Shepherd of the Valley - Howland

Gina7

Our friend's mom lives in Shepherd of the Valley - Howland. Everything's new. The houses were very clean and she said she doesn't have to worry about trash or snow removal or grass, that it's all taken care of, and I like that. She plays bridge with a couple of the girls there; they always get together and do stuff. She's very active and she does a couple of the activities there. She seems to enjoy it. Everybody there seems very helpful, and she has no complaints whenever we see her.

brotherinlaw

I am a relative of a resident in independent living. My sister gave me some Ocean Spray Cranberry juice drink bottles that came with her lunch & dinner meals. She didn't like them. I took the bag home and put in fridgerator for 24 hrs. Shook one up and took a sip and spit it out! Looked at the best by date: (12/1/2012). I don't know what to say! All the drinks were from 2012 !!!

Lori

My mom is at Shepherd of the Valley in Howland. She's living in the independent. They're not bad, just normal things. I'm personally a little disappointed with the follow up and the way they checked in with the people that live independently. I think that a phone call once a day isn't enough sometimes, because a person could fall in the middle of the night or in the morning, and they're not checking on them 'til later in the evening. I've never been happy with that process, but my mom won't complain about it. From the apartments and the rooms that I've seen, they're nice. The assisted living apartments are small, little one-bedrooms. Then the rooms upstairs that I was in, where one of my mom's friends was at, are like studios, they are sufficient, and nice. The current staff is all new, so I don't know anything about a lot of them, but the previous staff that I interacted with, all of them have been great. The facility is very nice. They take very good care of it. I'll give it a 4.5 'cause I never give anybody a perfect grading. The staff actually has been really wonderful.

Debbie053275

The Shepherd of the Valley was very nice. The people were very friendly. It’s in a good area where you feel comfortable walking around. They always had people there to help you. My main concern was if my husband would fall, would I be able to get attention to us because I would not be able to pick him up. They had buzzers in the room that you can use to call somebody 24/7. They had a gym, a library room, and laundry room where you can do your own laundry or you can have them do it. There's always some kind of activity you can take part in. The dining area was very open and easy to get into; they had doors that close if you want privacy. It’s well lit, and the staff was right there when you need them. Everybody can come down and eat or if you don’t feel up to it, they’ll bring the food up to you. You get to pick where you want to sit and meet different people.

MarthaWLHUH

The rooms at Shepherd of the Valley were OK but smaller than the other facility I visited. The staff was very good, and the residents seemed to be happy.

aresearchingperson

Shepherd of the Valley – Howland was a little different. It had a big building with a few apartments and lovely duplexes that were small but very nice. They had two bedrooms, a bath and a half, nice little kitchen, little dining room, and sometimes a little patio off the back. A good percentage of them were assisted living. My friend moved there and only needed somebody to put on her stockings. She needed somebody around, but she didn't need constant care. She did her own washing in the washer/dryers on the floor where she lived. She would get her lunch and her dinner meals in the dining room, but she had her breakfast brought to her. The cottages were cute. The biggest drawback for me was that the villas were too small and didn't have activities going on in them. They had a beautiful chapel area and an auditorium area, but they didn't do a lot of things. She's very comfortable there. The only thing that she was interested in was playing bridge. They had a nice dining room in the main building.