Aurora Gardens

Aurora Gardens sits about 2.2 miles outside Rancho Santa Margarita in Mission Viejo, California, and offers care for seniors in a small, home-like setting with only six licensed beds, so everyone gets more attention and support if they need it. Some residents live here for the long-term, and others stay for short-term respite care to help their families get a break, or for hospice care during more difficult times, and the staff even include nurses, CNAs, LPNs, RNs, and experienced caregivers who can help with medication management, wound care, catheter and colostomy care, diabetes training and management, and incontinence care. They provide personalized care that can involve help with showering, getting dressed, and grooming, and Aurora Gardens welcomes people who need assisted living, memory care for dementia or Alzheimer's, or those needing independent living with some optional support like meals, laundry, and transportation to appointments, errands, or faith-based services. The community is wheelchair accessible, they assist with transferring including 1-person and 2-person transfers and use of lifts if needed, and they have both nurses on-site and on-call, plus visits from a podiatrist, dentist, physical, occupational, and speech therapists. With separate buildings for memory care and a secure environment, they use bracelets to help protect residents with memory issues from wandering and offer daily activities and programs like music and pet therapy, board games, exercise, and planned outings so people can stay active and social, even if memory loss is a challenge. Meals are home-cooked three times daily-nutritious and available in kosher and vegetarian options-and meal plans can address health needs like diabetes or high blood pressure. Residents can enjoy the indoor and outdoor common areas, recreation rooms, book rooms, and possibly amenities like a sauna or jacuzzi, and there are social activities, movie nights, and faith services, with an activities director who keeps things going. The facility allows smoking, has a mobile barber, and beauty and barber services are available onsite. Pets are allowed, and Aurora Gardens handles behavioral care, too, accepting residents with complex needs, including major behavioral or mental health issues, and keeps men and women in separate areas for comfort. There's parking and transportation by arrangement, and staff can adjust support as residents' needs change, so people might start out more independent but can stay as care needs increase. Aurora Gardens doesn't take Medicare unless certified by CMS, and the whole place is geared toward giving older adults a safe, comfortable home with care and services that match their personal needs.