2All About Seniors

Reviews of 2All About Seniors

Questions about 2All About Seniors

What ongoing training does the staff receive in dementia care?

As part of the continuous training, at least 8 hours of training in Dementia care upon hire as well as an additional 8 hours annually, as Dementia is still a great mystery to scientists and new information is constantly coming out about the topic. We also do practical, hands-on training with new employees by demonstrating and discussing approaches to care for our residents with Dementia, as the disease progresses differently for everyone and each resident has their own set of techniques that work best for them.

Describe the overall population of assisted living residents at 2All About Seniors. What is their average age? What are their favorite things to do?

Average age varies depending upon occupants, but we tend to serve people in their 80s and 90s more than 60s and 70s. Favorite things to do are visit with family. Some residents participate in activities with our Activities Director, which include puzzles, coloring, small, simple crafts, singing from our songbooks, and even simply having chitchat with each other and our staff.

What programs or activities does 2All About Seniors offer to enrich residents' well-being?

Perhaps the best activity for our residents' emotional well-being is visiting with family. Some residents participate in activities with our Activities Director, which include puzzles, coloring, small, simple crafts, mobility exercises, such as balloon toss and seated /standing range of motion and stretching exercises, singing from our songbooks, and even simply having chitchat with each other and our staff.

What places are near 2All About Seniors or within walking distance for assisted living residents to enjoy?

Rite AId, Walgreens, 7-11, McDonald's, Mizu Japanese restaurant (very highly recommended), Santana Row, Valley Fair Mall, Downtown Campbell, Kaiser Santa Clara, Kaiser Campbell, El Camino Health Clinical Offices, Good Samaritan Hospital, Chase Bank, Comerica Bank, PNB Bank, Timpani Center (for disabled/elderly accessible indoor heated pool), Alzheimer's Activity Center.

What transportation services does 2All About Seniors offer to assisted living residents?

As a small provider, we do not have the insurance to offer transportation, but we can arrange for transportation with your preferred transportation company, as well as make recommendations. We can also assist family with transferring residents into/out of their cars at the care home, while usually assistance can be rendered by staff at the doctor's office. Most of the time, we can find alternatives to needing to go out of the home, especially for medical services, as we know how to advocate for in-home nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, through each resident's insurance provider, and we are tech-savvy enough to set up video call appointments with doctors and other medical professionals.

What makes the chef or dining program at 2All About Seniors exceptional? What kind of menu can assisted living residents expect?

All of our meals are prepared based on a sample menu developed by a certified nutritionist that we contracted. They are not bland, as we use salt substitutes to achieve a low-sodium, well-balanced diet consisting of classic American homestyle dishes that most of our residents grew up eating. Moreover, being a small provider with only 6 residents in each care home, we can easily adjust our menu to suit individual preferences. For example, we had a lady who was Mexican-American and loved tacos, so we'd have a taco night a few times per month, which the other residents also enjoyed). We can also accommodate special physician-prescribed diets, such as renal diet, high-sodium diet, mechanical soft diet, GI soft diet, low residue/fiber diet, fat-restricted diet (for excessive body weight, GI disorders), Cholesterol-restricted diet, vegetarian diet, diabetic diet (consistent carbohydrate diet, usually bespoke for each individual), and pureed foods diet.

What safety features or security measures does 2All About Seniors offer to assisted living residents?

Our main safety feature is the fact that we are limited to only 6 residents maximum, so with 2-3 staff present during waking hours, we are able to provide supervision by keeping our residents engaged in activities in the common areas and strongly encouraging them to stay out of their bedrooms during the daytime. We also provide an afternoon nap opportunity, which helps some of our residents recharge their batteries and stay safer. In addition to supervision, we have loud alarms on all entrances/exits. Duing the night, we can use bed alarms (wireless receiver) to alert care staff to a potential impending fall, enabling them to potentially prevent the fall, but at the very least ensure the resident is safe and attended to appropriately (including calling EMS if necessary) immediately after suffering a fall. We also have bedside commodes, vertical floor-to-ceiling grab poles, bedrails for transfer safety/support, and a wide variety of mechanical and electro-mechanical lifting devices

How does 2All About Seniors keep residents' families informed about their loved ones?

Our staff and administrators will often speak directly with families about any observed changes in condition, behaviors, moods, or any abnormalities. We can text, email, call, and speak in-person during a visit. We have multiple administrators, so there is always someone available to have a care conference or even casual conversations about loved ones. Sometimes we take photos of our residents enjoying activities and send them to their families via email or text message, and more recently we've begun using Google Photos, which allows for sending higher-resolution photos to families in case they'd like to physically print them.

What is the care staff-to-resident ratio at 2All About Seniors during daytime and nighttime hours?

2-3 care staff members for a maximum of 6 residents. , so either a 1:3 or 1:2 ratio during the daytime, while nighttime has 1-4 staff members available in case a resident needs assistance during the night, but not necessarily awake, as most or our residents sleep well throughout the night after an active day.

If 2All About Seniors accepts dogs or cats, what indoor/outdoor areas can they enjoy?

Acceptance of pets is a case-by-case basis, and it would increase the overall monthly rate, but we've had a small dog from a previous resident, as well as a couple of cats, but currently no residents with pets. We do, however, have several family members who visit frequently with their dogs, so the seniors are able to enjoy some friendly furry visitors without the associated challenges of keeping a pet in the home.

What ongoing senior care training does the staff receive?

Care staff receive a minimum of 20 hours' training annually, in addition to the initial 40 hours of training upon hire, regardless of prior experience. Moreover, whenever a physical or occupation therapist comes to work with one of our residents, we usually have the therapist train the care staff on that resident's unique needs. Lastly, if we notice an area where a caregiver or multiple staff members are lacking in needed knowledge, our administrative staff, which are more highly trained and must take CEU courses to maintain the certification, will train or re-train one or more care staff members as-needed. We also keep our eyes out for new devices, techniques, and approaches as society learns more about the aging process and develops new technology and new approaches to interacting with those suffering from Dementia in its many forms, and incorporate those into our continuous staff training.

How many staffers are on duty in the daytime and overnight?

This was covered in the question regarding caregiver : resident ratio, but 2-3 during the daytime and 1-4 during the nighttime, though they are on-call at night, rather than actively on duty, as the homes are usually pretty quiet and uneventful during the night.

What safety features or security measures does 2All About Seniors provide to protect residents who wander?

Supervision is the most effective security measure for those who are exit-seeking. Our care staff are trained in redirecting seniors with Dementia who tend to wander and look for ways to go outside independently. Our activities director will also take people on impromptu walks (or wheelchair rides) around the neighborhood to reduce agitation/frustration on the part of the senior resident,, rather than just giving an anti-anxiety medication, since too frequent usage causes it to become ineffective and we don't like to medicate residents before trying alternative resolutions, such as redirection or supervision while the senior does whatever activity they are desiring (usually going outside). Additionally, we have alarms on all exits and the streets that the care homes are located on are fairly quiet.

What programs or activities does 2All About Seniors offer to keep residents engaged? How does the staff engage residents' long-term memories?

Perhaps the best activity for our residents' emotional well-being is visiting with family. Some residents participate in activities with our Activities Director, which include puzzles, coloring, small, simple crafts, mobility exercises, such as balloon toss and seated /standing range of motion and stretching exercises, singing from our songbooks, and even simply having chitchat with each other and our staff, which helps residents engage long-term memories by telling each other and the staff stories from their glory days.

Who assesses residents' health and cognitive functioning? How often is that assessment repeated?

Our caregivers give daily reports on all the residents after breakfast each morning, which our administrators receive and dialogue with care staff about how to resolve any potential health or cognitive issues. We then communicate any observations to a given residents' physician, who may use these observations to adjust treatment for their patient, or may send a home health nurse, PT, OT, speech therapist, or social worker out for further assessment/treatment/therapy.

What techniques does 2All About Seniors use to support memory care residents during mealtimes?

We use prompting, encouraging residents to eat in a nice, sing-song type of voice, simply reminding them to take another bite after finishing swallowing. We model the desired behaviors as well, and will massage a resident's throat to help stimulate the swallowing reflex, as Dementia can eventually cause a loss of motor function with respect to swallowing.

How does 2All About Seniors keep residents' families informed about their loved ones' health?

We will often use patient portals, which are the online account websites for Kaiser, Sutter/PAMF, and El Camino Health, to send communications to physicians that are also seen by families whose accounts are connected to the same person, but for decisions that need to be made, we will usually speak directly to the medical POA (power of attorney), usually the most geographically close daughter or son, to discuss the situation and decide on a course of action. We use email, texting, phone calls and video calls for long-distance family members or simply for convenience.

Describe the neighborhood around 2All About Seniors. Is it located in a residential neighborhood, a business district, a rural setting, or other type of locale?

It is in a nice, quiet, residential neighborhood, but with many convenient stores and restaurants located along the nearby Winchester Blvd. and Hamilton Ave. Our administrator actually lives immediately adjacent to this location, and the street is extremely quiet, as it is not a cut-through for traffic and the only cars driving down are residents of that street, so they tend to drive slower than the 25mph residential street speed limit.

Is 2All About Seniors affiliated with a hospital if more care is needed?

No, we are non-medical, as all Assisted Living facilities are, though I have heard of some ALFs within a section of a hospital or SNF, but those are in other states more than in CA where we have thousands of small 6-bed assisted living providers. We are very close, within 10 minutes or less, to Kaiser Santa Clara Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, O'Connor Hospital, and Valley Medical Center. We have a physician we often recommend to families who strictly makes house calls and doesn't even have a clinical office where he sees patients. This physician is billed through Medicare and usually charges $100 per house call, which is a pretty decent price, considering the convenience factor and not having to pay for transportation, which often actually costs more than $100 per round trip.

Services and Amenities of 2All About Seniors

About 2All About Seniors

assistedlivingsanjose.com

Imagine an intimate setting as comfortable as home, but with professional caregivers on-site 24/7 to prepare home-cooked meals from scratch, and take care of all the laundry, housekeeping, medications, and other activities of daily living. This is the type of closeness available in our licensed, private residential care home, known as an RCFE (Residential Care Facility for Elders), offering senior assisted living in San Jose, CA. Also known as an elderly board and care home, we offer one of the best senior housing options in San Jose and Silicon Valley. If you're looking for a place for mom or dad without the institutional feel of a nursing home or convalescent hospital, this assisted living alternative provides a level of care that is perfect for someone who needs the safety of a rest home with moderate daily activities.

With 3 Beautiful Care Homes to choose from right in the neighborhood, our basic services include:

• Nutritious home-cooked meals and snacks (low fat, low salt diet)
• Special diets upon physician's orders
• All medications stored, dispensed, and reordered by staff
• Daily monitoring of residents' health and vital signs
• Bathing (grooming)
• Dressing
• Incontinence Care
• Wheelchair Transfers and Standby Assist with Walker
• Daily housekeeping and personal laundry service—all linens provided
• 24-Hour Supervision
• Transportation Arrangements
• Daily group activities and exercise
• Bimonthly in-house podiatrist service
• Beautician service provided in-house
• Newspaper & magazine subscriptions
• Cable TV in bedrooms
• Telephone hook-ups available
• Visually Impaired Assistance
• All faiths welcomed

What Makes Us Special

We treat our Seniors with utmost respect, preserving their dignity. We provide each of our residents with the excellent care and the individual attention they deserve as part of our commitment to the community we serve.