I chose Emerald Groves - Central for my wife. It's a lovely place. It's phenomenal. There are only 26 people there in four wings. There are about six residents in each wing in all four wings. It's shaped like an X, and it looks more like a house. Where the X is located, is the central dining room/gathering area, and it has a probably 20-foot-long island. The chef prepares all of the meals in front of the people. They have a grand piano there, and they bring in young kids and guests. When you enter, there's a lobby with their stone and crystal collections. It's decorated for Christmas. It looks more like a million-dollar mansion in Scottsdale than it does. It's surrounded by orange trees in a grove of trees. They have a juicer and they juice their own oranges. The manager has been with them for 13 years. It's owned by a husband and wife team, and she's been a registered Arizona nurse for 40 years. It's designed exclusively for assisted living plus. And then on the other corner of the intersection is designed for memory care and then they have two other ones. You'll not find anything comparable to that in the east valley. They have an on-site manager who's been with them for 13 years, and handles all of the paperwork that's well done. Any extra care my wife needs, they arrange it. They were very interested in individualized care. They publish a monthly calendar with all of the activities that are going to be involved. It's not cheap, but not as much. It's about the same as having her at home with an in-home care agency for 9 hours a day. But she's there 24 hours a day. She gets all of her food. She gets extremely individualized care, including helping feed her and shower her.

The appearance, the smell of Emerald Groves, and the help themselves -- it is just a win-win all the way around. The staff members are really pleasant and really helpful in explaining everything that goes on there. The manager did an excellent job showing us around, and it was good in everything. The rooms are really nice; mom and dad are satisfied with it. It is nice and clean. It seemed that they keep them occupied. There is therapy, movie nights, and crafts that they can do. Everything seems to be quite nice.