Independent Living Communities in Richfield, MN

"The staff at RidgePointe of Minnetonka was very friendly and we liked the fact that they had 24/7 personnel at the desk all the time. We will be choosing that place above other places because they have food available. They have a continental breakfast, they have lunch available, and then dinner Monday through Thursday. A lot of the other places didn't have that much food available and I was just looking for the food availability primarily and we decided that that was more important than some of the other things that we were looking for, like a balcony and so forth. The apartments looked spacious enough. The bathroom had a cutout tub so they could just walk into the bathtub and take a shower. There was an in-apartment storage area so that we could store things there in the apartment. It's a one-bedroom. They have a lot of things like exercise classes, lectures, and things that I'd be interested in. I know they have card games going on. I don't know if I am doing that. They have a library that has newspapers and books and so forth. There's an atrium that is nice for the winter to go down and sit where there's a lot of plants and palm trees and stuff like that. They have 24- hour coffee and tea, hot chocolate, and lemonade available. They come and clean your apartment once a week. They clean your kitchen and bathroom and vacuum."

"Ecumen is brand new. It's beautiful. But the way things look and the way things really are, when a patient is there isn't always what you see. The staff was very helpful, but it seems very, very limited. "

"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 dad moved into Benedictine Windermere Way. When you walk into it, it is so inviting. They always have fresh coffee and water there, and the staff is pleasant. The food was great. The facility is very clean. There's an activity calendar, and there's always something going on. They have bingo, and they have a bar place. They have a movie night. They play cards. They play left and right, and they play dice. They have a puzzle room, a library room, and a workout room. My dad has a studio, and I was impressed that he had a stove, a fridge, and lots of cupboards in the studio. They have a huge chapel. It's spacious, friendly, well-kept, and they have security."

"We had my mom ready to go into Cornerstone Assisted Living, but we'd have to put her into memory care there. Having seen other memory cares, it's probably the best one but that's a drastic change, and it's not an environment I would want to put my mother in at this point. It's a very nice community, and the assisted living was beautiful. We toured the assisted area where they have a dining area, a solarium and activities. It was very nice. My mom would have to be sent down into the lower level, which they lock up unless family comes. It's a newer community, but the memory care rooms were pretty small, which my mother doesn't like. They also wouldn't allow pets, and that was a big deal for her too, and that was probably the last straw for her. From what I understand, it's normal for any memory care community."

"Ecumen Seasons at Maplewood is very nice. They have everything my parents wanted, but they just didn't go. The facility was very nice. The staff explained everything and showed us around. We saw one room. It was very nice, but it was too small for them; that's why we didn't continue on. The dining room was very nice. They offered different packages, which was very nice as well. "

"We had a very good experience moving my parents in. Though we are giving five stars, it might have helped to understand the Ambassador program better. Maybe we missed something that was explained to us but I don’t remember how the introduction between the ambassador and my parents was going to happen. A couple people told us who the assigned ambassador was but we never met him in the week we were there. Again, we might have missed something information that was available to us, but some information about how to get new residents familiar with wayfinding would be helpful. Maybe there aren’t any tricks for way finding except repetition."

"My mother lived at Oakridge Place. The price was good. You have a choice of doing a full meal plan, one meal a day, or two meals a day. They had wonderful staff there. We visited there. I thought that I was going to be able to have a meal there, but I didn't get to. I was a little late, and they were in the middle of their lunch. If you don't like what's on their menu for the day, you can do an ala carte menu. They could have said, 'Well, we can get you a sandwich quick' since people were still eating in the dining room. They could have done that. I think the staff either forgot or had to continue with the tour because I was late, and she had other things going on. The staff was wonderful. I visited this place two weeks ago, and the person who did the tour was Heather. She is new to that place, but she's very good and helpful. They had a couple of apartments that they were fixing up. After someone leaves a place like that, they thoroughly have to go through it and clean it. Heather did a great job. I was pleased with it. It didn't make a difference that I didn't get a lunch, but I think if they tell you you're going to get lunch, you should get a sandwich or something. They have a lot of activities for the residents. They had a lot of people coming in to sing. Sometimes, during the meal, they had light piano music going on and a lady was playing. It's not a place that I wanted, but it would be a great place for the right person. They were very efficient with everything. The dining room was very clean. The hallways were very clean and kept up well. They had a lot of activities. From experience with my mom being there, they have activities that are geared towards older people like bingo, putting puzzles together, and music. They have a van where they'll take you to the bank or they'll take you where you need to go. My mom was there during COVID the whole time and it doesn't bother her too much because she wasn't used to going out much anyway because she's blind and couldn't see. She had those books where they listened to the books. Those are provided by the Foundation for the Blind and that was her enjoyment for activity. There are good things for the people to do there. Overall (and I based it on what my mother was able to do), they were very efficient with that. They had therapies that would come in if your doctor agreed that you needed that. They had bingo, music, therapy, exercise, and some other types of games."

"My friend will be moving to Benedictine Living. The food was fantastic and the rooms were awesome. I toured the memory care unit and it was the nicest one I've seen yet. It was spacious, bright, and cheerful. The people seemed nice. They were very helpful and they were not pushy. They knew that they had a good place to sell, and so they were forthcoming on anything. They had a workout room and sort of a makeshift space that they used for church and different services and stuff. They showed me the library. They had a quilting group that displayed quilts, which made it look and feel homey. The elevators were conveniently located plus I liked that they had stairs. If you wanted to walk up the stairs, you could walk up the stairs for exercise up or down. I liked how it was extremely secure. You couldn't just walk on and off the street. You had to either call somebody that is there or you talk to the office and they would allow you in. I liked how they're not hovering out the front door trying to make the residents there feel like they're being watched all the time. I loved the dining room area. I also liked how they could convert it into other usable space. I loved the view that my friend would have from her room. I liked the proximity of the actual building being right next to a line of medical clinics and a hospital. The biggest selling point was that they were the only ones in Northfield that had memory care on the premises. When I looked at the information as to what their upcoming events were, they would take them shopping, bowling, and to different places in the community for lunch."

"The Pines is very expensive. The apartments were smaller. There was barely the amount of storage area and closet space and you get just one meal a day. It was like a fancy hotel. They seemed to be busy, but it was more like a resort. It was pretty glitzy. The staff was very nice. "

"We visited Village Shores, which I really liked. The staff seemed very friendly, and the building was very bright and clean. The community seemed very active and had a lot of activities, like a choir, a couple of different veterans' groups, a book club, a jigsaw puzzle club, and a billiard group. They had musicians and a children’s choir who came in. "

"My mother was a resident of Mainstreet for 5 years and enjoyed her stay there very much. She had a beautiful 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment. The staff, activities and accommodations were all very good and welcoming. The staff did an amazing job during the Covid months to keep the residents safe and everything moving along as best they could to try and keep the residents content to make it as easy and comfortable as possible for everyone to get through. Much appreciated! "

"Yorkshire of Edina is a good place, and my mother is in the memory care area. It's a very nice, small community, and it's very nice and welcoming. The place is spacious and the staff is awesome. The dining area looks nice, and I have been there when the residents were eating, and my mom hasn't complained about the food. The residents play bingo, they have happy hour on Fridays, and there's all kinds of activities. There's plenty to keep them busy all day long."

"My husband and I went to 7500 York Cooperative. It's very close walking distance to three different food stores. There's access to a library and the Southdale Mall. We can walk around Centennial Lakes, a beautiful area to walk around, and lots of restaurants. The price is good. It's a co-operative. We can buy into the co-op. We do not buy our park money, but we buy a share in the co-op. They were very free with giving us their financial information. We like how it looked. We like the types of apartments. The two bedrooms would be large enough for us, and it was spacious living. The staff was very friendly, very open, and gave a lot of information. The facility is very well laid out. It's very clean. The bad thing about it is they don't have access to assisted living. They do have an assisted living, but it's not connected. So you're not guaranteed that you can go into that assisted living."