Hearthstone At Murrayhill

I absolutely love Hearthstone at Murrayhill. I toured numerous assisted living and memory care facilities when my family was looking for a warm, loving place for our Mom and Dad (they both needed memory care). I wish they could have lived at Hearthstone but ultimately we had to go with Sunnyside Care Center in Salem which was «ok» but not great (for instance there was always a lot of «beeping», TVs going and lots of fluorescent lighting and the smell of cleaning materials). Not terrible, just not especially «homey».
During my tour of Hearthstone at Murrayhill (and many other visits subsequently) I found that there is a down-​to-​earth family atmosphere at Hearthstone. Fresh flowers, daily activities indoors and out — and the chef cooks with real food that looks good and tastes delicious.
The memory care wing is clean and peaceful with the usual activities one sees for this kind of care — but you can really tell that the staff is personally invested in the residents’ quality of life and that the residents enjoy them too. When a person has to live somewhere 24/​7, it helps if the lighting is pleasant and the atmosphere feels like home. I really think Hearthstone has done a terrific job in that department.
I recommend taking a tour so you can see for yourself — and maybe go there a few times just to get a sense of the activities and atmosphere.

My mom was a resident for around 3 years. When we first visited Hearthstone they told us that the facility would transition Mom from Independent Care, to Assisted Care, and then, when necessary, to Memory Care. This was the biggest reason that Mom chose Hearthstone over other facilities. The transition from Independent Care to Assisted Care went smoothly even though we had only a 24 hr. notice. About 2 years ago Mom ended up in the hospital and Hearthstone’s nurse decided Mom needed Memory Care but there were no openings at Hearthstone’s Memory Care. We only had 24 hours notice of this decision on the day before Mom was realized from the rehab center and we had to quickly find a memory care facility that would take her. First of all, I feel this decision was made before Mom really needed memory care. She was much more coherent than anyone else in the memory care facility. Second, Mom made a very steady decline in motivation when she realized that she could not go back to her home at Hearthstone and had to move to another facility. I feel there needs to be rules for these facilities that promise a transition process to make sure they follow through. This was very hard on our family and especially for my mom. She had to move from all her friends and she never made new ones. I would caution anyone looking at these facilities to be aware of this situation.