New Cedar Lane Care Home

My mother is 90, has severe dementia (zero short term, and disappearing long term, memory), cannot walk, is on a catheter, and has lived -- calmly and happily -- at Cedar Lane for a few months now. If you have a family member with serious dementia, then you know what a miracle it is to see them calm, clean, steady, eating, and happy day after day, with no medication. I drop in unannounced all the time, and this place is immaculately clean, with home-cooked food, room doors open and no one left in their room alone. My mom was always left in her room alone at her previous residence because the staff said they "couldn't force anyone to do anything," as if people with advanced dementia are thinking clearly about these sorts of decisions. My mother came to Cedar Lane after a lengthy hospital stay followed by a rehab stay. We thought she was going into hospice care at Cedar Lane but she has not, because she has improved after coming here. As I mentioned, my mother lived the previous two years at a nearby, large senior living establishment that looked fancy inside, but did not provide the care she needed. (This is true of other residents at Cedar Lane, as well. Others have come from big-brand, larger facilities that look deluxe but don't do the job.) My kids and I had to do so much work when my mom was at her previous residence: We had to change her clothes, for example. If we didn't, my mom was in the same clothes day after day, no matter how dirty they got. We gave my mother showers when the staff said she'd refused them (as everyone with advanced dementia does in regard to bathing). We had to clean her room, which became LAYERED in dust, because the staff said they "couldn't touch personal items." No one removed her meal trays or rotten food, etc. We often found ourselves coaching staff on how to deal with my mother free of charge, at a place that cost us $8k/month. Cedar Lane costs less than my mother's previous residence and, truly, provides FULL care. They manage the visiting doctors and nurses. The staff are so sweet, and the entire atmosphere of the place is different: calm, joyful, with a handyman always enlarging windows and adding skylights for natural light. My mom is clean, her hair is trim, her nails are painted, she is always in a clean and different outfit, and the entire place is SPARKLING clean. Immaculate. Everyone on staff knows exactly how to handle people with dementia: we didn't have to teach them all the tricks we've learned with my mom because they already knew. You don't ask people if they want to eat, for example; you hand them some food or water and they drink it because everyone else is, for example. The special brunches are amazing; the Mother's Day one was over the top, and so lovely. They have activities (like putting Legos together) and include my mom by wheeling her on over. She would never "want" to do the things that actually end up making her happy, and they ARE happening because of the staff, and she is HAPPIER. You wouldn't think these things could happen with people so far along with dementia, but it can. Since my mom came to Cedar Lane, my family and I are in shock about all of the free labor we are no longer doing. My daughter has been able to work more and earn more money, with the 12-20 hours back in her week from not having to do the care that the other care facility should have been doing. We're not looking to add longevity: my mom is 90, and she's had a full life. We are all about quality of life and comfort, and my mom is -- with advanced dementia -- happier and calmer than she has been in years, on ZERO medications. My kids and I looked at DOZENS of the 150+ care homes in the SF Bay Area, and we literally wept with relief when we found Cedar Lane. I'm not kidding: my daughter and I were eating lunch after our initial visit and CRYING in disbelief. Months later, our initial impressions have only been validated AND exceeded.

The staff were very nice, the surrounding area was lovely but the room was small and dingy.