Villa Siena

Villa Siena was clean and nice. I liked the rooms, but my brother did not. He thought they were too small. The dining area looked dark but nice. They had bingo and puzzles. I didn't particularly like the staff member during the tour, but he was honest, forthright, and answered all of my questions. He was a good guy. One of the first things he asked me was if I can afford $60,000 a year. The courtyard looked nice.

My Aunt is in the skilled nursing facility in Villa Sienna. The environment is super nice. There is no pre-payment or initial payment, my aunt just pays by the day and if you ran out of money or if your health exceeds your funds, they will take care of you and will take over the payment. For us, that is a really good option. They also have 6 to1 nursing care, which is attractive to us. For the price, it is the right decision for us and for her. My aunt is a Catholic and having a Catholic Church where she can go to mass any day of the week, that is also very attractive to us and to her. The downside of the place is the food. I will say it is substandard. They serve a lot of sandwiches and she doesn't like the food. They do have a lot of social events. They bring in musicians. They have birthday parties. They have activities like bingo, which I think is great. I don't know if my aunt has utilize them all, but it is available for people. They also have assisted living and there are more people in the assisted living. Everybody is allowed to go there, which is nice, but she can't qualify in that part. It is a nicer environment than the skilled nursing. They all have their own rooms with kitchens and stuff. They don't have that in the skilled nursing. She is sharing a room with somebody and it is more like a hospital room. However, everything is really new. The architecture is new and nicely appointed. The grounds are really nice. They have nice courtyard in the middle and people can go out there.

It is Christian oriented (Catholic) but does not discriminate. It is located in a quiet park setting near a stand of redwoods and beautiful flowers and is well removed from traffic, auto or pedestrian. Daily Mass is celebrated every morning in a beautiful chapel. Nurses are on call on a 24 hour basis and a fine hospital is less than a mile away. The staff is excellent -- very caring and professional. An attractive, well staffed dining room serves three delicious meals, seven days a week. Special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries are observed and there is ample parking for family and friends. Daily programs include bingo, quiz programs, talks by experts in a variety of fields. Free transportation is furnished for medical or dental appointments and weekly shopping trips. Music programs are held on an almost daily basis featuring instrument, soloists and singers. In summary, while not cheap, it is an excellent facility, and will only be more beautiful when the remodeling work is finished.

My great aunt stayed here and while the grounds are not incredibly impressive it always felt clean and peaceful. She was a religious woman so I think the religious character of the place set her at east. She had her own room, which was decorated like a bedroom, not like a nursing home room. Despite the sadness it brought me to see her alone amongst other elderly people, it did seem that she had a nice life: the food seemed fine, they permitted her to enjoy the outdoors, she made friends, and the nurses seemed very kind. The staff knew her by name and came to know our family when we visited. Despite the extremely high price, I'm glad my great aunt could spend her final years in the comfort and serenity Villa Siena provided.