Belfair of McAlester

Frank

I toured Belfair of McAlester. It was a nice place. They showed me three rooms. They showed me where people go, eat, and sit and watch TV, or a theater for movies. They have a studio and a one-bedroom apartment. They have a party on the 4th of July. They do Christmas and Halloween. They have an activity area but no courtyard. The staff was very good.

Durwood

I was at Belfair of McAlester looking for a place that would be suitable for my wife with Alzheimer's, and I was impressed with the facility, its appearance of it, and the cleanliness of it. I was certainly impressed with the manager who took plenty of time to take me on the tour, and showing me the entire facility, how the semi-private rooms were arranged, as well as the private rooms. He showed me the dining facilities, both for the independent living and the memory care group. The place seemed to be well staffed. The staff was friendly. The impressive thing to me was an indoor protected courtyard where those who are able can go outdoors and walk around with the flowers and the shrubs. I also was impressed that they are fully integrated with the McAlester Regional Hospital so that any medical needs can quickly be met. They also work with the regional hospice group, so there are ample professionals to serve the patients' needs. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with it. I was impressed with the staff, but of course, with the walkthrough, you don't get to evaluate the full interaction they would have with residents, but from what I saw, they were competent.

Samuel

My mom moved into Belfair of McAlester. It is 24-hour care. I went in there and took a tour. It was clean. There were no bugs and spiders. The patients looked like they were well taken care of. They care about their patients. It is a clean and good facility. I didn't see bad reviews on it, so I gave it a shot, and we signed my mom up. She's doing great and loves it there. She gets kind of her own age or people to hang out with. The staff members are great and fantastic people. My mom loves the food. The grounds are good, well-kept, and well-groomed. They have good parking and a lot of parking spots. The memory care has an outside facility right there in the middle where they can go out, sit, plant little plants, and stuff like that. It is a good place for any person with dementia. Their activities are good. I think maybe they should add more, but they really can't because of age. But they had a music festival, and that was outstanding. I got to see it on Facebook. I know it's a lot of money, but it's worth it for your loved ones.

Provider Response

Freda

My husband was in the memory care unit of Belfair of McAlester. They had no activities during that month and he wasn't allowed visits, but they let me visit him when I moved him in. It's called an assisted living place, so I had to go buy furniture, the tray table, and the TV. Their rates were good. There was an incident when I took my husband's VA medicine there. When I got to the hall there was a lady that had fallen and she couldn't get herself up. There was a lady standing by her, and there were chairs along the hall. I asked her if she wanted me to help her get up and she was too scared, so I said, "I'll go get someone." When I went to get someone, no one was in the building, and I hollered because I thought they were maybe in the medication room or they'd gone to the restroom or something, but no one answered. After maybe 20 minutes, a young man came up from the other building in workers' clothes. I said, "A lady has fallen in the hall and she needs help getting up." I'm about to leave, but I couldn't get out the doors. I thought if there was a fire, no one could've gotten out. He went in and I went out to my car and then he came running out. He said "I've got to get some help, I can't get her up by myself." I saw a lady worker outside smoking, and it wasn't the one that was there when I went in. I figured she just came and she was smoking before she went in, so I got out and told her what had happened. I said that the young man hadn't come back yet, that he went to get help, and she said she'd go in. I said there was no one there and she went in and then I saw the young man coming back. So I knew it was OK and I left. The lady that was on duty is not working there any longer, so I don't know if they turned her in for leaving. I figured she thought she'd just leave and someone else would be right there, but meanwhile the lady had been sitting in the hall at least 30 minutes or more. I didn't feel comfortable about it, so when my husband had to go into the mental hospital and they were thinking about releasing him, they asked me if I want him to go back to Belfair. I said, "Not really." It's a beautiful place, and I felt their rates were reasonable. Because they were assisted living they didn't charge as much as a nursing home, but they didn't have very many workers on shift. I understand that everybody's having trouble getting workers right now, but most of the people there were really nice and kind, including the lady that let me in but left early. The food was good. They didn't have any activities for the memory care people. They just watched TV. I told them that my husband is interested in doing jigsaw puzzles and they said they'd put one out for him, but they never did. His room was really nice. They had semi-private rooms that were separated. They're like two to a suite and they share a bathroom, and the rooms are kind of separated. It was private pay, and it was more than I could afford. The facility was kept really clean.