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Life at Carlton

Why Carlton?

We help residents live their lives with attractive senior housing options, acclaimed services and our legendary “culture of care.”

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Our Mission

We’re a family-founded, family-focused company, and taking care of you and your loved ones is our mission and our passion.

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Service Principles

We aim to love, honor and care for our residents with exceptional service, enthusiasm and integrity.

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San Jose Senior Apartments and Assisted Living

Carlton Senior Living San Jose, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Strives to create an atmosphere that supports and enhances the individual lifestyles of our residents. We offer a wide range of services for seniors including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, On-Site Nursing, Medication and Diabetic Management. Residents can enjoy participating in various enriching, tailored activities led by our very own CALA Outstanding Department Director recipient. Carlton Senior Living San Jose’s Executive Director, with 37 years of senior living experience and 8 years of Carlton experience, leads a team that is committed to Love, Honor and Provide for our residents Our Communities are designed to provide a rich environment where being valued, respected and loved is a natural daily occurrence. We invite you to see why 99% of Carlton family members would recommend us. (Formerly known as Carlton Plaza of San Jose)

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From the Carlton Senior Community Blog

Resident Spotlight - Nancy Shvemar

January 20, 2019 10:46

Meet Carlton Senior Living spotlight resident, Nancy Shvemar - Nancy was born March 17, 1938, in San Bernardino, California, to parents Gail and Dorothy Wilmuth. Her father was a captain of the police department’s animal control unit and her mother was a secretary at Nancy’s elementary school. Nancy had one sister, Judy. Nancy earned her teaching degree from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, on the far western edge of the state. Nancy’s first teaching job was in Laguna Beach, where she taught Spanish and typing to a group of 33 first graders. She said it was challenging but wonderful, and living so close to the beach was an amazing experience. She and her fiancé, Jerry, then moved back to San Bernardino and Nancy taught at a school for underprivileged children. This teaching experience was far different from her first. She recalls providing the children with orange juice and vitamins to ensure they were getting all the nutrients they needed. An experience Nancy truly treasures was the opportunity to spend three years in the Marshall Islands, on Kwajalein Atoll, beginning in 1973. The atoll is the landing location of ballistic missile tests conducted from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Jerry worked for a company called Global Associates, and Nancy was the secretary to the mission director for the ballistic missile program through the U.S. Department of Energy. Nancy recalls all the brilliant engineers and rocket scientists who lived on the atoll. The location of the Marshall Islands allowed them to visit Nancy’s parents in Hawaii, as well as spend time in Australia and New Zealand. Their two daughters, Becky and Julie, attended good schools there and, upon returning to the United States, were a grade level above their peers. An avid reader, Nancy can often be found with a lengthy book. She has even published a children’s book called Two Very Different Cats. She loves listening to Broadway and jazz music. James Taylor is a favorite musician of hers. Her favorite movie is "The Sound of Music." A huge fan of Mexican food, she’ll never turn down enchiladas. She enjoys an Italian tiramisu for dessert. Nancy describes herself as silly, loving, and happy. She most admires Mother Teresa, as she is, “beyond human, and incredibly important to all lives.” The thing Nancy likes most about living at Carlton Senior Living Davis is that “they take good care of me!” View additional Resident Spotlight articles. Written by Eric Demuth Read more

The Vision of a Leader

January 16, 2019 07:45

Our Carlton Senior Living Leadership Class of 2018 was presented with a project in which they were to design a board that would promote their vision of what they would want their own community to look like, feel like and how they would want it to operate as if they were the Executive Director. Prior to working on the project a few of our amazing Executive Directors; Tracey from our Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill community, Amanda from our Carlton Senior Living Elk Grove community and Lisa, from our Carlton Senior Living Sacramento community, gave some insight to our participants as to what it is like running a community as well as their own visions. The Executive Director panel told the participants more about how each person manages their time appropriately and how they choose their managers to help promote the mission, see the vision and lead the community in their given departments. We asked some of our recent graduates of the Class of 2018 to share with us some background on their vision boards, the elements incorporated into them and how they envision the role of an Executive Director to be held and maintained. We invite you now to see their visions below. Our assignment in Leadership to create a vision board started off difficult for me, it wasn't something I was feeling personally connected to and I couldn't find an inspiration. I started looking through countless pictures on Google of the elderly and their families but nothing stuck out to me as the heart behind why we do what we do for our residents. In glazing through these pictures I remembered my favorite resident Eunice and one of my last moments with her on the day she passed and a picture I'm so thankful I took on that day and it sparked my vision for "my" community. I started with the picture of my hand holding hers as the center of my vision because that is what we want to create and give to our residents. These aren't people we just care for, they are our family and what more could anyone want then that. From there I moved onto my personal experience of my Grandpa passing almost two years ago and the time my daughter got to spend with him before his passing. My vision for a community is a place to foster that love, relationship and time with a loved one. I want a community that becomes home to our residents, support and compassion for each family, growth and love for our staff and that it all sincerely comes together in the end. Is it a business? Yes. Is follow up, accountability and compliance high priority? Yes. But at the end of the day if you do the right thing for the residents and the right thing for the associates it all comes together in the end. -Sarah Connor, Associate Director at our Downtown Pleasant Hill Community For the project, I placed emphasis on ensuring that all members of the community would feel appreciated, valued and heard – residents, families and associates. I also focused on employee development and offering the tools needed to succeed. On a more personal note, I included the idea of eliminating clutter since that is always a goal of mine. I enjoyed the project and also being able to hear first-hand from the ED panel what it is like to run a community. It is a huge responsibility not to be taken lightly. -Denee Coleman, Inbound Marketing Specialist at our Home Office My perspective for using the “finger-made” brain is that there is one brain, for Carlton I defined that as our founders. But in accompany to that brain there are many fingers, our president, home office support and all of the individual community associates. We all have the same goal; to love, honor and provide for our amazing residents and their families. The simplest aspect I have found on this journey is, no matter who you are or where you are from, a smile always changes our world for the better; especially in the moments that we don’t feel like smiling. My motto for the year of 2019 is: "There are hundreds of languages around the world but a smile speaks them all!” -Patricia Bushnell, Resident Liaison at our San Jose Community For me, the vision board was a project that was, simply put amazing. As a Carlton associate, I found this project to be stress-free as these are things that are instilled in me, similar to how my parents raised me there are things that will remain as a reference always. Carlton has instilled in me an increase of love, respect, support, empowerment, confidence, patience, strength, peace, happiness and how to be a hard worker with pace. My board is a reflection of what I see as being an Executive Director. I saw first and foremost God and the strength he gives all of us to do what we do and in keeping Carlton the priority but still staying humble through all our successes. My board clearly identifies that the Executive Director role is a vision and everything you see on the board supports the mission that Carlton is the priority. I chose to include the words; budget, respect, integrity, community and trust because you can’t do one without the other and for everything trust is the foundation for success. I see trust in a community or just in life as a big deal. I find empowerment in the validation that people know they can trust me as I do my best to remain dependable and consistently strive to do what I can to fix any situation. Last but not least I put three pictures of myself because I felt it portrayed three different positive faces and emotions that support leading a community. Holding the role of an Executive Director I believe it is important to understand that as the face of the community you must uphold community operations but remain firm, fair and consistent. To be successful in this you must never forget to have fun with everyone on your team and remain humble joining together for another day. -Toni Jones, Programming Manager at our Poet’s Corner Community I created my vision board around the theory of the “leadership clock” which essentially is based off of 12 characteristics created by leaders. The leader chooses to customize their clock, their time, with the most important 12 aspects that they believe in. These are put forth as the core values to which they define their ability to lead in their role. For myself, six characteristics that I chose were; communication, compassion, goal-oriented, teamwork, trustworthy and the ability to aspire to inspire. The core value that I believe everyone can strengthen is the ability to communicate effectively. Remaining open minded regarding each interaction we have allows us to take away and give back important aspects towards empowering that ability. In the field of health and human services it is critical to strive always to be clear among your team to allow them to understand what is important, necessary and critical. Maintaining and extending compassion is valued as it offers an innate opportunity to extend empathy in times of need. While we may not always be able to understand the situation we can certainly strive to understand and kindness is the important consideration that helps the process. Everything is driven by time, how will you spend yours? -Yuvi Diaz, Director of Resident Services at our Sacramento Community Read more

Resident Spotlight - Charlotte Gonzales

January 13, 2019 01:21

Meet Carlton Senior Living spotlight resident, Charlotte Gonzales - Charlotte, known to family and friends as “Tuttie” (pronounced “Tootie”) is from the small town of Las Vegas in northern New Mexico. The colorful history of her birth town surely influenced Charlotte’s pent for festivity and appreciation for flair. Las Vegas is a traditional Spanish Colonial style town with a central plaza. The townsfolk live both Latin (“Norteños”) and Cowboy (ranching families) culture, which is evident in their music, social gatherings, and rustic way of life. They are predominantly Catholic people, and fiercely patriotic. Charlotte’s mother was a hard-working woman who was spiritual, a healer, and one of few white women allowed into the Indian reservations where she practiced healing and tarot card reading. Her father was a musician, who wrote music and played several instruments, bringing much festivity and enjoyment to the community of northern New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. Born October 24, 1935, Charlotte married at the young age of fourteen and soon started raising her family of six daughters and one son in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Music and dancing was an important part of Charlotte’s life, and her family fondly remembers their father encouraging Charlotte to sing on the 4-hour drive from Albuquerque to Raton, New Mexico to visit grandparents. Indeed, Charlotte’s voice was beautiful and her favorite Spanish and country western songs could be heard down the street, delightfully combined with the wafting smell of her home cooking -- flour tortillas, sopaipillas, pinto beans, “calabazas,” chile verde with tender braised pork chunks, empanaditas, biscochitos, roasted green chile peppers, sweet “natias” pudding -- all traditional New Mexico foods. Charlotte cooked fresh, delicious meals every day for her large family. Charlotte would play music, dance in the living room, and taught all her children to be good dancers. Raising seven children and keeping them all in line could not have been easy for a young mother. Charlotte was strict, but she also knew how to play. She used to make doll clothes for her daughter’s toys and taught them how to bathe their babies (dolls). She would hang blankets over the clothesline so they could play “house.” Charlotte often took her children to the zoo, to the parades, and encouraged outdoor activities. Charlotte appreciated showmanship and fully embraced the New Mexico culture and cowboy attitude. For the New Mexico State Fair Parade, she dressed her son in cowboy boots with spurs, a vest, guns and holster, and cowboy hat. One of Charlotte’s favorite hobbies was costume making. She made all of her children’s Halloween costumes herself, and when her oldest daughter married, Charlotte had crafted the beaded head-piece for the veil, ring-bearer pillow, and bible cover, which were so beautiful that a bridal store asked her to do this professionally. As Charlotte’s children grew up and left the home, Charlotte continued with her love of costume making and her talent kept improving. In 1967 Charlotte and her husband moved their family from New Mexico to California, and coincidently she lived across the street from Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill - right here on Cleveland Road. In the early 1990’s Charlotte moved back to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Charlotte moved to Carlton in July 2018 a few years after her husband passed away, where she enjoys the community and staff, and her frequent visits from close by family members, as well as local friends. Charlotte has a terrific sense of humor and jokes with anyone willing to entertain her colorful sense of being. She is truly a New Mexico girl! Written by Celina Gonzales, daughter of Charlotte Gonzales View additional Resident Spotlight articles. Read more

It's a New Year Again by Resident, John Shumway

January 7, 2019 01:08

Once again, it's a new year and there's no better time than now to consider why we measure time the way we do. In the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar. Europe had adhered to the Julian calendar, first implemented by Julius Caesar, in 46 B.C. Since the Roman system miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes, the calendar, about 1,600 years later, had fallen out of sync with the seasons. This concerned Gregory because it meant that Easter, traditionally observed near March 21, fell further away from the spring equinox with each passing year. In the Protestant parts of Europe, many people viewed the Gregorian calendar as a Catholic plot. Thus England did not adopt the new calendar until 1752, about 170 years later. By that time the Julian calendar, which England followed, was almost 16,000 minutes behind the Gregorian calendar which the rest of Western Europe followed. [The actual number is 15,848.] In other words, England had to catch up with the rest of Western Europe by dropping 11 days. According to some accounts, English citizens did not react kindly after an Act of Parliament advanced the calendar overnight from September 2 to September 14, 1752. Rioters supposedly took to the streets, demanding that the government “give us back our 11 days.” However, most historians now believe that these protests were greatly exaggerated. On the other side of the Atlantic, meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin welcomed the change, writing, “It is pleasant for an old man to be able to go to bed on September 2, and not have to get up until September 14.” Read: 6 Things You May Not Know About the Gregorian Calendar Julius Caesar’s calendar reform of 46 B.C. instituted January 1 as the first day of the year. During the Middle Ages, however, European countries replaced it with days that carried greater religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation). The latter, known as Lady Day, because it celebrated the Virgin Mary, marked the beginning of the year in Britain until January 1, 1752. Now that we have the calendar straightened out perhaps we can all relax and enjoy the New Year. Have a happy one! Written by John Shumway, CSL Downtown Pleasant Hill resident and retired Diablo Valley College history professor Read additional articles by John Shumway. Read more

Resident Spotlight - Margie Garciduenas

January 6, 2019 02:17

Meet Carlton Senior Living spotlight resident, Margie Garciduenas - Margie is of Mexican/American descent and was born in San Jose, California on June 10, 1954. Margie was raised in Union City and, after high school, she had odd jobs; one was at National Semiconductor in Santa Clara. She did the final testing of the diodes (capacitors). In 1974, Margie joined the US Navy hoping to learn more about electronics and was trained as a radioman using transmitters to relay communication to the fleet. She served in the Navy for 17 years and was then placed on Temporary Disability Retirement for five years. While on temporary retired leave, Margie went back to school using her GI bill and obtained her Master’s Degree in Science of Speech and Language. Shortly after that, she worked at the New Haven Unified School District as a bilingual speech therapist. Margie’s favorite activities here at Carlton Senior Living Fremont are attending the outings, participating in craft projects, and attending Happy Hours. She chose Carlton because of the convenient location which is near shopping and because was able to bring her precious pug, Chloe, with her. This wonderful lady is intelligent, resilient, resourceful, nerdy, and a dog lover with a warm spirit. She would like her Carlton family to know that, “I do not mean to be a snob. It is just communication is difficult even when hands are free. And if I haven’t had my morning coffee I’m the pits.” She leaves us with her words of wisdom, “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” This is Margie’s daily motto. View additional Resident Spotlight articles. Read more

Live 2 B Trainers Make the Difference

January 2, 2019 11:50

"Combine your natural ability with a mission to help people and you will have a rich, fulfilling life." -Bryan Krahn, Physique Coach What sets Live 2 B Healthy apart? It’s their Trainers! All of their Trainers are Certified Personal Trainers who are enthusiastic about their mission to create an outstanding fitness environment for the communities they serve. The Trainer’s role is to design exercise classes appropriate to participants’ physical abilities; lead enjoyable, interactive, motivating and safe fitness classes and assess class participants’ progress three times per year. Live 2 B Healthy Trainers encourage class participants to safely stretch their ‘comfort zone’ both physically and inter-personally, often encouraging senior residents to try fitness exercises exceeding what might be tried if the resident were working out alone. As motivators and leaders, Live 2 B Healthy Personal Trainers are outgoing, personable, enthusiastic and positive. They must be willing and able to motivate a variety of individuals with varying abilities. Within each level, our Trainers have hundreds of choices for creating unique, safe and fun classes. Each level has between 12-40 different exercises in each category - ranging from muscle group emphasis (abs, biceps, etc.) to method (stretching, bands, loops, etc.) emphasizing balance, strength and flexibility. Our Trainers customize each program to the community, striving to meet those resident's individual needs and participation. Carlton Senior Living would like to take a moment to recognize our fabulous Live 2 B Healthy Trainers including; Kym, Aria, Melissa and Austin. Their enthusiasm and dedication to enriching the lives of our residents is greatly appreciated. We extend our appreciation to Live 2 B Healthy for their article contribution in recognition of our blog post today for National Personal Trainer Awareness Day. We invite you to check out our blog post showcasing our Residents at our Concord community enjoying the Live 2 B Healthy classes weekly. Read more

Remembering a New Year Tradition

December 31, 2018 12:45

My mother, Mary Takai, and her husband, Roy, celebrated the coming of every January 1st with their children and grandchildren by preparing Japanese foods. We enjoyed rolling sushi together, cooking tempura and eating all day long. A special New Year tradition was making “Mochi” or sweet rice balls, which symbolize good health and fortune. Mochi is tasty dipped in soy sauce or eaten in “good luck” soup. My mom still carries on this tradition with her large and growing family. I also fondly remember the beautiful handmade hats, scarves and blankets that my mother made for us and that she donated to shelters, and how happy she made her grandchildren with her crafted Easter baskets. My mom has kept my family close with her love and generosity and by instilling fun traditions during the holidays and all throughout the year. Written by Sandy S., loving daughter of Mary Takai, Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill resident Read: Traditional handmade mochi brings New Year's cheer [caption id="attachment_19990" align="aligncenter" width="240"] A special New Year tradition for the Takai family is making “Mochi," which symbolizes good health and fortune.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_19992" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Mary Takai looking demure during the community fashion show at Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill[/caption] Read more about our amazing residents on Carlton's Blog. Read more

Resident Spotlight - Paul Moser

December 30, 2018 02:37

Meet Carlton Senior Living spotlight resident, Paul Moser — Paul was born on February 4, 1924 in Saco, Montana. His father Wilbur was the Superintendent of Schools while his mother Elsie took care of him and his siblings. Paul had a brother named Russel who was four years older and a sister, Marilyn, who was four years his junior. Paul's family moved many times while he was in school and he spent three years in each location; Shelby, Montana, Palo Alto and San Mateo, California. He graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1942 where he “lettered” in sports and played the clarinet. The following year he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for three years before being discharged. During his college days, he played football for Cal Berkeley. Paul met his future wife, Barbara, at Cal in 1949 and he graduated with a degree in Journalism that same year. In 1950, Paul began his career as an educator at Watsonville High School where he also coached football and taught night classes at Cabrillo College. He and Barbara married and settled in Santa Cruz County where they welcomed three beautiful children into their family: Eric, Ann and finally, Susan. Paul was proud to have his children involved in sports and went on to coach their Little League and Pony League baseball teams. Paul took a position with the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District in 1966 and in 1981 he received the National Science Scholarship 1-year study grant for math at San Jose State. He received his Administration credential and Master’s Degree in mathematics prior to his retirement in 1983. Paul also co-founded and was the first president of the Bay Federal Credit Union which was the largest between Santa Barbara and San Jose. Read more: Founding Father, Paul Moser, Recalls Bay Federal's Humble Beginnings Paul and Barbara shared a love of playing Bridge which Paul picked up while he was in the Navy. They started clubs in Watsonville, Aptos and Santa Cruz. The couple also taught the classic strategic card game on several cruise ships and went on over 20 cruises together until Barbara’s passing in 2002. Always an athlete, Paul immersed himself in many sports. He skied the slopes throughout California, Nevada, and Utah and even once in Switzerland. Closer to home, Paul enjoyed playing hours of pickleball on his own court in Aptos. He played competitive tennis for many years until the age of 92. Paul met his girlfriend, Jeanne, in 2004 while playing bocce ball in Martinez. Together they enjoyed traveling the world and even explored Russia and China while on their many cruises, 17 in total. From 2004 to 2017 Paul had a “4-3” plan where he would spend four days at his home in Aptos and three days with Jeanne in Martinez. In April 2018, Paul moved to Carlton Pleasant Hill due to a decrease in mobility and to be closer to his daughter and girlfriend. He still splits his time at Carlton and with Jeanne. Forever a Bears fan, he had been a Cal season ticket holder since 1949 but opted to catch the games on television this year. He also follows the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Green Bay Packers and Golden State Warriors. Paul still goes out weekly to play Bridge with his daughter. He likes to read and listen to classical music - Dvorak being his favorite. He also enjoys spending time with his five grandchildren and is proud that his youngest grandson will be graduating from Syracuse University this year. View additional Resident Spotlight articles. Written by Patrick Coleman Read more

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We’re looking for inspired, exceptional candidates to be part of our legendary “culture of care.” The growing Carlton team has long-term career opportunities available in resident care, dining, housekeeping, activities, maintenance and management.

If you enjoy working with people, and are looking for a place to start or grow your career, we hope you’ll consider joining Carlton Senior Living.

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