Aspen Grove Assisted Living

Derek

I have my wife in a place called Aspen Grove Assisted Living. I visited it, and it was very nice. She has her own apartment. She has a shower, a walk-in closet, and a little refrigerator. They have five levels of care. They don't have a memory unit, but I don't necessarily want her at this point to be in a place where there is no communication, almost at all, with memory care people, from what I've seen. At least here, she is getting a combination of people who have Alzheimer's and dementia, to people who need some physical attention, that type of thing. The other reason is that their rate was unbelievable for South Dakota. They shower her, and they take her to dinner, breakfast and lunch. They're always there, and they're very good. However, they don't do memory care in terms of one-on-one. It's very safe and very nice. It's a nice-looking building in a nice area. The people there appear to be very caring, concerned and professional. It's a very clean place. They have activities going on all the time that people can partake in or not. It's up to them. They do things like crafting, sing-alongs, ice cream socials and little things that are very nice. They have individually controlled heating units in the rooms, which I really like. They have showers only, and they're all handicapped. The rooms themselves have very large walk-in closets, which you would not expect, and it's very nice. They check on my wife every two hours to see if she has to go to the bathroom or anything like that where she has difficulty, and they assist her in anything that she asks for. If she asks to go to the bathroom, they'll help her. If she asks them to cut her meat for her food, they'll help her, so they're very caring. It has been a learning experience for them and for me. I took care of my wife for a number of years, and the way I take care of her is different than the way they take care of her, so that's been a little bit of adjustment for me. The other part for them is they have to become familiar with her habits. They're doing that, and they're doing a nice job of it, but there's still some things they're learning, too. The food is good. It is very edible, but sometimes the meat can be a little bit tough. That's why I've told them they need to cut her meat up, and there's the learning curve. They now understand it and they're doing it. They're very good about that. The facility itself has a little bit of wear on it because of the type of people that are in there. When people eat, they're a little bit messy and things like that, so they're continually cleaning, but you're not always going to get everything up out of the carpet and that type of thing, so there's a little bit of wear. They have all kinds of games and puzzles or whatever that they that the guests can use. They do some physical exercise type recreational things with the people that are there if they want to use them or do them. They do that daily. They have some activities going on almost all the time. I would say the value for the money is very good. It's a five-rating considering the economy.

Barbara

The people at Aspen Grove Assisted Living were very nice. I saw a room, but it was just one room, a bathroom, and a closet. It was very small. The staff was really good. I had a meal there, and it was good. They had a patio and had some raised garden beds in it. It was all clean and I think it's good, but the individual rooms were not great. They were kept clean, and they were adequate, but they're not anything special.

Lanette

Aspen Grove is the best thing that our family did for Dad ,He gets the best care & the activities are gold star , He enjoys the meals & the care he receives & Our family feels at ease knowing he’s safe & being cared for by such a wonderful group of caregivers.