Independent Living Communities in Needham, MA

"My mom has been living in New Pond Village for seven years now. We have been very happy with it. The staff is friendly. They love my mother and take good care of her. Overall, the day-to-day running of the place and the people who work there have been wonderful. The company has been making some accommodations to try to keep us there, and I think they are succeeding. I think it's an excellent place. My mother doesn't participate in a lot of their activities, but they offer them."

"My friend is at Orchard Cove. It is great. The rooms are elegant. They're suites actually. My friend lives alone. She has a large living/dining room, a nice size bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen. I had lunch with her, and the people working in the dining room were extremely pleasant. They like her, and she likes them. They're very gracious and polite. This is a high-end upscale place, and the food is exceptional too. I don't know their activities, but I do know that they keep them very busy. They have a gorgeous library, too."

"We toured Brookdale Cushing Park. I like that it was good, clean, and well-organized. The rooms were a nice size. The person presenting did a good job. We saw the food, and it looked good. They had walking paths and a couple of nice outdoor porches."

"It was very nice, open and airy. The rooms were very nicely sized. The person during the tour was excellent and very informative. The dining area looked fine. I visited on a Saturday, so there were lots of families visiting, lots of people in the library, and they were showing a movie. There was a lot going on."

"I moved my mom after 5 years in a facility very close to me and spent 7 nights a week there with her and the staff. I liked most of the staff however they didnt stay long. I had many issues with management so I moved her to the Parc in January of 2020 just before the pandemic and since the move mom has received hands in care, gained weight which was a necessity and gets lots of love from the staff. She is smiling and flourishing now instead of crying and for that I’m grateful. Making the switch to the Parc was the best decision I’ve made for those looking for great care with a solid staff I highly recommend you give it a look. I give it 5."

"We looked at Fairview Gracious Retirement, and it was very nice. It is only independent living, but has no kitchens, so you eat every meal downstairs in the dining room. The man who took us on the tour was very thoughtful. We were taken to see the apartments because that's what we're interested in. We looked at a two-bedroom apartment and it was very pleasant. It has a kitchenette that is very small and, I think, the refrigerator was the biggest thing in there. There's also a microwave in the sink, and that was it. We were also shown the dining room. They didn't have a pool, and we were looking for a place that had one. Other than that, the place was very nicely kept. There was also a very large kitchen down in the activity area, so if somebody really wanted to cook, like my husband who likes to make bread, they could use it. It was very well-equipped."

"The Delaney at the Vale wasn't right for us, but it was a fine facility. The staff was very helpful and spent a lot of time. It really seemed ideal for a certain kind of person, but we wanted to be more urban. We are New Yorkers, and it was like a resort. It's not really what we wanted. We needed it to be closer to town, that kind of thing, but the facility itself was brand new."

"Allerton House at Central Park is very well-organized and compact. It's comforting because everything is right there at your fingertips. The location is very good and convenient to everything. Everything looked brand new and was very well set up for a person who would need this type of help, so there weren't any crevices or things that would get in the way. The staff seemed great. The food looked very good."

"We visited Allerton House. It was very nice. It is very easy to get to, and it is very convenient. It is not too far from Boston and not too far from the Hingham area. The shopping center is not too far from this facility, so it is very convenient. We had lunch there, and it was very adequate. There were 15 tables in the dining room, they were all full, and the staff was very efficient. The rooms were very nice. We like the rooms. We saw a two-bedroom room and a one-bedroom room, and they were both very nice. "

"My dad has moved into Cornerstone of Weymouth. They have transportation to bring him to doctor's appointments. It has a gym. He has a porch. He likes that they have 24-hour security. They also make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They give you an allowance of $500 a month, but you can't spend it all. So, many people buy frozen food at the end of the month and store it in their freezer. When family comes over, if they don't want to go downstairs to eat, they can simply microwave it. So that was another thing we liked about it. Also, if they're diabetic, the chef would make food for them, which is just part of living there. There are a lot of things that I really love about the place. They noticed how my father had a hard time getting out of chairs, so they said, "I have a chair. It would be perfect for your father," and it was one of those chairs that lifts you so that you're standing up, and he really needed one, and now he has one. His room is actually a little one-bedroom apartment with a porch. It's so cute. It's so sweet. I had tomato soup, and it tasted like she just pulled it off the tomato plant. It was that good. I was like, "Oh my god, this is so fresh." It was wonderful. They hired a 5-star chef. The food is phenomenal. I walked around the whole building, and there was not one dead plant. And I do that every time I go and see my father. Never a dead plant. They have a gardener who's really taking care of the grounds. It's beautiful. The place is only 6 months old. Anybody who goes there would be happy. At Cornerstone, if my dad needs more assistance, he gets more assistance, but he doesn't lose his place. We don't have to go over there and move him out."

"The only reason we didn't pick The Current South Shore is that the apartment was on the fifth floor, and the porch was way bigger. It didn't have a cover, so we were wondering how we were going to shovel it and where do you put the snow when you're five stories up. The Current South Shore was actually really nice. It was brand new. It was six months old. The apartment that they showed us was a studio with a huge porch, and that was for independent living. I would give it a 3 only because right beside it was an automotive shop, and you could smell the oil if you went outside. Also, if my dad needed more help, he would lose his apartment, and he would get a smaller place. The staff member who gave the tour was wonderful, but the other person was awful. We gave them money first and then changed our mind because the other person was so bad. The place is beautiful, but one of their problems is the way the driveway is. When you come in, there's not much room. It's the way it's designed."

"Very happy with the staff and facility. "

"My mom has moved into Chapel Hill Senior Living. She is in the memory care unit, which is a small, closed-door unit with no more than 30 residents, somewhere between 25 and 30. When I went there, everyone was so warm and friendly. They call it a Montessori approach to memory care. They keep it as social and as active as possible; some people are more active than others, but my mother is in the middle, and she can still participate in things. The activities they have are quite varied. They have arts and crafts, and I couldn't believe the things they provided for them to do. I saw some of the products, a little birdhouse that they paint, and I saw a rabbit probably about 12 feet tall that they could paint and put on the door. They play bingo and they have music at least twice a week. They take them on what they call mystery rides. I think the reason they just call it a mystery ride is that if you tell someone in memory care where you're going, they're going to hold on to that. The first mystery ride that my mother had, she went to a petting zoo, and she was thrilled. They bring in therapy animals at least twice a month. Some of them are farm animals and some of them are just dogs and cats. The women that run the place as the activity directors are lovely. My mother was braiding Bella; she is one of the directors. Bella has pictures of my mother putting all braids in her hair because my mother used to do that for her grandchildren. They're very skillful at finding the things that they may be interested in. I was so thrilled with this particular place. They have a lovely courtyard where they do cookouts and you can sit out; it's all fenced in, so it's safe. I was so thrilled that I didn't need to look anyplace else. I had seven on my list for that day and I canceled the other six; they didn't matter because this place is more than fine. They have a 24-hour visiting schedule, you can go anytime, it's an open-door policy. The dining area is adorable. It looks like a mini restaurant, a nice restaurant with tables, tablecloths, curtains on the window, and a nice floor. I've had three meals there and the food is very good. From what I understand, everything is baked on the premises and cooked fresh. They use the herbs from their garden. Their chef is supposed to be a five-star chef; I believe it because the food is good. The person that helps you get the placement there, assists the families in coming to Chapel Hill. She's the one that told me to get my mom into the rehab facility, and she also facilitated it. She went to the rehab place, had a meeting with the director, and got my mother in for rehab before moving in here. I would like to give accolades to Bethany, she helps above and beyond anything. She's just a lovely human being that wants to make sure the families are well taken care of, and that the memory care patient is happy."

"My parents moved into The Current Beverly. Their room is small but cozy. It's well-kept. I've eaten there a couple of times, and the food was very good. They have a very good staff. They have bingo, outings, and trivia nights. They have a gym and gardening."