Lanier Place

I toured the Lanier Place for my husband. The people were very nice. It's a small facility, and I like that. I didn't like the rooms because they were very small. It seemed to me more like a hospital room than being a room that someone is going to live in. The place looked fine with nice dining area and an area where people could gather around watching TV. I didn't really get a lot of information about what they all offered. It was a short visit, and they really didn't go into that. They asked me a lot of questions about it. It just took time before they got back to me with some information. The place looked very clean. It's close to home for me to go and visit. I guess it's not that far from the hospital. It's in downtown Cumming, so there's a lot of stuff close by.

My mother is in Lanier Place. She is not doing all that great and her Alzheimer's is getting worse. They have a calendar that shows that they have bingo and exercise and different things on different days, but she keeps telling me that they don't do any of them. I figured it was her Alzheimer's, her just not remembering, but after speaking to some of the other tenants, they are telling me the same, that they are not doing these activities. I got a little more information yesterday. One of the tenants who has been there for years said, "We used to do all these things, but then COVID came and we all got restricted to our bedrooms. Now that Covid has lifted, a lot of the tenants are having difficulty leaving their rooms now because they got the habit of staying in their rooms. I've been there at different times throughout the day, on different days, popping in and out. There's only been one time that I've seen anything going on, so I don't think that's very healthy for my mother. My mother is in the regular assisted living portion right now because she's still able to do everything except for showering herself and I do that because I don't want to pay $600 a month for a shower. They're allowed to come out of their rooms now. They don't have to stay in their rooms. They're listing activities, but the residents are not doing them (not that I can tell). One of the employees says they all do puzzles and cards, but I've never seen a puzzle. Four people that play cards together. Other than that, they're just kind of left to their own devices and with my mother's situation, she has to be encouraged to do things. The cleanliness of the place is good. When you try to ask different employees about things, nobody seems to know what anybody else is supposed to do or who's responsible for this or that. I was told they have a beauty shop. She will just make an appointment if she wants to have her hair done, but they don't have a stylist and haven't had one for quite some time. They tell you that there's a beauty shop there, but the service is not available because they don't have a stylist. They shower twice a week and that's $600 bucks for a month, but my mom only showers once a week and it's still $600 a month and that's outrageous. They should have told me that it's not healthy for me to take her out of there and have her spend the night with me at my house. She had finally started warming up to the place and not being upset and depressed all the time. Then I took her home for two days over the long weekend and then they tell me a week later that I shouldn't have done that, that I reversed everything that she had gained. They should have told me that to start with. I'm OK with the place because it is clean and it's not like a nursing home, but for the amount of money that I pay them, the only thing they do is feed her and they wash her sheets and that's it. They don't give her any medication. Thankfully, she is not on any medication. For any tiny little extra thing that they might need to do for them, there is a fee. For $3000, I would think that they should be doing a lot more than feeding her and washing her sheets. The maintenance man and the cook interact with my mother the most out of any other staff that was there. When I'm around, they are the ones that I see talking to her, teasing her, joking with her, and trying to get her in a good mood. They're the main ones that have anything to do with my mother. I haven't eaten any of the food, but for the most part, she doesn't like it and some of it, she does. The cook goes out of his way, though, to cut her food up into small pieces because he knows that she doesn't have a lot of back teeth. He notices that she has not eaten very much for dinner, so before he leaves, he will try to make her a grilled cheese sandwich or just something to get her to eat more. Those are really the most positive things I can say. The cook is very interactive and I think probably does the same for the other residents. He kind of knows who they are and kind of watches how much they eat or don't eat. The cook and the maintenance guy are the best of them all.

Lanier Place seems very nice, the staff are very nice, and it's a very friendly place. So far, we're pretty impressed. My mother-in-law went with me for the visit, and we both like the facility. It's just that they said they'd get us the pricing, but we haven't seen that yet. The place is a little dated for us; it's a little bit old and needs some repairs. The staff and the people who gave us the tour were extremely friendly. We met with somebody for the financial part of it, and that's the part that they haven't followed through with yet. The rooms, showers, and kitchen area looked a bit dated. It just needs a little updating and a little cleaning. From what they told me, they have plenty of things going on. They have cards, bingo, music, and plenty of amenities. From what they told me, it sounds nice.

I went in Lanier Place. They gave me a tour, showed me some rooms, and showed me the activities place. Then we sat and talked about my mom possibly coming there, but it didn't work out because she took a downturn. The reason they turned her down was that she had an open sore on her buttocks. They said that they could not take her because of that. It is all in the same building. There were no separate areas. It was very clean, very nice and very quiet. It's an older place, but it's very well-kept and very clean. They let me look at some of the rooms and meet some of the people. We saw some of the residents walking around. The staff was walking around too, helping people who needed help. They were all very friendly and nice.

Lanier Place has an older feeling, like it's been there a long time, and they upgraded it, new paint, and new furniture. It felt more like a nursing home. I was able to view the outside and the patio at the back. My first impression was, " Not my first choice." They had a good price, but it was not my first choice. The staff was helpful and friendly and easy to talk to. They had a beautiful garden and patio in the back with some gazebos and some raised beds, and they had an area where the residents could plant tomatoes or other vegetables.

Lanier Place was good. It was clean, and the people were very nice, but the deposits for everything were high. You had to have a high deposit if you had a motorized chair and a high deposit for the community fee. Besides that, everything was good. The rooms were roomy and adequate. The grounds and location were both good. They had a man there doing music, which was all fine.