Bickford of Okemos

The staff at Bickford of Okemos was very nice. A couple of the staff had been there over 10 years, which is an attractive element. The longevity of the care staff is really important because it's difficult to maintain those staff. They were very good. The person during the tour was very knowledgeable and passionate about her opportunity to provide care to the people. She's probably the warmest, most passionate person I talked to at all the facilities that I went to. She was topnotch. It was difficult not to choose them. If it doesn't work out at the other place, I wouldn't hesitate to move my father to the Bickford of Okemos. We wanted to put him in a studio apartment, and there wasn't one available. They had one available, but it would've been $40 more a day. The outdoor spaces were really pretty. They had a courtyard, but no pool.

Bickford of Okemos was beautiful, lovely, and well kept. The staff was friendly, helpful, accommodating, and knowledgeable. The rooms were adequate, nice, and seemed like what people would need. The dining area was very nice.

I went and viewed 4 communities for my dad and of the 4, Bickford of Okemos was my top choice. We had an assessor come out yesterday to tell us what dad's care plan was and by the time they did the care plan, the base rate was $7,200 a month. It's a little out of our league. If I could swing it, they would be my choice, there's no doubt about it, but at the rate they charge, my dad would be out of money in 3 years with his savings and his house and everything. None of us can afford to cash out our retirements or mortgages or our homes or care for him. I saw their assisted living and it was beautiful there, the rooms were nice and good-sized, and it was very family-oriented, there's no doubt about that. The staff who assisted us during the tour was wonderful. The facility was very clean, very spacious, and just very homey.

We toured Bickford of Okemos. Everything was wonderful. Everybody seemed very friendly. I spoke with the director there, and she was wonderful. She led me through the interview process and all the contracting paperwork because at that time we thought my mom would be there. Everything was clean and neat. It seemed very orderly, so I was very impressed with it. They had an outdoor patio. She said they have puzzles and games that the residents do. They had a nice dining gathering facility and a lobby area. The rooms were very nice and good sized from what I saw.

My mother was in Bickford of Okemos. It seemed like my mother got a lot more personal attention since it was a small community. The staff has been pretty good, they're caring and helpful. The facility is kept up, clean and all that. They have a patio outside, puzzles and all kinds of things for people to keep busy, and activities they would do. The place looked kept up well and clean.

We moved my mother-in-law to Bickford of Okemos after Labor Day. We really haven't been able to step inside the community too often, but one of the reasons why we chose it was the location. Another reason was because they have memory care. The biggest reason was because they allow us to still visit outdoors even with Covid and we want to make sure that we have a place where we could still see her. The thing about it now is that they've really shut down and no one can go in and out but they haven't had any cases until recently so that was another thing. Everybody there was very good. They are clean, they are caring, and the staff tries to take care of you like we could do window visits when we didn't schedule for an outdoor visit. For outdoor visits they have two different areas with the seating and everything and we were to keep our masks on while we were there. You schedule for your outdoor visits, you get half an hour visit each time and it's 9-4 from Mondays to Fridays. On the weekends we get to do window visits which we really like being able to do. The staff were pretty accommodating. We're happy with the place. They do all kinds of activities. The one time they were doing nails. We noticed my mother-in-law needed her nails cut and when our visit was over we talked specifically to the care worker if she's going to take her and get her nails done. My mother-in-law said she's not going but they were able to get her in there and we knew this because her nails were polished and cut. So they really try to work and get the relationship with their clients and we were pretty happy that she has gotten that kind of care. They have stuff going on all the time between puzzles and kiddie parties, snacks and Halloweens. Last time they had all kinds of Halloween stuff going on all month like paint this pumpkin this day and do something else with this pumpkin the next day. My mother-in-law ended up with 3 different pumpkins from 3 different parties she went to. Also, if you wanted a snack, you can go down and get a snack. They really should post their activities, maybe they do on their Facebook. I just don't do Facebook. We don't have anything to compare it to but I know about care facilities. The OT keeps in communication with us but sometimes it's a little bit harder to get with the nurse on like a quick turnaround phone call. Otherwise, the OT keeps us up on things. We know this place is expensive and I'm sure there are other places that are not as expensive but then we can't go in and visit so for everything that they're doing for her, I guess we're pretty happy. I would say the layout for me is good because in the middle, they have a courtyard and we like knowing that she can get out into fresh air if she wants to. She also has an outside room there so we could do window visits. If she did not have that outside room we couldn't have done the window visits because we know someone who didn't have the outside room. They should improve on the food.

We went to Bickford of Okemos. It’s a smaller environment, it’s in the suburbs of Lansing, and it might have been good for my mother. The people we met were helpful. They have a number of things that they plan to do, but we never really experienced any of that. The staff seemed very thoughtful and understanding.