The Cerenity Care Center was not very serene. Turns out "Care Center" is elderspeak for "End of the Yellow Brick Road". I was expecting an assisted living with a memory care unit but instead I got a secured nursing home on the 4th floor of a building in a campus of sorts. The staff was nice enough but the place was basically a hospital and many of the residents were pretty far gone. There were a couple folks that yelled out intermittently, adding to the all-around bleakness of the place. Not good.
There were some hilarious moments, of course. One of the residents stopped to ask me how he could get out, he couldn't seem to find an exit. Ironically, he was standing directly under a glowing red 'EXIT' sign. One of the staff members chirped in that brunch was beginning soon and he brightened, moving on to the dining room.
In a nutshell, Cerenity is not an option for mom; too end-stage, too many yellers, no access to the outdoors without an escort.
Tomorrow, another nursing home...I'm interested to see if they're all the same. Mom seems to be on the cusp as to which facility is best for her. Incontinence is a big issue regarding where seniors should be placed because the staffing ratio is much less in an assisted living. Ah, the learning curve, she's steep.
