Jennifer Struck (formally, Wittenauer), owner and operating under Eleos Services, did my sister a…read moregreat disservice when she became her caregiver and host-home provider. In my opinion, she does not provide good care and nobody should be placed with her. I don't believe she has the patient's best interest forefront in her mind, and driving her actions, and I don't feel that families receive complete and accurate accounts of the situation with their loved ones in her care.
My sister, Jean-Marie, was the sweetest and most trusting person I've ever met. She was feisty and fun-loving; so full of life and big dreams. When Jean-Marie was around 35 years old, she was starting to enter a stage where she was seeking more independence and had started asking about living on her own and having her own apartment. Living with Down Syndrome and some of the challenges that presented for her, our mom and I didn't really feel that was a viable option. We began looking at assisted living possibilities and eventually an opportunity opened up after some time on a wait list. She was so excited and after touring the facility, meeting staff, and other residents, she was ready to move in! Living there, she thrived. She loved the social interaction is offered, the friends she made, the activities she got to be a part of and the routines she came to know and count on. While she loved when we would visit and going for an occasional outing, it became harder and harder to pull her away from there, as there was always some fun and exciting event going on that she didn't want to miss.
By the time our mom passed away in 2013, Jean-Marie had been living in the assisted living facility for approximately 6 years, and in the year that followed things changed. She was befriended by a staff member and invited to his home to spend time with his family as they too had a daughter with a disability and thought the two would enjoy a friendship. My sister did enjoy their company, and being extremely impressionable, she was soon convinced by them that being in this place she had called home and loved for nearly 7 years was horrible and that she should move out and instead move in with them. They were starting a business called Eleos Services, becoming a host home, and she was to be their first client.
I have to say that they did actually seem to treat her quite well at first, like she was a member of the family. They took her lots of fun places, vacations, etc. and she seemed to be very happy. So we dealt with the sadness of being pushed out of her life on our own, with at least the comfort of knowing that she seemed happy and well cared for. Things started to change when following a divorce, Jennifer eventually remarried. This is when my sister suddenly started being treated quite different. Suddenly she wasn't being included in things as much and started being treated like a burden to their desire for spontaneity. Her health had declined some, as she had developed some issues with her mobility and was more of a fall risk, making it so that she needed to have someone home with her at all times. This was very different from the way it was when she first moved in. We soon started getting reports that my sister was declining and that her mental status had gotten a point that she could remember very little and was not interested in participating in much. Of course this was upsetting and very concerning to all of us, and we tried as best as we could to mentally and emotionally prepare for these changes in her. The interesting thing was that we NEVER witnessed them. When she was with us, and whenever we spoke with her (which was daily) she was always very alert, able to recall stories and memories, talk about current and recent events, as well as physically participate in many things. One particular outing, after being told that she could only lay in bed and sleep all day, and at best, stay awake for 1-2 hours per day, I picked her up and asked her what she wanted to do, to which she quickly and excitedly replied, "go to an amusement park!" While that wasn't really much of an option in January, I did find an indoor ferris wheel that she was very happy to ride. We were out for 8 hours that day, and she was awake, alert and participating the whole time, having a great day. She ate, chatting, sang songs in the car and was as lively as ever. So why did Jennifer continue to tell us that she couldn't eat without choking, and that she was refusing most meals, and only maybe eating 1 meal per day? She continually asked me to bring her food, and ate multiple times every time we were together. There's so much more I could say about this "care"-giver and this company she runs and operates under but I will end this here and just say...my experience was NOT a good one. If you have taken the time to read this entire review, I can only determine that you really care a lot about your family member that you are considering services for, please look elsewhere.