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“Last September, my 97 year old step mother, Teddy, suffered a major stroke. She was hospitalized for about three weeks, and was then transitioned to a skilled nursing facility. She spent three months there, and made great progress towards recovery. However, it was not enough for her to resume living on her own, or even in an assisted living facility, where she could function somewhat independently. During all of this, I was responsible for her care, through the Power of Attorney. When she had nearly exhausted her Medicare benefits she had to leave the skilled nursing. The nursing facility referred me to Jessica Straw at ASCAS. Jessica’s task was to help me transition Teddy to an adult family home. She quickly set up a schedule of three different adult family homes to visit, to see if any of them would be suitable for Teddy. They were all selected to be near where Teddy had lived for the last 50+ years, making it easier for friends and family to visit her. The first home we visited was so impressive, that I did not want to continue our tour/inspection of the other homes. We did anyway, and the others were nearly as impressive as the first one. I stuck with my initial reaction, and selected the first home. When we moved Teddy into her new home, for the first couple of days, she wanted to go back to the nursing facility. After a couple of days, she had accepted the new residence, and now, after four months there, she is completely happy there. This move was made so easy for me and for Teddy through the great help that I got from Jessica. She arranged the selection of the homes, the examinations that Teddy needed in order to move into the adult family home, transportation, and I can’t remember what else. I cannot recommend her enough. And in fact, as Teddy has started to succumb to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, she may have to be relocated to a more intensive setting than she is presently in. If so, I will certainly go back to Jessica for help with that move.”-Tim