Ashwood Meadows Gracious Retirement Living

My brother is at Ashwood Meadows Gracious Retirement Living. It's a wonderful place. The staff is very gracious, and the community area is amazing. I love their dining room and I love that they have activities. I love that they have an area there that families can come in and prepare meals and if somebody wanted to come in and have a Sunday meal, they certainly could. There's an area that can be rented out for that. They also have guest quarters, so, a family that's coming and caregivers that's coming in from out of town can rent a room there and stay on-site with their family members. He's been there about four or five years now. It's a retirement community, but they have sister agencies that can continue the care. You can go from retirement community living to assisted living and then onto memory care and then to palliative care. The staff is wonderful. They're compassionate, they check on the residents, and they make themselves available at all times. They do weekly trips; they have a bus, and they go on different outings. He's able to go to church. He's also able to go out and do shopping and outings, and then they'll usually stop and get something to eat. There's a little small in-house theater in there, too, with a lot of seating and they play older movies that are geared towards the older community. The place is fantastic.

Not only is the atmosphere and food excellent there are always great activities to participate in such as various games, trips, and exercise classes. Not only is it good from a health standpoint but also to help keep your mental health in tact.

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.