Independent Living Communities in Bloomington, MN

"I went to RidgePointe Senior Living. The person who gave me the tour was very good, the food was very good, and the apartments were good sized with lots of closet space. She showed me all their amenities, and they were very good."

"Benedictine Windermere Way is a fairly new place. My daughter-in-law's mother enjoys it very much. It's very well done and it is very comfortable. It had excellent people running it. The staff was competent and the activities were excellent. As part of their COVID protocols, you have to wear a mask, put antiseptic on your hands, and keep distance from the people. So, they are very cautious with that."

"The rooms are older and small. The care is moderately good. The biggest complaint is that we purchased new comfortable clothing for him and within a week all but one item we purchased “disappeared” never to be seen again. They also “lost” a sweatshirt that was very dear to him. It is obvious that they randomly distribute clothing to other patients as we often arrived and he was wearing items that were not his own. I would be very wary of this place."

"My girlfriend’s mom is in Cornerstone. They have friendly staff and make sure that her mom feels comfortable when she went in not knowing anybody. They are willing to make new people feel welcome, like it is the first day of school, and make sure that they meet everybody, who all give them a warm welcome. They have activities, like games, bingo, and live music. They have a separate room for activities that is not far from the dining area. It has been only three or four weeks since she moved in, so she is still getting used to everything that is going on. They have their own prayer service, a place for massages, and a salon. They offer three meals a day, brunch on Sundays, and mid-afteroon tea, pie, and coffee. "

"My mom was still living in her own home and she didn't want to go into a nursing home. A lot of the assisted living buildings that have been around for many, many years, although they've been remodeled still have a real nursing home feel for them. But Seasons at Maplewood did not have that. In my opinion, they know what people want. The Ecumen building is only two years old, but it was hand-in-hand with another Ecumen building that was 25 years old. The staff seem great and I have not felt uncomfortable with anyone, from the chef, nurse, wait staff, and the concierge that's there from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night. The main one, Lynn, she wears many hats and she's friendly. Everybody that works there seems to enjoy their jobs. My mother's room is huge. A 2-bedroom/2-bathroom apartment. It's over 900 square feet. I love their food. I've eaten their many times with her. Their price is not that bad, and anytime I want to eat with her, I just go on buy a ticket. And I have not had one bad meal yet, although my mom has had one. "

"Havenwood of Maple Grove was very airy, light, white, and open compared to the other two places I went that had more darker wood. I believe they're only a year old, so they have a lot of availability. We toured both assisted living and independent. The tour guy was good. The layout was more dispersed, but they had laundry in their units. They didn't have a pool table though, which was kind of a big thing for my mother's friend."

"Benedictine Living has a continuum of service. My brother-in-law started there in assisted living. And there, they have assisted living units that are furnished, so you don't have to provide your own furniture. They provide all the meals and nursing people come in and make sure you take your meds and they evaluate you initially. So there's a nurse involved to check on you daily. They provide the thing that hangs around your neck, that's like an alarm or as a bell. But it turns out that he doesn't need all the nursing services. They were very accommodating. After the first half of the month when he was there, they moved him to a less expensive independent unit. And they provided him with the furniture he needed to stay there, which was wonderful. At that point, he paid separately for his meals. They had a $1000 sign-in fee, and they even waived to keep him there for a short time. They're brand new and they're right next to the hospital. Their staff couldn't have been nicer. My brother-in-law is very picky, and he thought the food was great. They have activities."

"We toured Oak Ridge Place. What I liked about it was the staff, friendly staff, and very knowledgeable. We were able to meet some, and what is important to us is they have nurses 24/7. We got to meet the person that's in charge of the dining room, which is really nice, and some of the residents. It was just a very pleasant, pleasant place. She took us to three different apartments and stuff, and a very, very nice, very open layout and stuff. I was really very pleased about the way the restrooms were, how much more safe it is for a person to take a shower with all the handles, and the cut out where they don't have to go over a tub, they can just walk into it. It was really nice. I liked the storage area that they had, so it was just a really nice place. They are pet friendly. The maintenance, they're 24/7 also. If you have problems, there's staff there, if you need them for questions. But one of the things that was really nice is that each resident gets one of those alert bracelets or a watch. If something should happen immediately, in the rooms themselves, there's like two or three buttons that they can push for immediate response from the staff there. I love that the mailboxes were indoors and not out. I thought that was really awesome."

"I visited SummerHouse of Bloomington. They do not provide any food. They have underground parking like all of the other places had. They also had an exercise room, but the only activity they had was morning coffee. You cannot stay in that unit and convert to assisted living, you would have to move elsewhere. The apartments were very nice and the staff was friendly. I looked at a 1-bedroom 1-bath, it had a living room and a full kitchen. I would have to cook there because they do not provide meals. It wasn't large but very sufficient. I think it's a great place if you want to do your own cooking. The upkeep and maintenance of the place seemed very good and you can walk to Walgreens, beauty shops, and all of that. It's just not what I feel I'm going to need in the future."

"Presbyterian Homes was a massive community. It was very big. They had all levels of care, from independent through nursing home. They also had a lot of staff. Everybody was very pleasant, but the place was very big, so I'm not too sure you would get the individual care that you need. There were plenty of activities. There appeared to be plenty of programs for people to participate in. Also, their rooms were a very good size. "

"We toured many facilities and one of them was Nine Mile Creek. The facility was great. The reception was wonderful and the person who gave us the tour was exceptional. He was able to help us with our decision, but there were just some reasons that we decided not to proceed. Their rooms were spacious and it has a balcony. The people seemed to be enjoying the place. We saw several groups that were there and they seemed to be enjoying with what they were doing. "

"I toured the Villas at Pleasant Avenue II. They were smaller than the other facility, the apartment size, but they were brand new. They were nice. They were very clean. My friend did not like that the living room at the Villas was not carpeted. The staff who gave the tour was nice. However, she seemed to want to hurry us out of there."

"Hayden Grove Senior Living Bloomington is a very nice facility, and the staff is great. We looked at one-bedrooms with them, and the activities and stuff like that seem to be good. The menu and all the stuff on the food menu also seems to be good, and the pricing seems to be competitive with everybody else. The only reason we didn't go with that one was because it was fairly new; it had only been available for like four months, so everybody was new, and we were looking for one that had people that had been there for a while. What they didn't have was a program where they had somebody that had been living there for a while, and that would become like a "buddy" with my mother going in, then she'd be able to learn what was going on, and get introduced to other people. The facility was really nice and it's a neighborhood with a bunch of houses, so it just kind of stood out to a certain extent. All in all, I have nothing negative to say about the facility. They also have a lawn."

"My mother-in-law is in an independent apartment at Mainstreet Village right now. It is close to shopping and things like that and some public transportation, and the rent is reasonable compared to some other places. So those were some of the factors that went into the decision. They have scheduled transportation for the residents and various activities scheduled that they do like local trips, and they have a library. The apartment is nice; it is as big as all the others we looked at or bigger. It is a one-bedroom that has a living room, a kitchen, a walk-in closet, and a dishwasher, which is good. They have a laundry room on each floor, so the residents have go into the laundry room to do the laundry, and it is coin-operated. Ideally if you had a washer and dryer in your unit, that would be the best, but if not, then it would be better if they didn't have to actually use coins to use it; if it were just free, that would be better. "