Walnut Creek Campus

My parents were at Walnut Creek Campus for one year. They were there two years ago. They never had any staffing. It was always an hour and a half call light response time. They did not cater to families at all. Like I wanted to stay some night, but they have this policy that you can visit anytime, but they wouldn't let me stay the night there. They don't seem very fair or family- oriented. They don't want you around. This is before COVID happened. You couldn't dine with them, and you had to stay in the room with them. They didn't want you in the population at all, and that was pre-COVID. I can't imagine what it's like during COVID. It seems like this is an across-the-board issue with people in assisted living. What I would like to get out to the public: If your loved ones need more than minimal care, you need to just go straight on to the nursing home or hire a private duty around the clock. If you want them in a cozy atmosphere in assisted living, you have to pony up the dough and hire someone to just stay in the room with your loved ones. That's been a real eye-opener for me. Assisted living is exactly that. It is minimal assistance, and it's not for the loved ones that needed help. The problem is when you go check out these places, they market that they can do what you're asking them. And then you get your person in there and they can't. I went into Walnut Creek with my eyes shut because I had not had the experience before. They said, 'Yeah, we can do this, we can do that' and they get in there and they can't. They had many activities where they would take them on a bus, and they'd take them to Steak and Shake or Bob Evans. They would take them to the grocery store once a week. Their food was not good at all there. Their food was very bad. The building was good. The room was spacious; they were fine. The overall appearance was fine. There was a movie room and a little library.

Walnut Creek Campus assisted living was like the Marriott. It looked so different than the nursing home part. My husband was in the nursing home part, which was all right, but he had a problem with some of the workers who weren't very nice. It's like day and night. They had a piano in the dining hall, and it had crystal glasses and linen napkins. The only problem I had was you have to have money to be in their assisted living. It's a beautiful facility. They had concert grounds, and at each cubicle they had pictures of the resident's family members. They had people watching things in their theater room.

Suites at Walnut Creek is very clean, has very caring staff, and is affordable. We told them what our budget was, and they're able to meet it. They have a secured assisted living, the food is restaurant-style, and it's fairly decent. I would have no hesitations for recommending it. I've been very pleased with it.