Victorian Place of Washington and Arbors of Washington

My father and I have had the experience with both, Victorian Place & The Arbors. My father began his journey in his early stages of dementia at Victorian Place, the Assisted Living building of the campus. He had a stroke shortly after his stay there, lending a big decline in his memory. We quickly realized The Arbors would be a better fit. While living at Victorian Place, the Administrator, the Nurse and staff were nothing shy of professional at all times. The Arbors lends the exact same professionalism, plus a staff that gears their attention to the personal needs of each "Friend" as they call their residents. They realize with dementia that every person requires a different approach to their care. I quickly realized that people with dementia are uncooperative and resistant to daily activities - bathing, dressing, and eating. I've seen residents reel out of control, and confused by what they are asked of. The staff breaks each task into steps and, in a reassuring voice, explain each step before they do it. You see the compassion each of the CMA's have for the "Friends". When my father moved in, we filled out a "life story" … this is to help the staff communicate or divert my father if needed. With the staff knowing and using my fathers past, it makes him much more comfortable through the day. This Memory Care setting was difficult for me to be around at first. There is a lot of stimulation, and many different "personalities" from each of the residents, but I've grown to realize it's the disease. And I now know this company puts a different spin on how they take care of families. And this "Best friends' approach helps me and my family in knowing they provide care encircled around my fathers and other family members parents past, not just with generic responses. My family and I are very happy with our choice here. It's very comforting after visiting, knowing that dad will be cared for with great attention.

The staff at this community are helpful and we have good communication with them. The food is good and they keep the community well maintained. They offer a variety of activities. I would recommend going to the different communities to see which one might be the right fit for your loved one.

I think it's a very nice place. The people have been nice and the staff is really friendly. They do a good job of keeping it clean, and taking care of her needs. We are pretty happy with it.

They are very friendly and they try to engage the residents in a lot of activities. It is a small place. The whole staff is involved when it comes to taking care of the residents, they all do a variety of things. Overall I am satisfied with the place.

Victorian Place is a very nice facility. It is clean, caregivers are efficient and the meal selections are served with a friendly desire to please the residents. I found the Administrators to be helpful. However, I found the RN manager to be difficult to work with during this difficult time for my mother. Unfortunately, my mother's health deteriorated to a point where she was no longer able to remain at this facility after only a few days in residency. The Arbors at Victorian Place was a different story. I realize that it is a specialty facility for memory care (both dementia and Alzheimer patients), but found the security and supervision of the patients lacking. My mother spent several nights in this facility before we realized that she was suffering from a medical condition that was neither dementia or Alzheimers but rather the side effects from an untreated UTI. Unfortunately, the first night at this facility resulted in a situation where an Alzheimers patient entered my mother's room and began going through her personal belongings. It frightened my mother so bad that her private caregiver had to remove the woman from my mother's room and immediately reported the incident to the RN Administrator who took a nonchalant attitude about the incident. The private caregiver returned to the room to find my mother petrified. When she attempted to calm my mother's fears, my mother pushed her back and said "please don't hurt me." This unacceptable behavior by the facility management should not be tolerated by any resident. I would not recommend this facility for any dementia or Alzheimers patient as the security and safety of the residents does not appear to be a top priority based upon my personal experience with this facility.