THUNDERBIRD QUALITY HOME CARE

Thunderbird Quality Home Care sits on West Joan De Arc Avenue in Glendale, just south of Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, so a hospital and its specialists are only minutes from the front door. The house is a licensed assisted living home for up to 10 residents, the size of a large family household rather than a building with hallways and wings. Bedrooms come as private or semi-private rooms, and some have their own bathroom.

Rooms can be furnished by the home, or residents can bring their own bed, dresser, and favorite chair to make the space familiar from the first night. The shared spaces follow the layout of a family house. A main living room gives residents a place to sit together or watch television, and an open kitchen, dining, and family room connects to a fenced backyard and a large covered patio. In the Glendale heat, that covered patio is where many afternoons and early evenings are spent outdoors.

Certified caregivers help each resident according to individual needs, including bathing, dressing, grooming, and other daily activities. Because the household is small, caregivers learn each person's routines quickly and can adjust help as those routines change. Food is cooked at home. Three homemade meals are served daily, with snacks in between, and the kitchen can work with modified diets. The table in the open kitchen and dining area is where most of the house gathers at mealtimes.

The home also brings a few services to residents rather than the other way around. Barber and beauty visits, podiatry, and on-site religious services are available, and the house is wheelchair accessible with internet access and cable in place. Residents have their own temperature controls, which makes a real difference during Arizona summers. The home sits in a residential Glendale neighborhood only a few blocks from Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, about a quarter mile away, which is a real convenience for appointments and urgent visits.

Encompass Health Valley of the Sun Rehabilitation Hospital is about a mile and a half off. Sunset Palms Park is close by, a Fry's Food and Drug and an Albertsons are both within a mile, Fletcher Library is about a mile away, and Valley Metro buses stop at Thunderbird Road and 55th Avenue. Thunderbird Quality Home Care suits someone who wants a calm, home-sized setting, close to a major medical center, with caregivers who know every resident by name.

Visiting during a meal or an afternoon on the patio is a good way to see how the house works, and families can reach out to a local advisor to talk it through.