My mom needed to transfer to a skilled nursing facility ("SNF") for wound care following a hospital stay, so my research began with a list provided by her case manager and continued on the internet. I made Country Meadows ("CM") my first choice for several reasons: (1) It offers the full spectrum of retirement living, from independent living to assisted living (with or without memory care) to short-term rehab to 24 hour skilled nursing (also long-term); (2) the reviews were uniformly positive; (3) CM provides a link to its Medicare inspections right on the section of the website devoted to its SNF; (4) it looked pretty; (5) the sample menu seemed tasty; and (6) it is amazingly pet-friendly. In fact, this last feature is what made me lobby hard for a bed for her at CM. My mom is a tremendous "dog person," but just generally an animal lover, and the fact that not only are residents allowed to bring their own pets, but also staff bring their well-behaved dogs to work to interact with the residents, and each "neighborhood" has resident feline "mascots." Despite her love for the canines, my mom became quite fond of one of the SNF cats. My mom, who has dementia and started requiring oxygen for the first time in her nearly 81 years during her hospital stay, was in the CM SNF for about a month and just moved into a memory care apartment in the connected building next door. Everything I can think to say about CM is absolutely positive. The staff is genuinely caring and knows each resident by name. Because it boasts being one of the top places to work in PA 12 times, there appears to be relatively little turnover. There is a whole range of activities geared to interest and "function" level, even in the long-term SNF; for example, my mom, who used to love to cook, was chopping veggies for the canning and salsa-making (these products are sold from the CM neighborhood to benefit a designated charity, often the Alzheimer's Association. One day, there was a "full campus" activity, a performance by a pianist from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The food is actually genuinely good ... and the dessert cart in the SNF is "diet-busting"! My mom's extremely recent (yesterday) move to the memory care neighborhood was pretty seamless, and an activities coordinator accompanied her all day to help her get acclimated. CM's attention to detail is evidenced by the fact that her roommate (until a private becomes available) has a family dog who will be visiting - terrific informal pet therapy for my mom. Finally, CM is very good about calling regarding any issues that arise with a loved one. I've discovered that I am definitely a "helicopter child," but the CM staff is helping me to "back off" a bit and still feel all right about it. Certainly my peace of mind has exponentially increased. Obviously, no "personal care"/"assisted living"/skilled nursing residence can ever be the ideal solution (wouldn't we all rather have our loved ones healthy, with memories intact?), but CM, as far as I can tell, is very near that unattainable goal.