Brighter Days

Sadly, these are nice people but I wouldn't leave anyone in their care.

My mother received the best of Care from Vicki and her family. Not much to do but listen to TV and radio. But the staff was very attentive. My mother was bed ridden for her last few months but there were never any bed sores. The house always smells clean and the food was good and nutritious. They provided 24 hour care.

If you have a loved one with complex needs who requires superb care-giving along with tender loving attention, look no further than Brighter Days. After a harrowing journey into a memory care facility that traumatized my father and landed him in the geriatric psychiatric ward of a hospital, my family was desperate to find a living situation that could meet my father's high level of needs – and where he could still feel safe and at home. A Place for Mom recommended Brighter Days, and it has proven to be a GODSEND to my father and our entire family. V. and her staff at this level three adult foster home provide not only exceptional care for my father, but a sense of safety, reassurance, and love to our entire family. The house is clean, airy, and quiet; the food is homemade and delicious (where else will your loved one get fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast?); and the residents are treated with tenderness and respect – even when they become cranky about having their basic hygiene needs met. V., the owner and main caregiver, is a trained nurse, so she can handle many of the more difficult aspects of patient care that would normally only be done in a nursing home. She worked in pediatric nursing for many years, and has been working in eldercare since coming to the US 20 years ago. Her pediatric experience shows in how she cares for the elderly: she intuitively understands the needs of my father, who is oftentimes flustered and upset because he can no longer communicate clearly through language. A bit of our story will highlight the exceptional care offered by Brighter Days: The psychiatrist treating my father was skeptical about placing him in an adult foster home saying, "If this place is what you say it is, you have found the pinnacle of adult foster care!" My father's needs – both physical and emotional – were so great that she believed they could only be handled at a nursing home facility. Not only was he wheelchair-bound, but he was considered "reluctant to care," sometimes hitting out and biting at the psychiatric staff. V. at Brighter Days received daily reports from the psych ward, but remained confident that she could work with my father. When we brought my father into Brighter Days for the first time, within a few minutes he indicated he felt "back home." He then asked to go to the bathroom, allowing V. to attend to him, then immediately fell asleep in his big armchair-recliner. Later that evening, my mother was alarmed when the phone rang and showed the Brighter Days number, fearing it was another call about my father falling – or something worse. Instead, it was V. calling to reassure my mom that she had put my father to bed without incident. In the days and weeks that followed, NONE of the aggressive tendencies seen at the memory care facility or in the psychiatric ward returned. My father is content and calm, because the animal instincts that now rule his mind can trust that he is safe and secure. The family is relieved of the distress and worry about what could be happening to him out of our sight, and we all report sleeping better. In one respect, the psychiatrist was correct: Brighter Days is the pinnacle of adult foster care! A note: Brighter Days is probably best for lower-functioning elders who no longer have the capacity or desire to make crafts and play bingo. It has room for only five residents, and most of them are no longer super social.