My mother is on the second floor at Ecumen Prairie Hill, and she's getting her meals and her medication every day. We're, as a family, happy that she's in a place that can take care of her. The people there are decent folks. I visited with them several times and they've gotten some things straightened around, so everything's been very easy and comfortable to deal with. It's nice that somebody else can assess her and make the decisions rather than us being the bad guy, so it's worked out very well. She's got a private two-bedroom, a nice suite, with a kitchen and a balcony. She's happy with it and she's got one room set up for her sewing and quilt making and that kind of thing and then the other one's a bedroom, and then a nice living room. She's in there by herself, so that's a good thing. They have daily activities. They try to encourage her to go to the exercise classes, coloring and puzzles, and stuff like that, but she has not participated in any of the community activities. The staff is very friendly. The physical therapist that was coming in was a very nice gentleman. I've been there when the aides or assistants have come to give her medication and such. They've treated her with dignity and respect, and I'm comfortable with that. I think they're doing an outstanding job for a limited staff. Everybody that showed up helped her. She's a picky eater, so there is some food that she doesn't like, but they're willing to have something made specifically different at her request and I do believe she's exercised that once or twice. They do a good job. The facility is very nice. Someday if I get old, that'd be a nice place to go to. I don't understand their pricing. They go on some kind of a point system, but it seems to be fair and those that we checked around in when we were looking to get her landed someplace, they all seemed to have a base starting price and then go from there as to what the needs are of the resident.

My mom is living in Ecumen Prairie Hill currently. It is an assisted living with memory care unit attached. It is two years old and it is part of a corporation here in Minnesota. The facility is like a beautiful posh hotel when you walk in. It is just gorgeous and very contemporary. We live in St. Peter so it is close to us. We also like their memory care unit because they only have 12 people and there are two or three attendants to care for those 12 people at all times. So that's a lot more than in a nursing home. The unit is not yet regulated by the government, so they can have many people as they want to care for the people and it is wonderful. I would absolutely recommend this to others. The only thing I think they could improve on is the training and coordinating of their staff, which they are still doing. Because they are quite new, they are getting more nurses, RNs on-duty 24 hours, and LPNs in their memory care besides the other aides.