Oak Park Retirement Gracious Retirement Living

Patty

Oak Park Retirement is independent living, and we were very, very impressed with that. It was recommended to us by another facility. We liked the rooms. They were big and roomy. It just seemed like a pleasant place to live. The cleanliness was good. The staff was very, very friendly, very nice, and answered all of our questions.

Ronald

My wife and I moved into Oak Park Retirement about two months ago. I like that the people are very friendly. The food is okay, but sometimes it's not the best. The staff is good. They do their job. They're doing some remodeling right now. It's clean. They do a trip once a week where they take the residents at night and they go to plays and zoos, just different things like that to have things to do. Around the facilities, they have a knitting group and a singing group. People play different kinds of card games. This place has a very friendly atmosphere.

Savanna

We went to Oak Park Retirement. It's one that I loved. I walked in and felt very welcomed. They immediately came and said hi to us. The residents were very kind checking in on us and seeing how we were doing and gave great reviews to us as well. The facility was an open concept. They were decorated for Thanksgiving when we were there, so it was very festive for the holidays. They just seemed so nice. I wanted my grandmother to move into that one, but she liked the other one better. The dining room was very nice and clean. It's kind of like restaurant style. They have a puzzle room and a craft room. They offer services to drive you places as well. They have a billiard room and a library. It seems very clean in there.

Fidelina

I just moved into Oak Park Retirement. It's beautiful and it's in a country setting. It's not like in the city. It's got a lot of amenities and it's very spacious. So far, the people I met were just wonderful. It's very accommodating for me. I have a studio apartment, and that's all I need. I have to go out and get my meals downstairs in the dining room. When you walk in the apartment, it has a kitchenette on the right side with a full size refrigerator, a sink, and some cabinets. My bed is a couple of feet away. I look out on a bow window, and I'm on the third floor. The bathroom is full size and I have a walk-in shower and it's handicap accessible. It has bars and everything. It has the heat control under the window. I have my TV built in. They provide three chef prepared meals. There's a 24-hour coffee station, snacks, and frozen yogurt station. It has a library, an activity room, an art room, an exercise and fitness facility, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and podiatry, a beauty and barbershop, and a chapel. It has washers and dryers on each floor. The dining area is beautiful. It's like an upscale hotel dining room. It's got very nice tables and chairs, and it's very nice and luxurious. They take very good care of the facility. I get housekeeping once a week and linen service provided for my sheets and towels. They wash them and change my bed. The staff is very friendly, accommodating, very helpful, and always wanted to make sure to let them know what I need. Everything is in top shape. For what they're asking, I felt, or my family felt, it was a good rate because it includes everything except for my phone, and I had to provide my internet.

Provider Response

Donna

I have decided to go to Oak Park Retirement. I find it very warm, personable, clean, and with lots of amenities. It's community living so it's independent living. I visited the place just this year and it's quite lovely. They have an activity bus and they have activities every Thursday. They go to different places in the community, whether it's the theater or parks or restaurants or wherever the people want to go. I looked at the rooms too and they're fine, quite adequate.

Darlene

We've been pleased with Oak Park Retirement. The facility is nice and the staff has been nice. My mother seems to be pretty happy there, so we're very glad about that. They have apartments. All of them have access to on-campus staff that stays there. Each person has their own apartment, or each couple has their own apartment. And then they have ways to get in touch with the staff, like by pull cords. They can get in touch with the staff 24 hours a day, so they're not there by themselves. They have three meals a day provided, they have home nursing care that they can pay for separately if they need it. Like for someone to come in and check on meds or anything like that. They have physical therapy onsite that they can get through Medicare, and they have transportation, which is all the things she needed. In their apartments, they can't have stoves, but they have full refrigerators and they can have microwaves. So she was able to manage both of those, I just didn't want her to have a stove that she could turn on and possibly leave on. With the staff being there with her all the time, then I don't worry about her falling or her, you know, putting something on a burner and leaving it, which were my two big concerns with her staying at home. The staff is helping her manage her medicines. And then I'm over there all the time. So she's getting her meds on a more regular basis now that she's got some kind of checkup with her. So hopefully, she can age in place here. It does not mean somebody is just in her face all the time to care for her, she just needed more help than what she could get at home, but not nursing home facilities yet. She doesn't do her own cleaning because they have a cleaning staff. She doesn't do her own laundry because they have someone that comes in and can do your laundry, so she's got her laundry service. And so basically she is in her apartment, but she's not there by herself. She could call anybody and have the staff up there in three minutes. It's a win-win for people that aren't ready to get into assisted living, where they tell you when to wake up and when to go to bed. So this way she can kind of do her own thing. She can either go down in the dining area or she can eat in a room, so she's fine with that. We were thrilled with it. I haven't met anybody that didn't act like they cared. I know they get paid for that, but they've stayed close to keeping up with what they said they would do. They said, "We'll keep an eye on her and we'll let you know if something goes on." When I walk in over there, they're like, "Hey, she's doing good. We saw her with some new people today." And so they seem to care about the people that are in there and they seem to care about the people in their facility. I think they have great food. It's not seasoned like you would season it if you were just doing it for a family because they have different needs over there. But anything she's wanted, they've got it for her. If she said, "Hey, I have this recipe", they fixed it. The chef is nice, I've met him, and the food is very tasty. It's clean and neat, it's decorated, and pretty. I've never gone in where there was trash on the floor and the staff wasn't working right behind it to keep everything cleaned up. They've got a great walking path, they have bingo nights and all kinds of games, and they have all kinds of trips. They have their activity calendar. I wish I had that much to do, honestly. It's a little expensive but it's for our peace of mind. It's a pretty place, it's a little pricey, but it's still cheaper than having to go if you don't need the services of assisted living. What killed us was that she didn't need somebody to help her take her medicine and do things like that, but we were going to have to pay that price anyway. But here, she didn't have to pay for that extra care.