This informative article sponsored by Rose’s Retreat.
By George Slaughter
Rose Taylor-Bridges, owner of Rose’s Retreat Assisted Living Facility, 21643 Park Villa, can attest to the importance of compassion in caring for patients who can no longer live independently. Experience helps, too.
An assisted living facility, also called an ALF, is for individuals who require assistance with everyday activities such as meals, medication management, or physical assistance with bathing or dressing. Some residents may have memory disorders or might need help with mobility incontinence or other challenges.
Getting that experience has been a fascinating journey. She’s originally from Greenville, Mississippi, and moved to Galveston, where her sister was living. In 1976, she became a nurse’s assistant. Later she began her journey in hospice care.
Taylor-Bridges moved to Houston and decided to go back into health care, and more specifically, hospice care. She saw a need for a care facility in Katy, so in 2004 she began Rose’s Retreat, a state-licensed care facility that provides patient support. The name was the inspiration of her late husband, Jeff.
The facility is licensed for six Type A beds that are for ambulatory patients who can get around.
“You have to be compassionate,” Taylor-Bridges said. “I’ve been through it. I know how to work with family members. Years of working in hospice helped train me for this moment. We not only take care of the patient, but we take care of the family as well. Our facility is a home away from home.”
Rose’s Retreat also provides support for families. This support includes respite care, where the caregivers can take a break from providing care and just be family. A stay can be for a day or go longer if necessary.
“Sometimes, the families just need a break,” Taylor-Bridges said.
It also includes the support that families need as they deal with the emotions and other choices that must be made in a traumatic time.
Taylor-Bridges said a common misperception people have about hospice care is that the patient’s death is imminent. But that’s not always true, she said. Some patients can carry on for a year, some even to perhaps two years or more.
This time factor is important for families. They can use it to reach out to estranged family members, reconcile, and say their good-byes.
A second facility, the Gardens at Rose’s Retreat, opened in 2016 at 25120 Lakeview Road, near Katy Mills Mall. This facility has 16 Type B beds, which are meant for patients that need more assistance. Taylor-Bridges partners with Claudia Summers to supervise this facility.
“I know from personal experience with my own mom the difference that the kind of individualized and very personal care that Rose and her team of caregivers has made,” said George Scott of Katy. “Rose not only earns the respect, love and devotion of the families of her residence, she is highly respected by medical professionals who work with the families.”
Taylor-Bridges said patients come to her facilities through word of mouth and referrals from doctors and past patients.
“My patients include senior citizens who require assisted living,” Dr. David Reiniger said. “In the course of my professional work, I observed the care of many who provide such services to my patients. I am impressed with the quality of care and the personal compassion that I have seen Rose Taylor-Bridges provides to my patients. She has excellent judgment and knows when to call me so that my patients may receive appropriate medical care. I respect her skills and admire her compassion.”
Reiniger encouraged family members who must consider alternate living arrangements to visit with Rose.
“She has created small, homelike environments where the care is very personal, and very competent,” Reiniger said.
For more information about Rose’s Retreat, visit the web site at: http://www.roses-retreat.com.
For more information about the Garden’s at Rose’s Retreat, visit the web site at: http://www.gatrr.com.