Aegis of Bellevue

We had an emergent situation with our elders and I needed a quick respite placement for my father in law, who has Alzheimer’s. Aegis took him in and took good care of him for the most part. Their niche is memory, and they were really quite good at keeping him on an even keel while his wife of 63 years was hospitalized. He was tremendously anxious about that and thus quite a handful. They didn’t enforce his bathing, personal hygiene, and the wearing of clean clothes to our satisfaction. Their extensive use of Febreze made it so you couldn’t smell him until he’d been in the car with you for a while. Assistance with bathing and dressing would probably cost more, and the respite agreement is prix fixee unlike the residential contract that has an upcharge for every single service provided. It was a good placement for him, but when it came time to move his much higher functioning wife in she wouldn’t go because she thought the residents were too far gone, though to be fair she visited during the day when the higher functioning residents are out and about. They also only have studio and one bedroom units, and we needed a two bedroom. They’re expensive, but they bailed me out of a very tough situation and took him on four days’ notice. I’m really grateful for that.

When I was looking for assisted living for my dad, I was scared because you don’t know what you are getting with any place and you want your loved one to be well cared for. I found Aegis of Bellevue and decided this seemed like the best place for him. In hindsight, it was the best decision I could have made. Aegis of Bellevue is all about dignity of the individual. I love their philosophy of keeping the residents engaged. There are always activities and events every day, music every day, which keep the residents interacting with the staff, their families and each other. Even just having conversations or sitting and playing some music that my dad liked. Most of all I want to commend the staff at Aegis of Bellevue. To many of the staff there, this is more of a calling than a job. You can tell they genuinely care, and they go above and beyond. It is expensive, no doubt, but worth every penny.

Suzanne worked with my family as we struggled through the process of watching a loved one deteriorate with Alzheimer’s. She was tender, compassionate, committed and always present to those in her care. Never seemed like there was enough staff though, not sure how she managed caring for so many by herself but we rarely saw other staff in there when we went to visit. Seemed like the management has problems staying at this place but we can’t complain with daily activities when Suzanne was there. We would rate Suzanne 5 star but overall not impressed with Aegis. The upper management doesn’t have a clue whats going on with the residents or should I say they don’t seem to care. They make a lot of money and have a lot of turnover in the time we were there.