Assisted Living Communities in Norfolk, VA

"I visited Churchland House and checked out their rooms. It's not as upscale as the other facility I visited, but it was nice. They had speakers come in. It was clean, the staff was very friendly, and it was closer to me. "

"My father is going to go to Serenity Care of Virginia for two weeks. Everything was good. The staff was knowledgeable. She came from a big box nursing home-type place and wanted a smaller place to give individual care, which we thought was good. It's just like a regular house. They had about three or four residents and private rooms. One of the things that's also unique there is you eat what you want to eat. You give them a shopping list and they'll make what you want. It's not like everybody used the same thing."

"We liked Chesapeake Place Senior Living, because of the proximity to my house and also the price. It's very, very nice and clean. Everybody was friendly. They have activities for their community and there were some nice places outside for the people to go. There were little rooms where they could sit and gather with one another. It was conducive for a friendly community of peers. They have a salon, a very nice dining area, a meeting room where you could have parties, and an area for physical and speech therapy. Part of what's included in what you pay will be laundry every week and housekeeping that comes in."

"This is a wonderful, caring, clean facility that takes care of Mom four times a week. I can't say enough about the care givers, they are very professional, kind and caring. Their hours are 7:30 - 5:00 and have just begun an abbreviated Saturday schedule every other Saturday. They are given lunch and snacks, taken out for walks and other activities to keep them engaged. Mom loves to go, on the weekends she keeps asking if we don't need to go. I wish we had found this gem earlier, she has been a regular for two years. "

"My mom moved into Bickford of Chesapeake in November. The facility is beautiful and brand new. It just opened in May, but it feels like home when you're inside. It doesn't feel institutional at all. They have big fireplaces and sofas in the seating areas. The staff is amazing and very knowledgeable. My mom has a large studio room that's nice and bright. It doesn't have a kitchenette. It's just a full bathroom with a walk-in shower. She has a dresser, a nightstand, a sofa with a small coffee table, and a bed, and there's still plenty of room. Three meals a day are included, and they have regular doctor visits. They have a hair salon inside. They do different fun activities all the time, like movies, popcorn, and games. What I was impressed with is that they have different stations set up throughout the facility to trigger memories. So, one is set up to look like an office, another is set up to look like a laundry area with an ironing board. They're very nicely done. I've been there to visit her when she's having her meals and everything looks good. It's farm-to-table as much as possible. They use fresh ingredients, they don't use processed foods."

"The staff was amazing. It’s a very large, very nice, and well-kept community. I could see everybody who works there loved their job. The food was really great, and they actually grow their own produce. The rooms were very nice but a little bit expensive for us. They had a lot of activities for their residents and a lot of opportunities for the residents’ families to come in and join in their activities. "

"I went to Harmony at Oakbrooke. The facility was absolutely gorgeous, it was brand new, it was out of our price range, but the gentleman we talked to was a little more aggressive and pushy. They had bingo, they had people coming in singing and playing the piano, they had them going out shopping and to museums, and I really liked that. The staff was nice, but definitely a sales person."

"I liked Harmony at Independence a lot. It was very pleasant. I liked Kim who took me around. It was a very pleasant experience. It's on my list of considerations. The rooms looked beautiful. I met mostly with Kim and she was very, very pleasant and very helpful. They had a gym, conference rooms, and activity rooms. I didn't taste any of the food, but it looked like a nice menu. It was a restaurant-style setting."

"My dad is at Harmony at Harbour View. The community is great. They seem to be doing well with him and they get him to breakfast downstairs. They've been really good about responding to his beeps when he needs some help in his room because he has a band on. So that all seems to be good. The only negative is they are understaffed and they cannot support non-ambulatory people. He can't get around. So they don't have the staff to help with that and that's something to be aware of. They have an activity director. My dad doesn't like to participate because he doesn't like to communicate very much, but they try to include him. I know that they come by and ask him every day if he wants to get involved and sometimes he'll do it. He'll go down and play bingo because he doesn't have to talk to anybody, but if it's something to do with talking, he won't do it. I have not tried the food myself, but I sit with my dad at breakfast every Wednesday morning so I see what they give and what they have. They'll tell him what's on the menu and he gets to order what he wants. Usually, he has eggs and sausage or bacon and oatmeal or coffee. You name it, they bring it and the cool part is they get to know their residents there. Like the lady would bring him his grapefruit juice before he even asked for it. So, they get to know the people there and when they come up to my dad, they go "Good morning. Here's your grapefruit juice. What do you want from the menu today?" It's pretty good. They have a little bistro area and my family and I gather in the bistro area every Saturday so we had dinner with my dad. We bring food there with him and that's nice. It's like a little place where you can eat food and all that kind of stuff and they have coffee always set up there. I know they have the main dining room where my dad is. They also have a gym with actual workout equipment and stuff like that in there. They have the beauty shop on the third floor where my dad is, and on the fourth floor, they have the rehab. They have full staff there. They have physical therapy and most of the people there do physical therapy 2 to 3 times a week. So it's nice to have that all-inclusive in there. The only thing I'm not happy with is the staffing. If you look at it on the website, it says they can have non-ambulatory people. That's why we placed them there because we thought that if he gets worse, he could stay there, but it all just comes down to staffing. They are great. They're very caring. We have some people in there that are still amazing. There's one older guy who is really good with my dad. He'll be like, "Come on, Major, you can do it. You can get up." He's encouraging to help him try and get up when he falls. They have a lot of people that care about what they're doing. It's not just a job to them. The common areas are 100% clean every day. They do housekeeping twice a week on the assisted living sites. So if my dad messes stuff up or whatever, they'll come in and wipe it up, but they will wait until the cleaning staff comes in to freshen up the carpet if you spill something on it or it's stained or something. Honestly, that to me is great, because they do it twice a week and that's their standard. The only time that it's not like that is when it comes to the individual rooms. It depends on the actual person in the room, like how they are. The value for the money is pretty good because my dad came from another facility where he was in a studio apartment at $7,745 a month. My dad's in a one-bedroom now at $5,551. That's with level three care in both facilities. It's excellent for what the cost is considering their comparison. I don't know if that is normal, but that's my comparison."

"We liked Commonwealth Senior Living at Cedar Manor. The upfront person was like a cruise director. He did an excellent job promoting and showing the facility. That was at the top of the list for a while. They had a beauty parlor and physical therapy available. It's a good facility. It's a nice brick front, colonial style, and a very attractive building. Cleanliness was good. Space-wise, all the rooms are about the same size. They're all L-shaped with a bathroom taking up one corner. They had nice programs."

"First Choice Assisted Living II was a nice place. It's clean. The staff was friendly. I felt comfortable there. The room was nice. They showed me a studio room. They have everything that we were looking for. We're looking for 24-hour care and meal preparations. The staff was very friendly, very knowledgeable and willing to help."

"The reality of learning that you will have to live the rest of your life in Assisted Living is not pleasant when you are a widowed, eightyish male, on your own, that needs help. Knowing all the Assisted Living facilities in your community because you were here, before they were built, doesn’t help much in making a decision. Therefore, a list was made, and I used the internet to cross reference my goals. Top of the list was a two bedroom, living area as close to a 1,000 sq feet as possible, with as many windows as possible to let in light and fresh air. Then, comes a central location near your family, doctors, hospital and major shopping center. Then, it comes down to quality of staff, dining facilities, wellness facilities, and overall feeling of the community. This is a process of elimination, a lot of phone calls made and reading reviews; therefore, the need for this review. I found most all of these requirements at First Colonial Inn but knew few people at the facility. I had driven by the entrance hundreds of times in my life, and although it was tucked away behind pine trees and landscaping, it is very pleasant to the eye. It is an apartment type of complex with two courtyards separating the buildings with a portico entrance. I decided all the positives outweighed the social contacts, and found the interviewing process to be informative and quick. I’ve moved into a four room apartment (two bedrooms, living room, and dining room), Kitchen, and 2 baths which accommodates me fine with room to spare for a full time nurse, if needed in future. Good mix of independent living/assisted living people, great staff, good food, with a wellness center and rehab therapy services to support the needs of their residents. Now I’m gaining weight (not good), rehab has cured my vertigo, and in-house physician, Dr Kellam, is a joy to be around. Every facility has its strengths and weaknesses, but management seems to pitch in where needed and does a first-class job to meet the needs of its family! All of this in four months. My family and friends that shop in Hilltop stop by to say hello. I enjoy the fresh air, watch the ducks in the morning and have become a happy camper!"

"Bickford of Virginia Beach had a girl on-staff that greeted you at the front door. The girl I was supposed to tour with was busy with another client, so this girl at the front desk (who was a high school student) was the sweetest ever. She took time out of her job to accommodate me. She gave me a mini tour. She was a nice, wonderful, young woman. The facility was outstanding, beautiful and brand new. Everything was high end. I didn't get to really see a room per se. They showed me a floor plan, and I was just walking through. I could look in the rooms. The rooms looked like they had the same amenities that other places would have. It's very, very nice when you walk in."

"My dad moved to Commonwealth Senior Living at Hampton. They were very attentive to him. He was difficult because he was confused. They were very patient. They were open to any ideas about getting medication and favorite foods and drinks that we could bring in or something that they could try that worked for him. Even all night when he would be up and my sister would just go in late, they were working with him and trying to get him comfortable and that kind of thing and keeping an eye on what he was eating and the behaviors he was exhibiting. We all felt like they were very thorough in their assessment of him at their house, and then their ongoing assessments of him while he was in their care. There were other people who had retired from the shipyard, and they tried to get him to engage with them. I liked that they had technical things for them to do, to play with locks and things. I would have liked to have seen a little more of that, but they did have a small area of that setup that I thought was nice. It was clean, but like in the courtyard, the gate going to the HVAC system or something looked like it was broken and just kind of wedged."