Nicest Assisted Living/Memory care in the DC metro area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - any suggestions for good non-profits that are nice with well educated residents?

Ingleside is nonprofit (which doesn't mean inexpensive) and the Rock Creek campus is where all of Cleveland Park retires in old age. Very, very educated population. World Bank, lawyers, academics, the usual upper NW population. When I visited a friend there, the only thing I didn't like was that there's no walkable campus. Those who have good mobility can walk out into the surrounding neighborhood, but the campus itself, while nestled among trees, is very hilly and doesn't even have great sidewalks to walk in and out of the complex.

That said, if you want educated, upscale, nonprofit, and close-in, I assume this should be on your list.

I'm so glad you mentioned this! We almost did it for father but for a retirement community nestled in rock creek park it's accessibility is trash. Absolute garbage. Unless you are driving or being driven in and out it is the least pedestrian and wheelchair friendly place I've been.

Agree. I drove in to check it out and was put off by the location.

Plus it is a CRC and we wanted to pay month to month. Why would I give some random company $500,000-$1 million to move in?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here -- The landing also has a price tag that will blow your socks off, just a warning.

Can you give a general idea?

Call and ask for yourself.

Jeez, if you have some details, why not just post it for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once you are in memory care or even the more needy side of assisted living, high end is meaningless. It’s the quality of care that matters.

We have found the "quality of care" is higher at the higher end places. The more you are paying, the more the employees are getting paid, so that translates (most of the time) to better care and less turnover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Mather in Tysons is supposed to be good.

Is it open? It’s 55 and up and not sure if it’s assisted living and or memory care. They have places up to $2m plus I’m sure many thousands a month in fees.

The Mather is open. But there are not many units still available, I don't think.

It is a CCRC, so it will eventually have assisted living and memory care. But not yet.

My parents are there. Very, very expensive, but also extremely high-end and well-educated residents. My family is so happy we found that place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who works in these kind of facilities. They are all the same. They all use the same staff (literally--the pay is low so the women work at 2 or more facilities or work in a facility and then also do home care). The staff are from poor countries overseas (mostly Haiti and African countries) and do no share American values on work ethic, cleanliness, politeness, and they do not enjoy interaction with other staff who are not of their ethnic group (my relative, who is African-American, feels ostracized). The facilities try to feed the residents as cheaply as possible.

Not always true. My parents are in one (not DC area, further south) where the food is Farm to table. Half the produce is grown on site, residence can even assist if so desired. They have some turnover, but not a lot, as they pay well and treat employees well. Parents have been there 5 years and love it and the staff. Have not needed anything outside independent living yet, but they have interacted with staff in the other areas and they are great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - any suggestions for good non-profits that are nice with well educated residents?

Ingleside is nonprofit (which doesn't mean inexpensive) and the Rock Creek campus is where all of Cleveland Park retires in old age. Very, very educated population. World Bank, lawyers, academics, the usual upper NW population. When I visited a friend there, the only thing I didn't like was that there's no walkable campus. Those who have good mobility can walk out into the surrounding neighborhood, but the campus itself, while nestled among trees, is very hilly and doesn't even have great sidewalks to walk in and out of the complex.

That said, if you want educated, upscale, nonprofit, and close-in, I assume this should be on your list.

I'm so glad you mentioned this! We almost did it for father but for a retirement community nestled in rock creek park it's accessibility is trash. Absolute garbage. Unless you are driving or being driven in and out it is the least pedestrian and wheelchair friendly place I've been.

Agree. I drove in to check it out and was put off by the location.

Plus it is a CRC and we wanted to pay month to month. Why would I give some random company $500,000-$1 million to move in?!

Because that $500K is the price to pay so that when you need skilled nursing care/dementia care/assisted living for 1-5+ years, you still pay the same "monthly rent" that you paid when living in Independent living. And one spouse can stay in independent and other move to "higher level care" and you don't pay anymore (except for the extra meals for the higher level care---3 meals per day). So now you have 2 apartments/rooms for same price. And for most, if you "run out of money" you don't pay anything. My parents live in a nice place where there are currently 4 residents (all women) in their late 90s/100s who have technically run out of money, they pay nothing monthly. BTW, SS cannot be touched, so it's just your savings that matters.
Also you don't pay $extra $6-8K/month for memory care.
Plus the perks are both your parents are at the same facility---they can visit daily, the healthy one can take the other to the apartment for part of the day (if it's still medically feasible).

Heard of too many people whose parents are split and it's a drive so they see each other only 1x/week or less. In that case the parents deteriorate quickly.

[Anonymous]

Best accredited non-profited is Collington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who works in these kind of facilities. They are all the same. They all use the same staff (literally--the pay is low so the women work at 2 or more facilities or work in a facility and then also do home care). The staff are from poor countries overseas (mostly Haiti and African countries) and do no share American values on work ethic, cleanliness, politeness, and they do not enjoy interaction with other staff who are not of their ethnic group (my relative, who is African-American, feels ostracized). The facilities try to feed the residents as cheaply as possible.

Oh please, stop with the xenophobic BS. The fact is you'll be hard-pressed to find Americans to do the back breaking work. So miss me with the poor work ethic.

Let's see what happens if these staff 'from poor countries' stop working these jobs. I doubt they will be filled with Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - any suggestions for good non-profits that are nice with well educated residents?

Ingleside is nonprofit (which doesn't mean inexpensive) and the Rock Creek campus is where all of Cleveland Park retires in old age. Very, very educated population. World Bank, lawyers, academics, the usual upper NW population. When I visited a friend there, the only thing I didn't like was that there's no walkable campus. Those who have good mobility can walk out into the surrounding neighborhood, but the campus itself, while nestled among trees, is very hilly and doesn't even have great sidewalks to walk in and out of the complex.

That said, if you want educated, upscale, nonprofit, and close-in, I assume this should be on your list.

I'm so glad you mentioned this! We almost did it for father but for a retirement community nestled in rock creek park it's accessibility is trash. Absolute garbage. Unless you are driving or being driven in and out it is the least pedestrian and wheelchair friendly place I've been.

Agree. I drove in to check it out and was put off by the location.

Plus it is a CRC and we wanted to pay month to month. Why would I give some random company $500,000-$1 million to move in?!

If you know so little about the organization that will be looking after your family members that you think of it as "some random company," you haven't done enough research.

[Anonymous]

Look at Brightview Dulles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Mather in Tysons is supposed to be good.

Is it open? It’s 55 and up and not sure if it’s assisted living and or memory care. They have places up to $2m plus I’m sure many thousands a month in fees.

Entrance fee up to 4 MILLION.

[Anonymous]

My parents were in memory care at Cadence in Olney and it was wonderful! It was a bit of a trip from Chevy Chase, but $9,000 a month for memory care, brand new, clean, well decorated, and the staff was AMAZING. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who works in these kind of facilities. They are all the same. They all use the same staff (literally--the pay is low so the women work at 2 or more facilities or work in a facility and then also do home care). The staff are from poor countries overseas (mostly Haiti and African countries) and do no share American values on work ethic, cleanliness, politeness, and they do not enjoy interaction with other staff who are not of their ethnic group (my relative, who is African-American, feels ostracized). The facilities try to feed the residents as cheaply as possible.

Not always true. My parents are in one (not DC area, further south) where the food is Farm to table. Half the produce is grown on site, residence can even assist if so desired. They have some turnover, but not a lot, as they pay well and treat employees well. Parents have been there 5 years and love it and the staff. Have not needed anything outside independent living yet, but they have interacted with staff in the other areas and they are great

I had private duty in the home caregivers in the home for over 10 years. Most also worked nursing care facilities. They constantly change jobs to get an extra $1 per hour. Most work two jobs. Some work three jobs. Many will work 36 hours at each care facility and hold down two full time jobs to pay the bills.

This is in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Talk to the workers in the parking lots. You will learn a lot.

We found the rural, older, smaller facilities are better and have a lot less turnover.

ASK ABOUT GLOVE CHANGE RULES. I had two caregivers tell me they had to wear the same gloves to care for multiple residents per the owners of the facilities. One caregiver worked at a facility near Towson with these rules and one worked at a facility near Ocean Pines with these rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who works in these kind of facilities. They are all the same. They all use the same staff (literally--the pay is low so the women work at 2 or more facilities or work in a facility and then also do home care). The staff are from poor countries overseas (mostly Haiti and African countries) and do no share American values on work ethic, cleanliness, politeness, and they do not enjoy interaction with other staff who are not of their ethnic group (my relative, who is African-American, feels ostracized). The facilities try to feed the residents as cheaply as possible.

Not always true. My parents are in one (not DC area, further south) where the food is Farm to table. Half the produce is grown on site, residence can even assist if so desired. They have some turnover, but not a lot, as they pay well and treat employees well. Parents have been there 5 years and love it and the staff. Have not needed anything outside independent living yet, but they have interacted with staff in the other areas and they are great

I had private duty in the home caregivers in the home for over 10 years. Most also worked nursing care facilities. They constantly change jobs to get an extra $1 per hour. Most work two jobs. Some work three jobs. Many will work 36 hours at each care facility and hold down two full time jobs to pay the bills.

This is in Maryland.

it varies from facility to facility. But the higher end CCRCs tend to pay more/living wage. Staff turnover is lower in those places.