Independent Living Communities in Arroyo Grande, CA

"I toured The Villages. I liked the gardens, the amenities, and all of the activities. The apartments were older and didn't have full kitchens. Everyone we met there was very nice. They had many activities and trips out of the facility. They had a swimming pool, a hot tub, and they had a wine tasting. They had 2 dining areas. One was the formal dining area, and the other one was more like a cafe."

"It is a gated community, which is nice. It says Merrill Gardens. It doesn’t say, like, assisted living or retirement community. It’s like you’re driving through a gated neighborhood. They have three-story buildings when you first drive in. One of them is independent; one is assisted living. To the left of that, they have three streets that have cottages that are independent living. There are 40 of those cottages on three streets. There are four of them connected. You have your own garage, but you take your trash out just like you do in your normal home. Your mailbox is right down the street from your home, just like in a normal place. There’s a central green area in the middle of the cottages, with community gardening if you wanted. They have patios in the front door, off of the master’s bedroom, and a huge patio off the dining-room area in the kitchen, which has very nice landscaping, so you can putter in the front yard or in the back yard if you wanted to. They do, however, take care of the landscaping they put in. The units are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, huge kitchen with an island and an eating area. It’s very well-laid-out and with nice square footage. They’re almost 1,300 square feet, like 1,280. The garage is very nice-sized -- a car and a half garage. If you’re still into having a work bench, a car or a golf cart, you had space for all of that. But in addition, they also have apartments, which have full kitchens. They have a lot of activities going on. They have all kinds of clubs for whatever you happen to be into. If you don’t want to drive, they have shuttles that go to Costco, the grocery store, and the malls. They have outings to the casinos and concerts too. The assisted living has their own three-story building. They have very nice apartments. We only looked at the two bedrooms because that’s what we were interested in. They have lots of square footage, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and nice balconies. Their own buildings are three-story, nicely decorated with good colors. It was very nice. In assisted living, they have more kitchenettes versus the kitchen. The nice thing about Merrill Garden is when they built their apartments (the three-story buildings) one echnically is independent and the other one is assisted, but they are both licensed for assisted living, which is nice. If you are living in the so-called independent apartment and you need assistance, you can still get it in that apartment without moving, which is nice. Their assisted living is not a cookie-cutter program. Whatever you need assistance in is the assistance you will get. All the activities are for everybody. Even if you live in the assisted living, you’re not sequestered to the assisted-living dining room. It's the same thing in the independent living -- you’re not sequestered to that dining room. You can eat whatever venue you want; you can attend whatever activities you want. It doesn’t matter what assistance level you need. You can do everything you want to do. The caregivers looked like very caring people. We ate in the dining room that day; the dining room staff was fabulous. The food was really good. We also toured the memory-care facility, which is three buildings. They call them houses. It’s inside the gated area inside the gated area, so they’re double-gated. They house 14 people in each one of these houses. They each have their own dining room and everything. The rooms were very nice. They’re 150 square feet, nice-sized rooms and bathroom. It didn’t feel like you’re in any kind of a hospital or nursing home. It was very homey, nicely carpeted, walls are wall-papered, nice oak railing going down the hallway, and artwork from residents and artists alike on the walls. Each of the buildings is identical to each other. If they had to move somebody from building 1 to building 3, they wouldn’t get agitated because the buildings look identical to the one they just came from. They wouldn’t even know that they transferred from a different building. I think the biggest difference between Merrill Gardens and some of the other ones is that Merrill Gardens is built as a senior continuing-care community, where some of them that we looked at took over a hotel or a student housing. It was actually built for older people. The bathrooms are the correct size, rooms are nice-sized, and doorways are big enough for wheelchairs and walkers. They seemed to saw almost everything. "

"We've been living in Quail Meadows East for 13 years. It's a very nice community. People are friendly. We have a clubhouse and a pool, and they have activities. They're modular homes. They have a foundation, and they're anchored to the ground. There are different varieties from 1200 to 2000 square feet, with 2 to 3 bedrooms. They have backyards and front yards, and two, and three-car garages. They have a manager and groundskeepers that do the grounds that are not part of the houses, like the club area. We have our own clubhouse. They have dinners, bingo, exercise programs, and different activities. They have a library. It's a gated community. The rent keeps going up, so that's the only complaint I have."

"I went to Hummel Village. It was wonderful, but you have to be able to cook and drive. That wouldn't be wise for me. I'm too close to needing more care so I would have to leave there anyway. You have to be independent to live there. It was a nice place for seniors. It was a lovely place. They have complexes of four apartments and each one has a garage. They have a common area as well. They have bingo, but that's all. This is for people who are really independent whether they're alone or have a spouse. It would be a lovely place to live."

"We toured Atascadero Christian Community and are waiting for a room to become available. We chose it because of the friendliness of the staff and the perfect accommodations. Overall, it was the best we’ve looked at. They had an exercise room, arts and crafts room, a beautiful outdoor facility with big deck chairs, Wi-Fi throughout the place, and private dining rooms for visiting families. "

"I chose Heritage Villas mainly for the price and availability. It’s a very nice place. The apartment is approximately 650 sq. ft. with one bedroom and a dining room combined with an efficiency kitchen. The staff was very helpful and very thoughtful; they got the apartment ready for me, so I’m very satisfied. I fix my own food. They’re very clean and meet my needs. "