The semi-private is the most common (and the shortest wait) and the rooms vary between 261 sq feet to 285 sq feet. There is a much longer wait for private rooms which range between 205 sq feet to 285 sq feet.

The Villas offer studio rooms that range from 325 sq feet or we also have two room suites available that range from 440 sq ft to 473 sq ft.

The Gardens we offer a private room that range from 265 sq feet to 328 sq. feet.

We charge a one-time, non-refundable community fee your first bill will include the day you commit to the room through the end of the first month.  We then bill at the beginning of the month for the next month.  If you do not use all the days in the month you have prepaid you will be reimbursed unused days at the daily rate you paid.

If you leave any of our facilities, we ask for a 15 day written notice. If a resident dies while at the facility once the room is  fully vacated you will be reimbursed all unused days prepaid from that day forward.

We continue to charge the same daily rate when residents are out of the facility.

We have moderate increases approximately every 13 months.

You won’t receive an increase unless your loved one requires a higher level of care and/or needs to transfer to one of our other buildings on campus. 

If there is a rate increase after your first year, we provide a 30 day notice to the responsible party.  You will not incur any ancillary fees to our daily rate without your permission (ie barbershop).

We’d be happy to discuss the state’s Medicaid system and requirements and help in planning the conversion to this program if you qualify.  We recommend that when you have less than 4 months of private pay reserves, we work together to begin the Medicaid process for you and your loved one.  We do not accept Medicaid as a payer source at The Retreat.

No.

We ask that you discuss with The Retreat any aesthetic changes you’d like to make to the room (changing paint or window dressings), but encourage you to make the space familiar and comfortable to your loved one.  You will find this clearly identified in your contract.  All other improvements, cleaning, or repairs to the room during the resident’s stay is the responsibility of The Retreat.  You will find language in the family handbook upon admission that discusses whether or not bringing valuables to the facility is advisable.  Individual items should be discussed with the administrator if the family feels there is either sentimental or monetary value to items left with the resident.

We’ll  provide to you our family handbook, but the two nursing conditions that we do not participate with are feeding tubes and ventilators.  We are only able to work with residents with stage IV wounds if they are on a hospice program.  All other nursing services are within our domain to provide.  Our specialty is managing the behavioral expression of dementia and we feel we are appropriately staffed for this level of care.

You will clearly find these procedures in our family handbook, but we openly provide the owners/administrator’s private cell number to all staff members and family members for immediate access.  In addition, there is a comment, compliment, and suggestion box in our lobby.

This is a private pay care facility; however, we have a number of residents with private long-term care insurance which participates in the payment of their daily rate.  Your insurances (co-insurances and/RX insurances) will be used appropriately for the physician’s billing and the ordering of medications.

Our physicians, Dr. Ricardo Ortega, Dr. David Peters, and Dr. Joy Lovette, are all credentialed with all the HMOs in town as well as the co-insurances to Medicare.  Any lab or radiology if it is required will be done in-house and billed to your insurances.

Qualified staff will conduct the evaluation for appropriate placement.  The Retreat can only admit a resident if there is a diagnosis of one of the dementias.  We do not accept residents with an “early” dementia at The Retreat, but our sister facility, The Gardens, may be appropriate for those residents scoring over 24 on a MMSE evaluation.  Residents with no cognitive impairment may be more appropriate for our sister facility, Retreat Villas.

Dr. Ernst has over 30 years of experience in dementia care and senior care living.

Good assessment is ongoing and the physicians  are in the facility weekly, however, a formal assessment by nursing and with the family is done quarterly.  An RN case manager is available daily in the facility to collaborate with our unit nurses on managing medical and psychological needs.

This information is discussed with the family and the care team and adjustments are made accordingly to meet level of care needs.

All changes are assessed by the nursing and physician team to rule out both physiological needs and psychiatric distress.  The family is actively involved in this process.  The physicians are available to families each week for care planning conferences.  The primary physician can email all his visit notes to the family for immediate communication on status.

Daily and bathrooms are cleaned twice a day.

We have an elaborate system that you will see upon your tour.  We are proud to be one of the highest staffed care facilities in the state which increases the supervision for each resident.

We use a 1:5 staff ratio for direct care nursing assist to resident.  This does NOT include the nurses, engagement coordinators, medication technicians, and administrative nurses.  Once these additional staff members are calculated into the ratio we operate a 1:2.5 ratio.  These ratios are adjusted after 7pm and again at midnight always maintaining a licensed nurse.  We are happy to show you are staffing patterns that are posted daily at your tour.

We maintain an Nurse Manager daily as an administrative nurse and either a LPN or Nurse Manager as a floor nurse 24/hours a day.  Our nursing assistants have 3 years of experience in dementia care and complete a training program (The Alzheimer’s Caregiver) which was provided to us by a grant through NIH.  All staff receive 12 hours of continuing education yearly on dementia and other related care subjects.

RN, M.A.,  PH.D. or MD level.  We also access our consult pharmacist quarterly to provide ongoing education to our nurses and medication techs.

Only direct care.  There are additional staff members to provide meals, cleaning services, and activities.

Extensively.  You can see the full list of topics covered in our yearly curriculum at www.thealzheimerscaregiver.com.

The Retreat is happy to maintain a 78% retention level of all staff for the last 5 years.  The turn-over is dramatically low for a health care facility.  The Retreat was acknowledged by Quality New Mexico with a quality award in 2011 with staff turnover being a large contributing factor to quality.

We do not use set assignments for caregivers, but rather use a team approach with a novel system for recording interactions.  The license nurse monitors this system and we’d be happy to review this with you at your scheduled tour.

We do not use set assignments for caregivers, but rather use a team approach with a novel system for recording interactions.  The license nurse monitors this system and we’d be happy to review this with you at your scheduled tour.

We are a full 24-hour nursing program that can handle traditional first aide, however, with the involvement of our physicians a number of medical issues can be managed safely and effectively on site.  You are welcome to meet our physicians as part of your assessment of the facility.

Your DNR instructions will be honored.

Plans of care are completed within the first week and revised with any change of condition and quarterly. 

Approximately 10-15% of our population is on a Medicare hospice program at any given time.  If your loved one qualifies for the program you will be given a list of hospices in our area to choose from.

Daily.

Floor nurses are responsible for the management of the care team and the daily assessment of residents.  They have a licensed medication tech to assist in the dispension of medications.  Nurse Managers are available for additional resident assessment and coordination of services.

There is always a nurse.

Yes, if ordered by the physician.

Outside agencies are used for PT, OT, ST.

The physician is call with all changes of condition.  The family is called with all new orders, medication changes, or changes of condition that have been assessed by the nursing staff.

Our medication techs are licensed by the board of nursing and are dedicated solely for the purpose of medication dispension 7 days a week.  Our e-medication system has a number of assurances built in that you may see at your scheduled tour.

Albuquerque Pharmacy and they provide free delivery to the facility.  You may choose another pharmacy, but we ask that arrangements are made to have medications delivered to the facility in a timely manner.

You may use another pharmacy if they will package according to our needs and delivery is arranged.

Medication techs are licensed through the board of pharmacy and are supervised by a nurse.  They receive their ongoing education through the facility and we are licensed by the board of nursing to provide this training.  Nurses also assist in medication dispension.

We have a pharmacist in the building weekly and a consultant pharmacy review done quarterly.

We are able to assist in the coordination of this but we do not provide transportation.  Most physician visits are done in-house including primary care, geriatric psychiatry, podiatry, and dental.

Engagement is a key element of our program and you will find a variety of activities scheduled daily.  A monthly calendar will be provided to each family monthly.

We have a lovely park that is safe and enclosed.  Pictures are available at www.retreatnm.com.

There is an engagement coordinator scheduled daily each of our facilities. Their calendars are reviewed by the administrators and a certified activity coordinator oversees the development of our calendars.  She is also involved with the evaluation of the calendar on a monthly basis.

Our certified activities coordinator has received advanced training by New Mexico Health Care Association in activities planning and execution.  Our director of operations is directly responsible for our engagement calendar and has extensive experience with patient and family services and has a an advanced graduate degree.

At your monthly call from the nurse manager on your loved one activities are discussed.

You will see the opportunity for physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual activities throughout the month.

Breakfast is served as the resident is ready to eat, but an early continental breakfast is available as early as 6:30am.  Lunch is served at noon and dinner at 5pm.  Residents may eat meals, however, whenever they are hungry.  The kitchen is open 24hr a day.  Families may eat with their residents at any time and there is no charge to guests for meals.

Numerous alternatives to the meals and snacks are available 24 hrs a day.  There are supplement drinks available to all residents as part of their daily rate.

Residents eat where ever they’d like and there are never extra charges.

Numerous!

Always.

This is part of a good nursing and physician assessment.  Weights are tracked monthly unless someone is at risk and then we weigh weekly.  There are numerous interventions for at risk residents or those with weight loss.

We have a double barrier locking system you will see at your tour.

Yes.

There is a fire plan, evacuation plan, and disaster plan per state requirements.  These policies are in our family handbook.

Inspections are done based on the schedule of the state evaluators.  Our state audits are in the lobby for your review.