The Best Assisted Living Communities in Saint Louis City County, MO

"I toured Autumn View Gardens - St. Louis for my dad. The saleslady was very nice. The staff were very, very nice and they explained a lot of the things that a lot of the company do not explain when you walk in there. The place was very clean. The workers were very nice. There were people that I walked past who spoke to me and were willing to explain any questions that I had. They had activities. They were having karaoke when we toured, and they had plenty of games, too."

"Brookdale had pretty good care and a swimming pool. It had more home-style living. If you could not live in your home, then that could be considered as the next best thing. The rooms and apartments were nice. They had different rooms with different prices available, though all of them were reasonably priced and meals were included. They had a large selection of food on their menu and a large walking ground. They had van service to and from different stores and outings. "

"I have moved in. Everything is on time, and everybody is really nice. The place is clean and it doesn't smell. When you call the staff, they come pretty quickly. However, the food is better than the place where I was at last. I haven't had much of a chance to access anything other than just the apartment and the dining room. I think the activities are good overall. The value for the money is very good, too. I don't have to provide too much of my own things because everything else is provided."

"My mother currently lives at Friendship Village Sunset Hills. It is close to my home. They were very personable and not too pushy in their sales. They worked with me as I am my mother's power of attorney. My mother lives in the older section. They're very friendly and it's a faith-based community, which is extremely important with me. It's a community of loving people. They have all kinds of activities like exercise, travel and games. They have beautiful party rooms where you and your family can have parties. Everybody takes care of everybody else. If someone needs something, it's done. They also have great food."

"Garden Place Columbia was smaller and had less flexibility for the residents in what they wanted to do. We wanted to be able to go over there and visit my sister and then eat with her, which was fine there, but they had to have a couple of hours' notice before we could have a meal with her. Their rooms were also much smaller and fairly dark. There weren't a lot of outside windows or anything, but other than that the staff was wonderful and the residents seemed very happy. I wouldn't have had any hesitation to place my sister there. The facilities were very clean and the layout was easy for someone to navigate."

"In the last 12 months Town & Country Senior Living, has had: 2 Executive Directors, 4 Director of Wellness, High turnover of staff, Unable to get direct email for staff (had to go through main line), Poor communication between residents, staff, family and in house doctor, less than a year it has changed ownership again."

"My husband is in the memory care unit of Brooking Park and it's near my house. They have single rooms, a room with a living room on the side, and also two people in a room with one bathroom. There are a lot of things going on. They have three or four people taking care of them. They have a slew of activities during the week. They have a lady that comes to sing and they all liked that. They also have grounds the residents can walk around. They have a dining room on the first floor and it's set up like in a hotel. My husband is a picky eater but he eats everything there. "

"My mom moved to Solana West County. I chose it because I like the facility, and it is nice. The staff seems good, and everything is pretty good. The food was good, and the rooms are gorgeous. They are huge and much roomier than what she had in the other facility. I like the bathroom set up. The actual reason I moved her is because of the room. It is great. They have activities like singing. They take her to church on Sundays, and they have socials where they eat a lot. She is almost never in her room. They keep her busy. I like the hallways. They are bigger and have more room to get wheelchairs and walkers down. They had a walkout area, and she can walk around in the trees and sit. I like that they have a park atmosphere. "

"Friendship village is a nice facility however there are some drawbacks. The facility is adding condominiums around their retention pond/ manmade lake. It has a walking course it has card tables and exercise equipment on each floor. The place is great until critical care then it is only pretty good. Especially in this recession with social security drying up a bit retirement communities even non profit ones such as friendship village are being forced to start looking more at the money side of things. They are looking to expanding and adding many new condo type living units that are barely assisted living at all to make money through selling them as well as to insure clients that will fill spaces in the future when they cannot live on their own anymore. Because of this monetarily based focus the patients that need a lot of care such as my grandmother get ignored more than they should and are not given the care that I believe she should be receiving. Because of this my grandmother has had to pay for a private nurse to come in and make visits as well s to direct the staff to her aid as my grandmother isn't really able to fully articulate what she needs and she is too proud to ask for help. When she was in need of less assistance the facility was great for her. She exercised had a nice community of people she was friends with and the dining hall is actually quite good. I have been there for thanksgiving and eaten thanksgiving there a few times and have been pleasantly surprised. The staff are kind in general and I believe it is still a great place to live. They also have cheap rooms for rent when visiting your family members on premises in the building that come with an email in the dining hall. This is nice because you are right there with your family member. There was a time when my grandmother believed that some things were being stolen by employees from her room but I think it is likely more due to her poor health condition and aging memory. Because friendship village is a non profit it is much more catering towards the quality of life the patients receive rather than just get out as much money as possible. My great uncle Alvin when he was about to pass away was in a nursing home not nearly s nice as friendship village and he ended up being miserable the last year or so of his life which is quite tragic. If you live in this area friendship village is definitely a great option I do believe the waiting list is somewhat long however I am not sure. There is a small lake and it is right next to a giant arboretum. It is pretty close to Saint Louis but still generally away from the hustle and bustle. "

"Garden Place Senior Living Millstadt looked older and so much more like a nursing home than the other places I've been to. They didn't seem to have as many activities as the other places we've seen. What they had was music, some entertainment, bingo, and movies. I also didn't think they had quite enough staff. Other than that, it's a very clean place. The dining room was very pleasant looking. It was a large room and it was open on both ends to the common rooms in the lobby and then the kitchen on another side. It had a lot of windows."

"My aunt moved into Lake St. Charles Retirement in August, and she is doing very well. It was a very good choice. One, it was a close location to where my handicapped sister is in a Medicare facility and they can visit back and forth, which was nice. They also took dogs, and she had a little dog that moved with her. Unfortunately, he just passed away in the last two weeks, and that was very disturbing. Those were two of the reasons why we chose it. Everybody was very, very friendly, plus I was told about them by a lady whose husband worked there for 25 years, and it just all kind of came together in a nice way. The facility is beautiful, well-kept, clean, and sanitary. They are very meticulous about everything, so that is nice. They have 3 different restaurant facilities, we did have lunch there, and the food was good. It has a lot of acreage with trees around it, so it is a very, very quiet park place. She has a nice one-bedroom with a nice sliding glass door that looks out to the area with trees and everything; it also has a beautiful sunset view. "

"I liked that Bradford Place seemed to have a smaller, more cozy atmosphere. I think they would get a lot of one-on-one care in the memory care. The director had been to other places, and she said that she liked the fact it was not a big corporation. It's just owned by a man (who I think has several facilities). She said it's very easy to get hold of someone if you have any problems. She said the nursing was there during the day and just lives very close. So, if there was ever a problem, she would be there immediately during off hours. The director was very welcoming, very willing to answer our questions, and really gave us a pretty good picture of what it would be like for mom to be there. She showed us more than one room. One faced the front. She even thought my mom might like it because she could see a lot of activity from there. Then she showed us another one that faced a different direction. It was very nice."

"Harvester Residential Care was a nice and clean area. Everybody seemed like they were doing their jobs. The guy that I talked to was very polite. They had a nice dining area. The parking area was nice and easy to access. Other than that, I didn't see a lot of it."

"My husband went to Autumn View Gardens the third week of June, and it's been excellent. He is in what's known as a companion suite. It's a shared bathroom with a little entryway, and then each member has their own separate apartments that were very nice. He even has his own private deck off of the bedroom. They have lots of activities. They have arts and crafts and movie nights, and he is taking physical therapy. He can stay as busy as he wants to or as lazy as he chooses. They take them on field trips and to the store once a week. They have an excellent dining room, and they can pick what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They have two entrees for every meal, and if they don't want one of the entrees, they can choose items off of the menu. I like that they are managing his diet and his medications. "