July 2005
Assisted living now offers a wide choice of settings and price levels. Typical of full-service facilities is Crosby Commons in Shelton, Conn., a 67-unit brick facility run by United Methodist Homes. It provides an on-site beauty shop, a gift and toiletry store, a fitness center, and a gourmet menu, which recently featured herb-rubbed leg of lamb and fish Florentine. (Studios and one-bedrooms range from $2,780 to $3,570.) Other facilities are not as elaborate. Avalon in Falls Church, Va., houses a maximum of 8 people, all with dementia, in individual rooms ($105 a day) and has live-in attendants. The Washington Elms in Bennington, Vt., a towering gray Victorian, houses 24, most of whom share dormitory-like bedrooms with 2 or 3 roommates for $80 a day. Some of the floors, walls, and porches were dilapidated, though Melissa Greason, the owner, says, “We are doing major repair work.” Neither the size, décor, nor amenities determines the quality of care. We found residents at the Avalon, which has no pool or other amenities, happily playing poker in the living room. But at the glossy Renaissance Gardens in Springfield, Va., which has pleasant grounds, a fitness center, and a swimming pool, we saw two residents in wheelchairs complaining about long waits to get a caregiver’s attention, and a staff member who ignored a resident who repeatedly asked to enter an enclosed flower garden. Mel Tansill, senior director of public affairs for Erickson Health, the company that owns Renaissance Gardens, told us in an e-mail that “residents deemed safe are not required to be accompanied while enjoying the courtyard.” Moreover, he added, one of the residents in a wheelchair was waiting for a rehabilitation appointment that had been rescheduled from the morning. He said that past surveys show that residents never wait more than 10 minutes. At Washington Elms in Vermont, most of the residents sat slumped in darkened rooms or in front of a television set. Greason, the owner, says that the facility has no activities director, but “we have bingo, church groups come in, and we do crafts around the holidays.” |
