We toured Saint Therese of New Hope and it seemed fine. We saw different apartments, and toured the different places. They were having an ice cream social the day I visited and they were singing. We saw the assisted living. It was older, they had a social area for everybody, they had older decor, and a lot more furniture than what my husband and I are used to. The suite was really appropriate, and something that I would have felt fine moving into, but the others were just too confining (although they were nice). They had different levels of care, that's why we're interested in them.

I've been to St Therese, it's a very nice community, and they have plenty of help. They have a place for assisted living, long-term care, and independent living. They have a chapel, they have a nice eating area for visitors, they serve breakfast, and there's food for visitors after 10:00 a.m. They have ice cream, and it's inexpensive. They have two chapels, a large one and a small one, they have a priest that says mass there, and it's very relaxing and spiritual. They have their own pharmacy and they even sell shoes there.

Everyone at Saint Therese of New Hope was very nice and very helpful. The place itself was older, but they kept it up quite well. However, they don't want to deal with anyone that smokes. They were part of the Catholic Church, so they had a religious atmosphere. The people were very nice. The staff members were all very nice. Evidently, they don't have a problem keeping their facilities full, so they had decided that they don't want anyone who is a smoker to be there.

We looked at St. Therese. It was an assisted living and also had individual apartments. It was not what I had expected. There were too many foreigners that worked there, and they were difficult to understand because they don't speak English well. Most of their attitudes were good, but you could tell that some of the employees were just there for the paycheck and that they really don't care about the people that they were working with or being around. There were too many searches when it came to having your children and grandchildren visit or spend the night. It was not updated. They seemed to have a lot of power and mechanical problems such as smoke detectors and fire alarms going out for no reason. It smelled. We saw the one bedroom and they were bland. It was not very big. Their dining facility was OK, but their meals -- in my estimation -- were not very healthy. There were not many activities. They had volunteers come in and dosome exercises. They had a small room where they could come in and paint the elderly's finger nails and do their hair, and they had some generic art activities. Otherwise, they really don't have much else. It was not a place that I would want to move in at this point.

Their new location in Brooklyn Park is beautiful. It's OK, but not as inviting. It seemed more cramped.