Samuel F. Vilas Home

Robert

We've moved my wife to Samuel F. Vilas Home. I can go downtown, get some groceries, and pop in and see her for an hour. It's very handy. It's right next door to the hospital. It's a very old building, and they have added on about probably 80% more to the building, and it's huge now. Every room is brand new. The dining room is brand new. Everything is new. We moved her into a room that hadn't been lived in yet. Everything is carpeted. Her room is larger than the one she had before, and the bathroom is attached. She's got a walk-in closet. The staff is very good and very friendly. They already know my wife very well and seem to be treating her nicely. She's in memory care now, so it's different. Everything's locked up. You can't get on the elevator without a code. The dining facilities in the memory care unit are not nearly as nice as they were in the non-memory care unit. The food quality is not as good. They have a beautiful dining room and all that stuff down on the first floor in the regular care, but memory care folks don't get to go down there. It's more cafeteria-style, and food is delivered on a tray. They've got a gal that's just assigned to the memory care unit, which only has maybe 15 people right now. They've got a lot of empty rooms because they just opened it. It's well-staffed, and the activities gal is good. They do the usual bingo, and just yesterday, when I was there visiting my wife, a bunch of the folks were sitting around in a circle, and they had a balloon they were whacking around from one to the other, and they were having a ball with it. They have crafts, drawing, cutting, gluing, and making decorations for holidays, including St. Patrick's Day and Easter.

ReviewerFC071825A

Tammy, who gave us the tour at Samuel F. Vilas Home, was outstanding. I met some of the senior people who work there. Tammy took us to some of the rooms, which were good. She took us to the restaurant, where I observed that the folks eating all seemed happy. It seemed like a good group of people, but I noticed the three people at the door to greet us with Tammy probably could use a little bit more training. They didn't seem to be that happy to see us. It was more of an effort, you could tell. There was no eye contact or anything with one girl. The other two were just fair. The dining area was fine. I didn't see anything wrong with it. It looked clean. They had a nice menu posted, which, if you didn't like, you could go to the alternative menu. Everything was well lit. The rooms were a good size with good furniture. The people have their little pictures and their names up, which is good. The hallways were well lit and quite wide, which is good. Everything inside the building was positive, except for the three people who were at the doorway. The outside was terrible. I know they had construction going, but even after the construction, with as much pavement as there is, I didn't see any room for flowers, nice lawns, birds, and nice shrubs. It just didn't look appealing. Overlooking Court Street wasn't bad looking out the south window, but you didn't have any courtyard like colleges have, for instance. So, if the people wanted to wander around in a nice grassy lawn with picnic tables and flowers and watch the birds and the squirrels and chipmunks, there wouldn't be any of that. It was rather expensive. That's another negative. The inside, I would give it a 5 plus, the outside, I would give it a 1.

Anita

My brother-in-law moved into Samuel F. Vilas Home. I think they're great and fantastic. He's a little difficult, but they're wonderful. They have laundry, they have a nice kitchen, they feed him, they have singers come in and singalongs, they have bingo, and all kinds of events like that every day. They have several rooms where people can gather, they have a library, and in his room he has a TV, refrigerator, and a phone. His room is fairly small. He has a closet, a dresser, and a bed. They have a lot of nice reproductions of paintings on the walls. They can gather in the living room area, there's a big TV at the end of that, they have an eating area, they eat at specific times, and in the same spot each time so that people can keep track of their dietary issues. They also have doctors that come on Thursday mornings to take blood samples. They're right next door to a hospital and they take them to doctors' appointments. They take them on trips to stores and out for breakfast or lunch. There are three common bathrooms, and there is no bathroom in his room. They let me bring my dog in to visit him. It's very quiet.

Shelly

Samuel F. Vilas Home is an old Victorian home so it's laid out very well, and it's well-organized. The people were all friendly, the food was very good, and there's a lot of 1-on-1 attention if needed. It's basically just assisted living and my mom is just there mostly to have help with the meals. They go on outings for breakfast or for lunch, shopping, and the residents also have activities every day. They have music, bingo, and they do crafts. Her room is perfect. It does not have its own bathroom and they do have rooms with their own bathrooms, but her bathroom is right outside her door. There are also 3 other bathrooms on the floor. It's a little pricier than the other places but you get what you're paying for.

Sue

I have chosen Samuel F. Vilas for my husband. So far, so good. The place is clean and friendly. It is adequate. His room has a bed, a stand, and a TV. It has all he needs. The staff members are very friendly.

Caring47753450

The Vilas Home (Samuel F. Vilas Home) was expensive, but they took care of the needs or the request of the people that were living in their houses. I liked the fact that they had individual rooms. They had a dining room. They were so close to many things in the community that they helped them go out to do the activities in the community if they wanted to. They weren't isolated. The staff was very considerate, and they tried to be helpful or if they couldn't do what the person wanted may be because it was the doctor's order or something, they would explain it to them. It was very nice because it was closer to college, and if they wanted to they could go out because the college put on shows. They were also close to shopping; if they were still able to walk, they are 3 or 4 blocks from shopping. It was an older building, but the rooms were big enough with a nice size bed, a dresser, and all those kind of things. It was a smaller facility, but they had a sitting room and a library. Most of the ladies I knew accepted it because they were treated so nicely, and they realized that this was much better for them because they couldn't take care of themselves the way they used to 20 years ago. I would recommend them to others.