Continuing Care Retirement Communities Communities in Brea, CA

"I love volunteering at Solheim because the care and companionship they provide for their residents is definitely something to note. It really sets them apart from other communities I've volunteered at over the years. Solheim has always been one of the happiest environments I visit. Residents are always busy doing a fun activity like enjoying live music with their friends, going on outings, participating in painting classes, playing various games, and so much more. There is a skilled nursing facility on site (like a hospital setting) so if your loved one needs any kind of rehab after a fall or surgery, they can take care of them right here in the comfort of their own community and with help of the super friendly staff onsite. Staff and residents always seem to have a smile on their face! The cleanliness here is also something to note. Everything I have learned about Solheim over the years I have liked and would recommend this community to any of my family members any day! And everyone else too!"

"I visited Town & Country Manor. My visit was very positive. It's a very well-maintained community and the staff was good. It was one of my choices, but I changed my mind because the location is in a busy area of Santa Ana. They have lots of amenities and I was very pleased. I saw their dining area as well, as well as a 1-bedroom, 1-bath, which was adequate. Their amenities were upscale. I also met the staff when they were doing physical therapy, yoga and things like that. They were very warm and accommodating."

"I went to the Masonic Home at Covina. It's a private place. I'm a freemason, so I would be able to have access for myself or my mom because I know that if your son is a mason, your parents could be residents there too. It's very good to me. I would consider it for myself if I needed to go to a place. The staff is excellent, very professional, helpful, and informative. It's a very nice facility. I know they were, at that time, looking at building a memory care. They have a swimming pool, they have a gym, they have a dining hall, and I believe they even have a library. They even have a little store, like a 7-Eleven type convenience store. I only got to see the independent living part and they looked very nice, very roomy, they even had a kitchenette as well."

"I would be moving into Hillcrest - A Remarkable Retirement Community because of their application process. My interaction with the staff was fabulous. They have a combination of cottages. They have a combination of singles, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms, and they're in a low-rise building. Anything and everything that your heart could desire is there and available. I'm an architect, so visuals are very important to me, and this place has been there for multiple decades. Hillcrest has been architecturally designed with the theme of the Craftsman era. It's very comfortable for anybody coming from a historic community previously. They are full of grounds, flowers, trees, and shade. It is extremely well maintained. There's pride of ownership there; no question about it. I dined in their dining room. They are not cafeteria food; they're adult food. Hillcrest is a better value. I was also impressed with the overall staff there."

"I am a resident of Inland Christian Home Inc. The residents and the management were fantastic. They're caring and friendly. They have more activities that I can get involved in. They have dinner every month for the residents if they want to join in with dinner and entertainment. They have activities and games. They have outings."

"We looked at a two-bedroom-two-bath cottage at Mount San Antonio Gardens. You can cook, and you can do whatever you want there. It's in an architecturally distinctive community. It's immediately adjacent to the city of Claremont, and the other place we visited is adjacent to the city of Laverne, but both of them, being from the same time period, are not nearly as congested as the San Fernando Valley or the San Gabriel Valley. The person we worked with had almost as many years' experience as the lady at the other place, except that she was about 20 years younger in age. She is working with seniors, and she has tried to do what she could, but I was more impressed with the overall staff at the other place. Mount San Antonio Gardens is a full-service retirement community inclusive of anything and everything that you could hope for. It is also a fully secure facility. I met and dined with the staff members and the residents who have been there for 10 years, and also those who have been there for a year."

"Westminster Gardens was a very good place. The interaction between the staff there and me was just marvelous. The physical appearance of the place was outstanding. The activities lined up for the day were very good. They have exercise programs. They have trails, ponds, and gardens. They have tennis and a swimming pool. The value of what they have to offer and the services they give is just superior."

"After a national search of retirement communities, we chose Pilgrim Place for several reasons. It had a demonstrated longtime history of welcoming and including everyone (singles and couples, people from various faith traditions or none, LGBTQ people). We also liked that Pilgrim Place feels like a neighborhood within the City of Claremont, an easy walk to hiking trails, shopping and dining in Claremont Village and the Metro Link to LA. The proximity to the Claremont Colleges campus brought access to top-notch music, art, theater and lectures--free! Finally we liked Pilgrim Place's emphasis on building community, as well as its three values to make our world a better place."

"I toured Merrill Gardens at Huntington Beach. It's quite new. Their residents felt older than I was, but it seemed a livelier place than the other place. The facilities were very good."

"I visited Royal Oaks. During this visit to Royal Oaks, we began to understand what the parameters were to look for. One of the most important things that I discovered as you're going through these places, as you're seeing other residents and having some minimal interaction, in most of the places we saw, the people who live there just didn't look or sound happy. They would usually have sort of a grumpy look on their face, and they didn't seem to be happy with life. When we walked into Royal Oaks, the people who were residents there looked happy. They had smiles, they would wave at you and say, "Hello, how are you?" I feel that is something that comes from the operational management, that they interact with their residents in a manner that the residents liked being there. In almost six of the seven places we saw, the people just looked like they were an institutional statistic. The person who gave me the tour was wonderful. The units we looked at all have, at the minimum, a kitchenette, which is fine. Some of them have full kitchens. But we didn't have any of their food. The older buildings have been well-upgraded and maintained. It was a clean, pretty place."

"Atherton Baptist Home is very caring and very helpful. They have a housekeeper who comes in every Thursday and cleans. Some caregivers take care of me, about different things, if I need care. They put on my stretch socks for me and they collect us for meals and make sure that we have our meals properly. They come into your rooms and sit and talk to you. They communicate well with you. It is so much easier to get around here and do things and they are very helpful in your transportation and so on. The food is very good. It's excellent. They've also done some building projects just recently and they just finished a courtyard and a three-story building with two elevators and it's up-to-date everything in it. About once every month or a month and a half, we're allowed to go to a restaurant with a group (of course we pay for it) and we do various activities. We make birthday cards, new kinds of Christmas cards and other kinds of things. We have a person that does that. She is full-time here. She comes around and talks to us and she's very good. We have a place where we can plant our own seeds and grow our own garden. The atmosphere is very congenial. The social atmosphere here is very good. We have lots of different races here and we all get along."

"This is the best place I could hope to be in. I had become a widow, had a large home and yard and could no longer keep up with the work of maintaining them. I looked at various communities in the Irvine area where my daughter lives and found them wanting. When I looked at Regents Point, I felt that this was where I belonged - residents greeted me with a smile, rooms were comfortable, the food in a beautiful dining room was very good and the facilities had lots of activities to keep busy (if I wanted). I've been here over 4 years now, and I feel this is the wisest decision I've ever made. My children agree and know I'm in good hands."

"I went to Prospect Manor. I like the place. It was nice and clean. They had a little activity video for the people who will be living there. So, I like that. The lady was very nice, but I didn't care for the menu that they had. The staff was nice and helpful. It'll be a nice place if you want somebody to be in an assisted living place. The atmosphere was very nice. The rooms are nice and spacious. It was good."

"I'm on a wait list for Villa Gardens in Pasadena. I've talked to some residents. It's off the top of the chart, but it's also a buy-in community. It's very expensive. The rooms are beautiful. They've got waitstaff in the dining rooms. They've got beautiful bistros that are open 24 hours a day. It's got the nicest physical therapy facility. They've got a staff person there for eight hours a day, five days a week with no charge. It's ideal in many ways, but it's right in the middle of Pasadena. You look out the windows and you're looking at another building across the street. Two meals a day are included with your rental. They have a cook who's been there a long time. They will have aspiring actors and musicians from L.A. coming out there and regularly performing. They have a very nice theater. It's high-class. The staff was very knowledgeable and accessible."