Drumlin Reserve

Aster Retirement is a very nice community. We toured there while looking for a place for my loved one, and it seemed like a very nice facility with a lot of amenities. However, I think it was just a little too fancy for my loved one, and it was too far out from Madison to be practical for visiting.

My mother is a resident here. They could get a new activities director because my mother does not get along with her.They need more staff on the weekends. We chose Aster Retirement because they offer transportation to doctor and dentist appointments.

Our Senior Advisor felt our passion for taking great care of my mother-in-law. She made our visiting appointments and then followed up with us. We would recommend using A Place for Mom to anyone needing help with loved ones and feeling overwhelmed by the process.

My mother recently moved into Aster Assistd Living after suffering a stroke and we could not be happier with the care she is receiving and the facility itself. The buildings are clean and very well maintained, the outside is attractive and welcoming. There have been no maintenance issues, but the maintenance staff have been available to help my mother as needed. Housekeeping and laundry staff have been great. The culinary staff easily took care of my mother's dietary needs. My mother is on a soft diet, so that's a challenge for the staff,but she says the food is very good. Nursing staff is excellent. Very friendly and caring. As with any major life change there are always fears, but I truly feel that my mother is in a safe, clean, well run community. I want to also single out the facility director Caitlan, (apologize for the spelling) she has been so friendly, professional, and helpful, she has made both my mother's and my transition as easy as it could possibly be.

Aster CG is a warm, sunny, comfortable environment with individual 'apartments'. Different from a skilled care facility in that it gives the resident their own space rather than a hospital style room. Positives: friendly help to assist with daily needs, medicine needs and meals served. Negatives: food is very basic and not to the liking of most residents, employee turnover is frequent and UNSKILLED so though they are nice, not many are there long enough to learn the individuals and their needs. If a resident takes a downturn, they are slow to recognize that fact so it is very important that family visit frequently. When looking for a place to call our parent's home, as far as unskilled care centers, Aster was most convenient and comparable to the rest. Food was the main complaint when speaking with residents at all places.

Great staff, great cares.

With my mother as a resident for a year plus, her needs have changed.. Aster is not capable of caring for her....we've had to pull in other resources for her care. They do administer medication and occasionally bring her a meal, otherwise no cares what so ever. I would be very careful when choosing aster in cottage grove...

My mom has been there since October 2013 and has received excellent care.

Good, but has said they would review level of assistance, but didn't. Also second tenant is either assisted or not- no in between.

This facility really did not end up being a good place for my loved one. It is a lovely looking, clean place, but it really was not geared towards anyone with more than minimal care needs. I'd make specific care requests and get mixed results, and things just moved too slow for someone with the care needs my loved one had. We moved her out within a few months to a more appropriate community.

There is no way to write a review in 200 characters. So much to say, such a hectic, hard, scary time in all of our lives. My mom made the decision to start looking at assisted living and fell the day we were to look at Aster, she was in the hospital, then rehab and at rehab discharge, (after 2.5 weeks) we looked at 2 places. Aster was the second place. Both mom & I were not impressed with the 1st place and without discussing with each other, realized it would not be a good fit for mom. Aster was decorated in mom's taste, staff very welcoming. They had openings as they just finished an addition. Residents came up to say hi. We thought about it for a day and called to say she wanted it. There is paperwork and a doctor's appointment that needs to happen.DID NOT KNOW THAT FROM A PLACE FOR MOM, THE OTHER ASSISTED LIVING PLACE OR ASTER. We were in a crunch to get her placed and her living on her own was not safe. She moved in and had a doctor's appointment within 2 days, (with TB test). We chose an apartment in the addition, it was the farthest from the dining room. It seemed to work for a bit, and my mom got a lot stronger with her walking, but after 2.5 months, it was apparent to me that the walk was too much, she is on her own and I was worried about her falling, (even with walker). We noticed open rooms and checked into it and are moving her much closer to the dining room/center of activity. The staff is constantly evaluating how the resident is doing. mom was moved from basic level to level 1 ($300) more per month) after a month. Some of that was the confusion they go through when they make such a GREAT change and some of that was her needing more care, ie help with shower. The staff come in her apartment often, getting garbage daily, giving lemonade/water daily, checking if bed made, reminding them of meals. The apartment is cleaned weekly. They even come at 12, 2, 4 & 6AM with flashlite to check if resident has fallen. My mom is profoundly hard of hearing and a $1,440 hearing aid can't help, it is hard to hear, the staff has learned to talk directly at her so she can read their lips, she still mishears, and it can come back to be a bad thing, but we keep trying. I spent a lot of time overnight with her and got to know the staff quite well and help my mom transition. She had cataract surgery and wasn't to bend over and that is how she bathrooms, so I took care of her to avoid extra charges. We did move from her giving herself her meds to the staff and that is another fee, plus the fee from the pharmacy to 'buble-wrap' the meds. I do wish there was more communication with the residents/family. A monthly newsletter would help my mom as she can't hear. A lot of the activities they do are new to my mom and therefore she doesn't understand it. They do do exercise 5 days a week with a staff person for 30 minutes. My mom loves it. I almost wish they would do it 2 times a day, just for an activity. She doesn't do the bus trips.

I thought it was a five but my mom hated it. She said the food was bad and I would assume, just from my own impressions, that it was the fact that she had to eat at certain time of the day and she didn't like that. My dad needed assistance so they would have to come and get him and my mom was very insisent on having them be there at a certain time and they would be late to come get him, not overly late, just not when they were expecting him, but they only have so many people. I thought they had good care, but I wasn't there all the time and my dad wasn't there for very long either. They called me when they needed something so that was good.

nice full everything

Very nice. Liked all the ammenities.

Very nice place, the tour was complete and there were no questions left unanswered. I'm not sure they need that much room. I'm not sure they would be comfortable on 2nd floor.

Toured on August 19th at 200pm with the director. Nice enough, rooms utilitarian. Residents looked like they were enjoying an activity in the main area, spoke to several people sitting outside as I walked in, pleasant.