Heritage Grove

There are a two choices in the Tahlequah area for Assisted Living and after visiting them I chose Heritage. It has turned out to be an excellent decision for my mom, who also has memory issues. And while not severe yet, certainly makes everything more difficult for her and those in charge of her care. In fact, she was in a memory care facility before she went to Heritage, and is doing MUCH better for it because the more medicalized environment was a negative trigger for how she interacted with the world. The improvement has been significant. The calm, beautiful and caring environment at Heritage has been life and brain changing for her! She really feels well cared for - and at the right level, meaning she doesn't feel like she's in a hospital anymore. She expresses all the time how happy she is, and how much she loves the staff , the food, and the environment. For me, it's like getting my mom back - and even better! The few episodes she has, the staff helps her through by just sitting it through with her. There are a few key staff members there, like Georgia (who is the most caring and hardest working CNA I've ever come across), Anna (whose calm and sweet demeanor always sets my mom at ease) , Henry (who keeps a VERY tidy house!), Ronnie the head chef (who is amazing), Robert the nicest maintenance guy ever, the fabulous Charlie who does medicines, and Kala, the angel who really took the time to get to know my mom and got her placed at Heritage. With all that, if I were to guess what makes Heritage the great environment that it is, I would have to point to Carla. She is the director there, but she is so much more. She sets the tone, she rolls up her sleeves, she keeps her word, she leads by example, and all with love. For those not mentioned, it's only because I don't know them as well, but everyone there is wonderful. Heritage has given my mom and I a new lease on life. It has made my relationship with my mom the best it has ever been. The peace of knowing my mom is not just safe, but happy, is a priceless gift! I will add one qualification to my review, which is that I visit my mom daily, at least 6-days a week. I think that reviewers that are unhappy with Heritage visit much less frequently to almost never...and honestly, unless your parent(s) are still very independent and have no memory issues, no place can be ideal if leaving them alone - because no place for memory patients can replace the great comfort of having family and friends around them.

Unfortunely we did not have a 5 star experience here. Our first visit they painted a pretty picture and we fell for it. They promised that when our loved one was beyond their care that they would let us know and we would have time to find a new facility, we were told they did memory care, we were made to believe that our loved one would be cared for. We were not notified when our loved one was beyond their care and needed a nursing home, we often found our loved one being served food and the center did not help put dentures in. On one occasion they told us that the top denture was lost, we found it in the room with the lower dentures in the cleaning container, they didn't even bother to look for them. They are money hungry and care more about your monthly check than they do the care of your loved one. Right before our loved one passed away Heritage Grove sent him to the E.R. from the E.R. he was admitted and the hospital said that a nursing home was needed. He passed away a few days after he was moved to a nursing home. Heritage Grove charged us an additional month and a half that our loved one would not be living there and he had passed away. They quit responding to all our communication and I had to contact corporate for some kind of resolution, which was not found. They still charged us for over a month after our loved one passed away. After we submitted our last payment (a personal check) our account information was stollen off of our check and they tried to process and additional payment. After working with our bank to figure out what was going on we had to close our account and open a new one so they could not try and take more money. When I reached out to them I was laughed at and pushed aside. Please be aware when considering bringing your loved one here. They are not as wonderful as they make it seem.

Off to a Great start. Staff and residents have been very supportive.