I have a friend who is currently in Long Term Care (Skilled Nursing) at Pioneer House, and his assessment of them compared to other Skilled Nursing facilities he has been at is "They are so much better that there is no comparison." From visiting him at both facilities I would agree. The staff is friendly, and clearly interested in the best outcome for the patient. My friend is making progress in his recovery, and may be able to move to the Assisted Living floor in the near future. The availability of both Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living in one facility was a major reason for selecting Pioneer House. It isn't a brand new building, but I've been there over two dozen times and have never seen anything dirty or out of place like at other facilities I've visited.

We chose Pioneer House because they have independent living units, assisted living units with three different levels of assistance, and one floor of skilled nursing. Originally, we thought that if my friend got worse, he could move from assisted living to skilled nursing. When they assessed him, they didn't think that he was suitable for assisted living, so they offered him a skilled nursing bed. They've been extremely caring. One of the things that impressed both myself and his sister-in-law was, they asked a lot of questions. They are very interested, not just in housing him, but in engaging him and getting him involved in the community. That's been one of the big things that drove this decision, and their ability to handle in-house, multiple levels of ability. He is in a shared room right now. The rooms are reasonably large and have large closets, a lot larger than any other place we looked at. If he goes down to assisted living, he will be in a studio with a mini-fridge, a microwave, a large closet, and his own bathroom. He has his own bathroom now, too. Compared to most of the places we looked, this has slightly more room and nicer storage. He's got a balcony both currently, and if he goes down to assisted living. So, every unit has got a balcony which I thought was very nice. They're located near Crocker Art Museum. So, when he gets to the point when he's able to get out and get around, there are things for him to do down there. He's not in the middle of a residential area where there's nothing to do nearby or an industrial area. He is still on hospice, dealing with a difficult wound situation; they can't formally do therapy, but they've arranged for a Geri chair and are working to get him up and out of the room once a day. I would rate them as a five compared to everything I've seen. I guess if they were brand new that would be better, but everything is clean, in good working order, and maintained. He's not gotten involved in any of the activities yet, but they have a walking club, and they do various classes. They do movies and have a bookmobile that comes by. The other thing that I appreciated about getting him there is that they've got everything that he was not getting at home. He's a diabetic who was bed-bound for months at home, and so did not get seen by an ophthalmologist or a dentist. They've got all of these people coming by regularly to take care of dental, ophthalmology, and podiatry. He can get haircuts in-house. They can completely take care of him, so that's the other thing that impressed me when we checked in. I think the value and pricing are fair. I weigh the staff and their activities pretty heavily.

The rooms are large, clean and comfortable. The staff is friendly, very attentive and professional. The needs of each resident are addressed in a custom care plan developed in conjunction with the family. Daily activities encourage staying active and engaged. Living at Pioneer House is like living with family.

Everything was wonderful at the Pioneer House. It had a hospital, a skilled nursing and an assisted living facility all on campus. They had wonderful social activities, like playing cards and watching TV. It seemed that it was the place to be. The rooms were serviceable. They were not exactly up-to-date but everything was quite nice and very clean. You could come down to a buffet style dining room but you could also cook in your room if you liked. Their admissions lady was fabulous. She stayed on the phone with me and didn't try to brush or hurry me up. She even gave me information about insurance and Medicare, and said to make sure to check it's transferrable.