Joyful Living

Denise

They monitor Mom extremely well. It was really a positive experience and I already experienced two other places, so I can tell you I was very pleased. The atmosphere is really good. It’s well above and beyond. It’s got a great water pool in the back, so they can go out in the back and relax. They have a nice deck on outside porch that they can enjoy. We had celebrations with family members through the year. It also has area out front so they can sit. My mom had a stroke, so we had to move her. And Chris has been instrumental helping me with that. I go over there frequently. He’s got different people that work sometimes on a weekend, however, they are just as good as the ones that he has on staff during the week. He’s very careful about their diet. They get a balanced diet. They really have a variety of what food they serve. The facilities are really nice. They always keep them busy and they take them to different places. It’s definitely a value for the money. I’ve dealt with other facilities before. And for what you get it’s above what the others offer. And also at a better price.

Brenda

Kosta is wonderful. We’re very pleased so far. Our mom has only been there two weeks, but we’re very pleased and impressed with the care she’s getting there. The community is a home like setting, small and yet very clean. The food is delicious and the care is excellent. The caregivers are very attentive, very kind, and loving to the four ladies they have living there. We have moved our mother there from a large facility, and the difference in care is amazing and we're extremely pleased and we highly recommend it.

Alyss

The one thing best that I have seen is the fact that Kosta is like home. They treat everybody like family members and they all watch out for each other. Chris is phenomenal. He gets in there with everybody. He’s not just the owner, but he’s part of the community. The interaction is unbelievable. I'm the program director for Amy's Place which is a memory café. And we provide programs on a regular basis for people their families and family members that have cognitive impairment. Chris and his caregivers bring the residents here quite frequently. And it is amazing on the interaction that they have. They're like my family now. If I had a family member that needed help, that would be the first place that I would go. They can feel comfortable that the staff will really know their loved one. I've watched and see them more when they're here. There was somebody that was diabetic, and could only have a certain amount of water and sugar, and she literally watched what I would give her to eat, so that she would not be sick. We have caregivers all the time bringing their loved ones in and I have never seen somebody so watchful as a caregiver. It's probably some of the best care that I've ever seen.

Alan

The owner of Kosta does a great job of vetting out and making it a perfect fit for the environment, so that there's not a lot of disruptions for the families that's already there, but also the ones that's coming in. The food is not like hospital or cafeteria type food. A lot of times the owner cooks and eats not only with the residents but the families. It's an open concept and the families can come and go as they please. They do a lot of socialization and keep the residents active, like crossword puzzles. They keep them stimulated. They take them out to places, like movies, or to the aquarium. The owner is very involved in the care and the planning. The owner understands his home and also what it takes for everyone to be in a good environment. The owner does a great job of making it a good match for everybody, because the last thing you want to do is have a family moved in, and if it would not be the right place, a month or two later you'd have to move them again. He does a great job in going through an assessment process to make sure that person or that family is going to be a fit for the house. My experience with the staff is very positive. I think there's very low turnover.

Todd

Every level of life that they have in Kosta is first class. They treat them like their own family. They treat me like I'm their brother, son or friend. My mother moved in October 1st. They're attentive, not self indulgent or watching TV and playing with their cell phones. They only have four women staying in the entire place. They have two different groups of caregivers 24/7. Food is phenomenal. When you open the refrigerator, you can't see canned goods. It's all fresh food. It's veggies waiting to be cooked, not in a can. They're ALWAYS doing something besides sitting and staring at the TV. Chris himself is in and out all the time. He just doesn't own it, he is hands on every step of the way, owner provider. He constantly calls me on how things are going with anything. He makes me feel embarrassed to think that I have put her in other places that don't do these kinds of things or even he shames me on how attentive he is. You should be lucky if you can find a place like this for your mother because the pictures we get all the time of them in the ballet, the ladies in the ballet coming up to them and greeting them afterwards. You will never find like this in other places, Never! We've been in three other facilities none of the others felt anything like this nor have they treated my mother or any other women who stay there like the way they treat in Kosta. It is a very unique experience and if I have known about them in the beginning, I put here there at the very start. That would have been 5 years now that she has been in some sort of assisted living. We have been in a high dollar, high advertising communities, Kosta did not hold a candle with the way mom has been treated over there. They're always going someplace for activities. They go some sort of bus and then at that point, they drop them some place and drop them off. So they're going to go in there and buy their little toiletries and all that stuff but they're pretty much going to the mall by themselves. There's no sense of entertainment and security there. They drop off these men and women, basically on their own. Kosta doesn't do that. They have a small van. They take these ladies to the ballet, theater, to eat, to art show, to learn how to do art and flower arrangements. I've never seen anything like this anywhere before. The thing about this is that it's not an act or show. Unbelievable!

Kenny

My mom seemed to be okay in Kosta at Smyrna. I feel that she's safe so it works. The staff and her room are nice. They also go visiting places a lot. It's really been nice there.