BUYER BEWARE!!!
My mother was a resident of Preston Pointe, an independent senior living facility, for less than one month when she fell and broke her arm. The financial burden and stress which occurred next would completely take my family by surprise. When we moved Mom out of my house to a separate living situation, I wanted to make it her last move and ensure that her needs would be met without needing to move her again. Grant Fessler, the "Lifestyle Counselor", provided me with the impression that she would be able to transition in place if she needed more care. That proved to be a totally false statement. What happened was that we were required to pay an on-site service $22 per hour for 24-hour care if Mom was to remain at Preston Pointe once she completed her rehabilitation elsewhere. The 24-hour care requirement was put in place to ensure her safety and well-being, according to the staff I spoke with. With the cost of her living arrangements, that put her monthly cost at OVER $30,000.
My main complaint is that Preston Pointe misled me. If they were really an organization that was focused first on care and less on profitability, they would have been very specific up-front about what it would cost for me to safely emulate their requirements for an assisted-living level of care at Preston Pointe. When my Mother returned from her rehabilitation, they required that my Mother have 24-hour care in order to protect their liability and that is all. I brought to their attention that my Mother did not need 24-hour care one-on-one but that was their requirement. I could not get anyone to budge on this requirement. This care was provided by an external company named Comfort Keepers. Comfort Keepers has a contract to provide the on-site care needed by residents of Preston Pointe. The Comfort Keepers person was limited in training and did not even have a CNA under their requirements. Essentially, I was paying for a glorified baby-sitter. I was livid. I had no recourse but to move my Mother to a dedicated Assisted Living Facility and out of Preston Pointe.
I would advise that anyone who is looking into senior living for their elderly parents or other relatives ask some very pointed questions when a facility claims they can provide more than one level of care. Those questions should be centered around what does each level of care entail and what is the typical cost. I was blind-sided by this additional cost by a slick sales person who tried to convince me everything was do-able and that everything would be OK. He even told me that the 60-day move out notice would be waived if my Mother had to move for medical reasons or passed away. Again, the reality was that that did not happen. I also did not even get credit for the meals that my Mother did not eat while she was in rehabilitation for three weeks!
Buyer beware! I would advise everyone not rush into these very emotional decisions about your loved ones. Use the experience of others to try avoiding complications for your future. Think about their entire lifespan left and the fact that you might need to move them more than once. I also advise anyone who thinks they need multiple levels of care available to pick a facility that says up front that they offer Independent Care and Assisted Living. There are very few standards that these businesses are held accountable to and so that means different things at different places. read more
