Emerald Valley Assisted Living Residence

I love the size of this facility, the capacity is, I believe, between 35 to 40 residents which I believe to be the ideal size of a senior living community, one reason being that the staff-to-resident ratio is just about perfect, so families don't have to worry about their loved ones being ignored or neglected due to lack of staff. Another reason I like the size of this facility is because even though it is a smaller facility, the number of residents is still large enough so that they can be allotted some of the same amenities, services, and benefits you would see in a much larger facility. Whether a facility holds 4, 40, or 400 residents there are certain advantages for all sizes of facilities, but for some reason I have always preferred facilities that are the size of Emerald Valley, I think the main reason is because the staff members are able to truly get to know the residents and their families, they have the time to get to know the residents personalities, likes and dislikes, learn about their lives, etc. which in turn I think greatly improves the quality of care and communication between the staff members and residents .

Most of the staff members are very personable, I am usually always greeted when I walk through the main doors and a lot of the staff members are quick to answer questions and offer assistance. They also seem to give each resident very individualized attention and I always hear them laughing and joking with the residents. Most of the staff appear to have excellent bedside manner, however, I have several concerns with how I have seen a couple of the staff members treat the residents during my last few visits. I have on several occasions witnessed staff members being very "pushy" with the residents, I have heard them speak harshly to the residents and order the residents to do things. I have talked with many of the residents, a few who have been on the receiving end of this behavior, and they all seem to really like the staff regardless of how these staff members act. One of the residents told me that one shouldn't expect for all of the staff members to be nice, that it is his experience that there is always one or two members of the staff who are unfriendly. but I say, that YES we should absolutely expect for all of the staff members to be nice to the residents! It is sad to me that this resident felt this way about assisted living facilities. I always tell residents that they have every right to expect the best treatment and service and that they should never feel that they have to settle for less or that they should just be thankful that it is not worse than it is, I always remind them that they are not paying for "good enough" care and not to be afraid to speak their minds and stand up for themselves. Several residents knocked the staff behavior down to them just having a bad day, and while I realize that everyone has an "off" day now and then, it is no excuse for them to take it out on the residents. Also, these incidents involved the same staff members on different days so I don't believe that they were just having bad days, I think that some customer service and communication classes are desperately needed for some of the staff at Emerald Valley. I must repeat, however, that most of the staff is excellent and they treats each resident with the highest respect and devotion.

Overall, I think Emerald Valley is an assisted living facility worth checking out, but only after some of the care and customer service issues are resolved as it is never okay for a resident to be treated rudely or inappropriately. If and when these issues are resolved I think that Emerald Valley would be a wonderful place to live.