St Louis Altenheim

A lot of history at the St. Louis Altenheim. Since 1899, the Altenheim has cared for older adults. Nestled on the bluffs of the Mississippi, a beautiful home that offers skilled care, assisted care, and memory care.

The building is a victorian style historical home. Each room is larger than the standard with round archways and high ceilings. There are so many great views of the river. The residents all look happy and well cared for. The staff are kind and welcoming.

My father has been on the intermediate care floor at Altenheim for six weeks, after spending 2 months in two other well-rated facilities for rehabilitation. This is the first one where he hasn't said "I'm ready to leave" when asked how he is doing. The nursing staff is friendly, competent, caring, and responsive to his needs. The administration is easy to talk to and open to how best to meet his needs. Dad likes the meals (a first since he went into the hospital in November) and the dining room staff called him by name at the first meal and knew what he liked within the first week. In fact, every staff member that passes him in the halls greets him by name, as they seem to with everyone.

We only looked at nursing homes rated 4 or 5 stars on the medicare.gov site. All the ones we looked were very nice and many of them were newer than Altenheim, which was started over a century ago in a mansion on a hill overlooking the Mississippi. When the current facility was built, they kept as much of the mansion's furnishings as they could. The result - a common area for the residents on the main floor that retains the atmosphere and tranquility of times past and common areas on every floor that have a lovely view of the river. The atmosphere is more comfortable than clinical, the rooms are primarily private, and the pricing is competitive. Dad's doctor recently asked him how he liked Altenheim. He said "It's very nice. I like it." High praise, indeed, since he had been living independently in his own home until 4 months ago.