We visited Harbor House. I thought that it was a nice facility. It was well set up. The woman who took me on the tour was very amiable and very knowledgeable. She seemed to care about what I was going through as a family member, and she wanted me to be in the best place. I liked Harbor House a lot. I thought it was a good place, and I thought that if I had to place my mother someplace, I would probably use that facility. They have an outdoor garden kind of area. They have activities depending on the level that the resident is at.

I went to look at Harbor House. I was given a lot of information. I was shown both community areas, as well as the different levels of rooms that they have available. In addition to Harbor House, the staff also showed me the other facility, which is their assisted living. Harbor House is the memory care section of the facility. After she heard my story and describing my uncle's symptoms and where he's at, she felt like he's kind of in-between; that is why she wanted to show me both places and the residents. So everything is up in the air for me right now, but I was very satisfied with the tour and what I got to see and hear. She showed me the rooms. They had some artwork that the residents had done, and those were on display. When I was visiting it was lunchtime in both facilities, so the residents were all in the dining rooms. She showed me all the different rooms where they have the activities. Some of them are quiet rooms if you want to get away from it all and just sit, read, or whatever. It was good.

I did a tour of Harbor House. They have both memory care and assisted living for unimpaired people. The Memory Care Unit was the largest that we saw it. They split up the residents into three groups based on their cognitive ability, which was a positive for us. The staff was very good, but the facility, not so good. There was one thing about the tour that concerned us. They explained how they were set up. Then we got to see how they interact with the residents. They left out one very important fact that I learned independently, and that was that they or the business is about to be sold. I heard separately that a change in ownership was imminent, but they did not mention that to me, which was a no, no; that was a mistake.

My mother just moved into Harbor House, and I like the idea that there's three separate areas in three separate floors. All the residents are of three different situations, some are very off, some are right on top of it and beginning to become forgetful once or twice, and then it gets worse; the residents that have gotten really bad. The adjustment from first floor to second floor to third floor varies on individuals. The entire unit is specifically for people like her. We knew through the neurologist that it's getting worse. We don't have to leave one place to go to another place when we can stay in the same location. It may be a different floor, or a different room, but we know our level of care will be fine. The neurologist comes in on a regular basis, and lets us know if she needs better care, or different care. The staff is first class, they are professional, and they are nice. They were an open book, which my wife and I enjoyed. They said, "Call me if you need me," as opposed to, "I work 9:00 to 5:00, and at 5:01, I won't pick up the phone," it's not what we wanted. We got excellent care from top management to the aides in the caring section working with the residents themselves. The rooms were not as important, and for a simple reason. The Harbor House staff made it very clear to us they want the residents out of the room. They want them participating and doing things outside the room. The room is just to sleep. The rooms were of less importance to my wife and I; it was more like a bed, a dresser, and a night table. To have a fancy bed or a fancy room was not that important. We kind of agreed with the people at the Harbor House that we want my mom outside communicating, talking, and eating, as opposed to sitting in a room and looking at a beautiful room, out of a beautiful window. We weren't interested in that, we were interested in her participating as much as she could outside of the room, so the room was secondary. The amenities were fine, from having a menu at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to an attractive outdoor environment. On a nice day, they can sit with other people of the residence, and enjoy themselves in a nice atmosphere from a garden to a veranda. For activities, they talk about trivia, arts and crafts, they talked about bingo, and they talked about music. The grounds are immaculate, and the cleanliness is immaculate. Everything was exactly what they said it was going to be, from getting medication on time, to taking a shower every day, getting assistance, and helping to dress her. They answered all our questions to our satisfaction, and we decided to go that route thinking this was the perfect place for my mom. The cleanliness was fine. It is never a problem at all, from dust that we did not see, to the floors being very clean, and everything else. Everything looked topnotch. It was first class.

Harbor House is set up specifically for all ranges of dementia patients. It's very well thought out as far as like not having doors on the closet, so the person is not always wondering what's inside the closet. The facility is geared toward people who have dementia, and it feels more clinical. They're very detailed as far as what they have to offer a person who has dementia. The staff member came across extremely well. It could be a good fit for someone else, but it wasn't for us.