The Jefferson Arlington, VA

The Jefferson was gorgeous. The staff was fantastic. We visited it a couple of times, so we had more interactions with the staff. The person who was giving us the tour was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. We also got to talk with other members of the staff who were very impressive. We were invited to a dinner and the food was delicious. We saw the swimming pool, some exercise classes, and briefings that were going on from visiting scholars. It's smaller than the other place, so there's not as much there, but we liked that because it seemed more personal. The food was excellent.

The Jefferson was very neat, clean, and airy. The location was where I was interested in living. It was a workable area. There were restaurants and grocery stores. There was a movie theater in the building. The apartment was just in the size that I wanted, and it had a terrace. It was just perfect. I liked it. It had a library and swimming quarters. It was just lovely.

I would not recommend the Jefferson rehab for your loved one. They are short staffed, redone time for a call button was as long as 45 minutes for my mom, and some of the staff is not properly trained. They don't want to hear your complaints or concerns either, but their PT dept is excellent.

The Jefferson is a lovely building. However, it requires you to pay for a lot of amenities which you may not need. They’re very expensive. They’ve got 3 meals a day, they have a gym, and they have activities.

I like The Jefferson very much and have signed a lease. I liked it because it was very clean and had a swimming pool. I visited it on the day they had an Easter egg hunt and had lots of families and children visiting, and everybody seemed so happy. That pretty much sold me on the place. What I’ve seen seemed to be OK and everybody seemed to be doing their job like it says in the booklet. I only saw two rooms: the one I chose, which is exactly what I wanted, and one that had an extra bedroom, which I did not like at all. It is just not what I wanted. The rooms were very clean, attractive, and had plenty of lights.

I like The Jefferson because of its central location. There were lots of businesses around, and it's near public transportation. They had one-bedroom, one-bedroom and den, and two-bedroom apartments with two baths. It's clean, and the food was excellent. They had bridge club, poker club, field trips to the theater, and shopping trips. The staff was very helpful and friendly. They just need to have shower stalls, not bathtub-sized showers.

My mother recently used the Jefferson to rehab following a stay at Virginia Hospital Center. While I did not directly witness her care, I later learned there were some issues/concerns primarily with readily available, critically needed medical equipment and call response times. Based on my mother's experience, you should verify equipment is in working condition and if not, replacements are available and quickly located. Do not accept substitute alternatives dependent on staff monitoring. Though staff response to call button was generally acceptable there were times it exceeded 30 minutes. On a positive note, the Physical Therapy Department was impressive. Although my mother only had an initial assessment it was apparent the entire PT staff was caring and dedicated. I avoided addressing the doctor issue because when at Jefferson he is in charge! Although morally I think he should have discussed with VHC doctors and my mother before he overrode instructions. Also, consider the language issue because technically they spoke English but some (most) not too well. I'm told that is what you get in those kind of facilities in large cities. Given my mother's hearing problems it was an even more difficult problem.

My father started in The Jefferson in their rehab hospital, and we were very impressed by their care. I really feel that the staff is incredibly tolerant and helpful. The rooms are clean, and what’s nice is that they have specialized assisted living, so my father has some significant needs that other assisted living wouldn’t provide for him, but he gets round the clock care, checked on every two hours, and help with things like toileting and personal hygiene, which some assisted living don’t really help with. So the staff gets the level of care that he needed, and that was really important. I’ve spent some time there, and I have noticed that people are dealing with difficult patients but they never lose their cool, and they’re always kind and professional.