Mendoza #2 Assisted Living

My cousin is a resident of Mendoza #1 Assisted Living. I think the community is great. From her experience there, she seems to be settling in pretty good, she says she likes it. She's African American, so it's a lot of Hispanics. But with the communication, that's working out as well. That was one of my biggest concerns, of her not being able to fit in, not speaking Spanish, but it's working out. The place is nice. Everything is well kept and put together nicely. It's a flat, with lots of space. The people there are laid back. It's a nice facility, it's working out for her, and the community is nice. The staff is great. From what I'm seeing so far, they take pretty good care of her. When I visit, she's clean. She seems to be fitting in well, laid back, and relaxed. The staff is nice, and they welcome me every time I come near. Any problems, they would call me; so far, I haven't got a call. She's able to keep her aftercare, which is physical therapy. She has a doctor that visits there, so it's working out so far. She shares a room with two other residents, but it's spacious. It's not cramped and crowded. She has enough space for all of her belongings, and everybody gets their own TV, which I think is great. You don't have to sit there and watch the same program somebody else wants to watch. So, the beds are nice. Everybody has like a hospital bed with their own TV, own remote, and their own living space. It has a nice-sized bathroom. It's a nice-sized dining area. The food, they have different things on the menu every day. One of her big concerns is eating what she wants. I haven't had the opportunity to be there when they eat, but they always have something between the time I go. They're pretty good with the food because I asked her and she said she's eating good, and that is great, she's happy. They get to go outside on their own. They have a nice-sized backyard where they give barbecues from time to time. When the family visit, you can go outside in the backyard, or you can go in the front. Now with her, she has physical therapy coming in, so they come in and help her to get up and move around a lot more. It's free will, you can get up and move around. They have games and movie night games that they play. They can go out to the backyard to get fresh air. It's a nice backyard, and the front yard is nice. Since this is assisted living, it's not like they have a routine of having you get up. You get up on your own. So, from what I see with physical therapy working with her, she sits in a wheelchair, but she's able to get up and move around on her own free will. It's very expensive, and what she's paying, it's good.

We've visited Mendoza #2 Assisted Living, but their availability depends on when they would have an opening. The experience was very good. I like that it was small, it was cozy, and they were Spanish-speaking, which is important for my dad since he only speaks Spanish. So for me, that's a plus. The staff is very pleasant, very professional, and very kind. As far as pricing, it was excellent. The only thing is that our budget is no more than $2,000 a month. They definitely met that, and we're very happy about that. They didn't have that many elders onsite, but they also had lots of activities during the day for them. We saw their facilities and the small kitchen, which looked fine to me.

I have made a deposit at Mendoza because I was supposed to move my sister there. Mendoza was OK. They have plenty of help, and the place smelled clean, and then they have a patio with shade where the residents can go outside. They showed me around, and I saw that they were getting ready to fix dinner; the kitchen looked very clean. They seemed to be feeding everybody at the same time, and it was organized. The house has 2 rest rooms, so that helps a lot too. The room was actually roomy ,and I think they did that because of the wheelchairs and walkers. She was going to have to share a closet, but that was not an issue because I prefer the space for her as long as she can walk around with her walker. I was impressed. It was an old house, but it was well-kept and clean.