I toured the Caton Merchant House's assisted living. They have one-bedroom apartments, semi-private apartments, and a studio apartment, or what they call an alcove apartment. The one that I saw was the semi-private apartments, and I could describe that as being a companion suite apartment. It has two bedrooms that are separated by a permanent wall so that the two bedrooms are right next to each other. The entrance will lead you into a kitchenette area and they have the bathroom. Those would be the two shared areas. They have activities throughout the day and they have an activities calendar. The place looked very, very nice, and very luxurious. On the inside, you go in and there's a beautiful living room and a library on the left with beautiful traditional furnishings. It is light and bright. They have a small courtyard visiting area that is on the outside of the building. There are places to sit and there's a fountain and a pond to look out there. I thought those were positive things. The rates are very good there. I would say the rates were one of the best rates that you could obtain. For my mother, the range was about $4,500 for the semi-private companion suite. The levels of care were already included in that price but they do have add-ons for it. For this place you can add on every type of care that you can think of, there is an additional cost that is added on. I looked at all of the levels of care and added them to the base rate, then that's how I came up with the $4,525. That was a very good rate for an assisted living home, and that did include medication management, which is important. Of course, it included the 3 meals a day and the activities. That also included my mother's adult daily living tasks, all three of them that she needed to have. I thought that was a good place to be. If a person is looking for memory care only though, memory care only unit, that was the disadvantage to this. They did not have a locked-down area and they did not have the activities person with your loved ones all the time. They were not available to be with them all the time. They did not have a nurse station that was close by to where your loved ones would be in activities during the day. The halls were also very long in this place and that was a disadvantage to the layout. The halls were extremely long so you would have a lot of apartments that were away from a nurse's station.

My dad was a resident at Caton Merchant and we loved the staff and community. He was very reluctant to go to an assisted living at first, but easily fell into a good routine and was happy. His room was always clean, just the right size for his needs as he used a walker and a wheelchair. The staff was professional and caring. He enjoyed the dining experience and visiting with staff and family. Though he didn't partake due to his preference, there were many activities: music, outings, church, social hours, just to name a few. I would give more stars if I could.

Overall we are very pleased with the Caton Merchant House. The facility is clean, the staff is caring and my mother is well-taken care of. We have had some issues with billing -- you stay on top of the itemized list and ensure all is correct. The on-site medical care/primary care is a Nurse Practitioner who is difficult to get a hold of and doesn't always return phone calls. However, like anything -- especially when it comes to medical care for yourself or a loved one -- you must stay actively involved to ensure everything is taken care of.

I often visited the Caton Merchant House to volunteer my time with the elderly multiple times a year by showing them how to make ice cream, playing games and during the holidays, we would sing Christmas Carols. The land was always kept up and decorated for the holidays. It always seemed very welcoming. The staff were always friendly and welcomed questions at any time. They seem so selfless and happy to help. The rooms always seemed clean. If there was anything that the residents were in need of, they were able to get it as soon as possible. I always enjoyed the time that I spent with the residents there and it seemed mutual. They always seemed appreciative of the time we spent there as well. It seemed to make them happy to spend time with the volunteers as some of them don't get many visitors. Overall, I would highly recommend Caton Merchant House. There is a cheery atmosphere among both the staff, the residents and the families.