Continuing Care Retirement Communities Communities in Milwaukee, WI

"I chose to visit Saint John's on the Lake because it met our retirement objectives. It had all the amenities that I thought we needed in going into assisted living. They had independent living, assisted living and nursing care in the same complex. If my wife and I would move to assisted living, we could do that and still be retained in the complex and the only difference would be the payment for the food. They had two restaurants, the formal and informal dining. The food were made to order. They had spa facilities. The independent living had underground parking. It was a large and nice facility. The apartments were very nice. They had a long-term staff which were very good. They had little turn over. They also had a lot of activities for the residents. "

"Everything in San Camillo is fine. The room is very expensive though, so I had to go into a smaller room -- which is a little difficult for me as I used to live in a 2 bedroom 2 bath. I had to give up all of that to be here, but it’s got many other benefits. The staff is changing, we had some very wonderful people a lot of them left, and they have been replaced by some other wonderful and not so wonderful. The whole staff is very accommodating. The food is probably the best thing we have here. We have a chef; he used to work for the president. It’s like a gourmet restaurant, and everybody is happy with it. "

"My in-laws are at VMP Healthcare & Community Living (The Village of Manor Park). They enjoy it there. With the changes in season, it's gonna allow them to get outside more and they're able to park the car and travel away from there also. They're happy there. They seem to enjoy everything so far. The meals are provided and they're utilizing that service as well. It's a big facility and they have multiple services available. Where they are, it's more of an apartment arrangement. It's independent living with food services available and then they can move up into services that handle more assisted living and memory care as well. There are three levels there and they're at the lowest service one at this point. The facility has been there a long time as far as the premises. My in-laws are not utilizing too much there as far as staff is concerned. They aren't utilizing any nursing care, medical help, or anything like that. Security is good. They enjoy the food there. They do lunches and they also have an evening meal, but they require them to make reservations before they go earlier in the day. I'm not sure exactly how early they have to make them, but it's a requirement that they need to sign up ahead of time and make reservations. From their standpoint, it's not like you sign for a meal plan and you do all of them. You have a card and you buy it ahead of time. For special holidays like Mother's Day or Christmas, I wouldn't say they're always available. I think as a norm, they have meals routinely in the evening. I'm not so sure that I can say they have them any weekend or on special days. We were over there for Thanksgiving and there was no Thanksgiving meal available on Thanksgiving Day. The residents had to find other means of eating on that holiday. We get an indication they're tasty, but you better be eligible to either find your own way to eat on holidays or with other members or what have you or eat on your own somewhere. It's not like they're necessarily going to offer a meal plan on those days. The dining area is on the main level. It's in a larger area. They've got nice big windows where they can sit at tables by a big windowed area that they can look out at a real natural setting. It's pleasant. They have a weekly church service that you can attend at a chapel right on premises. It used to be a Methodist Manor, so they have an actual chapel there where they have a Methodist minister at that location and she does Methodist services there that they also attend on television. They show it and residents can view it in their place. They're also doing Catholic services. They have music brought in, in the dining room area. I know they have a grand piano sitting there in the dining room that residents could play, or they have others come in from outside to play during special events. I think around Christmas they have a program that everyone was made aware of and that they could all go down and enjoy some music. It's nice that they have the religious services that are over and above maybe what other places have especially run on-premises. It's an older facility. It's been there a long time. It was previously a religious manor for Methodist membership. It's been there a long time and in a city environment. They have a nice heated garage underneath for residents to park their own cars, which is over and above what other places I've seen. The hallways are well lit. The carpets are well maintained and clean. They have clean, ample washer and dryer facilities on every floor. If you are a walker or you can walk with a walker, there are a lot of hallways on several floors that you would have access to utilizing during winter or colder seasons. You could get out and walk the hallways and have quite a distance to go and utilize the premises to do it inside. My in-laws overlook probably one of the nicest vistas they have, which is kind of an inner park area where the building surrounds this grassy area with a couple of ponds, fountains, a little bridge, and a waterfall. I think they have some blossoming trees and it's a green grass area that gives them a nice little view. It's more neutral to browns, golds, and greens kind of colors. It's just an older version of an apartment arrangement, almost a dorm facility kind of thing. It's a nice facility and I think they do the best they can with having an older facility, but it hasn't all been completely updated to make it feel light and contemporary. It's more Midwestern and it appears to be quite clean and well done. They have mailboxes and locked doors at the entrances, and you have to ring in or have a pass card for security. They have multiple elevators that are all workable. In Wisconsin, the price is based on apartment charges. You have a separate card you'd pay ahead of time monthly for the number of meals that you want to purchase, and then you utilize that card as you want to eat. You'd use the card for breakfast or lunch, and then for dinner, you'd also use the card, but you have to make a reservation for yourself. I understand a lot of the people can either eat in the community space or up until this point a lot of the people are still eating in their rooms because they're worried about the COVID and having community together. They offer that as well where they can just box it up and take it with them. In general, it's a fairly inexpensive rate to live there from an apartment standpoint, and then to buy the dinner service, that's an add-on. If they had any kind of medical assistance like distributing meds or that kind of thing, I think that's all ala carte, which my in-laws don't participate in at this point. As far as washer and dryer, that's all included. At the end of each hallway, there's a laundry room. They just go in, put their clothes in and do them there. There's no charge for it. It's all anticipated within the premise's cost."

"Congregational Home was nice. The rooms were spacious, and they had just done a lot of remodeling, so they were trying to make it look interesting -- two bedrooms with a whole kitchen facility that you could live there and be under the same roof with your spouse and if not, then you could start up in one of the apartments, and after you couldn't handle taking care of yourself, you could just stay in there with everything. It was more carefree that you don't have to do anything, but it is quite expensive. "

"We looked at Tudor Oaks Senior Living Community. I liked the grounds. I like the additional things that you do there like the hobby rooms and that type of stuff. But what I didn't like, and the reason I had to discount it, was a huge upfront payment. It's a very nice facility, but very expensive, not the monthly budget, but the initial deposit. They had a woodworking room. They had a lot of things to do there. The grounds are very large so you can pretty much walk where you want to go. But the problem is that deposit. It's non-refundable and that bothered me. I have a lot of funds, but I don't think I want to put it all there. The size and the floorplan of the apartments were good. I found nothing else wrong with that. The staff who gave the tour was fine. She was nice. The facility was good. It's an older building, but it was very well-kept. They're very good. They also have a large storage room, and that was nice."

"Newcastle Place has been a fantastic home for my parents. They are currently in Independent Living, and any time they need anything it’s taken care of. This is important, as we live quite far away from Mequon, and aren’t able to get there to help out when it’s needed. The staff have been absolutely wonderful to my parents, and to me when I e been there. My parents have taken advantage of the pool, the gym, the church services, some of the crafts, and the dining room. The food is pretty decent, too. The apartments are very nice;just the right size. I like that they can be customized to meet each resident’s preferences."