St Paul’s Towers

When my mother decided that keeping up a 3-​bedroom house on the Coastside was too much, my sister and I were happy to think that she would be moving closer to us.
Our father and step-​mother had moved to Claremont House (on 51^st/​Pleasant Valley Rd), but it had changed hands (and I think changed hands once again), so we did not even tour there. We looked at a wonderful place in Alameda, but my mom decided she would rather be in Oakland. So we toured Piedmont Gardens and almost immediately disliked it, because it seemed a bit shabby and we didn’t like the layout and the size of it all.
In the end, the decision was between Lake Park and St Paul’s Tower. They were both on or near Lake Merritt, both had really nice rooms and the people we met at both places (both staff and people who lived there) were VERY nice. Plus each had enough diversity that we didn’t feel like we were in a whitebread community in the midst of amazingly diverse Oakland. Each had different pluses, and at the end it was almost a coin toss as to which one she would go to.
ALMOST a coin toss — one of the things that we all liked at SPT was the fact that the rehab/​skilled nursing was in the same building so that residents could easily visit one another if they were moved temporarily (or even permanently) to that floor.
It was a GREAT decision — my Mom has lived there now for about 8 years, and she moved in when she was in her early 80’s. She was happy to give up her car (tho many residents still drive) because the SPT limo and small bus took her to Costco, the library, plays at the Woodminster amphitheater, appointments at Kaiser, etc. etc. She took a one bedroom apartment and had the one meal plan.
All the staff are GREAT — they are genuinely friendly, call everyone «Mr», «Mrs», etc., and are extremely respectful and nice nice NICE at the same time. This includes housekeepers, dining room staff, maintenance — EVERYONE.
Now, my mother is an Leftie/​Unitarian-​atheist former school teacher, so we were a bit concerned about moving to a place run by the Episcopal church. Not to worry — there’s religion if you want it and none if you don’t. There are music concerts, lectures, art (my mother took up clay sculpture for the first time), and plenty of interesting people to meet and befriend.
Recently, my mother suffered a stroke and though her wits are still with her, arthritis and other pre-​existing conditions are making her recovery quite slow and so she has been up in the rehab/​skilled nursing floor for almost three months and will be there for quite some time. Again, the floor staff are extremely friendly and make some of the more personal challenges and loss of privacy more bearable.
Just a couple of days ago, some friends of mine who live out of state came to visit and went to SPT to see my mom. One of them had had her mother living at Piedmont Garden and hated how she had been cared for there during her end of life period. So she was quite happy when she visited my mom and told me not only how nice it was but that the place didn’t smell like urine (something I guess she smelled at Piedmont Gardens in the skilled nursing area) and that her favorite physical therapist from Piedmont Gardens was now working at St Paul’s Tower.
I am so happy I do not have to worry about the care she is being given so that when we go to see her we can concentrate on the personal.