My father, Tony, came to Walden’s View of North Huntingdon Senior Care Living facility in October, 2017. He was initially in the personal care building, then, subsequently moved to The Neighborhoods Memory Care due to his newly diagnosed Dementia. My father passed away on April 9, 2019.
The administrative personnel at Walden’s View were caring and responsive to any questions or concerns that I brought to their attention. Tony was able to endear himself to the staff personnel and they were very caring of him and called him “Pap”, as that was how his grandchildren addressed him. The clinical personnel were genuinely concerned with Tony’s physical and psychological well being as well.
A physician visits the facility regularly and he was responsive to Tony’s conditions when visiting, or, being alerted by Tabatha via telephone. I was always kept informed in a timely manner. Gallagher Home Health Care provided additional support in the form of scheduled visits (when appropriate and ordered by the physician) by psych RNs, (Rob), physical therapy (PT), and occupational therapy (OT). These were additional “eyes on” Tony and the home care staff communicated well with me and was responsive to my wishes and to Tony’s needs.
As a Registered Nurse myself I was intimately involved in my father’s health care decisions. I found that Pat and Tabatha displayed good knowledge of the nursing process. Their decisions were mostly congruent with mine, and, I typically deferred to their assessment and decision making process when it came to Tony’s immediate health care needs.
Choosing a personal care residence for one’s loved one is a difficult decision with many factors coming into play. No place will be perfect one hundred percent of the time. I say this from my experience as a visiting staff nurse in the past. An administration that is willing to listen and a clinical staff that is willing to adjust to each resident’s personal requirements are essential. I have found that to be the case at Walden’s View.
Finally, there exists a wide spectrum of fees and costs associated with personal care/memory care facilities. In my experience, Walden’s View is reasonable. I can confidently state that the cost of a facility is not always indicative of the level of care your loved one will receive.
Sincerely,
Gary DeFrancesco
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