Oasis of Clarkston

Oasis of Clarkston is a 50-bed assisted living and memory care community on Dixie Highway in Clarkston, Michigan, where residents live in private studio apartments, each with its own bathroom. The building opens onto a courtyard, a garden, a patio and a koi pond, so the days have a calm outdoor side alongside the scheduled meals, activities and the support that each person needs from the care team.

Assisted living at the community covers help with bathing, dressing, transfers and other daily activities, along with medication management and diabetes care such as blood sugar monitoring. Care team members provide 24-hour supervision, and an emergency call system lets residents reach someone at any hour of the day or night. The team also coordinates with a resident's health care providers, and physical therapy is part of the support the community lists.

Memory care is part of the community, with about 20 of the 50 beds set aside for residents living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. The program includes a reminiscence approach that draws on familiar music, photographs and conversation, and the daily routine stays steady and easy to follow, which helps residents feel settled and oriented through the day. Because assisted living and memory care share one building, a resident whose needs change can often stay among the same neighbors and caregivers.

Each studio apartment has climate control, cable television, Wi-Fi and a private bathroom, and residents are welcome to arrange the space with their own furniture and keepsakes. Housekeeping, laundry and maintenance are handled by the team, which leaves more of the day for visiting and hobbies. The building is wheelchair accessible with safety rails, a smoke alarm system and sprinklers, and it also offers a barber and salon, an on-site market, parking and transportation.

Meals are served in the dining room on a regular schedule, and the community also has a café and bistro area and a grill, with all-day dining and restaurant-style service that give residents some choice about when and where they eat. The kitchen works from a set menu with international dishes and can prepare low sodium, gluten free, diabetic, vegetarian and allergy sensitive diets. Families who visit can often share a meal with their relative, which keeps ordinary lunches familiar, and the regular schedule gives each day a natural structure that residents can count on from one week to the next.

The activity calendar is built around different energy levels, with movie nights, yoga, chair yoga and stretching classes, a music program with a piano, and community events such as dances, holiday parties, trivia, karaoke, Wii bowling, cooking classes, wine tasting and live music. Shared spaces include an activity room, an arts room, a movie room, a chapel with Catholic services and a room with a fireplace, so residents who prefer quiet time can settle somewhere comfortable with a book or a conversation.

Pets are welcome at the community, and cats and medium-sized dogs are the animals the community has welcomed. Many families hesitate to ask a parent to part with a companion animal at move-in, and having a pet nearby often gives a resident a familiar routine in a new place. The community can share its current pet guidelines so families know what to plan for before the move, and visiting grandchildren and friends often enjoy meeting the animals during an afternoon in the courtyard or the garden.

The community sits along Dixie Highway in Clarkston, in northern Oakland County, where visiting family members can reach it by car and park on site. McLaren Oakland is the closest hospital on the Michigan emergency department list, about 10 miles away, and clinics across Oakland County serve the area, while the lakes and parks around Clarkston give relatives an easy outing to plan when they come to spend an afternoon together, whether that means a drive around the lakes, a visit in the garden or a quiet hour in the common rooms after lunch.