Holiday by Atria

What a fantastic group of people who run the Essex House. They were prompt in their responses, caring for our situation, and flexible with our needs.

We thought we'd like to live in Hawaii so went to Kalama Heights for about two weeks. The food wasn't all that great. My husband has diabetes so the food was important. We asked for cantaloupe and they gave him watermelon and said that they couldn't change the menu. The food wasn't that great there and that's why we decided not to stay there. Other than that the place was nice and the management was great. They wouldn't make any changes to the menu which we couldn't expect them too but in the end we just decided that wasn't the right place for us.

I was very surprised that there is only ONE elevator for the residents, Many are in walkers and should there be a fire emergency the evacuation for residents would be chaos! I'm surprised the local fire laws would not require more access to exit.

I had been looking for about two years. I went down and visited it a few times and I just felt comfortable there and I could afford it, it was in my price range. Also, it had the things I needed. I needed someone to cook for me and some light housekeeping. They also put me in touch with some medical people that I can hire if I need extra help. I am happy with the food too.

I thought it was very nice but it was just too far away. I liked the way they had it decorated. It was very homey and the apartments looked comfortable. The marketing people that were showing us around, we were especially impressed with them.

Simi Hills is great my dad is very happy there. We chose is because it was a retirement community and the location and the price were right. Overall I think the staff is great but there is one person there that I don't care for very much, but I'm not the one living there.

She only got to stay there 12 days and then had a fall so now she's staying with me but her stay there was good. I think actually they needed another maintence man, what I understood is they only had one and we had some issues with the commode and leaking and it took them a while to fix it. They offered her cleaning of the apartment and all but at that point she didn't really need it. The people were very friendly and the day she fell they were wonderful. Denise and her husband were good. I'm not sure it was the exact place for mom, she missed her cooking but we enjoyed the food there. I went down and ate with her and they said they encouraged that at the beginning. The food was good, the service at the dining room was wonderful. She would kind of get lost to the dining room but all the help and all the residents were really helpful. I would recommend them and the people that I know that have relatives there are all very pleased.

the facility was great! They give 3 days trial to see how they might like the environment with meals all 3 days. J will take the info over to them with the breakdown of what the cost will be. They might come and do the 3 day to see how it would work for them.

She's there but she's not talking to us for whatever reason so I don't know how she likes it but she's still there so she must like it. Thornton PLace didn't do anything wrong to us, they went out of their way to make everything convinient and an easy, smooth move for her, the thing with us had nothing to do with them. We were comfortable witrh putting her there, they had a beauty salon that I know of and the had a doctor on call, it wasn't an actual doctor doctor but a nurse practitioner of some kind but she's there every day to answer questions and things. They have the ride thing where if you need a ride to go to a doctor appointment you can set that up. We originally couldn't afford it but they lowered the price so that she could have more left over at the end of the month, they pay for everything and all of the food except for the thigns she wants to have in her apartment, all she has to do it write one check.

Everything I would say is pretty good, she does have issues with the food, apparently that's general because her folks, the people she's befriended, have the same issues. Supposidly the food is horrible, morning the breakfast is good but everything else... the meats apparently are like leather. I realize they probably have to cook them all the way through, but that's really the only thing I've been hearing about. She's basically just living there, she doesn't need any care, but she does use the van and she has nothing but the finest things to say about the van situation and the driver. Everyone is very courteous and very very nice. I did have to speak to Mary, the manager (and she's lovely) that the toilet was not being cleaned properly and it was taken care of right away. It's hard for my friend to particiapte in the games but its been good for her.

We liked the location and the helpful management. Also, it is closest to our family.

Took my 92 year old dad to Quail Run Estates (QRE)senior living apartments and Don H showed him 5 different apartments that were about to be available. My dad chose a very nice studio with a deck on three sides, lots of light. We heard that keeping the Verizon land line phone was one way to have a lifeline device as it was programmable so that the managers (24x7) at QRE would be called first and could establish if there was need for emergency services. Don mentioned new drapes and blinds for room darkening and a grab bar near the shower. Dad moved in 18 May. Drapes were up, no blinds. Grab bar near shower was not up. The phone was there and we chose to continue it, but as we read in the phone manual there was meant to be a pendant for my father to wear. This was not there and so we made a list of the missing items and brought to management office. Three weeks later, my father fell somehow and was found by the cleaning lady on the bathroom floor after lunch. He was unconscious, so the EMTs were called and brought him to ER. A week in hospital with no broken bones, 6 weeks in rehab and he's back to QRE. They did expedite the lifeline pendant. They did put in half of the blinds. They did put in the grab bar. The remainder of the blinds remain undone. He now has home health aides doing a wonderful job, but he is less capable than he was when he entered QRE I see that QRE has been making an effort to engage my Dad, to provide more activities and are planning to reconfigure one room with another large screen TV where they can have more action films (in particular to try to entice the men). Don made an effort to put my father and another tenant together to play cards. I think everyone means well, and if performance were up to the promises, I would rate this top notch. It may be that a single person who is barely making it on his own and is not an outgoing person has more difficulty in a setting such as this. We know this is not a clinical situation, but QRE knows that there are borderline people and I feel they need to have a way to check in, especially on such people living alone.

Beautiful grounds and housing. But, not sure this would be right for Mom. She needs more assisted care than they normally provide.

8-23 visited: studio-$1325/mo -similar to room at Concordia larger studio-$1800 1bdrm-$1900 walk in shower area 3 meals, activities, independent living w/communal activities; kitchenettes -can use plug in stuff like microwave, crock, toaster **PULL CORDS in all rooms** housekeeping once a week;washing of linens only-you do own clothes; free transport to 10sq.miles for dr, church,etc.; patio in front& back; 2mgmt teams that live there; **NO MEDICAL people on site** can pay 1 month for a trial to see if you like it. Home Health care EXTRA; up front cost of 1 month's rent to paint, add railings, other items to your request. [removed] lock in rate for a one month fee-rates go up around 3-5% a yr. currently have 6 open units.

Awesome place! Definitely one of my picks should the need arise. Would prefer some in house medical assistance.

HIdden lakes is independent living, as far as the care, she gets her meals. At times she does feel like the meals could be better but for the most part they're pretty good as far as I can tell. I've eaten thereand I thought the meals were pretty good; when we moved her in they said we were totally free to eat meals down there with her too. When you have food like that everyday its not the same as your home cooking so thats more of the problem than the food not being good. As far as the help she gets, we hired that. There at Hidden Lakes there is a "First Call Home Health" and they have an office there in the building and we do have a lady hired to help with bathing and she's wonderful. They also are fine with her great grandchildren coming to visit her which was the one question I asked when we were looking and they love to visit her too.

They take very good care of my mother there. Her only complaint is the food because she's very, very, very picky. I would say about 75% of the time she's happy with it. They try to accommodate a lot of tastes which they should. There is always an alternative. She loves her room and the services that they offer. Everything is clean when I go in. They got her in to a room situation as opposed to an apartment and she doesn't cook so that's a good value for her. They worked with us money-wise to get her into a situation that she could afford so she is happy there.

Very good. I actually thought my mother would have liked this one better. It was a little bigger and my mom liked the smaller size of another one we saw. They were very good but they were a little big more expensive and to get in there you had to put down a month and half of rent which is pretty substantial. It was a nice place.

includes everything, pay only phone. 2500 for 2 bedroom. life alert in string? balcony and porch

Great location! For walking, taking the bus. Only downside, wish it was a continuing care facility. Don't want to move many more times.