Friendship Retirement Community

Jan

We have known Friendship Manor for years because we've kind of grown up in this community since the 60's. It's a massive facility now all over the valley. The people that we talked to were excellent. They answered all our questions regarding Medicaid, the facility, and services. I can't say anything bad about the staff. The staff interacted with residents. The lady who took us around was very informative. However, the whole facility is basically a hospital floor. Residents are only allowed to have a hospital bed. They cannot bring in any chairs or recliners or anything from their home. They were well taken care of, that was obvious. It was clean, but the actual facility offered nothing as far as homeyness or being welcoming. It literally was a hospital floor that they left exactly the same and put a memory care residence in. The staff who toured us was very accommodating. She worked with our schedule, and she was extremely knowledgeable. She knew what mom would need and what they could offer. She was very helpful with Medicaid, with any of the processes there, and guided us as if we were going to need that to help supplement her being able to pay for this. Honestly, it was $8,400. We were just flabbergasted. It would have been very sad because there was nothing there: no flowers and no garden. They had a 4th-floor balcony as their outdoor area that was completely concrete, nothing inviting or welcoming at all with it. I was just very disappointed with what we saw there. We would never have considered it for her. I felt like the care level was very good though. The staff interacted with the residents. I didn't see anyone sitting alone like what you think of people doing in a nursing home in memory care. You'd kind of think of them being pushed aside. The residents in Friendship were all in various areas where they could be monitored by staff. I don't feel like there was any problem with actual care. I think they were very well taken care of.