Lilac Assisted Living LLC

Tom11

Right now, I'm in an assisted living home called Lilac Assisted Living in Phoenix. I should first say that the previous owners were not doing a very good job in a lot of ways. For instance, there was never any hot water for taking showers. It's room temperature or colder. Even with the new owners, that's still an issue, and I'm trying to help them realize those things because I really liked the new owners, and they're making a lot of good changes fairly quickly already. The new owners are now a husband and wife team, and they are here most of the time. The food they're catering to individuals and the quality of the food is of much better quality. The service is, I think, as good as it can be, under the circumstances. Other than myself, almost everybody else here is very needy and needs a lot of help. Having just two or three people here at any given time, for 10 tenants, it's very difficult to be everywhere at one time, but they're constantly running around, and you can see the sweat on their brows. They're doing everything they can, which I admire them for. They try to appease everybody to the best of their abilities that I'm aware of. When I came in, I was originally in the master bedroom, and for the first two or three weeks, I was here by myself. I figured that's why I'm paying so much. They brought in a big screen TV for me. They said they put them in all the rooms, and I think that's really kind. They also brought in the little dresser for me by my bed, so it's easier to get to things when I need them. I'm the only one here who handles my own medications, like counting them out and taking them on a regular schedule, but because of the rules and regulations, they brought me a little metal cabinet that has one door filled with my spices and seasonings for my cooking, and the other one is all medications. I can lock it when I'm not going to be in the room. They try hard, and they listen. They're also very amenable to suggestions here, which I admire. On the outside, it's obvious that the home is probably a good 10 or 15 years old. However, the inside is immaculately clean. They constantly come in several times a day with a light mop and sweeping and all that. Everything's freshly painted, too, and just the overall appearance of the kitchens, I wish I had that kitchen put that way, because it's nicely laid out. They have activities, and the new owners, especially, are trying to bring in new interesting things. The owner's wife had mentioned knowing that I'm also a bit of an artist, that they had a lady, if there were enough people interested, for a group drawing or a painting session, kind of an instructional thing. There are a lot of other things that I'm just not into, but I think a lot of the other older tenants here would dig on things like bingo, board games, crosswords, and other basic things to keep them occupied. I think I'm being way overcharged, but I think it's just me, because they didn't know when I got here what condition I was in. I'm also not taking advantage of all the services that they offer because I don't need them. I think they're overpriced, but beyond that, everything else is pretty good, and by the week, things are getting better, thanks to the new owners. Perhaps everybody else is not being charged as much as I am. I think that just has to do with the system and the way things operate.