Eden Heights of Olean

Eden Heights' facilities were great. My dad was there for 3 weeks and gained 10 lbs. The people are great. I'd recommend it. My dad gave it an A+. They have a great menu. It's like a restaurant style; you go in and you have 3 choices every meal. Then, they come and take your order. So it's really good. They would go out to lunch to a restaurant in town on a bus. They have music and entertainment that comes in. They do all kinds of exercises and crafts; they have something every day.

Eden Heights is a very nice assisted living place. It’s not a huge complex, but it does have four stages of care for people with memory problems. My mother is currently in stage two, moderate care. The staff there is very good. They all seem to have a pleasant personality and deal with her very nicely. They try to gear the meals toward what the residents like, and their proportions are nice. They encourage them to do activities or go outside, plant flowers or whatever the residents can do. I've never heard a bad comment about an employee or resident there. The rooms are very nice. Her room looks over the entrance, so she can see people coming and going. The room is very comfortable.

Although the facility is relatively well-thought-of in the local community, it fails to meet standards that have been accepted by larger cities and towns. The lack of competition in the market seems to have allowed Eden to remain rooted in the early 1980's. Not only the physical facilities are old and tired but the way most of the staff interacts with residents is mechanical and meets only their most basic of needs. There is no attempt to engage the individuals in conversation, let alone stimilation of senses. My mother-in-law developed a quirk in that she sang out loud for long periods of time. Our family sensed the irritation and disgust the staff felt for her. My mother-in-law had always prided herself on her neat appearance. Our family took bags of matching outfits and many of her favorite garments to the facility for her to wear. Upon visiting we would discover other residents wearing her clothing while her drawers were filled with items that we did not recognize. A positive developement for her was that her dementia allowed her to forget that she was a smoker. If she had continued to want to smoke, I could not discern any method of accomodating residents or allowing for special treatment in this area. Although it was clear to all that my mother-in-law was suffering from Dementia, the facility had limited availablity in their special Dementia Unit. As a result, she spent most of the day strapped into a chair, outside of her room. Along with a row of fellow residents, it seemed they were wheeled out in the morning and wheeled back in at night. At Christmas, groups of local school children came to the facility to sing. They seemed to have no help in socializing with the residents. I'm sure I saw a spark of recognition in my Mother-in-laws eyes but it quickly faded as the children made a quick exit for the snack table.