Northstar Place

My mom moved into Northstar Place around two weeks ago. It was clean and the people were friendly. It's nice. It is not what she's used to, but I said "Mom, you can't do palatial. You have to go with what you've got." Evidently, I'm told that the room is a little bit bigger than the ones they have. She's got a nice little seating area and a little kitchen area. It has a bedroom and a good-sized bathroom. The dining area is pretty big, and well put together. I didn't enter the lunch area or the dining area. I just looked in as I walked by. I saw jigsaw puzzles on the table, and I was just mainly going back and forth to my mom's room. The staff is friendly. They have a fairly good-sized section for the folks that they work with their memories, but I haven't gone there. They have a lovely entrance way with bench seats and some chairs. We were out there one afternoon just enjoying the breeze. There appears to be enough room for everybody, and the place is well decorated.

Northstar Place is like all nursing homes. It has a few people in it, not too many, but they all seem to be happy. They've been good to my husband and I'm leaving him there when he gets out of the hospital. They're going to provide the hospice care there for him. They're coordinating everything, and they're really good people to work with. All the people that are not in the memory care unit are just everywhere else in the building. They all seem very happy and well-adjusted. It's quiet there at night, the ladies play cards downstairs, and there's always something going on. They had a nice Christmas dinner, they had Thanksgiving dinner for everybody and their families, and it's been really nice. They're really sociable and easygoing. I have eaten there a couple of times, they have an excellent chef, and they provide nicely balanced meals. My husband will have to adjust to soft food. I talked to Paulette and she said, "No problem, we'll handle it." And when she says it I'll believe it. I'm getting charged $3,000 a month and they also have a community fee. It's an old building, but my husband's apartment has wood floors, or maybe they're old laminates. Anyway, I would like to see a little freshening up with the painting, furniture, and sitting areas where the patients sit. I think they need to get all their chairs re-covered and put leather on them to keep them clean. Other than that, it's not too bad.

My husband moved into Northstar Place. The facility is very clean, the people are very friendly, the residents get along, and I'm very pleased with it. He watches TV, he watches the people, and sometimes he bats ballooms around using fly swatters, which he likes. He has a bedroom, a bathroom, and a sitting area.

We found Northstar for Mom. The care is good. However, we had a few problems when we first went in. They were remodeling and changed her from one side of the building to the other, but I think they finally settled down now. They had us mixed up with another person, sending our bill to her and her bill to us. They're doing a really good job with the care. The setup is good; you walk out of your room and into a common area with other people rather than walking into a hallway.