Ashwood Meadows Gracious Retirement Living

Ashwood Meadows was very nice. They were friendly and kind. The food was nice, too. The staff was very gracious and the ones who showed me around were very nice.

My mom has been at this place for about three years. It looks elegant when you first walk into the grand dining room with its curved staircase and baby grand piano. First my mom was in a cramped 1 BR apartment that only had a heat pump in the living room, so the bedroom and bathroom were very cold, with no air circulation. The carpet was mildewed and smelly. The only bedroom window was up along the ceiling -- no view. A really depressing place! When a 2 BR became available the following year, she moved downstairs to a wonderful, sunny and spacious residence with lots of full windows and heat pumps in all rooms. It was like another world! So she is comfortable now, with these exceptions: The fire alarm has a problem and goes off a lot. There are no security cameras. A personal safe is a must, and take your purse with you at all times. This is not an assisted living facility, so it's not safe for people with Alzheimer's. They tend to wander out the automatic doors. All meals are formal and take two hours. It's a huge waste of time, and residents get cranky waiting for the next course. Ashwood Meadows changed ownership this year, and it has been turned into a training facility for fledgling managers who do not try to develop a relationship with residents. Meals have suffered in food quality and portions. Between-meal coffee, tea and snacks were taken away because, as one director said, "You eat too much." Activities and other amenities have been cut back as well. Mom says the bus schedule has become shorter and unyielding. Meanwhile, the rent went up about $200 after the takeover. Good points: rental is month-to-month, comfortable living if you have the 2 BR apartment, a little movie theater, chapel on Sunday and Wednesday rosary, high-raised outdoor beds for gardeners, nice housekeeping staff, visiting nurses, very close to the hospital and lots of eateries. The real test is when I offer to help her move somewhere else, Mom chooses to stay.

Ashwood Meadows is a wonderful facility. Top notch management/staff as well. This is an independent living facility and is marketed as such. It is a great value, you get a lot for the monthly rent! I can't say enough good things about this place. The rooms are very nice, and they clean them once a week for the residents. They have lots of activities and outings. The food is good and well prepared. They also have a bus that provides transportation for specially planned outings as well as trips to the Doctor or grocery store. The other residents there are very friendly as well. A fantastic community!!

My mom stayed at Ashwood Meadows for two months. I was really disappointed with them. The director pretty much showed it to me as assisted living and actually it's not at all assisted. It was completely independent, and my mother ended up in a hospital with pneumonia. She wasn't eating, and they weren't really taking very good care of her at all. I was very disappointed. It's a nice-looking facility, but I wouldn't put my dog in it. They don't really have much staff. They had a couple that lived there and resident ambassadors that were supposed to be taking new residents under their wing, showing them the ropes, making sure they got to meals, but Mom ended up in the hospital and now she's been in rehab for two weeks because they didn't do their job. They weren't really that nice, either. I think the staff was irritated at having my mom there. We paid a lot of money for a month, and then we had to pay another month because we had to give a 30-day notice even though they deceived me. Again, it looked very nice. It's just the service that wasn't very good. Mom can take care of herself, but she needs supervision. They said "Oh yeah, we can do that," and, "Yeah, she will get to meals," and, "If she's not down here, we'll know." Well, they might know but they don't do anything about it. The food was OK, if she made it downstairs to eat. She didn't have anything bad to say about the food. She just didn't make it to every meal.