Independent Living Communities in Manchester, NH

"We toured Riverwoods Manchester a few times, and the people were very friendly. It was a really nice-sized facility. There were a good number of activities. One of the things we liked about it is that the independent living was connected to the assisted living, memory care, and the full nursing care. If one of my parents had to go to another level of care, the other one could visit all the time or they could move together. They had a nice variety of units with different sizes and prices. They have a full gym, classes like tap dancing, chair yoga, chair Taichi, lectures, and movies. They did not have a swimming pool though (which was something that I was interested in), but they had all of those other things. They also have some nice communal spaces where they set out a continental breakfast and free coffee every morning to encourage people to come out and socialize. They had some nice outdoor patio spaces, and they looked nice."

"I'm in a new residence called Connect55+ Bedford, an independent living community. I have a two-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms. One bathroom has a walk-in shower, and the other has a bathtub. I have a very good-sized apartment, which is a little over a thousand square feet. I have no problems with the upkeep, but they could use a little more staff in their janitorial service. They are looking for help right now, though. The staff is also very friendly so I have no negative comments about them. There are quite a few activities here and there are a lot of opportunities to go out with a crowd at your own expense. They do tons of activities, from gymnastics, chair yoga, and a couple of different games that I volunteer in. The whole thing was a big deal for me because I knew no one in this place when I moved in, but everybody was very pleasant and helpful. There are no meals served here, but we do have an occasional thing like the one night a month that they bring Chinese food in. If you choose to partake, you pay for that. One afternoon a month, the women also go out for lunch in groups to various places. They're not very far away, but they go to different restaurants and you can choose to go or not to go. The biggest negative to me is that they do not have enough garages to accommodate everybody, so I'm on a waiting list for a garage. That's my only negative, though. Luckily, I'm on the first floor, which I like because I do not have to enter the building through the main entrance when I come and go. I can pull right up to my door, empty my car of anything I've purchased, then drive a little way down and park my car in any spot available."

"I love the fact that Merrimack Meadows have townhouse apartments. I love the quietness here and that it is walkable. You can walk through this whole complex or even outside of it. If somebody is looking for a place where they can stay inside the complex and still have exercise, you've got it here. They have an exercise room, so you can always use that, a nice heated pool in the winter, and just being comfortable in the summer. The people are friendly, too."

"I'm going to the nursing home portion of The Baldwin because I didn't want to be in a place where I felt I was at a nursing home. It's new. It's beautiful. They have a lot of activities. I didn't qualify for assisted living. I have too much disease progression with Parkinson's. They offer PT, OT, voice therapy, and pool therapy, and the nurse-to-patient ratio is high. The cost is also 50% cheaper than what I'm paying for 24/7 home care. The first time I went, I toured with the person in charge of sales. She showed me the restaurants. They have two restaurants and a cafe, which serves lattes and those kinds of coffee drinks during the day, and some sandwiches. She showed me what some of the rooms look like. They have a community kitchen in that unit for the residents. Sometimes they will make food, or sometimes there are food demonstrations or whatever. They have several living rooms with beautiful fireplaces. They have enclosed rooms, so that if you have relatives or company or need a lawyer to have papers signed or whatever, you have total privacy. That was a surprise because most nursing homes that I see don't have any room where you can go, where it's private. Another good thing is that they work with a moving company. The moving company came to my house. They had the dimensions of the architectural plan of my room, and they measured all the furniture that I wanted to bring, and they figured out where in the room it would fit based on cable, TV, or Wi-Fi outlets for your computer. They took all of that into consideration. They have also taken into consideration the windows when they're placing your furniture. The rooms come with all darkening blackout shades because I have five windows in that room, and it has a lot of daylight coming into them. I have unbelievable views; I have views of 180 degrees. It's not depressing like most nursing homes. They're all private suites. The bathroom is extremely huge. I can get a wheelchair in the shower. I have multiple sprayers, and you don't see that every day. If you want to have privacy, you can go into your room, and you don't have a roommate. The activities are unbelievable. They have a fantastic library, and all the books in that library were donated by residents. They have a huge concert piano in the main lobby. They have someone every week playing that concert piano. They have everything. For men, they have woodworking shops. For women, they got art classes. They have dance classes, gardening, and field trips continuously. They have a shuttle bus that is handicap accessible with a lift for wheelchairs, and they'll take you to all your doctor's appointments within an 8-mile radius. If it's beyond 8 miles, they will still take you, but there'll be a fee for the additional mileage. They will take you even into Boston if you have a doctor's appointment in Boston. I can't say enough good things about what they offer. They have thought of everything. They signed up with a moving company. Not only do they move your furniture, but they also help pack everything. What's going to happen is the day that I move, in the morning they'll pack up all my furniture here and then go to the nursing home, and when I go, everything will be where it's supposed to be."

"Connect55+ Londonderry is a very beautiful setting with gorgeous rooms. The rooms have lots of room in them. Their two-bedroom places are excellent. They are completely furnished with a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, good kitchen area, large bedroom, and a good sized den. They have several activities every day of the week that they do for the people that live there. We went in one of the rooms and we couldn't hear anything from any of the other rooms or down the hallways. It was a very, very quiet place. It was very nice. We went into the activity room, which was very large, and they were doing bingo there. No one knew us, but all the people in there were saying hi to us. They were very friendly. The cleanliness was excellent. There was no trash anywhere. The carpets were freshly cleaned and the room was undergoing maintenance. That's because they're fixing it up so it has a walk-in shower. It's absolutely beautiful and the staff was excellent."

"I'm in White Rock Senior Living Community - Bow NH. It's fine. I've been here almost ten years, and they're great people. We have a good management team right now, and they're very good. The maintenance guy is new, he's great, and everybody loves him."

"Ledgewood Bay at Milford is a nice facility. The staff has been very good. Mom has a nice apartment. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room kitchenette area. It's got nice big windows, so there's a lot of light. The food is very good. The dining area and its staff are very nice. There's a lot of windows and a lot of light in the dining area. They have a beauty shop, physical therapy on-site, and a van for taking residents on outings. They have a pretty full calendar of activities. The staff has been very attentive. It's expensive, but there's a lot more space in terms of the size of the apartments."

"I toured Pleasant View Retirement. It's an old building, but it was a very busy building. People seemed busy doing things, and they had beautiful grounds and gardens. It's all independent living, and there was one apartment that I liked. They do dinner, but you would make your breakfast and lunch. The apartments have little kitchenettes. Some of them have bigger kitchens than others, but they do have rooms that you could reserve if you wanted to. I asked them specifically because I like to bake bread, and they had a few rooms that had a full kitchen. So, if you want to do something like that, you can reserve that, and they do have a pool outside."

"I liked Connect55+ Concord. It had a lot of options and a lot of activities to do. It was very clean and the staff was very nice and very helpful. Cost-wise and where it's located were the reasons why I was most interested in it. I liked it."

"I've been living here in the Hunt Community for almost six years now, and it's perfect for me. I kind of convinced my loved one to move here too. He thought it was too expensive at first, but they made a deal with him; he's very happy to move in here soon. The food is excellent, and we have everything here. We get a calendar each week of activities. It's five full pages or seven, so we always have something to do. We don't do much on the weekends though. They have all the options, like a studio, a one-bedroom, and very large two-bedrooms. The facility was recently renovated two years ago at the cost of 11 million dollars, so it's really great. We have entertainment from outside at least once a week (sometimes twice). There is a beautiful 54-seat movie theater, where we watch movies every day and have meditation programs. We have a lady that gives a talk about the history of religion and a wide variety of different programs. We also have a group that writes poetry, and they get together once a week to read what they've written. There's just something you can do here every day. There's never a dull moment."

"My father has moved into John H Whitaker Place. The convenience of location and the actual reviews that they got online from a care perspective are the reasons why we chose them. My father has been there for three weeks now. Daily, they come down and ask him to participate in daily activities, and he seems to be doing okay with that. I have not tried the food, but he tells me it's delicious. His room is very roomy, and pleasant, with plenty of closet space, and is very comfortable. There is a community outreach for activities like shopping, they have music, and they have stuff to engage the residents. It's quite good actually. It's nice. The staff are very accommodating. The facility is beautiful."

"Crossroad Farm is a small place. I wasn't very impressed with them. They wanted $350,000 just to get in the door. That was for 3 rooms. They had good social programs. Everything had a charge on it because you got to pay for every thing that you want. The staff had to be nice when they want that kind of money. "

"I toured The Independent Living Facility and it seems like the rooms were very clean and you could get them either furnished or unfurnished. They come in and clean the floors, the countertops, and the bedding. I'm going to use their bed when I move because I can't get mine out of my basement. They keep it very well-decorated outside. It had lots of flowers and a porch out front. You can eat there as well during summer. They serve dinners and stuff out there. They're within a couple of hundred feet from car shows and stuff that happened on the town field, so you'll be able to see the fireworks from there instead of having to find a parking spot. Most of us can't drive. The one I met there was Becky. She runs it and I think she owns it too. They have a regular dining area, a normal room with a long table that sits probably 6 or 8, and she has the outside one too. She'll make whatever you want. She was making, I think it was spaghetti and chicken parmesan when I was there. They had a guy that has Alzheimer's or beginning stages of it, and he was in a separate room all by himself with his aide because he said it gets too noisy. The outside could use a little paint job, but other than that, the inside was nice and she got it well-kept. They had some activities too. They've got 2 computers that you can use with Wi-Fi. I don't know if they have movies, but I think they do have bingo. You're not that far from town either. Down the street, you've got a hardware store, and a pizza joint, and if you go down a different street, you can come out where the grocery market is. There's another pizza joint and you can get dental done right there too so everything's within walking distance."

"My husband is on a waiting list at D'Youville. It's lovely, the memory unit is fabulous, and it's clean. There's a bustle of activities, and the staff has 15-20 years of working there. You walked in, they immediately say hello to you, and the receptionist was wonderful. It's alive, caring, and just like home. "