Sunlit Gardens was extraordinary. But when my dad passed away, I went to remove all of his things out of the room, and they handed me my deposit check, the check that I had written for the two weeks left in the month, and said they weren't charging me a dime and they had taken care of him for a few days. They took good care of him. They were pureeing his food because he was having problems swallowing. It was going to be a great place for my dad. I was very impressed with them.
Their executive director has been there for 18 years, and that tells you a lot. They're also five minutes from here, which is another plus for them. I knew he was in good hands. I went to see him every day. I called and I immediately got put through to someone that could tell me how my dad's night was.
The staff members were very present. My dad got so much more attention there. They were taking care of him. They were very competent and very knowledgeable. When my dad was dying, they were very compassionate and explained the process and what was happening to him during the last few hours. They were great. The sales manager that signed me up and took me for the tour and all was very, very polite. He was just extremely nice and I just loved him. The nurse of the facility was right on top of everything that was going on with my dad. I don't know how she does that with all the people they have there, but she was on top of everything, and she knew exactly what was going on with my dad. And then the executive director, who I never even got to meet until my dad had already passed, she's the one that came in while I was cleaning my dad's room out, and she handed me my checks back. She said, "I just can't believe this happened so fast. We were looking forward to taking care of your father."
They're very nice. You could tell that the staff really cares about their patients. People love it there, and they're there for a very long time, and that said a lot to me, that's why I ended up putting him there. They were very, very careful about the COVID. They were being very diligent about that. I was impressed with everyone. The facility itself was clean and it didn't smell. The floors were clean. My dad's room was clean. I was impressed. I told them what he liked to eat, and that's what they gave him. They couldn't get him to eat the first day he got there, and I had told them, he liked the peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, he doesn't want any hot food or anything like that. They couldn't get him to eat what they were serving, and then they said, "Give him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his daughter said that he likes those." And sure enough, his face just lit up when they brought it in. He couldn't eat it, but the gesture was there, and I could tell that my dad was happy.
