Beaverdale Estates
My 90-something Grandma is moving, leaving the only home I ever knew her to have in the quaint little town of Richland, Iowa, not far from where the ice cream cops hand out citations for good behavior, and setting out for an elder community in Des Moines.
Naturally, everyone’s a bit uneasy about the transition, and because I’m a lawyer in the long term care industry, I’ve been asked to check out the place and its people.
I could be the facility’s worst nightmare, but that’s not me. So let’s just have a look around, shall we?
The community is called Beaverdale Estates. It’s not an assisted living facility, but a retirement community. (The continuum of long term care goes from skilled nursing facilities (SNFs, pronouned “sniffs”), which is what we do, to nursing facilities, to assisted living facilities (ALFs), to apartment and retirement communities targeted toward serving seniors and home health services.) I’ve heard that the only sector more heavily regulated than SNFs is nuclear energy, and from my experience, I don’t doubt it. You can find out just about anything you want to about SNFs and NFs, as they are subject to annual and other surveys, and the results of those surveys are public information.
ALFs are not nearly (not yet) so regulated, so it’s more difficult to find information on them. And it’s even more difficult to find critical information on retirement communities.
I was able to find out, however, that Beaverdale Estates is owned and managed by Holiday Retirement Corp., which is apparently the largest retirement housing company in the world. Here’s some puffery from their website. Their site also offers some specifics on Beaverdale Estates, and the place looks nice.
But biggest doesn’t always translate into best, right? So let’s dig a little deeper.
Holiday meets Better Business Bureau membership requirements and has a satisfactory record of having resolved customer complaints. Search for yourself here. Type “Holiday Retirement Corporation” into the search box.
A free Hoover’s factsheet is here, and it includes options for more information for a fee.
A search in the Westlaw allcases database revealed only a couple of workers’ comp cases, some complicated bankruptcy case in Connecticut involving a claim by a Holiday affiliate against a bankrupt debtor, and a slip and fall case filed against Holiday in Louisiana, which Holiday won on summary judgment.
So, based on what little information is out there, it looks good. Go visit, have a meal, talk to the folks. Assuming those things check out, it appears that Granny will be in good hands.
And she deserves the best.
