Independent Living Communities in Penfield, NY

"My mom has been at Legacy at Willow Pond for almost a year now. The place is wonderful. The young men and ladies in the dinning room are amazing. They know everyone by name and greet my mom every time they see her. They always make her feel so special. Everyone who works there is the same. From management to the maintenance guys and the lovely ladies who clean her room, all the wonderful staff at the front desk and Emily who coordinates all the activities. They all make her feel like part of a large family. They always take time to talk to her or help her with anything. My sisters and I are so very pleased with our choice for my mom. Legacy Willow Pond is a place where we feel she is safe and part of a very special family. Thank you everyone at Willow Pond!!!"

"The Legacy at Village Wood is reasonable as far as pricing and what they include. They do what is called the “I’m OK” program. So even though it is independent, every morning when they wake up they have to put what looks like a little hotel peg on their door that said I’m OK, so they know that they made it through the night. They’ve got a call button that they wear around their neck, so for some reason if they were to fall or have an issue, they can push the button and someone will respond. There are some meals and some utilities that are included in the rent. They have a shuttle that makes a trip to the grocery store once a week, so if my mother-in-law doesn’t feel like she can drive her own vehicle like in the winter, then she can still get to Whitman and get to the pharmacy to get her prescription. They try to do some activities for the residents like social outings. So for the money and with what they are offering, it is still better than her being alone. The staff was really knowledgeable and friendly. They were extremely knowledgeable, and a lot of times they seem to be a little more on the ball as far as having the information before I even had to ask them. As far as floor plan size, it is definitely more apartment type even though it is still a studio. "

"I chose Linden Knoll because it had quite a few of the things I was looking for. Everybody seems very friendly. It's very clean and well lit. The floor plan is contained. It's not a lot of space, but it's cozy, and I think it's going to be all I need to be comfortable. The staff was very informative and willing to answer any questions."

"I really like Highlands. I have been up there twice, and it happened to meet my needs. It is a buy-in community with three levels of care. You can get a one- or two-bedroom apartment with a den or a small kitchen, or cottage with a living room, kitchen, and a washer and dryer. The staff was very friendly, and the people were very nice. They really have a lot of facilities like a pool, work-out room and a library. They had a concert that day and took me around to show me the different places to eat. "

"On behalf of all Mary Jane's family, we want to thank you and the community at Legacy of Blossom and Clover for making mom's experience of moving into her new home so positive. Her apartment was cleaned and maintained beautifully.The wonderful pizza lunch was enjoyed by us all. You, Tessa, have been amazing throughout the entire process of moving mom into this Legacy community. We all appreciate all you have done. You have gone above and beyond with all your help. Thank you so very much! Jane"

"I went to Cherry Ridge. It was a very nice community. It was very clean and well-kept. They had great facilities. We visited the cafeteria or dining hall. They had a wide variety of independent living floor plans, which was nice. The rooms were very clean. Excellent. The staff was very friendly, very helpful, and very informative. They had a nice living room, but they did not have a fitness room. They said that was going to be developed, but got canceled because of COVID. But the facilities that we saw were very nice."

"The only assisted living available is at their Cherry Ridge campus. It's beautiful, and very hard to get into. If you or a loved one can get into it, you'll be glad you chose St. Anns!"

"Valley Manor is excellent. Our friends live there, and they're very happy, and that's why we looked there. It has different sizes of apartments that one can go into and that was a good thing for us because we'd like something a little larger when we're ready. We particularly liked the three-bedroom ones, and we liked that it's still within the community we have lived in for 40 years. We like that it's accessible to lots of cultural things and it's very walkable. It's an older facility, and yet they've done a nice job of keeping things in good repair and doing upgrades on balconies and such things. I liked that it has balconies that you can open up to the outside. You can be outside without leaving your private space. The staff was incredible. They were so good at remembering names and at highlighting the residents' accomplishments. One of the people I know from my church lives there. He just turned 90 and they did a big acknowledgment of him at the Eastman Theater and lots of the residents came to acknowledge him as well. I'm sure there were a lot of people who work there that were there, but one of them who was involved in admissions recognized me, knew my name, and I didn't even remember her name. I remembered her, but not her name. They are extremely good at meeting the needs of the residents and seeing the residents as complete people, including their past and their past accomplishments in their life, which I think is valuable when one is older and maybe not as capable. We have eaten there a couple of times and it's just fine. It's not outstanding, but it's been the pandemic, so it's been very hard to hire people. It has very thick concrete walls, so it's very quiet and it's easy to regulate the temperature in one's apartment. All the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows or sliding doors out to balconies, so they're light and airy and pleasant to be in the apartments. The general area is very nice, too. The people there seemed very happy."

"Cloverwood Senior Living's apartments are very upscale. The place is luxurious, beautiful, and well-decorated. They have a common room, a game room, and an eating area. The library that they have there is beautiful. I would go there in a minute if I could. All of that was nice. It's like a classy hotel. My friend lives in Cloverwood. They have an outdoor space, but I only saw it through a window, I didn't go out there."

"Legacy at Cranberry Landing was small. Everybody was wonderful when we met. The apartments were very nice. They offered outdoor access for my cat. Everyone that we met was very pleasant and they called me back to check how I was doing. They do not serve lunch. They serve breakfast and dinner. It was perfectly clean. You would have no problem moving into any of the available units. They had a movie night. They would clean your apartment. They had a pool table. They had a library. They had a movie room where they would show movies. They had card tables and puzzle tables that you and other people could go to, work in, play cards, or play other games, whatever you wanted to do."

"Gardens Senior Apartments was subsidized and too small for what we wanted. It was handicap-accessible, which was good, but we wanted a two-bedroom which was not available. We were above the income limit because it was subsidized. The environment was what we wanted. It was country living and about six miles from where we lived. We liked the area, but it was not ideal because it was not near the hospital. The staff was very good and very accommodating. Everything was very good. They had a nice environment, gardens, and activity rooms. They were very clean, but it was not for us."

"St. John's Meadows was nice. It was hard to learn your way around, but they had a pool and a woodshop, which were great. We had a meal there, and it was good. It was an ala carte thing. I had grilled cheese."

"Brickstone at St Johns is very nice. It's a smaller community. They're more intimate. They're more of a family-oriented community as opposed to a facility that is high rise and has 100 or more persons living in their apartments. Each apartment is differently designed. Some of them are two bedrooms, and some of them are three-bedroom-two baths. They also have single-family villas with fireplaces and things like that. It's a completely different environment. They have more of the apartment living concept and they also have a single villa, which is first-floor single ranch-style living. The staff is very nice. They're very professional and very attentive. It's more on a very close-knit family orientation between the residents and the staff."

"I first visited St. Ann's Community at Chapel Oaks with a friend of mine who was also looking to move in there. I liked it a lot. What I really liked was the choice of floor plans for the apartments. I saw the whole facility. One thing that they had that the other community did not have was an indoor pool. I do water aerobics, so that was a factor for me. The woman who showed me around was very informative. She answered all my questions. She showed me all the amenities and a couple of apartments with different floor plans. The place was very clean and very inviting. I also liked their kitchens more. They were all stainless and much nicer."