Independent Living Communities in South Portland, ME

"I moved to Betsy Ross House. I'm very happy. It was the right place for me to move to. Everyone here is very friendly. The facility itself is very clean and well-kept, and there are so many activities. I don't know which to do first. The only drawback is the apartments are small. I moved in from a two-bedroom apartment with a lot of room. When you come into the apartment, which I'm using as my computer room and office and all of that, you can't hang anything on that wall. They have a movie night. The people go down and watch the movies. They also have bingo games, poker games, and cornhole, so there are a lot of things that you can do. Everybody has a good time doing it and participating. I did not take the meal plan because I have a full kitchen. I wish I had a dishwasher which I need. I have a stove and an oven and I put in a microwave. It's livable. It's nice. They're currently constructing an addition to the Betsy Ross House. I don't know how many units are going to be in that, but it's a fairly good size. The staff was very responsive, in the winter, I gave them a duplicate set of my car keys because if we have a big snowstorm, they do go and plow the parking lot, and also clean off all the cars, so that's a big benefit. The manager is good. She listens to you. She's very good."

"I'm very interested in The Park Danforth. I liked their location and I liked their price. The staff who assisted me with the tour was accommodating, courteous, and responded to my questions quickly. Their facilities met my desires and my needs. They had a gym, a courtyard, a library, a meeting room, and a theater."

"My mom has been a resident for over five years and I can’t say enough about how kind the staff is! I have never met such caring employees. The apartments are very nice and are painted before you move in according to the colors you choose. There are so many activities going on if you like keeping busy…from games to current events to book clubs and scheduled entertainment. There is a van that will take residents out to eat or go to a show once a week .A driver will also take the residents to their appointments and grocery shopping . There are exercise classes and a pool for water aerobics…There are birthday wine and cheese celebrations every month.… The food is very good with three meal choices each night! I would highly recommend the Atrium to anyone interested in independent living."

"I like Stroudwater Lodge because it's like a five-star hotel. It's very upscale and modern, which is different from the other senior places we've looked at. The people are excellent and very good. The place has a lot of acreage, it's very well laid out, and really nice. It's also located closely to several large hospitals. We looked at a 1-bedroom apartment, which is relatively small, but really nice and upscale. They have a gym, activities like bingo, lectures, they go on trips, and so on. We also ate there and the food was good."

"My mother lives in the independent living side of this facility. It is very expensive but well managed and staffed. There are a lot of activities available for residents, but no one is required to do anything he or she doesn't want to. Mother has a large, 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a little bit of ocean view. Mother can make her own meals, or order a take-out meal from the dining room, or have dinner in the restaurant-like dining room. It is in a beautiful location on a private beach that's a 10 minute drive from town. There's a shuttle bus that takes residents to the supermarket a couple of times a week or to Portland for concerts or plays. Residents with a car can park in the covered garage. "

"I visited Oceanview for my in-laws. The people who toured us could not have been nicer. They did have independent and assisted living. They were also building a memory care. We very much like the community. It was a beautiful facility. It felt very congenial. The facilities were just wonderful. In addition to the dining facility, they have sort of a grill room in the main lodge which people can opt to use or not. Clearly there's a lot of use to it. I could see my in-laws being very comfortable using that. For special occasion, there's a dining room in another building. The access to downtown Portland was really attractive. They have a bus or shuttle that runs regularly so that people can make shopping trips to markets in Portland as well as for cultural events. For activities, we watched some exercise class. I was very impressed with it. Clearly, looking at their activities, there were a lot of things going there. It just felt livelier than some of the other places we looked at. I would be really comfortable having my in-laws move in there. My understanding was that if they were to move in to one of the apartments that are not yet built, and they sign up, they would be able to customize certain elements of it, which is very nice. That was certainly meaningful to my mother-in-law. "

"My mother preferred the Inn at Atlantic's independent housing, where you could have a house, but you're going to buy it. In addition, it has assisted living, and if you need rehabilitation, it was connected to the facility, so you just move in there. It also had a nursing home facility. You avoid having to go through multiple changes as you progress to the other care, and that was the other big plus. They were doing a wine and cheese social, had a musician come in three days a week, and had a salt water pool where they do aquacise. They looked forward to what was happening. "

"I visited there several times before my mother moved to her apartment. I was impressed by the grounds, the staff, the preparation and thought about increasing needs for assistance by residents, the social services, the activities and community involvement, the apartments and medical care, the staff, and the food. I was so impressed I considered putting my own name on the waiting list for when I met the minimum age requirement. "

"Coastal Landing was a wonderful community. They had senior apartments, which were very nice. Everything was fresh and had new paint. The whole facility was lovely. The staff during the tour was wonderful, answered all our questions, and very pleasant. I saw her interact with other residents there, always in a pleasant way. Then the residents reacted to her in a friendly way. I could tell that she had contact with them. The dining area was like a high-class restaurant. It looked like a ballroom with tables with tablecloths. It was very nice, and the menu was exquisite. They had a gymnasium, a spa, a movie theater, a big room set up where they can play cards, and another room where they can do arts and crafts. There had very nice grounds where they had activities to do outside. I would highly recommend this place to anyone. It was very lovely. They also have a beauty parlor there and a little area where you can buy things, like tissue paper."

"We had a wonderful experience at Sunnybrook Village. They were very informative. We saw the schedule of their activities and it looked like they keep them pretty busy. There's a lot to do there. We saw the entire facility and thought it was quite nice. It seemed to have everything that you would need. "