The personal experience that led Dave and Peggy Budnick to build Majestic Ridge, a small memory care home in Redmond, Oregon.
Our Personal Journey into Memory Care
The memory care business story behind Majestic Ridge began with personal experience. Our journey began as a desperate search—for safety, for peace of mind, and for a place where our mother could live with dignity as she navigated the dementia journey.
After a stroke, our mom lost her ability to drive and began struggling with everyday tasks. We arranged for caregivers to help at home, but over time, her needs grew. Her memory was slipping. She forgot to take medications, was inconsistent with her finances, and became increasingly isolated. A dementia diagnosis confirmed what we already feared—there would come a day when it would no longer be safe for her to live alone.
Identifying the Gap in Central Oregon
We began searching for the right home for mom, and over time, visited more than 30 assisted living and memory care communities across our region. Every tour started the same—with hope—and ended with a feeling that there must be more. Some facilities were clean and well-managed, some had friendly staff, or a great calendar of activities, but none felt right. Some provide assistance with activities of daily living, but require moving to another location if memory care was needed later. Most had long waiting lists. Nearly all felt institutional—cold, clinical, and chaotic.
We just knew Mom wouldn’t be happy spending her final years in one of those places. And so, with decades of real estate experience and a deep personal motivation, we made a bold decision: We would build the home she deserved—a place where she would be comfortable, well cared for and engaged.
Building Majestic Ridge
Through our national real estate networks, we met Brett and Laura Chotkevys, innovators in senior care who created the Platinum Assisted Living Mansion (PALM) model in Texas. Their homes looked nothing like traditional care facilities. They looked—and felt—like home. Each was beautiful, functional, thoughtfully designed, and staffed with loving caregivers who had time to build real relationships with residents.
We flew to Texas and toured the homes. We saw the model in action – we met the residents, walked the halls and felt the difference immediately. This wasn’t a facility—it was a community filled with love and light. And it was exactly what we wanted for our mother.
With Brett and Laura’s mentorship, we brought the PALM model to Oregon. We created a vision customized for our region, for our values, and for the unique needs of seniors in Central Oregon. The result is Majestic Ridge Senior Care—a custom-built memory care home designed from the ground up to be different.
Our Mission Going Forward
At MRSC, we won’t measure success in square footage or revenue. Instead, we will measure it in smiles, calm voices, and the peaceful confidence of families who finally feel like their loved one is truly at home. Our care model includes private suites, a chef, an on-call nurse, enrichment programs, and a salon for pampering. We will offer a simple-to-understand pricing model to remove the stress of constantly escalating costs.
What started as a personal journey has become a mission—to raise the standard of memory care, one home at a time. We know what families go through because we are living it. We are building Majestic Ridge Senior Care to be the kind of place we wished existed when we started our search for care.
For anyone else walking that same path, know this: there is a better way. And we’re sharing our story to help you find it.
