Independent Living Communities in Fountain Valley, CA

"Park Plaza is a very beautiful place, but the population is about 20 years older than my sister. The resident can be in a room and it can be either assisted or independent, depending if you purchase the extra services. There isn't one end that's assisted and one end that is independent. You actually purchase the assistance as a package, so it doesn't matter what room you're in. The room costs $4,200 and if you want assistance you add another $650. The other thing is the hefty community fee that you pay that's nonrefundable. It's $6,000 and people should be aware of that. They say when someone moves out, they redo the room. If your loved one goes in there and a month later they can't stay there anymore, you do not get that refunded. The studios were very nice. They were 450 square feet, but the layout was nice. The one-bedrooms were 550 square feet. They had a puzzle room and movies. I was there on a Sunday, so it was fairly empty. They have only 100 people there and a lot of them were not there at the time that we went. They had included in the fee electricity, internet, and meals. They seemed to have a nice dining room with a nice menu. My sister is a vegetarian and they could accommodate; they will make something that's not on the menu. Transportation could be to doctors' offices and that's included without purchasing level one. Level one is if someone needs help with the bath or medication management, stuff like that, which is approximately $700 extra. In addition to paying the $4,200 a month, the level of care goes up anywhere between $700 and $3,500 on top of that. It was a very nice and clean place, and the people seemed very nice. It's not too big, which is good. I didn't really talk to any staff other than Jennifer who was very nice."

"The food that I had at Walnut Village was incredible. I really felt like it was fine dining at a restaurant. The staff said this is normally what is served. She also said they based their food on points. You could spend your points for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or you don't have to use them at all, and you can use them for your guests. Their food was incredible. The staff said that this is a formal sit-down dining room, and you would come dressed nicely here. The only drawback with Walnut Village is that it sits in the middle of where Disneyland is. Other than that, they have valet parking, and it was beautiful inside. Other than that traffic, it was totally a 10. Everything was new, first-class, and clean. The only reservation I have is the location. They have all kinds of activities. They have a beautiful indoor pool, a beautiful area to exercise with lots of exercise equipments, a beautiful courtyard, a beautiful library, and a game room. It was just gorgeous."

"We looked around here. It looked like a very nice place. It had smaller rooms and had lots of activities. I saw some ladies making goody bags for the policemen because of some civic activities that they were doing. Some people were playing cards at a table and they had a nice little area that had refreshments and desserts. I saw games and exercises. The girl that took us around was super nice. The people seemed very friendly and every time you walk past someone, they would say hi. It had a very nice patio and a really huge dining area, which was more like a cafeteria. It was very nice."

"I toured this facility with my mother and found it to be very inviting! It's a newer facility and the rooms are beautiful/clean. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. My mother really liked that the rooms had full kitchens and washer/dryers as her independence is important to her. The location and activities provided were awesome! This is definitely a contender when we are ready to commit!"

"I'm my dad's primary caregiver. Atria has made his transition from his home of almost 60 years, to Atria's assisted living, and soon thereafter to their memory care section, very easy on my dad and I. Living in his home by himself was getting very dangerous with a couple of falls and the last straw for my brothers and I. At memory care, he is still subject to falls, however the staff is very mindful of that, he is checked on regularly and i certainly feel that he's much safer there and now I don't have the fears I used to. Since he has moved there, his overall care has taken a large burden off of my shoulders and he's in a safer place. I am in contact with the staff as often as is necessary and they are in contact with me the same. We're a team for dad's care. All of the staff I'm in contact with throughout Atria are wonderful, pleasant and great to interact and work with. There are a few key staff that are especially important to me and we all work well together on dad challenges. I rely heavily on them for dad's care, and they deliver. That is very important to me."

"We toured Woodbridge Terrace of Irvine. We liked the surroundings and the accoutrements that were part of the facility. The people there were very helpful in discussing questions we had. I think that sums up our impression, my son's and mine, of the facility. The people were having snacks and finishing up breakfast, and it looked appetizing. The facility looked very inviting, well-kept, and maintained with a variety of different settings."

"We have chosen Emerald Court. I liked the appearance. The place was superb. I thought it was a great place for me. The people were very friendly. They came up, introduced themselves, and made me feel at home. Even though I haven't moved in, they welcomed me to join them. It was a warm, friendly place. The room had a kitchenette with a two-burner stove and an oven, two bedrooms, two baths, a living room, and two great storage closets. We had a lunch there, and the food was delicious. My son, daughter-in-law, and my granddaughter thought it was great. The chef came over to meet us and introduced himself. The waiter was unbelievable, too."

"I really like them. I like the fact that they're really close to a medical facility, which is so much easier because if something was needed for Mom, she would have access to that facility. The lady I talked to there was outstanding. Heather gave us the tour. They were very, very informative and I learned so much, like how to prepare to get the documents and have things organized, so you have a smooth transition (since there's so much paperwork that you have to process). They were really very good, and I got detailed information. I talked to Ryan prior to talking to Heather, and he was the one who just really enlightened me about everything. He just made things so much more clear. And moving forward, no matter where I go, I have more information in order to know how to have a smooth transition if I use other facilities."

"My dad and my sister were residents of Artesia Christian Home. The facility is spotless. They've got a good, great staff, and they're very accommodating. They had maybe a small bump in the road every once in a while, but other than that, things were fine. Their staff was excellent. They're very friendly. They're very quick to help in critical situations. We're just really pleased with them. They loved the food. The kitchen staff was excellent, too. They put on quality products. They've got a little open area of patios. If you want to meet your family there, they have a nice place for you to meet. They also have little meeting areas throughout the home. There's a nice, quiet neighborhood around there. So if you want to take a walk around the block, you can. My father used to do that quite regularly and he enjoyed it. They have Bible studies there. They have group activities. They bring people in throughout the month as far as there might be a Bible teacher who comes in, maybe motivational people. They do little exercise classes. They keep the residents busy. This is the thing about it. The folks were bathed. They're washed. They're dressed and they're ready at a time in the morning when they're serving breakfast. So, everybody comes out there, they're dressed, they're clean, and that's how they start your day. They got the staff doting over them for the rest of the day. They've got a little aviary. It's a big bird cage and they keep that very active. I love the variety of the little birds that they put in there. They have a little garden area if you want to grow some tomatoes or put something like that."

"The Meridian at Anaheim Hills was nice, comfortable, and pleasant in general. They had lots of rooms to relax or read a book. Some of the apartments did not have a living room. It's just a bedroom and a bath. It's important that there's some other comfortable place to talk to people. It was close to shopping, and I'm familiar with the area. I love that some apartments already have a wheel-in shower. The staff was very nice, and friendly, and answered a lot of questions. They have a lot of good amenities. There's something more than one thing going on every single day. They have a great gym with weights and other machines. I saw the restaurant. We get a choice of two different things at dinner. The dining area was good. It has lots of windows. Some of the apartments do not have many windows. They say they have a walking trail, but I was disappointed in that because it was not on the ground. It's somehow attached to the second floor. It's an outside thing that is attached to the building. But for wheelchairs, it would be great."

"Ivy Park at Laguna Woods is our second choice. It's in the process of renovation, so it's getting a new coat of paint, new rugs, and everything else. The manager of the facility was the one that took us through, and she was very knowledgeable and just couldn't do enough for us. The rooms were fine. They were newly painted, but it was still an old building. They told us the building was 30 years old, and they're just renovating the whole place, and so it looked nice. The staff was very nice, too. They had the traditional bingo and card games. They're setting themselves up. It was our second choice because of the location. It was close to where my mom lived. We were just impressed with the people and the manager. She was very caring. They would have accommodated whatever we asked for. We saw a couple rooms, and they were renovated. There was nothing special about them. They were just rooms with bathrooms and little kitchenettes, but they were old. They had activity rooms and rooms with TVs set up where they play movies or something."

"La Mirada Heights was very nice. It reminded me of a nice hotel. The people were very friendly and very kind. The residents there were very nice, too. I like it. It was a nice location, and the whole building was beautiful and new-looking. They had more care than we wanted. They serve three meals a day in their cafeteria, which is wonderful if you don't want to cook. It is a little more expensive than what we want, so we have to figure out how to come up with more money. The units were nicely renovated. I like the friendliness and the professionalism of the people who work there. They followed up, and they quoted the price, but it's kind of out of our price range. I wish they didn't have so much service there. My brother could have lived there if they didn't have three meals a day in the cafeteria. I don't think he can eat that much anyway. The staff was friendly. They greeted you with pleasant enthusiasm. I admired them immediately. The layout was very nice. They had outdoor areas where you could sit in the garden. They had a library setting, too. I also like the layout. You can go out of your room, and there are a lot of areas in the lobby where you can just sit and watch the people go by. They have a nice parking lot. It reminded me of a fine hotel."

"It is a lovely facility. We've been there for lunch, thinking that we were going to go stay for several days. The food was OK. I was interested in a 2-bedroom apartment. I wouldn't call it spacious, but it appeared to be very nice and clean. Each bedroom has a nice-sized closet. We would just have to have a microwave, and that's about it. Or I would go down to three meals a day, and I don't know if that is going to make me happy or not. I thought it was very nice. We were invited two weeks ago. Then, after that, we were invited to a big party that they gave for Father's Day, which was lovely. It was really nice. "

"My aunt and uncle moved to Bayshire Yorba Linda. They can accommodate a lot of things. The grounds are kept clean and the atmosphere is very inviting. It was very spacious. It didn't seem like everything was kind of crammed in. The people that we met there were very helpful and very kind. We haven't run into any problems as far as helping my aunt and uncle. The food is very good. My uncle is not as social as my aunt. Even within memory care, they have a lot of activities to stimulate their brain, and to keep them busy. We've been very happy with the available activities. The value of memory care is awesome. It's pretty reasonable."