The Idea

It starts with an idea, a senior residence that really cares and puts the emphasis on its residents, a senior residence that is supervised by a physician who is a specialized geriatrician and a senior residence that provides healthy, nutritious organic food whenever possible.

Let’s face it, most senior residence places and even the fancy ones are stations for people who are awaiting the mortality train, so is it really possible it to flip that paradigm upside down and create a place where people really enjoy their stay and they go to bed at night looking forward to waking up the next morning to start a new day?

We believe it is possible and that is why we established Bay Breeze Serenity.

Some people like to be in a large facility with a pool and a gymnasium. Sure that sounds great but, the reality is that most of the residents of these places never use these amenities even though they are paying for them. Also, such facilities are often big but aloof where some people can remain isolated as though they are not living in a community. In these big places, sometimes the ratio of workers to residents is 1 to 8 or 9 or even 1 to 14. If you call some of these places to check on your loved one, nobody will pick up the phone and if they do, a person who barely speaks English will answer the phone only to tell you that they have no idea where your loved one is; that is if they knew who he/she was. We, however; believe in small, tight-knit communities where everybody knows everybody else and nobody goes unnoticed, where you will only be left alone if you requested that and even that request will elicit our care staff to put you on the “Special Observe List” in case this was a sign of other more serious issues. We absolutely respect the privacy of our residents but as we consider them members of our big family then we want to make sure they are thriving. Worker to resident ratio at our facility often gets as high as 1 to 2 during the day and 1 to 3 during bed time. Sure you will miss the swimming pool and the gymnasium but instead you will find the warmth of people who really care about their residents and are really passionate about what they do.

Where is this place?

We will throw a name and tell you it is in East Palo Alto! For some people, especially those who live outside the Bay Area, East Palo Alto might be a scary name but those who are aware of the changes happening in the Bay Area know that East Palo Alto is very different from East Palo Alto of the 1990s:

1. It has been a safe place for quite a while and the fastest improving city in all of the Bay Area
2. It has the best weather in all of Northern California, bar none
3. The Four Seasons, an internationally renowned luxury hotel (partially owned by Mr. Bill Gates) is located in East Palo Alto and Amazon has a big office there

Our facility is 1/2 a mile away from the Four Seasons from the South, 2 miles away from Facebook campus from the North and ¾ mile crow flight to San Francisco Bay to the West

There is a reason we called it “Bay Breeze Serenity”; on a day that would be a hot summer day in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto enjoys a cool breeze coming from the Bay making it really pleasant and even though, the facility has 2 central AC units (one for each wing) controlled by electronic thermostats, they rarely turn on because it is very pleasant most of the time..

We took special care in laying out the front and backyard using artificial grass and low maintenance designs in order to avoid using fertilizers and herbasides

We understand that in order to achieve a healthy and happy retirement community for our residents and peace of mind for their loved ones then we need to provide the following:

1. A safe environment
2. Excellent healthcare
3. Healthy and nutritious food
4. Entertaining and nurturing activities
5. Attractive and clean premises
6. Transparency

A safe environment:

• Attentive and available staff
• Interconnected smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors all across the house that are monitored by a professional alarm company is only the beginning
• The building has 6 egress doors, 5 of them are wheelchair accessible
• A complete fence that separates the building and the backyard from the driveway
• Wheelchair accessible bathrooms with role-in showers
• Call buttons in each room with a center console at the staff station
• Door monitoring system with an audible alert when any door is opened
• The property is literally within walking distance to the fire station and 4 miles away from Stanford hospital (no freeway is required)

Excellent Healthcare:

• Although we are not a medical facility and rather a residential facility but we still have contracted the leading geriatrician in the Bay Area, Dr. Yusra Hussain to oversee the health of our residents as a visiting doctor. Dr. Hussain will do routine and on need basis house calls as she sees fit. The resident has the choice of keeping his/her primary care physician or switching with Dr. Hussain. The terms will be negotiated on a case by case.
• Routine visits by a podiatrist (on hold due to COVID-19)
• Routine visits by an oral hygienist (on hold due to COVID-19)
• We only use certified home health and hospice agencies

Healthy and nutritious food:

• We use organic ingredients whenever possible
• Balanced meals that were checked by a nutrition specialist
• Filtered water using a reverse osmosis system
• Healthy snacks

Entertaining and nurturing activities:

• Morning exercises
• Entertaining and educational games
• Documentaries and nature shows
• Gardening activities

Attractive and clean premises:

• The property was fully renovated in 2016-2017
• Modern kitchen with all new appliances
• Nicely designed front and backyards with fountains
• Living room with reclining chairs
• Smoke-free environment
• Cable outlet in each of the residents’ room
• Daily cleaning and weekly thorough cleaning

Transparency:

• If an incident involving your loved one happens, you will be the first to be notified
• If one of our employees acts improperly, we will report it immediately to the authorities, investigate the event then make the information available to our customers while doing what is required to correct the wrong