Avamere at St. Helens

While the main area of this community was very nice and it seems the apartments for indipendent and assisted living are nice, their memory care unit has much to be desired. The rooms are small dark and not that good. The main cafeteria area is NOT NICE. No one was smiling and it looked like an old forgoten person warehouse. They should send someone over to Regency Park and check out what they are doing there for memory care clients. Wouldn[t put my dog in this place for memory care. The staff did seem very nice.They had some activities. They were setting up to back cookies the day I was there. REALLY don't know how many of the men would be interested in that. The tables were bleak and the dining area low ceiling and dark. Rooms dark and small. Looke old and really needed updating. Why can't memory care people have nice big windows and a view?

I visited the memory care unit of Avamere at St Helens. The community is at a convenient location because it's close to downtown. The staff seems to be very caring and capable. Everything is clean, and the residents seem to be in good spirits. The rooms were large with big bathrooms, dressers, and nice windows that look out over the garden. They have an activity board that states what the activities are for the day.

My impression of Avamere is that it's not very stable nor cheap here, and I don’t get the care that I pay for quite often. This morning, I had them bring all of my pills I take at lunch, too, and they weren’t separated properly. I have trouble getting medical service and the services that I pay for. They’re supposed to empty my garbage cans twice a day and they haven’t been emptied at all today. We had an administrator who was the son of the owner for a year, and it was a year of Hell because he wasn’t worth anything. Now, we have a new one and I think there is hope that things may improve and be better. We have a large TV room and there’s exercise four or five days a week for an hour. I have a one-bedroom on the first floor, and I have a little patio with a door, a bird feeder out there, and a good view of the whole garden area, so I probably have one of the best rooms in the building. I think the person who is in charge of the workers here is not a very good boss. I don’t think she has a strong enough personality to be in the job she’s in. We do have some really good people working here as well as people who have been promoted to jobs with more authority who shouldn’t have been because they weren’t the proper choice. We have a very good director, though. I think we’re scheduled this month to go to four, maybe more, places to eat. We’re going to the Tulip Town in Woodland to see all the pretty tulips, and we’re also going to the Lilac Farm this month. The food is not to my liking, but we have a food forum once a month, and I say the same thing every time about wanting less pre-fab food, less grease, and less sugar. There’s not a person here that would not benefit from that being changed. It needs a little help right now, but I understand the new administrator is interested in doing that. I need to see more things happening, and I have high hopes that some of the things will get done. I get along beautifully with the residents.

We visited Avamere at St. Helens. They have retirement cottages that we were interested in. It was a very nice facility, and seeing the dining room, it was all very nice. We like it, but it didn't seem to have a good place for our dogs. They did have a nice two-bedroom roomy little cottage. The staff seemed very nice. They showed us around and answered any questions that we had. We were told that they have a bus that takes you places, and they have games and different activities that go on. Security seemed alright to us. They did have a little bit more broad diet. I mean, they give you some choices besides what they were serving, so that was nice too.

Avamere at St. Helens was beautiful, bright, and cheerful. The staff was phoenomenal. They were very caring, concerned, and eager to answer any and all quetions. I was pleasantly surprised with the room. I was concerned that it would be more like a hospital setting, but it looked like a regular bedroom. It was clean with a great size, irt was painted brightly, and it was very personal per patient. I had already eaten there. I had another family member that was already in one other section of it, and the food was wonderful. The dining room was gorgeous. It had tables, chairs, and windows, the lighting was great, and the color was phoenomenal. Again, the staff was so good with their patients. They had a lot of crafting ideas. They also had exercise activities, even for those who were unable to stand. They continued to work with the patients on their skills with taking care of themselves, dressing and bathing themselves, and being as independent as possible.

The one I selected is Avamere, and it's because it's close to my friends and family. I'm more interested in the independent living, and they have four of what they call cottages, and the dimensions of them are really good toward the arrangement of the furnishings that I have. I like the arrangement of the apartments. One of the staff is my neighbor here. I like the ones I met very much. They take field trips and they have an exercise class. I thought it was a very nice menu, but the thing that most impressed me is they have a salad bar every day, and I think that's kind of neat.

I’ve already toured Avamere and it does have everything that I think would be good for my mom. Plus, it is 5 minutes from my house. I just think that it seems really upbeat and clean, and it doesn’t smell like a nursing home. It smells nice and classy. I really like the independent living cottage setup, but the main building is nice too. The facility is really clean, and it has a really nice courtyard with flowers.