Lakeside

I am a friend or relative of a resident

My mother was in Lakeside of Stayton for a month. She didn't like it. But I thought it was very nice, very clean, and I think they have an excellent program. She's from Eastern Oregon, so she had a lot of friends there. She doesn't make friends very easy, so she just decided she wanted to go back. I thought she was treated very well. They have nice rooms, super nice people, very helpful. The only thing we didn't like about it is the only way for them to get from the upstairs down is an elevator, and she didn't like the elevator. But that had nothing to do with the facility. That was just her.

The facility is nice enough, could be a bit cleaner - I always see a lot of dust and the flooring could be better maintained but the residents seem comfortable. The location is nice - I have always loved Stayton and their are pretty mountain views and such for the residents to enjoy. I wish that they had more sitting areas and walking paths and activities to do outdoors because the residents love to be out there and I have seen many times where there is not enough sitting for how many residents are outside so I have seen the residents either have to stand, lean against stuff, or have to go inside to find a seat. I like when communities have a lot outdoor seating - they have a lot of sitting areas spread out across the grounds, that way there is enough seating for everyone and there is privacy as the sitting areas are spread out. I would like to see that at Lakeside because it is a beautiful location with great views.

The staff members are somewhat attentive to the residents, it seems as if they are sensitive and accommodating of the residents needs but they are not overly friendly or personable and I think that the residents may have a tougher time approaching them for help because of it. The staff seem so stiff all the time - like robots, during my last visit I heard a staff member laughing with a resident and I about fell over because that seems to be very rare - I was shocked to see some personality show through in the staff member. I think that there are some personality and communication barriers between the staff and residents that need to be addressed in order for the residents to feel comfortable and safe with the staff- they need to be able to rely on and trust the staff and they will never be able to fully do that until the staff are able to let go and be themselves around the residents. The staff members do however meet all of the residents daily needs and they are very meticulous about fulfilling each residents needs thoroughly. They follow the personalized care plans diligently so they are in NO way neglectful or sloppy in the way they care for the residents, I just want to be clear in saying that the residents do receive high quality care - I just want to see the staff members loosen up and have fun with the residents because I have spent a lot of time getting to know these residents and they are the sweetest, funniest, most genuine people so they are very fun to know.

Lakeside offers their residents many opportunities to grow, learn, pursue dreams and hobbies. They encourage individuality and they celebrate each resident for who they are and accept them whole-heartedly - There are many things to do and fun to be had. The residents are always busy with something if they want to be. They love going on special group outings - especially to the antique stores in downtown Stayton. They love browsing for exciting treasures! They always have stories about their cool finds and they enjoy trying to come up with the history or stories behind the antiques - it's like a fun little game they play and if they can't find the history they like to imagine some amazing story behind the piece. Some of the their research and stories are really interesting, they sure do love to tell them. I told the staff that they should come up with a new "antique show and tell" activity so that they can show everyone all of the great antiques they find during their group outings.

I definitely recommend taking a tour of Lakeside and I know that if the staff could relax and have fun with the residents, they would clean a bit better, and provide more outdoor seating that I would not have any other concern about the community, the way the facility is ran, the staff, or anything else about anything else. If the staff could become more open and comfortable around the residents and the other two issues were tended to than Lakeside would be the community other area communities would watch out for.