The Pines of Mount Lebanon

Amy30

Mom moved to The Pines of Mount Lebanon. We chose this place for her because, at such pay (a set monthly pay), everything wasn't nickels and dimes. Her living space is very spacious. A bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and a lamp were provided. So, it's what they call suitcase-ready. You could move everything in to make it as comfortable and homey as can be. It's very clean. The people are very hospitable and accommodating. I have not tried the food, but Mom says it's the best food she has ever had.

Cindy lynn1965

Rooms are spacious and nice wide hallways throughout building. Currently there is remodeling going on. The new color schemes are beautiful blues. Happy hour on Fridays and I believe they allow small pets. I would recommend.

Nikki

The Pines of Mount Lebanon was very nice. The attendant who took me around seemed very caring, very knowledgeable, and very nice. The room that she showed me had a bed and a dresser. They had a patio that was in the center of the building.

Margie

We viewed The Pines of Mount Lebanon. It was a smaller community of residents. If you are somebody who wants a more private environment, that's a nice place for that type of thing. I liked that they had a sunroom with a big birdcage, and my mom would have enjoyed that, like sitting and listening to the birds. I thought that was cool. It was a small environment. They only offered two meals. Their place was furnished. So if you needed a place, they had a bed and a dresser and a microwave and refrigerator or whatever. They had their activities, the room was nice. They had some crafting and things for the seniors that they showed me, really cute crafts and art stuff that they did with them. They did not have transportation available for doctor appointments. So they were the cheapest in price, but once you added on additional amenities, it became very similar to what the others were offering. So I would say depending on, or your desire and want, it could be very price effective, or affordable for you. They started around $1800, which is a really low price, if you were okay with two meals a day then that's great. But if you wanted the three meals and upgraded it, you had to pay additional money for the third meal. And then you had to pay their mobility fee because my mom's on a scooter. We would have had to pay a fee for her to have her scooter there. So most of the residents were walking, up on it, capable of moving. They did show us the whole facility where there were residents who needed a lot of care. So that was nice in that respect that if you have someone who needs a place and low income-affordable, it was great. And then as time moved on, if things weren't doing well, and they needed more care, they were able to stay in the same facility and just receive a different level of care. Levels of care could change which was nice.

Beth

My client moved into the Pines of Mount Lebanon. She has an apartment of her own, she said it was very homey as soon as she walked in, and the staff was informative and helpful. It's very clean. They've got a lot of outings, movies, Halloween plans this Sunday, and exercise classes. She likes the food a lot.

relative of a past resident

A real mixed bag. My mom lived here for 4 years. Her care was O.K. most of the time, but as with many assisted living facilities, there are never enough aides, especially full-time, well trained, aides and there is an over reliance on using agency aides to fill the gap, many of whom are not very well trained and sometimes inattentive. There were a few really good full-time aides, who were attentive and kind to my mom, but this place needs to hire more like them. They need to pay these people more and there will be happier people living here, as well as working here. One problem they just did not seem to want to rectify was insisting that aides, whose main job should've been taking care of the residents, do the resident's laundry a few times a week. For the first few years that my mom lived at The Pines, they had a full-time person to do the laundry, but they never seemed to want to replace this person after she left the facility. Communication to me from the facility about my mom's condition and medications was very scanty, especially during the last couple of years she lived there. I had to rely on a couple of kindly, full time aides to fill me in on what was going on most of the time. There seemed to be an on-going disagreement in the last year, between what hospice would take care of for my mom and what The Pines staff would take care of. It was confusing. When my mom became increasingly dependant after her stroke, the hospice presence was essential to make sure she received consistent and adequate care. After my mom died, there was no sympathy card sent by The Pines management, after she spent 4 years of her life there and a substantial amount of money, you would think they could've at least sent a card, a small gesture of kindness. It saddened me. I guess most residents are just paying customers, and when one of them dies, it's time to prepare for another paying customer. I blame the corporate culture of indifference with its frequent inattention to the needs residents and of full-time staff, and constant raising of monthly rates for residents. Surely, it is not fiscal wisdom to overpay for the many agency aides, when the company could benefit from paying a little more to acquire and keep more full-time staff. But, even with the above problems I had with this facility, it was still better than others I had been to. The Pines could really be a nice place for elderly residents and their families, if only the corporate office really cared and paid more attention to what needed to be corrected at this facility.

Provider Response