Michelle J Forsmo-Shadid
Aug 2026
My mother was a resident at Swan Falls Assisted Living for over a year. This past Tuesday, I got a call around noon saying she had a fever and needed more oxygen than the staff felt equipped to provide, so they were sending her to St. Luke's Meridian ER. By 7:16 that same evening, she was gone. Doctors didn't even have time to complete testing before she passed — but what they did find was a severe UTI.<br><br>My mother was not mobile and required full assistance with personal hygiene care, which meant she depended entirely on staff for regular care multiple times a day. The RN at St. Luke's told me he could visually identify the infection before he even ran a test or placed a catheter — before any lab work confirmed anything. That is not a subtle infection. That raises serious questions for me about whether she was being cared for and checked on as often as she needed to be, and whether basic hygiene care was actually happening on the schedule it should have been.<br><br>Since then, I have been back to Swan Falls a couple of times to pack up my mother's things. Other than the nurse who made that initial call, not one single person from that facility has said a word to me — not one "I'm sorry for your loss," not one acknowledgment. My family and I have walked those halls carrying our grief, and staff — including aides who spent months with my mother and supposedly cared about her — visibly avoid our gaze rather than say anything at all.<br><br>I trusted this facility with my mother's life for over a year. I am left with more questions than answers about how her condition was allowed to deteriorate this far without earlier intervention, about whether she was receiving the basic personal care she needed and paid for, and now with a lasting impression of how little that year seems to have mattered to the people who cared for her 24/7. No family should get a call at noon and be planning a funeral by nightfall — and no family should have to grieve in a building full of people too uncomfortable to say a single kind word.<br>If you are considering Swan Falls for a parent or loved one, I would urge you to ask hard questions before you sign anything. Ask how often residents who are fully dependent on staff are actually checked on and changed. Ask what their protocol is for catching infections early in non-mobile residents who can't always advocate for themselves. Ask what support families receive when the worst happens, and watch closely for how the staff treats you, not just your loved one, in the weeks and months you're there. My family put a year of trust into this place, and what we got back at the end was silence — from the people who were supposed to know my mother best. Do not assume that "assisted living" means someone is truly watching. Ask. Verify. And trust your instincts if something feels off, because by the time you find out for certain, it may already be too late.
