Emeritus at Fisher’s Landing

JUST LIKE HOME, ONLY BETTER!
My grandmother moved here after a sudden and dramatic decline due to a major surgery. She couldn’t take care of herself any longer and needed immediate care. I am so grateful that I found Emeritus during an online search of local senior living facilities.
I walked in off the street to tour Emeritus, which is marvelously located in East Vancouver minutes from Hwy. 14 and close to gobs of shops, restaurants, doctors, dentists, pharmacies, grocery stores, and anything else you could need – not to mention about ten minutes from PeaceHealth Southwest. Anyhow, the staff welcomed me and gave me a tour on the spot. The building is beautiful, bright and cheery with a spacious feeling and lots of art on the walls. Better yet, it smells great when you walk in – like it’s just been cleaned, combined with the aroma of something delicious coming from the dining room/​kitchen. Several residents were gathered in the lobby, chatting to each other. I asked them if they were happy living there and to a person they all answered yes. (Maybe they thought I was a state inspector, but still…)
My family and I joined my grandmother in the dining room on her first night, with complimentary meal tickets, and we were amazed at the quality of food. I was expecting something institutional and bland but what we got was worth savoring and tasted home-​cooked from the first morsel to the last crumb. Our extended family also attended the Thanksgiving meal, which was EXCEPTIONAL and so crowded they had to seat people in the lobby and activity rooms (two words: BOURBON TURKEY).
I used to worry about my grandmother when she lived alone, but now I know she’s safe. Her one-​bedroom apartment is large (about 600 square feet), always perfectly clean, and overlooks an inner courtyard with trees and benches and winding paths. She’s made friends, has been invited to attend activities and outings (Plays! Restaurants! Day trips!), goes to the on-​site beauty salon, and the staff encourages her to use the 24-​hour beeper necklace she wears not just in case of emergency, but also for little things, such as help adjusting the thermostat in her room or if she’s in the hallway and can’t remember where she’s going. She is treated with respect, dignity, and courtesy.
Rarely have I encountered a staff so enthusiastic about their jobs. Everyone seemed delighted to help me, and I’m pretty sales-​resistant but these people won me over by treating me and my grandmother with genuine kindness. They did everything they could to make my grandmother’s transition easier and more comfortable – and they went far, far above and beyond to help me with the overwhelming number of tasks necessary to facilitate the move, including recommended a moving company that specializes in moving older people and helping me get the proper doctor’s forms in order. The financial arrangement was explained very clearly and transparently and the prices – compared to other senior living facilities – are on the low end, even though they could reasonably charge far more.
Finding a place for your parents or grandparents is HARD, but Emeritus is just like home, only better… not just because the building is beautiful, but because of the staff’s unsurpassed dedication to caring for the people who live there.