Oakwood Hills

My mother was living here for past 4 years, unfortunately she had to be moved to a memory care facility. Oakwood Hills is a wonderful place for any senior who wants to feel like they are in a loving community. I can not say enough kind words about the staff- they are loving, dependable, consistent, and look out for their residents. Our mother moved in not needing any assistance, but because of dementia, left leaving with needing a lot and the staff did everything to help her and us. My mother loved the staff! They do have a variety of activities: exercise classes, live music, games, movies, cookie sales, dancing, and more. Yes, COVID curtailed many activities, but they are starting up again. My mother had a one bedroom apartment that has a spacious bedroom and bathroom, the living area was small but adequate. If anything needed fixing, they were fixed in a timely manner. They recently updated all the flooring in the hallways and common area. The one suggestion is there should be a second elevator for the size of the building, or it should be bigger. They are receptive to hearing suggestions on any improvements. It is located by many stores and places to go out for meals nearby. A special shout-out to Kim who has been there for many years and makes everyone laugh, all the time! She can bring sunshine when it's the dreariest of days. And she truly treats the residents like family......and did I mention how funny she is! You will not regret moving your parent, spouse, sibling or yourself here. Thank you Jenny, Kim, Lisa, Sherry, Dawn, Jere and many others for taking care of our wonderful mother while she was at Oakwood.

Although for reasons beyond their control, we ended up moving our parents to another facility, we were super impressed with our showing appointment & follow-up by Oakwood Hills' Director & Julie (care provider). If anything changes in our situation, I would without question, move our family to this facility. And for anyone currently in the tough position of having to move your parents to a facility, I would strongly encourage you to at least check out this place & tour the facility. It is hands-down better in so many ways than the rest we toured in Eau Claire. You will be amazed at how different Oakwood is from the rest.

My brother is in Oakwood Hills. They're very friendly. They took very good care of us. They take good care of my brother. He's got his own room and we had to furnish it, but he's very happy. All his furniture is in there, and he's happy with that. They have a variety of things that he can do, like play bingo and play billiards. They had music in there one night. He's happy and we're happy. We were impressed by the fact that if we got him in by the end of October, that it would only cost $500 for their initial opening, where most of them are about $2500. Then they lowered the monthly rate for the first year there, so it only costs $2200 a month for the whole year. The staff members that I met were all very friendly. They got to know my name right away and the minute I walked in, they came out and meet me. I was happy. They have a menu and you can pick two or three different things to eat and they have three meals a day plus snacks, so he's happy. He also has a microwave and a toaster in his room so he fixes a lot of his own stuff. Everybody I talked to said the food was wonderful. It's immaculate, very clean and very nice. They come in and clean his room, change his bedding and wash his towels and sheets a couple of times a week. They make sure everything is clean. They have exercise programs regularly, and they're posted in the elevator. They also announce over speakers when the bingo parties are starting, which is probably every day and they have billiards. I see people putting puzzles together all over the place. They've got plenty of stuff to do. That's the best rate that we found.

Mom has been living there for 11 years and could not be happier. It is so clean and beautiful. She loves her room. She is legally blind so having meals prepared is so helpful. The staff is aware of her disability and are watchful and helpful. She enjoys being helpful by being a resident ambassador. She loves to meet new people. Right now the only problem that she is having is that they do not have a bus driver so therefore needs to have family take her to doctor/dentist appointments. I would recommend this place.

My mom was in Oakwood Hills for four-and-a-half years. My mom passed away last December 8th, but I stop in there periodically because I knew other residents there that were friends of my mom. I was always very pleased with Oakwood Hills. I thought it was a great facility. Their attention to the residents and all of that, I would give a 5, but I think that the building needs some updating like new carpeting and good working appliances. The food was good. They've gone through a number of different chefs last year. Depending on the chef, it could be very, very good. They had nice activities, but my mom couldn't go on those towards the last two-and-a-half years or so like trips to a facility of some sort, shopping or whatever. In house, they did the bingo and other games, they had music played inside, and there's a piano player or a guitar player that would sing in the atrium. We were satisfied definitely with that.

I've been a resident of Oakwood Hills for about two-and-a-half years now. My husband and I visited as guests and we were so impressed that they have a big dining room and people eat in the dining room, three meals a day if they want to. We really enjoyed it. The other thing was that a lot of people knew my husband who had been a dentist in town. They were friendly and outgoing to us. Two days later, we asked for a tour of the place in detail, then we came back and signed up and what we wanted was a two-bedroom unit, but there wasn't one available. We moved into a one-bedroom and put our name on the list and we did get a two-bedroom. They let us garden and I put in a butterfly garden in the back of the building that people to this day love. As my husband failed, we got the help we needed from a group and they have an office right here in this building and they have people who are helping other residents as they might need it. If someone goes out for surgery or something and comes back, they can get nursing care that they might need for a while, but nonetheless, this is independent living. We got the care we needed. My husband got all the care he needed here. They're wonderful people. The management, not a sour one in the bunch. They're all good people. We're all within the same age. We remember a lot of the same things and just things we have in common. Eventually, my husband died right before Thanksgiving last year, and the purpose of this conversation is to tell that I still like this place. They work at keeping us healthy and safe here. Visitors must wear a mask. When they sign in, their temperature is taken automatically and they sign in name and they take a picture. Nobody's been bringing any illness in here. They're not mean about it, but they require that everybody who visits signs in. It's healthy when they visit. Those are all the things that I like about this place. There are a lot of terrific people, but not everybody is wonderful. There are some crabby ones, but it remains a really good place. Oakwood Hills is excellent. The food used to be quite good, but things change and people change. One of our good chefs left and it's hard to replace someone who's really good. We get well-balanced meals three times a day, but it's been better and it will get better again. I just came back from some activities that were fun. One of them is people sitting across from each other and batting a big balloon back and forth across this little line. It's a simple game, but it's fun. We've got Bridge. There's quite the gamut of activities and games. We're living in the Covid time and they're doing a good job, but there aren't the activities that used to exist before Covid. A bus could take a bunch of us who had signed up over to the Mississippi River and visit Eagles Center and have lunch out. They had wonderful excursions that don't exist anymore because they are working to keep as healthy. They're working at making sure everybody has two vaccinations. They had the vaccines given right here at Oakwood for everybody who signed up without having to go to a doctor's office or somewhere else. It's that kind of thing that makes a difference. They're thoughtful and they set things up for us. I'm personally disappointed at not getting to go out more with a bus load of happy people, but I can't blame Oakwood for that. It's Covid, and they're working to keep us safe. Our two-bedroom is on the ground floor. I've got a garden and that makes a huge difference for me personally and also in the back is a butterfly garden that our residents like. We have a cement walkway that goes all the way around our building that a fair number of people use to get exercise and so on and then they put some benches out in the back so people can sit and watch the butterflies in the garden. I raised monarch butterflies and I grow milkweed. I've got it in the butterfly garden in the back and around my patio as well. I have them all summer long down in the atrium, which is kind of the center gathering part of our building. I really like the attitudes, the smiles, and the way they run this place. It's a lot of positive. I think that anybody you talk to here would have other stories to tell but in the end result, they'd be happy that they are here. We are fortunate to have a nice place to meet other people who are also old. They get the help they need but it is independent living. This is not a nursing home. Just being old shouldn't be a penalty in life. It's just one of the phases and this place makes it good and I would hope that there are other places equally good to this out there.

Oakwood is bright, cheerful, clean and roomy. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor space for walking. Residents enjoy the deer, turkeys and other wildlife around the building. The staff treats everyone like family. There are plenty of activites to enjoy, and a van for transportation. They try to accomadate the residents needs and wants. The food is good and choices are available. They did an excellent job keeping the residents safe through the pandemic. Thank you to all the Oakwood Staff and Recover Care Staff for making my family members retirement years so enjoyable.

We found Oakwood Hills. At this point, my parents are still adjusting. The staff has been great and pretty accommodating. Their room is alright. They're gonna have to adjust to the size, and it's substantially smaller (obviously) than their home.