The Oaks Independent Apartments

My friends are at The Oaks Independent Apartments. We went on a surprise visit. They did not know we were coming, and it was very clean and there was no odor. The activities that were on the schedule were taking place as planned. We had not announced that we were coming. After walking around, I did ask for somebody to come so that we could see their actual room and they did unlock and let us see the room. I like that if the residents are not in the memory unit, they can come and go. They just have to sign in and out, so that they aren't looking for them if there's a fire or something like that. They can be gone for a week and take a short vacation with their family. They offer family meals so you can come and eat with them and I liked that. They had a pretty nice library where they could play board games and check out books and things like that. They're in the assisted living. I also like that if they need more help, they can continue at The Oaks and just move to memory care or have home health come in as well. They've been there almost a month now. Their only comment so far is they don't think the meals are as healthy as they could be. They taste good, but they don't think there are enough low-fat options. The staff is very friendly. Every person we talked to spoke to us and asked if we needed anything. From the time that we walked in until we left, from the housekeepers to the administrator, everyone was very friendly and spoke and asked if they could help us find anything or if we needed anything, and I was impressed with that. I didn't see anything they should have done that they didn't. We wanted to stay and eat that day, but they had already sold all their extra plates because the food is so good. There aren't just enough low-fat options. Their calendar looked like it had several varied activities. They also take them out for community activities. When I went there, I was not expecting to like it, based on price. I thought maybe the family had chosen it just because it was the cheapest one in the area, but then I did like it very much. They have a kitchenette, a stove and a refrigerator in the room, and the air-conditioning units and the heating are controlled in each room. I also like that the same administrator has been there for 19 years and to me, that is very important.

We're going to put mom over at either The Oaks memory care or The Oaks assisted living. The reason being, they are all-inclusive on their stuff. They have the building, they have the amenities, they fix three meals a day and a snack usually, but they don't deal with medications. I walked through The Oaks assisted living with my wife and we liked it. I went back and looked at the memory care. I like The Oaks memory care better than the other memory cares across the street. It was lighter and more cheerful. My mom likes brighter colors, lighter, more summer, spring-type stuff. They had antique-type decor. They've got modern furniture around that looks like antiques. We like antiques and mom does, too. The lady that I talked to at The Oaks assisted living runs the facility and she has been there 20 years. All the other help that takes care of the residents, the last ones they hired was four years ago or over. They're doing what they like and enjoy doing it, instead of somebody that's there and it's a job. The other thing I liked was my brother who lives in the Houston area may stay there. If he comes up at 3:00 in the morning, that was fine. If a resident wanted somebody to knock on the door and check on them every two hours, they can check on them. Everybody had a great attitude. They had a resident that wanted some pain medication, and the lady I was with took care of that. Then she went back to business showing me the facility. That showed me that they care about the residents. They had a spot for them to sit outside and they've got hanging baskets there.

I did not like The Oaks. The office was junked up. It was so junky and they were so unorganized; I was not impressed. I asked about the food and it looked like goulash. I went to visit at around five o'clock when I saw an older man there who went and looked to see what they were having. When he was leaving a nurse asked why he wasn't eating, and he said his stomach couldn't handle that food and he'd just eat some cereal in his room. They should fix food that older people can eat, because a lot of older people can't have spicy food. They have apartments, but they also have assisted living. The room where they would do their activities is really small. They have what they call a library, but it's just a wall with books on it, and they have a salon.