Emerson House

Clark

My wife has moved into Emerson House. I like the fact that the people there seem to be very caring with the residents. Their food is an institutional type of cooking, so it's not the best, but it's good. It is built specifically for memory care. The rooms are all around on the outside of the hall. In the center, they have a dining area with a small kitchen that has a refrigerator and a sink. There's also a living room- type area where they have couches, reclining chairs, and a large-screen television set here. There's a small craft room. At this time, they have three floors. The first floor has administrative offices, the kitchen, and the laundry. The second floor is the residential floor, and it's for the people who are a little bit more independent. The third floor is set up for people who require more assistance and more care. They have a person who's in charge of the entertainment for the residents, and she is pretty active. Usually, they have a singing where they have a TV with words that scroll on the screen and music, which are usually old familiar songs the residents can sing together. The staff also does exercises in the morning with the TV showing the exercises that they're doing. She does the exercises along with them. She also has craft types of things that they do. The residents sat down like at Christmas time, and they decorated ornaments for the Christmas tree and then decorated the Christmas tree and that kind of thing. On Fridays, they have outings for the people that can do that. Usually, it's a van trip out to like a farm, up the river where they have scenic things that they can look at. What I like least about the place is that there aren't private rooms. The rooms are two people to a room. It hasn't been that much of an issue for us. The majority of the residents don't spend a lot of time in their rooms, but I think it could be a problem for some people.

Elsie

My mother will be moving into Emerson House. The staff is great so far. The rooms are small but nice. They have everything. They have crafting, outings, and 24-hour visiting. They give the family members a key so you can come in. They have really good personal care. They have a lot of the amenities that they would need. Mostly what I was looking for was a good staff, people who would care, not just people who show up, and you can tell that they care. The staff during the tour was very informative and caring, and the person who did the evaluation was very nurturing and loving and spoke to my mother, not just me, to make sure that she was aware of her needs. The dining room was very nice and very homey.

TheVoldyOne

I recently toured this community, met with a nice lady named Caitlin who was the marketing person. What I really liked about the place was how it is all separated by how much care the person with dementia needs...people are grouped together based on their needs and that leads to more companionship and probably less steep decline as the disease gets worse. I loved that the building area where the residents live has no dead ends, I toured a different place that was "L" shaped and the residents were walking around frustrated because they kept hitting the end of the road in their travels, at Emerson, they can keep walking and walking and walking. I met with the buildings administrator, Erin, she has such a good grasp on what all this disease is about, she was totally open and willing to spend time with me person to person just explaining process and offering advice...I truly appreciated her candidness and willingness to help. I love that the RN and administrator were awarded best in Oregon last year, Caitlin mentioned that they were also in the running for the national titles, my experience with Erin would lead me to believe that she has what it takes! Anyone can win an award, but in my heart of hearts, I feel like Erin and the RN are the true embodiment of what this award stands for, a few staff members had to interrupt our meeting with brief questions, and Erin took the time to answer every one of them, it felt to me, like the big boss was completely understanding of what it means to be a caregiver, and in that respect, she is ready to help build them up to be the best caregivers they can be. Emerson House was one of 6 places I toured when looking for my moms placement, I am on the wait-list and hopeful that the next vacancy they have will be filled by my mother, anyone lucky enough to visit will leave forever touched by the genuine feeling of caring that radiates through this place.

Jackie366062

Emerson House just looked like a building from the outside. Inside, I wasn't impressed because the nurses' aide on duty was not even in scrubs. During my first five minutes there, I knew I would never put my mom in there. There was a common room and rooms on the periphery of the common room, and there were just shared rooms.