Carolina Reserve of Laurel Park

My long time friend moved into Carolina Reserve Laurel Park in October 2019. Sadly he passed away this past July. Initially he was very resistant to moving in to assisted living but it was clear that he could no longer live alone at home. Oh my how he fought enjoying life and letting others do for him. Stubborn and independent. The staff was wonderful. They were patient and kind. Michelle found Auvo a bridge club. He made friends with the men at his table. One even turned out to share his pre-retirement profession, metallurgical engineer. This particular friend also enjoyed smoking cigars and having an afternoon glass of wine, two of Auvo's favorite recreations. He very quickly went from unhappy to happy. Of course he still had to exert his independence every once in a while by pushing the limits and speaking his mind.

My mother has been a resident at Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park since December of 2017. She is 91, is wheelchair-bound and suffers from dementia. At Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park they make a significant effort to ensure that all residents participate to the extent of their ability and desire in Social life and activities. My mother eats lunch and dinner in the dining hall with her own social cohort, women who care for her. The facility is open, bright and clean. They have an RN on staff each shift and the CNAs are professional, courteous and considerate of the specific mental and physical challenges to each resident. The full-time activity Director puts tremendous thought into planning activities for the residents with resident feedback and with consideration of their specific personalities and needs. Live music is routine at Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park with local soloists and bands making appearances. Music also appears to be the connection for some of the families with members there and Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park has hosted several open air concerts and barbecues in the last year, with at least one in the half year since my mother moved in. They have a beauty salon with multiple chairs (an important social setting for many elderly women like my mother) and a stylist who visits on Tuesdays and Fridays. There are shopping excursions and special outings on a regular basis so that residents have an opportunity to go out into the world and experience a greater sense of independence and a broader sense of and connection to place. They possess a wheelchair accessible van with several rows of seats and a number of the staff are trained in transport. Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park also takes full responsibility for ensuring that residents are taken to all medical appointments and they oversee the scheduling and follow-ups as well. Doctors Making House Calls has a Physicians Assistant who makes weekly rounds to Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park if you establish your family member as a patient and you can schedule, message, receive updates and have access to all of the clinical notes via their database interface. There is also a doctor who specializes in dementia and Alzheimers who visits monthly if you care to contract with him. There are also monthly visits by a local audiologist and hearing aid supplier who you can contract with who will service residents' hearing aids. Pardee Hospital is also a 4 minute drive and a 2 minute ambulance ride away, something that I am particularly grateful for. Carolina Reserve's intensive memory care facility is also right across the street, so the changing needs of your family member can be accommodated for within their system locally. My experience with the delivery of medications and adherence to doctor's orders by staff at Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park is excellent. I have experienced no lag between submission of a doctor's order and it's enactment, except where availability of a new prescription is concerned. This may take half a day to implement. The nursing and CNA staff are also highly observant and will report their concerns about changes in residents' conditions and their reactions to new medications. They deliver highly personalized care. If I were to fault them for anything it would be for what is the perennial subject of complaint in all institutions world-wide, and that is that the food on the plate doesn't necessarily match what's advertised. Like any institutional cafeteria there are stringent budgets to work with while managing lots of perishable goods and a set number of diners with a limited choice of alternatives, all having to be adjusted for the medical idiosyncrasies of the venue. Due to this a reliance on frozen and canned products is high while the utilization of fresh produce, though accommodated, is minimal. I view this as a budgetary matter as management has put attention and effort into improving the overall kitchen staff and facilities. Having worked in the produce industry locally I know that other facilities have managed to incorporate fresh and seasonal produce into the planned menus of their nutritionists. It does take a high degree of coordination and planning. It would help if the facility utilized a trusted local produce dealer with regular runs to Charlotte and Atlanta markets whose market intelligence their nutritionist could use to better plan menus around on the tight budgets they have. This would go a long way to making Carolina Reserve at Laurel Park's actual menus match the advertised dining experience. That's it. The place is great. I'm thankful for it every day.

Spring Arbor had assisted living and a memory care unit where they could lock people up. I visited the assisted living part, which seemed adequate. The rooms were neat, clean, and well furnished. They had a dining room and a rec room. The staff was nice and polite. They had social programs, bingo, and different things for the adults to do.

Our experience at Spring Arbor of Hendersonville West was horrible. My parents were robbed due to very bad security. People buzzed for the nurse to come, and the buzzing went on for hours. They're not worrying about their patients' care or security. My mother lost all of her jewelry. They told us they would provide her with a locked drawer, but later on they said not to worry because everything's going to be fine. My parents occupied an OK two-room apartment. The food was fantastic.