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DENVER — Joni Caldwell's husband, Art, served as an air traffic controller during the Vietnam War. Now, at 78 years old, his wife said he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
"It is difficult," Caldwell said. "It’s hard to see a person that you loved so much is not the person that you married."
Since his diagnosis in 2013, Caldwell has been caring for her husband but her stress was making her ill.
"Last year I accepted that fact that I could not go any further," said Caldwell.
She started looking for homes in the area and called Lighthouse Assisted Living and told them they could only pay $4,800 a month several times over text message.
Now here’s where opinions differ.
Management told Denver7 that Caldwell was told not to send a $750 deposit unless she was sure she wanted to lock something down. There’s no documentation they could provide of this.
Caldwell said she was never told that and sent the check after being told to do so.
A decision she later regretted after the assessment came back at $5,300 a month.
Jill Lorentz, owner of Summer Resilience Training, began helping Caldwell and advised her it may be best to ask for a refund.
"There was nothing put in writing," Lorentz said. "She had given a $750 check and did not have any contract signed."
At first, the company denied Caldwell a refund, saying the deposit was non-refundable.
Denver7 reached out to Lighthouse Assisted Living and they agreed to return Caldwell the money.
Now she’ll continue her search to find home for the man who has always been by her side.
