Assisted Living Communities in Newtown Square, PA

"We toured Truewood by Merrill, Glen Riddle. The residents seemed happy because I talked to some of them. The staff has longevity, which means they like their job and very friendly. I like their movie room. I like the schedule of activities. My only concern with that place is that there's a distance between, depending on where my mother would get a room, it would be too far to get to the cafeteria, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Their hallways are long. She sometimes has a lot of pain. My only worry would be making sure she got down to the cafeteria because it's like a walk and then an elevator ride, but the cafeteria is lovely, even with the outdoor seating. The staff was great. The facility was good. There just seemed to be a slight odor, but I'm going to guess with diapers and incontinence, and stuff that would happen at any facility, but I felt it was pretty clean."

"My wife moved into Sunrise of Haverford a week ago. They seem to be very nice to her, and she's getting very good care. They put her in a wheelchair or a regular chair, and she's sitting up as much as possible, and they try to involve her in activities. She's not just stuck in a bed permanently. They seem very pleasant and professional. The memory care unit has lots of activities, and they try to get them involved, and the people are extremely nice. They do singing, little exercises, and batting a balloon around. The food seems really good and very plentiful. For breakfast, they gave her sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a pancake. They have a little courtyard for the memory care residents. And when the weather is good, they take them out in wheelchairs."

"I toured Sunrise of Paoli. I've met with Lee, the director of the facility. I was greeted when I first came in. There was a big sign welcoming me. The front desk receptionist was very warm and welcoming. Lee walked me through every possible scenario: the different rooms, the different options, and how the building is laid out. She then walked me through the dining hall and explained the menu and how the daily choices are made. They invited me to play bingo with them, which was fun, and to have a snack. I met the cleaning staff, nursing staff, and other admins. They were all very, very helpful and informative. We took a tour of the different wings of the building to show me different styles of rooms and explain a little bit about each one."

"The place is beautiful, very nice amenities. The woman at the front desk is so nice and helpful, if you ask her where do you think my loved one she pretty much knows exactly where she is. Food is excellent and friendly staff waiters. If you have a loved one looking for assisted living/ memory care this is the place your looking for."

"I am a resident of Bellingham at West Chester. It's a very nice community, and very well set up. I love the way they have their meal plan set up there. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all available. For dinner, it's a white tablecloth restaurant that you go into. You can get a five-course meal at dinner if you choose or you can take and get a pizza or wings if you would like to. Compared to other communities in this area, it offers a very good value. It was completely redone for me before I moved in. The kitchen is small, but the kitchen has all new appliances in it. The luxury vinyl tile was put in the kitchen and living room, bathrooms, and a new very low-cut pile carpet was put in the bedroom. The entire apartment was painted. The apartment does have a balcony. I am at wheelchair level, and I can take and access the balcony with no problem with my wheelchair. The bathroom is not an issue. It was well designed with ADA standards which is very well incorporated into the bathroom. The people there have been very helpful. The sales manager has been tremendously helpful as far as getting me in and because of my situation, I haven't had any way to get much of my stuff moved, and they were able to take and provide me with the furniture and that sort of thing that I can take until my stuff gets there."

"The tour at Merrill Gardens at Glen Mills was excellent. It was very beautiful. The staff was gracious. They made you feel welcome. The person who did the tour was wonderful and very informative. They were very helpful, very pleasant, and very accommodating. What I've seen of the food, and what was I told about the chef and all, if I chose that place, I would be very happy."

"I toured Echo Lake. The staff was attentive and willing to talk about my friend's needs and discuss some changes that we recommended. It was a lovely place. It was very open and welcoming. They did provide the chopped diet that she needed. It's a beautiful facility. They have exercise plans and physical therapy."

"I like the size of the apartments at Wellington at Hershey's Mill, both the one-bedroom apartment and the studio. They were spacious compared to the others. It looked pleasant. The woman that did the tour was excellent and very knowledgeable. I liked the restaurants and the activities they have for the residents. I also liked the proximity of the nurses to the areas that were in charge. They have a gym, a gathering area, and recreations."

"Symphony Square was beautiful, it was a lovely place. The director was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions. She showed us the rooms and the dining area. The dining area was beautiful, they had silverware and glass and not plastics. They take care of the residents and it's actually a more intimate community which is very nice. They were all lovely people. They have karaoke nights, arts and crafts, they paint together, and there were a lot of cognitive therapy that they do that are fun stuff. They also take the residents on outings. We saw them doing karaoke when we showed up, and everyone looked happy participating. It was also a combination of assisted living and memory care, so everyone got to participate in it."

"My husband has been at Merrill Gardens at West Chester for a month now. The staff there is very competent and very much involved with my husband. They know him by name. He's not just a person there, they care for him. Anything we have asked of them, they have come through. The concierge people at the front desk are excellent. They are always in a good mood and very customer service oriented. Everybody is accessible from the manager to the head nurse, and they're always open to your visit. They have a diner where the residents can get their breakfast and lunch, and it's not just a stale type of dining room. They have a movie theater. Because they are at the end of the Brandywine Airport, they have what they call a control tower where you can go and see the planes land and take off, and they're encouraging the pilots to say hi to the residents that are there. And that is a big selling point. It is decorated with airplanes and stuff like that. They also have a lounge where 2 days a week you can have drinks, you can get together with friends, and the family can come in. It's completely open and the residents enjoy that. They have a little store that has the best presentation I have ever seen. They also have a place for you if you want to bring your family and have a private dinner with them. The surroundings of the building are kept very nice."

"We are waiting to hear back from Sunrise of Westtown. You can be as independent as you like, but you can also have full care. For example, they can oversee medications, dressing, showering, and changing for incontinence. They do just about everything. They have nurses on-staff. You don't have to take all those services, but they offer it. It was a beautiful facility. It was arranged and designed very well. Each floor has a central location, and they call that a hub. Then the hallways to the rooms kind of branch off of that hub, and they call them spokes. It was very well designed, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was very clean with fresh paint and decorated nice. I couldn't say enough about it. It was just beautiful."

"Food is very good. Staff is very friendly and considerate."

"I like that Atria Lafayette Hill was very clean. The people were very friendly. When I walked in, I didn't feel like I was going into a nursing home. I felt like I was coming into an apartment more so than some of the other places. What I liked about Atria was the fact that it was age-in-place. You can stay in the apartment if you need personal care or if you need any kind of physical assistance. The only time you have to move out of that apartment is if you have to go into memory care. I like the idea that my brother can possibly stay there for a while, and he wouldn't have to move locations. So that's very nice, and I like that. The other thing I like about them is that they don't have a buy-in. They had a community fee that was whatever the rent was for the month. And it only has a hundred rooms, so to me, that wasn't that big. And it was pleasing to the eye. I like the idea that it's a la carte. If they need a little bit of assistance, it's this much more amount, or if they need medication, it's this much more amount. And the staff who gave the tour was amazing. She spent a lot of time with me, and answered all my questions. She was very informative. If she didn't have an answer, she looked it up for me and she got back to me. So that was impressive."

"I toured Pinnacle at Plymouth Meeting. It's outstanding. I wanted to move there. They were fantastic. The rooms were a little on the smaller side, but the building was brand new. The person who gave the tour was fantastic, and the food looked good."