/7 staffing; beauty services; and regularly scheduled, in-home physician and podiatrist visits.
The home is surrounded by butterfly plants, such as porterweed, pentas, honeysuckle, milkweed and more. Residents will have the opportunity to raise monarch butterflies in raised, individualized outdoor garden beds and release them when family members visit.
Blesson, 40, earned her nursing degree in 2014 at the Suncoast College of Health in Bradenton. She has worked at assisted living facilities ever since, she said.
Our Butterfly House is at 207 College Ave W, in a quiet tree-lined neighborhood in Ruskin.
She also has a bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory from Father Muller Medical College in Mangalore, India. She came to the United States in January 2007 to join her husband, who was working on his master’s degree in computer science from Schiller International University in Largo and employed by a computer software company in St. Petersburg.
The couple have been married 18 years and live in Mira Lago with their two sons, Clement, 16, and Clifford, 15. The teens, who are students at Tampa Bay Tech, will be volunteering at Our Butterfly Home this summer.
For additional information or to arrange a no-obligation site visit with Blesson, email info@ourbutterflyhome.com or call 813-400-3338.
Residents at Our Butterfly Home will dine daily in this lovely setting.
This is a view of the cozy living room residents will share at Our Butterfly Home in Ruskin.
Our Butterfly Home owner Caroline Blesson is surrounded by her sons Clifford, 15, and Clement, 16. Both will volunteer at the assisted living residence this summer.
