Caretel Inns of St. Joseph

Stacy

Caretel Inns of St. Joseph seemed good. We went in the evening, so they were winding down and doing stuff. There weren't a lot of people out and about. The gentleman went into a long discussion about their care and gave us some information about getting medical help. Then he walked us through personally himself and showed us some of the stuff. He did well. The place was clean. They serve meals and do bus outings. They have a hair salon, a massage/spa room, and a little area for eating (that was closed at the time). It's not far from the hospital. There are restaurants within 10 to 15 minutes.

Karen

I'm in Caretel Inns of St. Joseph. I require a Hoyer lift. I have both legs removed, one above the knee, and one below the knee. It's a pretty nice place. The main complaint I have is that I am not crazy about the food. I have asked actually to be removed from their foodservice and to provide for my own food, and they say they don't do that. So I subsidize my meals with groceries I buy and things in the grocery store. My room is one of the smaller ones. It's the very first room in the very first part of the development that was built. It was built in sections. It goes from A to B, as far as housing goes. There's Arlington, which is the part I'm in, and then there's Bristol. Coventry, which is more of the when you come from the hospital, you're there first in a rehab unit. There's also Fullerton and Eaton Houses. The Fullerton and Eaton are a little higher priced. They're newer and fancier. It's all decorated quite nicely. As far as the building situation or whatever is that they're under new people, and they're now trying to upgrade, but it takes a while to do. They're needing to do some replacement windows and things of that sort that are getting outdated because the seals are broken or whatever, but that's about the only thing. Otherwise, the carpets are clean and it's kept pretty clean. The only thing I would say is if someone was planning to bring their family member here or they were planning to come here to ask to come in or to show up at mealtimes and try their meals. I know none of them are great food from what I understand. We used to have more choices than what we now have and things of that sort, and so that's why I'm kind of discouraged. Each house has its own dining area and then they have another big main dining room where they have parties. We have music every Friday in the afternoon. Today, they had carolers come in. On Fridays, they have what they call 'sip and dine' and we're allowed to have wine, beer and then there's usually a snack. They have people that come in and most of them usually play the guitar. Some have their own backup that reminds me more of a karaoke-type thing because it's got all your drums and stuff the music behind it. There's a lady that plays the harp, and she comes in and plays music. We have quite a few activities. We play, cards and games. There's usually something every day. They have cardio drumming and things that people want to do for exercise and things of that sort. They have church services for both Lutherans and Catholics. Each house has its own dining room. The house I'm in, Arlington, has a small dining room. I like most of the staff. Thanks to COVID, many people are switching jobs. They may still have some people that are here and have been here a long time, and then they have a lot of them that they come for short periods. On the whole, I can say I like the staff here. Each dining room has its own kitchen attached. There's the main kitchen where the meals are prepared and then they bring them to the other kitchen and then from there is where they're served from.