The Atrium Johnstown, PA

My brother is in The Atrium. It's a remodeled old motel, it looks like any other building, and there's a patio at the back. The staff all seemed very capable and caring, and everyone has been very nice. Everyone seems satisfied, and they all like the food. They don't want anyone to eat in their rooms, so they're all expected to eat in the dining room.

The Atrium was a nice place with nice people. It's on three levels. My mother is not very mobile, and the only rooms they had were o the second floor and up. They had an elevator, though. They apparently have a lot of people who visit, and they weren't quite prepared for me to show up. They had to find somebody to take me on a tour. I was there on time, but it's like they weren't even expecting me. The person who does the tours was off somewhere and wasn't available. Somebody else did the tour with me and went through everything they had. They told me normally during the day there are 12 or 13 people working and eight at night. They have 245 occupants. That's a small concern. I had a feeling that they have a big turnover of staff because even the person giving me the tour didn't seem to know all of the staff. It was a nice place, well kept, and clean, but it wouldn't have worked out well since I'm not sure if my mother is capable of taking the wheelchair over to the elevator and maneuvering herself. All of the cafeterias and everything are downstairs on the bottom floor. The other thing was that the woman giving me the tour had no idea whether they had rooms availble or not. They found a double room and a single room on the upper floors. The problem was that the bathrooms were not handicap-accessible. They had a library and plenty of activities with everything posted so residents can see it.

My experience at The Atrium was positive. They had a really nice dining area. The rooms were set up more like a home instead of an assisted living area that was big enough for them to bring their own furniture. There were a lot of sitting areas for them to go out and walk around in the building. The people living there didn't seem unhappy. The only person that I met was the lady at the front desk who gave us a tour. She was very friendly and spoke with all of the people who lived there like she knew them by name and had a personal relationship with them. I didn't have a family member living there, but the visit was nice.