Westgate Gardens Care Center

My mother-in-law was at Westgate Gardens for about 10 years. The staff was fine, but the facility was very large. The rooms were large, but they have three or four people to the room. The food was not as good as the other facility we have been to. They have several dining rooms; the main dining room was very large. They have games, church service, and the people come in at Christmas to sing. Once I got them convinced to keep my mother-in-law after she had Alzheimer’s, I had to contact an ombudsman and the ombudsman took them to the state. They were trying to kick her out because she had Alzheimer’s, and they were try to make me send her outside of the town -- and this was a number of years ago -- but now they do take Alzheimer’s people. They treated me pretty poorly at the time, but in the end they kept her.

This facility was abuzz with activity from families visiting (it was a Sunday) . They had a Xmas concert going in the dining room. They have about 140 beds spaced out in different sections. As I walked around looking for staff to give me a tour I came upon the spouse of a resident so I thought I'd get her perspective. She gave me a glowing review of the facility as we walked about. Her husband suffers from dementia and she waited a long time to place him. At first she spend 12 hours sitting with him, afraid he'd be mistreated, but now she's very comfortable. "Sometimes you'll get an impatient nurse, but that's to be expected" she said. She said the staff is very helpful, they'll move furniture for you or clean something if you ask. Her husband is on a liquid diet, but the food is nutritious. The only downside to the facility is that parking was limited with all of the Sunday visitors.