“My mother was born in Manchester in 1937 and has been a life-long resident of the Manchester area. She was married to my father for 52 years until he passed away 15 years ago. They had 3 children, me and my two brothers.

Since my father died, mom was living alone, and when she got into her early 80's she started to have some health issues, including a mild stroke which affected her ability to drive. As you can imagine, not being able to get around on her own was life changing. She was also having occasional falls due to balance issues.

Last fall, we realized she needed more assistance than we could provide and started looking into assisted living facilities. After looking at several places we picked Evergreen, and we are so glad we did.

From the first day my mother moved in, we noticed how the staff all work together to make sure she was comfortable and settled in.

Since my mother's been here, I've seen improvement in her physical and emotional well-being. She's made friends with many residents and she looks forward to participating in the many activities. Some of her favorites are nickels bingo, cribbage and a game that was created here called polish poker.

Evergreen also does a lot of outings like going to restaurants, Walmart, bowling trips, the festival of lights in Laconia at Christmas, and recently they went to a butterfly sanctuary in Massachusetts. Thursday they are going to Rye beach for a picnic.

As the weather has become nicer, there are weekly barbecues in the courtyard out back. After one of the barbecues, I spoke to my mother and asked her how it went and she said, ‘It was so much fun, we all had a ball.’

At home, mom wasn't able to get a lot of exercise and some days would not be motivated and would stay in her pajamas. Here, she's up and dressed and at breakfast at 7 a.m. She walks the house halls on a daily basis and enjoys talking with the staff and residents. I've noticed her strength, balance and endurance get better and her fall risk has decreased.

She occasionally had trouble with managing her medications at home, sometimes forgetting to take them or mixing them up. Here, she goes to the nurse downstairs where all her pills are organized for her.

At home, she had a fall in the bathroom. Here, a nursing aide stands by when she bathes to make sure she doesn't slip.

She loves the food here and eats on a regular schedule. Her room is always clean and comfortable just like home. Her laundry comes back perfectly clean and folded as if it were out of a package and ironed if needed. She gets her hair done here on a weekly basis.

On weekends, when there are fewer activities, she tells me she just enjoys being in her room reading, doing sudoku puzzles, watching TV or an impromptu game of cribbage with some friends.

She loves her room which is furnished with some of her favorite belongings from her home. Her room is comfortable and cozy.

Now when I visit or call her, instead of getting an uneasy feeling of how she is doing — Is she lonely? Bored? Not feeling well? Needs something? — I'm more apt to hear her say, ‘Everything is going well. I'm fine.’ Or, ‘I'm going to have to let you go soon, one of my friends stopped by and we're going to play cribbage in a few minutes.’ That's such a relief for me to hear.

As for me and my family, we're happy that she is enjoying this part of her life and she is well cared for.