Fellowship Square Historic Mesa

Eugene

I have been a resident of Fellowship Square Historic Mesa for three years now. I am in the independent living, and my wife is in the memory care unit. I like it very well. We started out in a two-bedroom apartment, and it was very nice; it had all the amenities and everything. But when my wife moved into the memory care unit, I moved into a one-bedroom, which is quite nice. I am on the ground floor right by a gazebo, and I can walk down about a hundred feet to the pool where I can swim every day. They have different activities. I had to wait until I was seventy-eight years old before I took up painting, but I really am enjoying that. They have other activities like bingo, card games, and stuff like that. I am only probably a football fields length from where my wife is. Earlier today we both just finished our second shots of the COVID vaccine, and now I can start walking over and spending time with her. The staff is very good, but because this is a non-profit organization, the pay is not as high as it should be. A lot of the young people start out here but then after they get good, they move on. But the staff we do have is like part of our family. Because of the virus right now we are getting our meals delivered to us, which reminds me of another thing. I get rent, utilities, TV, and food all for one price. It is quite nice. There is one à la carte that I do, and that is my personal laundry. We have laundromats all over the place, but for $5 they will do my laundry, which is a large basketful, and it is worth it to me to pay that. That is the only extra that I pay. Communication with the administration is the thing my family lacks the most. They do not communicate, although we do have a brand-new manager, and she has been sending out weekly flyers. So it is improving greatly. We have a resident food committee who meets once a month, and each building has a building captain. They receive complaints and suggestions for improvement from all the residents and meet once a month. They discuss some and put it in the publication every month. Because of the COVID virus things sort of got bad, but our dining room is opening back up this coming Monday, and it is like Christmas for most of us. That is a big social hour, and we all look forward to it. You have your groups you eat with and everything and pick up all the gossip. There are some activities I wish they had but they don't because this is a non-profit. I knew that when I came here, because I researched about six or seven different facilities, and a lot of them had what I wanted but the price was too high. I settled for price over activities because I still drive, and I can do some of my own stuff. Considering what I get, it was a good thousand dollars less than most of the competition. It is a non-profit, so you have to look at those things; that is all part of the makeup.