Fircrest Convalescent

My grandmother stayed here for a short while. Like most convalescent homes, it can be kind of depressing. There are so many people here that need attention and love and there is just too many patients and not enough staff. I must say though, that the staff are always friendly and helpful and seem to genuinely care about the patients and do the best they can with the amount of help they have.

I’ve visited my friend at this place multiple times since April. Most of the people there are in various stages of senility or have lost the ability to be ambulatory and need daily care. I’ve been to other convalescent homes and have seen worse. The place is depressing with so many infirm, bare walls and rooms with bare white walls with hospital beds. I’ve seen the food, but I didn’t eat any of it. It did not look very good — but my friend ate it stoically. I think it is an upgrade from what he was eating.
The best thing about this place is the staff. I have found them always to be friendly and helpful. I’ve also watched them try to be engaging and cheerful to the ones who are mentally too far gone to even feed themselves. I thought, «Wow! She is so nice — I don’t think I could do that.» I also watched the staff interact with my friend. They are always friendly and professional. One day I saw his beard trimmed neatly and his hair braided so that he looked like a bad imitation of Willie Nelson. I laughed at how he was duded up and he smiled as he told me about the girl that did it for him.
Other Convalescent homes I have been (Selma, Los Banos and Sunnyvale California) I remember the bad smells. Maybe I have lost my sense of smell, but the place feels clean and has no bad smells like other convalescent homes. Honestly, the Sebastopol place is the best I have seen. oh, well maybe the place in Redwood City for rich people was better… but the people at Fircrest are not wealthy people.
All the beds have a private TV with a remote, so there is some entertainment. They also have bingo night on Thursday. I told my friend he should go because he could clean up since it looked like to me that he was the only one there who had complete control of his mental faculties. He told me «$#!!! that !!(*#, that’s for old people!» I laughed and told him that if he could have a few drinks before it’d be great fun — and we both laughed a little too loud because everyone was looking at us. It occurred to me that laughter was a sound seldom heard at that place. (There is no drinking allowed either… or smoking… or much of anything actually!)
There are no visiting hours — just show up. When I first contacted them to visit my friend, I said, «One of your inmates there is called …» He said, «We don’t call them inmates, but he is here…» Parking is copious and the place is easy to find. I always want to go have a drink after I visit that place. Woodfour and Hopmonk are fairly close if you can’t wait, otherwise wait until you get home.