assisted living facilities

My husband and I are looking for an assisted living facility for my mother in law. Any knowledge here of places either in the southern Indiana area or Louisville?

Allow me to recommend Autumn Woods Health Campus in New Albany.

http://www.trilogyhs.com/locations.asp?lid=16

David, thank you. Can you say a little about your experience with them? Maybe even in email?

My mother-in-law is only now very reluctantly considering this option as a viable thing (as are we all), and I'm concerned about the quality of care and so forth at any facility of this nature. She is fiercely independent, but her health is failing. I just want her to be happy and comfortable and in a place where she'll be safe and sound and will get the best care she can get.

pm sent

I was recently discussing this topic with someone and they recommended Four Courts. They said the facilities were very upscale and the staff is fabulous.

Thanks to you both. I've got both suggestions on my list to explore.

Both my parents were at the Masonic Home campus off Frankfort Ave. (Where the Olmsted is.) Beautiful campus. They have fully independent senior apartmetns, assisted living and an infirmary. We had experience with all three levels of care and were quite pleased.

At one point in my career I had the pleasure to be the Executive Chef and Foodservice Director at Atria Springdale. I only left due to the death of my father and my executor responsibilities. I would probably still be there.

It was wonderful, the staff genuinely cares about each and every resident. Like they are one of the family. I really got attached to some of the old folks. They would frustrate me at times, but they were lonely and engaged us in griping just to get our attention, when their families were not visiting as much.

We always gladly talked to all of our residents one on one and with their family of issues and communication with the family was a must. We would even meet with them on our own personal time to reslove issues and it wasn't like work.

It was some of the most valuable experience I had ever gained, professionally and personally. Atria is pricey, but the standard of care and attentiveness, the family atomosphere, and the beautiful facilities make it worth every penny.

Sorry for rambling, but this topic struck up fond memories.

Our daughter worked (accounting office) at Treyton Oaks in Old Louisville. She really considered it to be one of the top notch places in Louisville. It too, is pricey.

From my perspective (EMS for 25 years here), Treyton Oaks is great, so is Four Courts, Masonic Home and I have heard great things about Atria. Another possibility is the Christian Health Care campus - they also include assisted up to skilled care. I have gone into these places after hours, all hours and can tell when there is a caring, competent staff. Sorry, no experience with Indiana sites, but the local EMS providers can tell you who is the most caring. The trick is massive research, not just read the brochure and speaking to the folks trying to sell it to you. Good luck and thank you for caring, you would be suprised how many famiies "dump' their elders in whatever is cheap or convenient.

Ideally, of course, she'd live independently or with one of us through the rest of her days. But it's increasingly clear she will need more physical assistance than any of us could provide on our own, and having someone help full time is too expensive for us. So the next best option, I think, is an assisted-living facility in a place of her own choosing with a nursing home attached. She's a snowbird and travels back and forth each year from Florida to Michigan, living in an active retirement village in the winter, with a fair amount of scheduled activities and lots of socializing, and I'd like to find a similar sort of environment in a place where she could also be assured of health care assistance. What I want to avoid is what we experienced years ago with my own mother who insisted on waiting until she was completely debilitated and then had to take what was available immediately in the area, a nursing home she hated. She was moved later when an opening came available at the desired home, but she spent about a year in a pretty depressing situation.

More ideally, of course, would be a place nearer us than Louisville proper (or Scottsburg, actually, because my husband could visit her more often during his lunch hours or on his way home from work), but we're exploring whatever options are available right now.

My family was recently put into a similar situation with my mother. She had lived on her own since my father's passing in '99. After an injury at home, we as a family decided that it was not safe for her to live on her own, and she agreed. After an extensive hospital stay, she moved into a Health Campus owned by Trilogy Health Services. She stayed in their nursing facility until she was well enough to live "on her own" in an assisted living apartment on their campus. The staff is wonderful, and she says that she is happier than she has been in years. Their web address is http://www.Trilogyhs.com

Scott, thank you. I've checked out the link and see they have a facility in Scottsburg. We'll be checking them out for sure.

My husband's family has been reluctant to broach the subject with their mother, but when for the first time I framed the problems as I see them when his sister visited recently, it was as if they all felt a burden lifted. I wish I'd said something before, but I guess when the time's right, the time's right. And I remembered all over again how difficult this stuff is. Nobody wants to hurt anybody's feelings. Everybody's afraid to face it.

So for the first time, he talked to his mother about it last night, outlined the options we were looking at, and we were both surprised when she said she would actually like to come here and live near us in such a facility. I think the two places we've found so far in Scottsburg are the likeliest options. But of course the final decision is hers, so who knows, maybe she'd like something in Louisville. I suspect not. Scottsburg would be easier for us to visit her often, and she adores her son. But we're still looking.

Thanks so much.

This weekend we visited a couple of places in Scottsburg, and I was sort of depressed and horrified by one and really pleased with another.

My husband had visited both facilities a week ago and reported back that he thought the Beehive was more personal, smaller, homey, and he liked it. He visited the Trilogy facility as well, Hampton Oaks in Scottsburg, and didn't think it as friendly or as amenable.

On Friday, we and his mother visited them both, and I have to say, I hated the Beehive facility. It's essentially a house, just a house, with a central common area and kitchen, with the living quarters, essentially tiny bedrooms with equally tiny, cramped baths, around the perimeter. A front porch with comfy outdoor furniture. In the central living area, the big-screen tv was blaring, and as we were escorted through the facility, our host shouted the whole time, either over the noise or because she's just used to having to make herself heard with hard of hearing residents, while another resident's tv competed with the whole thing from her room. It was a sort of nightmare of noise. A staff member wore a t-shirt reading "If I'm not happy, nobody's happy." When I asked about the tv, our guide said it was on "24/7." to which I blurted in response, "24/7????" Gad.

When I asked about room availability, she noted that they only had the one, and that they'd just recently refilled several rooms after they'd "got rid of" a few of their other residents. I didn't want to ask how they'd "got rid of" them, and I was appalled that she'd actually put it that way. When I asked about organized events, she said she took one resident with her to the post office as she ran her own errands, but that that's about all they did currently.

Frankly, I wanted to grab my mother-in-law and run as fast as I could. I can't even tell you how depressed the experience made me, and I'm still creeped out by it.

And then we visited Hampton Oaks (Trilogy), and even as we drove up to the place I breathed a sigh of relief. Walking in the front door was even better. The photos on the web site don't do it justice. The staff were cordial and friendly and engaging, there were so many nicely appointed and roomy common areas, the dining area was really nice, the private dining area a nice touch, the rooms roomy and all with at the very least private kitchen areas, and the bathrooms big enough to accommodate wheel chairs, and an emergency buzzer in every shower. I told my mother-in-law I'm considering vacationing there with her if she chooses it.

My husband agreed and said his experiences the first time were totally different. The staff were different from one experience from the next, and the tv wasn't as obnoxious (or the one resident's either) the first time he visited the Beehive.

I made him promise that if he is ever compelled to put me in assisted living it will be at Hampton Oaks rather than the Beehive.

As he noted in later discussion, it's really important that you view these places at least a couple of times to get a good feel for what they're about.