Brookdale Sonoma | Independent Living

Went to look at the facility. I was inquiring for my mother but I wasn't sure to what was best for her. I thought I know a lot about senior living but I was wrong. I felt so much better when I left the facility after I met with the sales rep at Emeritus. The person I talked too was very kind to show me around the facility, if it was possible, I would have moved my mother there but unfortunately my mother has dementia and needed a different setting. I am impressed with the people who works there, the people who resides there and the location of the facility.

I visited the Sonoma facility, and I enjoyed it immensely! It was so beautiful, with the gardens, and trees surrounding it. It was even beautiful inside. I spoke with most of the staff, and they enjoyed their jobs there. They also tend to love speaking with people, it's one of the only places that I visited that weren't overrun with people, and not enough help, though of course this place was made mostly for the rich people so I could never afford it, but I enjoyed visiting it all the same. My grandmother would have loved to live there, being that she has Alzheimer's she is losing her memories, and mind faster than we had hoped so it is becoming too difficult to take care of her anymore, and she would have loved the view that she would get from one of the rooms within the care facility, I believe anyone would be happy there.

Knowing that we would be in the area, we decided to make an appointment to see Merrill Gardens at Sonoma. The grounds were all well manicured with plenty of areas for residents to enjoy. Even though it was raining, we could see that it would be a great place to spend time. We've always liked that area and our aunt had expressed that she liked it as well. Our family has members spread through California, so this location would be ideal for visiting her. We really liked how well the staff was prepared for our visit. They had taken the time to find out about our aunt and the things she likes. We were shown all of the common areas, all of which were really nice. There were plenty of scheduled and non-scheduled activities to choose from. For example, our aunt really likes to read and they had a book club discussion going on with a member of the local library. This is an activity that our aunt really loves. The private housing options were all lovely and looked like they had been personalized. We were told that a decorator works with staff and residents to update them regularly to keep them fresh. The dining room was really lovely as were all the adjacent communal areas. The guest lunch meal that we saw looked and smelled really great. The snacks offered include everything from specially designed and prepared baked goods (geared toward health) to fruits, vegetables and delicious puddings. Despite the fact that they were made to be healthy, they all tasted really good. Merrill Gardens at Sonoma was a really nice assisted living facility that was well designed and seemd very accommodating for all of the seniors that live there.