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Governor's Glen Governor's Glen Assisted Living was created by a son's love for his mother. Dr. Paul A. Colon, a podiatrist in Forest Park, received news that his mother, Millie Michaels, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. This was the beginning of a journey and a learning process for Dr.Colon, as he set out to provide the best care possible. As the disease progressed and her condition worsened, Dr. Colon provided in-home twenty-four hour care. The decision was made for Mrs. Michaels to continue her physical recovery in a rehabilitation hospital. During her stay for physical rehabilitation, she began to show signs of recovering cognitive skills! The reasons, Dr. Colon discovered, were socializing with many people all day and activities provided by recreation therapy. "If you don't use it, you lose it," Dr. Colon says, "and it applies to your brain as well as your body." He realized that in-home care was not the best arrangement for his mother, regardless of how well intended. When beginning to look for post-rehabilitative care, he looked for facilities that would not only take care of his mother's physical needs but her social well-being as well. Dr. Colon decided to build an assisted living home that offered personal care in which his mother would be proud to live. He visited almost 100 other assisted living facilities, seeing what worked and what did not. The result of that mission opened in December 1999. Governor's Glen was built "the way mother would have wanted it", Dr. Colon states. Millie Michael's picture hangs above the mantle of the fireplace in the parlor of Governor's Glen with an inscription below her picture.
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