I spent a great weekend with the Blanchard kids while Levelle and Jamie enjoyed a much-deserved vacation in Vail. We had a blast. Michael, we particularly missed you while bowling. You would have enjoyed the Kevin Show.
Quinn and Megan joined me and the kids for a visit to St Catherine's Nursing home that is connected to the mother house for the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburgh. What a wonderful place! First clue that it is better than Brighton Gardens: every single resident had clean hair. The residents chatted with us, the nuns helped us when we wandered into the convent by mistake. It was calm, peaceful and quiet. The whole building smelled clean. All in all, it deserved its 5-star rating. We gave the SSNDs a chance to take care of mom, isn't it time to give the Daughters a chance?
Biggest problen is location - for Paul, Uncle Jim, Mom's friends...
The kids and I went to see Mom on Sunday. All I could see was the shabby, smelliness of the facility and furnishings, and Mom's dirty hair. She had on only one slipper for most of our visit. I have mentally moved on from Brighton Gardens. Hopefully we can find the perfect spot for Mom at St Catherine's or Stella Maris or somewhere. Say your prayers (as you always do :))
Love you all,
Lel
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Outsprinkles
These are the people whose love and support get us through each day and who we owe so much. They also helped a little producing......
Almost all of the Offsprinkles
7 comments:
Interesting...It's funny looking back now at our thoughts as we chose Brighton Gardens. It seemed clean and neat and all of the furninshings were nice. But nothing has changed in the two years since mom has been there. There are some very nice and helpful people who work there and there are...the others. I'm not big on change, but if everyone thinks it's for the best, I'm with ya!
I love the thought of St. Catherine's being with the Daughters of Charity. The place sounds wonderful! My only concern is for her visitors. (Uncle Jim, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Spurrier, Mrs. Rafferty, Paul...) It will be much harder for them to visit and it won't get any easier as the years pass. But if it's better for Mom to be there and be clean, well cared for and safe...then that's the best for her. That's our number one concern.
I remember going through "the neighborhood" while visiting and having the tour guide say, "you know how it is after lunch, everyone naps" because everyone was sitting in the living room sleeping. Now I wonder if it's because everyone is "under the influence". I feel like half of the time I'm visiting, I'm there to take care of some business like washing her hair etc. If she was at St. Catherine's we could be pretty sure that we wouldn't have to worry about those things.
I haven't heard great things about other Nursing Care facilities in the area. I wonder if they would be any better than BG. I know Quinn is planning on visiting some to get another point of view. When we looked two years ago, BG seemed to have everything Mom needed and a great location to boot. Now we have a better idea of what we want out of her care provider. Hopefully we'll be guided in the right direction.
Love to all - Levelle
First of all, I have been talking to Uncle Jim. He feels the way I do that if she is in good hands then the drive is not a problem. "I will be able to get there". He also told me that Anne's in-laws just took their mother out of Brighton Gardens over some of the same concerns that we have. She is now at a small, family-run place at Northern Pkwy and Falls. Additionally, the admissions person is Linda Reardon- former admissions director at BG. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I will atleast check into it. Things definitely have gotten worse at BG and as a result Mom is doing worse. She is much less mobile- I don't think she gets enough exercise; she is thinner- I don't think they assist with cutting and making her meals accessible; she is always dirty and the room always smells like urine. For $7200/month they should be doing a lot better!
I had been wondering about her sister-in-law's mother-in-law...Elise Walk. One day she was in the neighborhood and the next, she wasn't. In fact, there are a lot of empty spots in"the neighborhood". I can help look at places too Quinn. I am free on Thursday this week. Let me know if you want me to visit any.
LTA - Levelle
FYI Just got an email from Uncle Jim...
To: jim.seahawk@verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 6:45 PM
Subject: brighton gardens
I talked with Claudia (Bruce's sister) about Brighton Gardens. They changed Richard's (her husband) mother to Springwell about a month or so ago. She said it was more for the price (the cost was continually going up) than for the care of his mother. She really likes Springwell - it is at I-83 and Northern Parkway. It is smaller and more of a family run business than a corporation. She said to talk with Linda Reardon - who is the administrator (?), she left Brighton Gardens and went to Springwell (I am sure Quinn will know who I am referring to). The number is 877-294-9355. Here is the website: http://www.springwellseniorliving.com/
Claudia said they would be happy to talk to you about Springwell.
The email was from Ann to Uncle Jim.
I just looked at the Springwell and St. Catherine's websites and I am of the firm belief that all facilities highlight only their good sides in public. I wonder why. They're useless for deciding what is best for Mom. I do also worry about the driving up to Emmitsburg but Uncle Jim is right, the better overall option for Mom is what is best. Obviously that includes being able to get frequent visits but it is much more to do with getting good direct care.
I spoke to Carol Leonard (mom's friend) about our unhappiness with BG, and that we were looking elsewhere. Though she hadn't been to visit mom in a little while (her doctor nixed her driving because of vertigo), I got the impression that she wanted to say, "What took you so long." I'm sure mom isn't any cleaner looking or fresher smelling when her friends visit.
Would it be worth getting Mrs. Lawrence's thoughts on the subject? I'm sure she and the bridge group have opinions to share with each other. And maybe they have experiences with other facilities that would be helpful to know.
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