Community’s continuum of care an ‘answered prayer’ for resident Alita Cross

With her husband’s dementia progressing and her own health failing, Alita Cross needed help, but she didn’t know where to turn.

She spent months touring nursing homes and another assisted living community in the area but was unable to find one that she was both comfortable with and met her and her husband Jim’s needs.

“We had just about given up on anything,” said Alita. “I had decided from the nursing homes we had looked at that they just did not meet our needs at all. I decided we’d just give up and I’d have to hire help to come in and help me.”

That’s when fate intervened.

Alita’s granddaughter was at work one day in St. Louis when one of her coworkers mentioned that his grandparents were residents at Farmington Presbyterian Manor and how much they loved it.

Alita decided to check it out for herself.

“I came in with two of my girls and we were so, so impressed with the campus and the staff. We just felt like this was a God thing, that God had led us here,” said Alita.

One of the best things about the community was its continuum of care. With Jim’s dementia he could get the assistance he needed in the community’s memory care neighborhood with her staying close by in Assisted Living.

During the tour, Alita and her daughters had seen what they needed to see, and the Crosses became official Farmington Presbyterian Manor residents soon after.

“We could not be more pleased. It’s been a wonderful experience,” said Alita. “The Manor also accepts pets—we have a small Maltese/Shih Tzu who’s our baby so that worked out wonderful so that we could bring him. There are very few assisted living communities that accept pets.”

Now Alita splits her time between her own apartment in the assisted living neighborhood and Jim’s accommodations in memory care.

“I go down after breakfast and spend maybe two hours with him, come back and then after lunch I go back down and spend a couple more hours with him,” said Alita.

Alita and her family were also put at ease knowing that Presbyterian Manor has never asked a resident to move simply because they had outlived their financial resources.

“The other assisted living community here in town was strictly private pay, so if anything would happen, they’d have to put us out if we ran out of funds,” said Alita.

And now that she’s in the community, Alita has no plans to go anywhere else.

“I want to spend the rest of my life right here. They’ve taken such good care of me. They have such caring, wonderful staff here and have gone out of their way for my family,” said Alita. “The stress has been removed from my daughters worrying about the two of us. I’m getting spoiled rotten with the delicious food, my laundry getting done and my apartment getting cleaned.”

If you, or someone you know, is in a similar situation to the Crosses, Alita has a few parting words.

“For us, it felt like it was an answered prayer. It has worked out wonderful and I would highly recommend Presbyterian Manor for anyone making this transition,” said Alita.

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