To honor our loved ones in their battle with dementia is our purpose for creating SUITE GOLDEN YEARS.
Jack and Claudia Oxee launched SUITE GOLDEN YEARS based primarily on the past six years of their own personal experiences in sourcing memory care communities (homes) for Claudia’s mom. The time came when her dementia required a level of care beyond what the family could provide.
The collective decision to place their beloved mom in a “home” was heartbreaking, but necessary. It was tantamount to sailing through uncharted waters and begged the question… “where do we begin?” The Oxee’s began by contacting the nationally advertised referral services whose friendly agents merely furnished names and addresses of various facilities to assist in their quest to find that perfect place. This was all labor intensive, time consuming, disappointing, costly and stressful–turning their quest into an odyssey.
None of the communities referred had been inspected by these services prior to Claudia’s initial inquiries, nor were these services able to answer questions regarding applicable information about the homes on the list they provided. In essence, the Oxee’s and Claudia’s family spent countless hours on the road making “cold calls.” Some homes were perfect and impressive but not affordable for the family, while many were depressing, dirty and disheartening.
After doing all the leg work themselves, the Oxee’s placed mom in a community they felt was conducive to her comfort and needs. Unfortunately, they had to relocate her time and again because the facilities did not always honor the contractual commitments or respect the dignity of the residents. In one of the larger, nationally known communities, the staff simply referred to mom as a room number. These were very sad and hurtful experiences for mom and the entire family.
The challenges were staggering, the guilt was overwhelming!
Collectively, these experiences became the driving force behind SUITE GOLDEN YEARS–hence, to spare clients the grief and frustration involved in this highly emotional process and enable them to make rational decisions.