Asbury Care Center

I visited this facility

I visited this facility while assisting a client with her mother's health care needs. The facility is older, but well maintained. I found it to be clean and bright and the staff were very friendly as well. The facility follows an "Eden Approach" to care, meaning there are animals living in the building. I found the birds, dogs, and cats to be a nice addition and felt that they help residents who might have previously had pets to feel more at home. All of the rooms in this facility are private and a good size. There is also a nice dining area and common place. The three stories are divided into different levels of care and upon visiting each one, I found them all to be high quality. One downside to this facility for some is that they do not accept Medicare or Medicaid payment. It is exclusively private pay. In addition, some with higher care needs (a PIC line or tube feeding for instance) could not be cared for in this facility. I would not hesitate to recommend it though, and felt the care offered was top notch.

I visited this facility while working for the Department of Social Services, while assisting clients of mine who were looking to move to a home that would provide them with a greater level of care than living independently. Aldersgate is a gorgeous continuing care community that provides all different levels of care - from independent cottages all the way to a nursing home with an Alzheimer's unit. The independent living side and assisted living area are really pretty, modern, offer a beautiful dining room for meals (or meals can be brought to the room at times of illness or for assisted living residents who aren't able to get to the dining hall regularly), and also has tons of activities. The nursing home is smaller and not quite as modern, but still well kept and it houses a very friendly staff. I also love that the nursing home incorporates an Eden concept of care - meaning that the residents are always surrounded by animals (dogs, cats, and birds live in the nursing home). I think this offers a nice "home like" touch and gives the residents the opportunity for animal companionship that they may be missing from home.
I spent the majority of my time in Asbury Care Center (the nursing home part of this facility) and so, I will focus my review on that area. This nursing home is private pay meaning that they do not accept Medicaid payment. They also didn't seem to be able to provide for higher level medical needs (such as a PIC line), which would certainly make this facility inappropriate for some people. For those that it works for though, it's a really nice facility. There are three different floors, each providing a greater level of care than the last (the top floor is the Alzheimer's unit). All three floors always seemed to have many different activities going on for the residents to enjoy. I observed residents enjoying bingo, arts and crafts, and chair type exercise programs. The staff always appeared to be very attentive as well. I observed visitors including family and children's groups being welcomed into the facility by the front desk staff, as well as nurses on the floor. It was nice to see that kind of welcoming environment and I'm sure it helped people to feel more comfortable about placing their loved ones there. I was in this facility on several different occasions and always found both the facility and the residents to be very clean. I was actually extremely surprised to see that, even with the animals in the building, everything was tidy and any odors were minimal and seemed to be quickly addressed. I had the opportunity to contact both nursing staff and social workers at Avante, in efforts to assist my clients. All were very friendly, helpful and seemed to legitimately care about the well being of their residents.
If I were to say anything negative about this facility it would only be that there are very high level care needs that this staff isn't able to handle, and everything is handled as private pay so a long term stay could become quite pricey. I would recommend the facility though, despite those two issues, and would consider placing my own loved ones there if the need every arose.