St. Francis Woods

Mike

St. Francis Woods is an older structure. It's like a series of buildings on land that is not perfectly level. The interior of the main hallway where you go from one building to the next building to the next building, they have ramps. For somebody like me, it was okay, but my thinking was, for somebody that's using a walker, it should not be that way. They should have elevators. I did not like the idea of a ramp being inside that building. They gave us a tour of a room. I don't think that there were any kitchen appliances there. They had a couple of rooms that were there where people would congregate and meet and play games. They had a library, but as far as the gazebo outside, I don't recall being shown one. We had an appointment set up to do the tour, and generally, when we do that, it would be somebody like an admission person, but there, it was a nurse. I'm not saying she was a bad person or anything, but I just felt like she probably wasn't the right person to do it for us.

June

My mother is in the assisted living of St. Francis Woods. They serve three meals a day and she has her own apartment with her own furniture. They have different activities, the place is very nice, and everyone seems really nice there. Mom seems to like it there. The staff is doing just great. She's in a studio apartment, but they also had variety of rooms like a one-bedroom apartment. They have a beauty shop, a little store, a very big TV where they can watch movies or entertainment almost every day, they have music brought in like karaoke or entertainers, and they have parties. It's pretty active there. Sometimes the staff is helpful, and sometimes they're not because they're busy. There's probably never enough staff members for a place like this since they have about a hundred or more residents. They have CNAs there to help, but they can take your food to your room if you don't want to go down to eat, and then at 2:00 they have snacks. I'm not crazy about the food, although they have quite a variety. My mother doesn't like the food too much, but it's not too bad; in my husband's previous community the food was a lot worse.

Sue

St. Francis Woods was the best thing that could have happened to my parents. My father lived there for a short time before he passed away, then my mom continued to live there. I tell all my friends that they need that kind of service for their family. I highly recommend them. It is not a fancy place, but we have been in some of the ones that were aesthetically very pleasing and looked very luxurious, but the staff didn't necessarily care in some of those places. You couldn't find a more caring staff than what you have at St. Francis Woods. The administrator sets the tone that people are treated like they would want their own family is treated. I cannot speak highly enough of them. When my mom needed to have hospice care, I wanted her to stay there, and they wanted her to be there too. But they don't have 24 hour nursing. Their nurses go home at night. So I left my job and actually went to stay with my mom. They did have CNAs that were wonderful that would come every couple of hours and help me turn her, and do what she needed to do. They were just so loving and caring. Their maintenance man stopped by every evening as he left his shift to check on her. I'd see him standing at the end of the bed, close his eyes and pray. That's not his job, but that's how those people are. When I walked in, I wasn't bowled over. But as far as providing loving, personal care to their people, I'm just so thankful, so blessed that we found them. If I hadn't found this place when my father was sick, I don't know what my family would have done.

SR

I've been very pleased with St. Francis Woods. My mom loves it there. I've always found all of the nurses, CNAs, and all of the employees to be very friendly and always very caring for the residents. I've always heard them speaking very nicely, polite, and kind to them. Adrianne in particular, I dealt with her a lot, nothing major, some concerns of mom, and Adrienne was absolutely wonderful. She's wonderful dealing with the relatives of the residents, and she's fantastic with the residents themselves. Every 90 days they have a care meeting, where its family members and the resident, and Adrienne discuss any issues and concerns, which I think is great. I couldn't be more pleased with her there. I don't worry about her there. When she was living by herself and I couldn't get her on the phone I'd panicked and be in the car on the way to her house. Now, if I don't get her, it's either she's talking with someone or she's in the bathroom. I really don't get that concerned right away because they're always checking on them. Her medicine is always delivered on time. I also know Adrienne does routine little checks, pushing the little button call to see how long it takes the CNA to get there. I think it's a very nice facility. Mom loves it and she's happy there. I'm happy that she's there. I think the food looks great. During our 90-day meetings, Adrienne has always said, on days when something is served that residents don't like, they have an alternate menu. They can always ask for egg salad, or peanut butter and jelly, or grilled cheese, so they are never limited to something they don't like. I know my mom doesn't like fish, so I know on fish days she can ask for grilled cheese or something else. With what mom gets it's the most economical. I had searched probably 6 or 8 other ones in the Peoria area, and this one just stood out for me right away.

DN

I really like St. Francis Woods. It's a nice place. My cousin has adjusted very well with it. There has been quite a few employee turnovers, but lately there hasn't been a lot. He really likes the food. They also do all kinds of activities like arts and crafts. Jimmy can draw really good and he does a lot of drawing. The place is very nice since they remodel like a year ago.

Linda

The first time I went to St. Francis Woods was during the week after work, and the staff was really very nice. I excited and thought it would be OK. They had a bird sanctuary and a plant room. However, my mom and I went there on a weekend, and it was not good. A gentleman visitor came to visit a residents, and he said the "f" word, like a greeting. It was kind of inappropriate to use that kind of language, and the staff did not address him at all. Before we left, one lady who was living there was getting into an argument with a gentleman also living there. The woman was apparently not happy because she was going to moving out. They were raising their voices. I thought, "Oh my God! Two incidents in one day." The staff did not speak up and try to take control of the situation.