Arden Courts of Susquehanna

Diane

My husband will be moving into Arden Courts of Susquehanna. It's strictly memory care. Even though it's off of a big major thoroughfare, it feels like you're in the country. It's surrounded by a fence, so it's a secure facility. The grounds are beautiful to walk around. When you walk inside the building, you're greeted immediately by someone at the desk. There are nice chairs and couches and it just has a nice, homey feeling to it. The staff was more than helpful. She came here to assess my husband before we went on a tour. Then I went out to look at the place and spent some time with her. She spent almost two hours taking me on a tour, telling me, explaining things. I got to see some of the caregivers and the rooms. It felt like the place I wanted to put my husband. It just felt right. The building is laid out in four pods, 16 rooms to a pod, and those 16 people eat all of their meals together so that you don't have one big dining room with 65 people sitting there trying to eat all at one time. I liked that little bit of personal touch that hopefully my husband will get to know the people that he's with rather than a great big group all at one time. It's nice. The dining rooms are nice and everything's bright and sunny with lots of windows. It's just a nice, homey feeling. I was there while they were having their middle-of-the morning break. They were having milk and cookies.

Patrick

I am choosing Arden Courts of Susquehanna for my father. The facility wasn't flashy or overly impressive, but it was clean. I got no sense of it being dirty or uncared for, nor did it smell or feel or look like a hospital either. It felt like a residence or a community where people lived. Some residents were playing word association games, things to get them thinking, and trying to be mentally active as well as physically active. Everything about why my father is moving in there is because of Deborah, the woman in charge of sales and placement. She was teaching me things about how to deal with somebody who has dementia and giving me ways to cope with my father that I could take home and deal with right away. Every facility that I visited after visiting Arden Courts of Susquehanna said they knew her and respected her as an expert in the industry. More than half of their staff had been there for more than 10 years, which tells me that they're taking care of their own people. And so, I felt very comfortable with the decision that they were going to take care of my father the way that he needed to be taken care of. Everybody seemed attentive and personable. The good majority of them stopped to have conversations with me and introduced me to the person that they were taking care of at the moment.

the Vance family

“Our family wanted to give a shout out to Arden Courts for their loving embrace of our father during his challenges with dementia. Last summer, Dad was hospitalized with recurring UTI’s superimposed on advanced dementia. He struggled in the hospital environment with their systems and go-to meds to manage delirium. This complicated placement options with rehab and nursing homes. As his primary advocates, we eventually overcame the protocols and revolving door of doctors and weaned him off the drugs. He got better. Enter Arden Courts. We liked them from the beginning. They specialize in dementia care and the staff seemed so loving and welcoming. While everyone else was writing Dad off, they gave him a chance. The Arden Courts team peeled back the veil of dementia and saw the kind, gentle and generous man he was. While he could be a handful at times, the entire staff was so compassionate and brought out the best in him. Everyone loved “Mr Bill”. For the last Chapter of his life, he was free again. Arden Courts helped fulfill a promise that we made to him to get Mom and Dad together again. They were able to place Mom in another wing of the facility and she got the same kind of welcome and exceptional care. They were always together and became known as the sweetest couple in the neighborhoods. Dad is now at peace but we are so grateful to Arden Courts for giving him one last chance to live life and to pass with grace and dignity surrounded by a community that treated him like family.” The Vance Family

Kelly

I went to Arden Courts of Susquehanna. This is more of care for individuals that have more memory and cognitive issues. They're 100% memory care. The way they had it set up was very nice. It's like a circle. It is a controlled community in that you need the codes to get in and out so that the residents don't wander. But it is all open and they have courtyards for the residents available. The rooms were nice. The only thing I did not like about it (that I think for my mother and myself would be uncomfortable) is that they don't have showers in the rooms. They're shared showers. But they are from a level of skilled care, and they are more apt at taking care of people with memory issues and medically, too. They are all trained when it comes to memory care. They have a wide variety of activities. They also do cognitive games, art therapy, and physical therapy. They even gave me one of the calendars, which was artwork that the residents had done. I think my mother isn't quite at that point, but I would feel very safe having a family member there. Everybody seemed very nice and very personable. It's not a huge community. They only have a capacity of like 64 people, so they have a good staffing ratio for the residents. Everything seemed very clean and very nice. They were working on one section; they were updating it.

Elizabeth

Arden Courts of Susquehanna is all memory care. I'd actually visited there about three years ago, and then I went again yesterday. It's excellent and definitely at the top of my list. It's nice and bright. It's actually designed for memory care. It's a big square so you don't get lost, and you don't feel like you're trapped. One of the best things about that is just seeing so many of the residents out and participating in the activities. The staff was all really nice and happy, and they were everywhere. The residents are participating. In some facilities, it's like all the doors are shut. You don't even see anybody, and you might see one staff member. Arden Courts was not like that at all.

Michael

There's nothing negative about Arden Courts of Susquehanna, other than the distance from mom's current location. Their location is in more of a commercial area, although the facilities were above board and very good. The staff has been very cordial, very friendly, and very open to answering questions. They allow for family (my brother and me) to explore our potential needs and timeframe. The façade and layout were exceptional. It has been in existence for twenty-plus years. All that Arden has is memory care.