I am an employee with an in-home care provider, and for about the past six weeks, I have been going to Arden Courts of Jefferson Hills to visit a resident. I want to compliment the staff of Boathouse and the activities staff. I am so pleased with the staff and how they treat the residents. They are so patient and loving. I also am impressed with how the staff remains calm and interacts with the residents. I want to give the staff a big shoutout for their care.

My mother, Teresa, was at Arden Courts Memory Care, Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania. It was one of the hardest decisions my family and I ever had to make. My sisters and I took care of my mother by rotating in and out of her home for years prior to placing her at Arden Courts. The anxiety, fear and guilt that went along with that decision were immense. We were overwhelmed with the constant care of my mother and trying to care for our own families and work. My mother had Alzheimer’s, and watching her deteriorate both mentally and physically was emotionally difficult. At the time we made the decision to place her, she did not believe that her home was her home anymore.

The people at Arden Courts were phenomenal. From our initial visit with the intake staff, we felt that the folks there genuinely cared, and more importantly understood my mother’s issues. They were so patient and sensitive. Between the exhaustion and the weight of the decision, I know that we cried on them on more than one occasion. They were patient and understanding. They guided us through the process and patiently answered our myriad of questions. On moving day, there was staff to assist so we were able to move my mother’s things out of her home and into her new room while we took her to lunch with minimal disruption and added confusion to her.

I am a nurse, so as you might expect, I monitored my mother’s care closely. At no time did the staff seem threatened or insulted by my input. They were consummate professionals. I really felt that the family and staff were a team in my mother’s care. But most important was how they cared for these residents. I was utterly in awe of their ability to maintain such a caring attitude and have abundant patience in such a stressful, sometimes downright crazy, environment. Each staff member knew not only the names of the folks on their unit but also the names of all the residents in all of the wings. I watched staff take the time to console these confused souls despite them being so busy themselves. It wasn’t just the names they knew. They knew what these residents’ habits were and likes and dislikes. They always had a smile for everyone, even the ones who didn’t smile back or were ornery. I liked how they joked and teased with them. My mother loved that, and it made her feel more at home than like she was a patient.

Your facility was perfect. Everyone has their own room to go into when they want to be alone or use the bathroom, yet there is a dayroom to be with the other residents. The activities were great. It was also nice that the residents could say no to the activities. My mother was not fond of most of them but would attend some of the musical activities. The folks there were also amazingly patient with an often vocal one or two trying to disrupt the presentation or with the folks who merely go to sleep there. My mother was particularly fond of the street-like environment of the hallways. She loved to walk. Being able to have the freedom to walk a long distance there without interruption was great. The trick of course was finding her once it was meal time. And she did love meal time. Your cooks were the best. The food was tender enough so it could be chewed easily without being bland and boring. My mother often commented on how great the food was there. She ate more there than she did at home.

In the end, while my mother was in hospice care, I felt that my family and I were cared for as much as my mother was. Our ability to be at her bedside most of the time helped us to process her impending death. The staff’s responsiveness to her pain and agitation was amazing again given the environment. She would not have had as good of care were she in the hospital, I’m sure. My mother’s last months on this earth were full of love and compassion, and I can’t thank you all enough.