Assisted Living a Gem for Pearl & Her Family

By Rick Banas, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at BMA Management

Pearl, Gayle and Bill were quickly running out of options.

Pearl, who is 89 years old, was living alone in an apartment in Naperville, Illinois. She had fallen a couple of times in the middle of the night, and her eyesight was failing. Due to her vision problems, Pearl was no longer able to drive and she was having difficulties seeing her medications.

The solution was to hire a live-in to be with Pearl 24 hours a day so that help would be available when she needed it.

The woman who was living with Mom was very good; she was like family, explained Gayle, Pearl’s daughter. The problem was that Mom’s finances were quickly being depleted. Just the cost of the live-in help alone was more than $1,000 a week. She would soon be at the point of not being able to afford the person who was helping here. Likewise, she was not going to be able to afford assisted living. She wanted her independence, and certainly didn’t want to go to a nursing home.

“We were at the point where we didn’t know what was going to happen.” says Gayle.

Thankfully, she adds, a direct mail piece with information about Supportive Living and Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook caught her attention as she was sorting through her mail. “It addressed what was going through our mind” so Gayle and her husband, Bill, discussed it with Pearl and decided to take a look.

“This was new to us,” says Gayle, but the more we learned, the more we were convinced that Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook was, “where Mom was supposed to be.”

  • The Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook affordable assisted living community is especially designed to benefit older adults, such as Pearl, who need some help to maintain their independence but do not have the financial resources to afford assisted living.
  • The location is ideal, right down the street from where Gayle and Bill have lived since 1971.
  • When they inquired to get more information after getting the direct mail piece and met with Leah Mayer, who is the Director of Marketing at Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook, Gayle pointed out that, “there was no pressure and she was so easy to talk to.”
  • Pearl would be able to have her own apartment . . . plus she would get the assistance and help with her medications she needed. She would not have to move to a nursing home.
  • Everyone involved with Heritage Woods is so loving and caring. They treat us like family.

Pearl, however, was not too sure, says Gayle. She had lived in her apartment in Naperville, IL for more than 20 years and wanted to stay there for as long as possible. She was comfortable where she was and apprehensive about what she would be getting into. She knew where everything was at in her apartment in Naperville, IL which was important to her because of the problems she has with her eyesight.

It was not until after construction of Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook had been completed and Pearl had the opportunity to see what her apartment looked like that she fully agreed with the decision to move.

Pearl, Gayle and Bill have all benefitted from the decision for Pearl to move to affordable assisted living after she had lived alone for so long. Pearl enjoys “a good measure of the independence that she wanted and we know that she is well cared for,” says Bill.


All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”

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Gardant Management Solutions has 20+ years of industry-acclaimed operational history in developing, managing and consulting for senior living, assisted living and memory care communities.