Autumn Leaves of Northwest Austin, Memory Care

This place is absolutely wonderful, far and away the very best memory care facility in North Austin. They just opened up, and we are so glad we found them.
My parents were at the Pavillion before — my Dad on the assisted living side and my stepmom in memory care, which worked well for a year. He passed away last May, and around the same time, things really started going downhill in Pavillion’s memory care.
One of the things I’ve learned is that when it comes to senior living, the people MAKE the place, meaning that the caliber of staff is everything. A year ago Pavillion had a cadre of outstanding staff — real stars — and over the course of the past year, most of them left.
Some of those went to Autumn Leaves, including Kim, the awesome executive director, and Gladys, an amazingly gifted memory care specialist. We love them both, eventually followed them there, and have been absolutely delighted with the move.
Physically, Autumn Leaves is really NICE, in the old-​school style my stepmom’s generation likes, with overstuffed sofas, big comfy armchairs, plush carpets, muted colors.
It’s also spacious, and has lots of different spaces for residents to be in — two living rooms, a sunroom /​arts space, a music room, a kitchen (staff bake cookies with the residents), a TV room, an one or two outdoor patios. The other places we’ve seen crowd everybody in one area, which feels institutional. Autumn Leaves feels much more like a nice hotel.
More importantly, my stepmom is getting much more personal attention and is involved in more activities, and she’s blossoming — she looks better and happier than she has in a long time. We are all so pleased.
I’ve come to appreciate just how hard it can be to keep people with dementia engaged and at ease — it’s a full time job — and I am so grateful that there are people in the world, like Gladys and Kim, who have a gift for it, and so grateful to have Autumn Leaves in the area. May God bless you! Thank you all!