Inspirations of Northbrook

Renee

I'm in Inspirations of Northbrook. I like them. It felt very welcoming when I walked through the door, which I didn't feel in any of the others, and so I decided to move here. The others felt cold and institutional. When I went here, I immediately felt warmth, and I felt this was the place, even before I saw the apartment. I took a studio because the one- and two-bedrooms are really expensive. The studio is expensive as it is. The people are very kind. They will put things together for me. They hang things on the wall. The maintenance people are very good. They're always right there, pleasant and wanting to help you. I was independent, but right now, after breaking my ankle, I'm assisted. I am on an assisted living floor. I'm going to have to have help for a while, but I can wheel myself down to the dining room if I want, or I can have my meals delivered to my room. The food isn't great, but it's not bad. The servers are very nice. We have a wine night every Wednesday. They're warm and caring. Everybody there has a smile on their face. "What else can we do for you? What else do you need?" That's everything when you're not living at home. There are a lot of activities. The schedule changes every week in terms of what activities you have. They have a movie night, get-togethers, outings, and they'll go to the grocery store. They've gone up to Lake Geneva. They plan for certain restaurants that a big party of wheelchairs and walkers will come in. They've gone to Yen Yen for Chinese, which I really like. You sign up for those events, and then the van takes you, picks you up, and takes you back. Because I'm on the assisted living floor, it doesn't have a regular oven. There are no burners. I bought a Black & Decker baker broiler, and it works for me. The kitchen has enough cabinets. I don't have a regular-size refrigerator, but other studios do. This one just happened to have a small refrigerator, like you would find in a motor home. It's fine because I don't have that much. They provide everything in terms of food. I do not go down for breakfast. I rarely go down to lunch. I go down for dinner. They have a very nice Sunday brunch. They have Shabbat services every Friday afternoon for those who are Jewish. They have other services, so they're pretty nice in what they offer. There's also an alternate menu, so you don't have to eat what they're going to give you. You can order something else if you want. It works really well. The residents here are all very nice. Everybody I've said hi to always says hi back. "How are you?" They always respond. There's a woman here who is a pianist in a wheelchair, and I will always go up to her and give her a kiss because she's a wonderful woman, and she loves my red hair. Most of the people here are really warm and very nice. We talk to each other. My dinner companions are very nice. I've nothing really bad to say about them. They have a physical therapy department. They have an actual registered licensed physical therapist there. They have standing bikes on the first floor. They have everything. The grounds are really nice. The van will take you grocery shopping if you want. They take you to your medical appointments. They take you to the hospital. They take you wherever you want to go medically. I don't really participate in the activities, but they have a men's night. They have activities, outings, and movie nights. I think they're more on the expensive side, but you're also paying for meals. I signed up for two a day, but you can have one a day. Their desserts are fabulous and ice cream is absolutely wonderful. Their pastries are really good. Based on the quality, the services, the size of the apartment, the one- and two-bedrooms are really large, and they're pet friendly, I think for the value, it's really nice.

Kathy

I toured it and that was lovely. It seemed very active, too. A lot of things were going on when I was there. However, religiously my mom is very Catholic, and there's a majority of Jewish people there, so it just didn't seem like it was going to be a good fit permanently. The place itself was lovely, and the people and the residents seemed like they were happy and all that, so that was good. The apartment was nice too.

Pamela

The staff were very friendly. Everyone seemed very happy, not only the staff but the residents. There are smiles on their faces. Most of them were engaged in an activity. The rooms were nice sized, not overly spacious, but just enough. They had a nice little kitchenette, a nice-sized bedroom, and a bathroom. The dining area looked comfortable. It had tables all setup. The menu looked good and had nice options. It's more like a restaurant. The indoors were very nice. Everything's good and very comfortable. They had mahjong and bingo and one was sitting in the library at that time.

Jacqueline

Brookdale Northbrook was lovely and I know many people there that are very happy to be there. The staff was welcoming and kind. They offer all kinds of activities. They have arts and crafts, a beautiful weight room, a nice garden (they have a gardening club), a nice card room, and a pool table. They made the place so that people could just sit in different areas and it was just a very homey feeling.

Larry

It was very clean. I was impressed with the spaciousness of the area. The tables were not on top of each other. They were very articulate, knowledgeable, and polite. They knew their business. They're the best at following up with me. They gave me sample food to bring home, and it was very tasty.

Barb K.

my mother is a resident - her apartment is very nice - very clean - staff is great - newsletter each day keeps the family abreast of facility details - especially during Covid- would highly recommend this community.