Serenity House Assisted Living Hunters Hill

My mom is in Serenity House Assisted Living. They also do memory care, which is what my mom is receiving. I like the one-on-one care that she gets. She broke her back at another facility and they just weren't caring for her. In here, they were very careful to make sure that they attended to her, wi...

My mom is in Serenity House Assisted Living. They also do memory care, which is what my mom is receiving. I like the one-on-one care that she gets. She broke her back at another facility and they just weren't caring for her. In here, they were very careful to make sure that they attended to her, with that back and her walker. What I really like is that they were pretty adamant about the medications, and they had to clarify everything with her doctor to make sure that the doses were correct, because even that wasn't taken care of previously at another facility; I really like that, I like that they really took that into consideration. Everything is on track now with her, with her diabetes, and her warfarin for her heart, and everything else. When I first got her in there, they really wanted to look at her medications, make sure that the doses were correct with her physician first, and set up a plan. That was really important, that the medications were done carefully, and the one-on-one care that they give her. She has three meals a day. They know that she's diabetic, so they're not giving her all these carb and fruit juices that they gave her without a really careful diet. I noticed that they give her a good diet of fruits and vegetables and proteins. I really am pretty satisfied with the care that she's getting there. I looked at their website when I initially was thinking about them, and they've gotten a lot of awards, and it was very impressive. I have to agree that they take really good care of the patients. My mom got a little out of hand, I think it was just the change in environment. She got a little combative, which is unusual for her. The director of operations really tried to help me find a way, because Kaiser is so complicated to get any help, because it's so hard to get a phone call from anybody and get through the lines. She advised me to go to homebound care so that the Kaiser doctors can go there to see her, which is really, really a better idea. I couldn't get any results from her regular doctor, so I changed doctors, and we got her on some kind of medication that's calming her down. I got some good reports that it did calm her down. She really likes it there. She's told me that she really likes being there, so that's a plus in itself right there. It's all in one and it's a house. It's a whole different philosophy of assisted living. It's a house, and they only have eight individuals in the house. They have two to three workers or caregivers in the house, and they attend to eight people, which is really, really a much better ratio, I think. In these big corporations, the way I see it, I had some of the big corporations call me back when my name was sent out, and to me, I think my mom would have gotten lost in there because that's where she came from. She was at another facility, and it's so big that they just don't pay attention. When my mom broke her back, they just put her in the bed and they didn't even go around to check on her. She had to go potty and she'd get out of bed with that broken back and fall down again. Here, you're actually watched constantly. They also keep them as a group, and they all get to know each other and do activities together. I went to go see her, and we went out to sit on the beautiful patio that they have. She said, "Oh, they had this beautiful barbecue for us out here on the patio, and they cooked out here, and we got to play games," and she was really happy. I also feel like she's improved so much just from the activities and the care that they give them. They keep them clean, you don't smell urine. It's an all-ladies facility and you don't smell anything other than good home-cooking that they cook for them. They cook them right there in the kitchen. It's a different philosophy of how they handle it. I don't know how many of these are out there. I know that this gentleman, Mike, has seventeen of these homes out there. He's got them in different areas of the metropolitan area. I kind of like that philosophy because it's one-on-one care. It is so much better and they really do keep an eye on them all. They even have hospice care there, so it's all-in-one right there. I think that the staff is really caring. They call me when they need to, like to let me know when my mom was combative, and everything else. They were concerned. I got really stressed with that because I thought that they were going to kick her out, but that's not what their intention was. They just wanted to let me know that she was hard to handle and they wanted me to maybe get in touch with her doctor. They don't believe in sedatives but she really needed something to calm her down; not a very high dose of it. She likes to be busy, even with dementia she used to love the garden and do a lot of that stuff. We've talked about how she likes to do things in the house, so she asked to help with the dishes and they said, "Sure!" It makes her happy, so that's a good thing, too. The director of operations is very articulate and a little assertive. She's on the ball, she understands things, and she knows what works. I wasn't really happy with her initially, but now I understand where she's coming from. My mom's room was very clean. Her bathroom was very clean. My mom even mentioned the fact that they constantly clean in there, and they spray down everything to make sure there are no germs and stuff. They keep her clean as well, her bed is made, her clothes are well-organized in her closet and her drawers, because I checked all of her drawers and everything. The living room is very clean. The kitchen is very clean. They put a lot of dishes in their dishwasher to make sure that everything is disinfected. All the other areas are very, very clean. They have a TV room and another room where you can relax and just put the chair back. Every piece of that house, I think, is very clean and well dusted. They've got a big, long table where they all eat, and it's very nice. This place is a lot cheaper than the last place I had my mom, which was a bigger corporation type, and they charged me an arm and a leg. For what they're charging me here, I'm getting a heck of a deal, a lot better than what I got at the other place.

I feel the community is a safe place, very caring, and an overall positive experience. The community is neat and clean and they do a great job caring for our loved ones. I would recommend this community to others based on my experience