The Best Assisted Living Communities in Hampshire County, MA

"I toured with a family member looking for independent living. I was shown a nice apartment in the main building, many amenities. I also looked at a cottage, beautiful, great size and even has a garage and full basement. The grounds have many opportunities for walking, sitting and interacting with residents on the property."

"I think that Cedarbook Village at Ware is a fabulous community. My uncle is there and they made it very easy to do the intake and to let me know what they had to offer on my uncle's behalf. They assessed him and determined the level of care he would most benefit from and they've been very kind and very good to him. The facility is clean. Everyone is very nice and polite. I've had no concerns whatsoever. It would be nice though to see some additional gatherings or group activities involving more of the men, like getting together on Sundays to watch football or soccer games."

"All American Assisted Living looked like it would be a very nice place. It was just a little bit expensive. They've got all the conveniences there. They have their own medical staff and your personal grooming is all taken care of right there. The rooms were very nice. They were fairly roomy. Their dining area was very clean and spacious. The staff was very informative. The building is approximately two years old."

"I visited Suffield by the River to see their memory care. It's top-notch and a great place. It's right near my home, very clean, and well-appointed. The staff could be a little bit friendlier, though. It's got everything that anybody would need but it's also a little bit pricey. They have shared rooms and private ones if you want to pay extra. They have common areas and a dining hall. They have activities and plenty of stuff for the residents to do. They also have a lot of in-house services like the usual hairdresser."

"Rooms are spacious and clean. Staff is friendly and helpful. Food is fabulous! I highly recommend Stonebrook at Windsor Locks for your loved one!"

"Rockridge was a very nice facility. My only concern there was the layout of the dining room seemed to be a little tougher to navigate if you were physically challenged as far as mobility but, otherwise, it was very nice. That was a little too sprawling for my mother. There were too many distances to be traveled from one area to another. They're both assisted living and independent living but I think they're a little more geared toward independent living but still again a very nice facility. They offer a lot of amenities, a lot of activities. I didn't think it was a good fit for my father. The units were very large, very well maintained. They had little patios for the residents and here's where they could garden and do other things. For somebody who was a little bit more mobile than my father was at the time, I definitely would recommend them. "

"My sister is living at The Arbors at Amherst Massachusetts. Assisted living and memory care are in the same building, and she's living in the memory unit. I'm very pleased with it. They have nice little apartments, and she has a little living room, mini-kitchen, her own bathroom and a bedroom. It's very clean, and the service is excellent. The food looks good when I was there. I think the staff is excellent and very caring, and I think that she's always clean. They take good care of her as far as I know. I haven't been able to visit very much during this pandemic, but I used to visit her frequently before because she's been there for 3-1/2 years. I don't know what they're doing now, but before the pandemic, they used to have concerts, piano players and small groups came in and entertained, they offered some religious services, they had University of Massachusetts students came in, they had people came in with dogs for companionship, they played games, and they used to have little sessions of painting fingernails and manicure. Some of the games were challenging. They challenge their mind, so that they would have to think of different things. They had puzzles available for them to work on. Not too many in the memory unit did any puzzles, but in the other part of the place, they did. They had social events for holidays, in the summertime they had picnics and invited family, and for the holidays in December, they invited family to come in and share in the festivities. I did not eat any, but it certainly looked good. The menus were nice, and they claimed that they had chef-prepared meals."

"My mother recently moved to The Linda Manor from a nearby Independent Living facility. As she has been losing her sight she has needed more care. The staff at The Linda Manor has seen to all of my mother’s requests and needs. She is settling in and is very comfortable. The entire facility is clean and bright, and the staff is to a person cheerful and quick to help. They have worked with our family as a team to give my mother the support that she needs. They are quick to answer our calls. I highly recommend The Linda Manor."

"Loomis Village was terrific. There was lots of options, and we probably would end up going there. The apartments were quite large. There were separate houses and villas. It sound like the had a lot of activities. It also had assisted living care for some period of time if you happened to get sick or something. You do not have to go someplace else. I knew they had a swimming pool. I knew they had people came in, and there were courses you could take. I thought they needed to have Wi-Fi in every room because the old people needed to connect to the computer. "

"My father moved into Day Brook Village Senior Living. The place is incredible, has great food, a great atmosphere, and there are a lot of things to do. The people are wonderful. It feels like a community. It's a very nice, well-maintained area of living. It also has independent, assisted, and skilled nursing/nursing home on the same campus. The rooms are a good size. It has a bathroom and a half, a nice little kitchen area, a nice bedroom, and a living room area. It has a kitchen sitting table for breakfast. Lunch and dinner are available for them. There are a lot of activities. Something's going on every week. They have bingo, movies, and barbecues. It's an excellent facility. They have a courtyard and that's where the barbecue is. They have an exercise room. They have a library where they can take the books out, and it's like an open room where you can overlook the courtyard and you can do puzzles. They have a TV and a fireplace there. It is very nice. They just need a little upkeep on the exterior."

"I toured The Arbors Assisted Living at Chicopee and I thought it was fantastic. It was very clean, the staff you see there were in there checking on the patients and just talking to them in general. I thought that was nice. The person who gave the tour was fantastic, she was like a counselor or social worker. She was very knowledgeable of everything when I explained to her about my parents. She's like, "Oh yeah, we have that care right here." I didn't try the food but they offered me something. They have an exercise room and they were doing that, and some were sitting. They gave me a schedule by the month of the different activities, or what they were going to do because it's never the same. They try to keep things different so people like them better. When we toured around, they let me see an entire apartment. It's a 2-bedroom with a living area and a kitchen. Then they let me walk around and look at the whole apartment. The facility is really beautiful."

"My grandmother was at this facility initially for short term rehab. The nursing staff was pleasant most of the time and the physical therapist was phenomenal but overall we had a very bad experience. For the 3 months she was there we made multiple phone calls on a weekly basis trying to talk the overseeing physician- not once was our call returned even when we begged to speak to her. We never met her or even talked to her once during my grandmother's stay despite all our efforts. Additionally we also had much difficulty discussing her care with the advanced providers who didn't seem to make time to talk with us. She was transitioned to long-term care and a week later her health rapidly declined. During the transition to long-term care which was the last week of her life she did not have a phone as there was a problem with the connection in the room when she moved despite us paying for the service- no one helped her; my father had to figure it out. We went to visit her and she was crying she was so lonely. The worst experience we had was the day before she died. We went to visit her and it was evident she was rapidly declining. We asked to speak to the PA and we waited for ~3 hours before she came to see us. Instead of having a family meeting given the obvious change in circumstances, she spoke with us for less than 10 minutes. We asked about hospice care as my grandmother was clearly uncomfortable. She said she could start arranging it on Monday (it was a Friday) but that they wouldn't do much differently. My grandmother was struggling to breathe and was in obvious pain. We asked for her to be transitioned to a liquid diet as she couldn't swallow her food. As the PA walked out the door, my father asked how much longer she thought my grandmother would live as my mother was planning to travel that weekend and was wondering if she should cancel these plans. The PA told my father her hydration status was good and at least 2 weeks - as a healthcare provider myself I knew this simply was not correct, aside from the fact that you can never truly predict the day or hour and it is irresponsible to tell families otherwise. My grandfather went to visit her Friday evening and was distraught as they still brought her solid food; when he asked for a liquid diet he was told by the nursing staff they would get to it; it had not arrived by the time he left. The next day Saturday afternoon my grandfather went to visit my grandma. He found her unresponsive, notified the nurse and discovered she had passed. He was by himself, there was no hospice, my mother was traveling. It was a horrific experience and the epitome of poor patient and family care. This facility may be good for very short rehab that doesn't require medical decision making as the physical therapist was excellent. But not for any complex medical conditions, long term care, elder care or hospice. Overall we were extremely disappointed."

"It looks like more of a place for living than a warehouse for dying. I just had a positive impression of it. The staff was engaging with the residents. The place smelled clean and the grounds were really nice. You have to furnish the room yourself, but they have a small kitchenette area with a sink and a fridge. There's also a twin bed. They have private and semi-private rooms. They have a restaurant for the assisted living community, but they cook the meals inside the dementia unit so they have a small kitchen in there. The menu looked good. I talked to one of the assisted living residents and I asked her if she liked it, and she said she loved her and would recommend it, so that's positive. It looked like the residents were fairly happy. It's in an old monastery, and they have a chapel since the place is religious."

"The walkthrough at Mason Wright was very pleasant. The place was very inviting. It didn't feel like assisted living honestly. It just felt like very homey for them. When you first enter, there's a living room sort of where you wait. There's a fireplace. They took us into a room to kind of evaluate my mom. It was like a very casual setting. They sat us down and they assessed my mom there. And then they just gave us a tour of the place. And that was it. The staff was very professional, very pleasant, very knowledgeable, and answered all of our questions. Their approach was very nice. They had a space for them. My mom had dementia. So they had a unit for dementia there. And they had what they call a sensory room. When she was feeling agitated, she would go there. She was accepted into assisted living, so we thought that was very nice. The rooms were nice. The setup was good."