The Forum at the Crossing

I went on a quick tour at The Forum at the Crossing. I saw their food, and it looked good. They had a library and a TV room. I saw that they had very active and happy-looking residents. I met some staff who were helpful.

The rooms are nice at The Forum at the Crossing. The staff is very friendly. The residents look happy. This place is actually my second choice. We had a great tour of the place. They have good food. It is more expensive, though.

I liked the food and the activities at The Forum, but I could not afford it. They had a happy hour on Fridays, and they had dinner served every day. The facility was neat and clean.

My mother who has dementia started in rehab here for 4 weeks after a hospital stay then moved to independent living in April 2014. My sister and I noticed that the windows in her apartment were glued shut and quite dirty and were told that maintenance would replace them immediately. By October 2014, the windows had never been cleaned or replaced despite The Forum telling us weekly the windows had been ordered. Once morning my mom called me telling me that her apartment was very hot. I went down there to see. The temperature was set at 72 but it was in the upper 80's in her apartment. Maintenance said they would get right on it. Later that day they told us it was fine and due to my mom's dementia, she was moving the temp making it warmer. I had mom with me for the day arriving back around 6 pm and it was even hotter. I verified with maintenance that they had fixed it, took a temp reading and it was 88 degrees. I took my mom home for the night as we could not open the windows to cool the apartment down as the windows had never been replaced. Turns out the thermostat was broken. Days later, we were told by the Marketing Director Vickie that it was time to move my mom to Memory Care. My sister and I both felt uneasy with this and noticed our mom had deteriorated as her apartment temperature increased We toured the Memory Care department at several times of the day and found the residents to be unsupervised and left to wander around as there was only one activity in the day. A trip to the doctor verified that my mom was dehydrated and malnourished. We immediately moved her from The Forum to a reputable assisted living facility. A few days later, my mom was back to herself. 4 months later, she has improved and is active in the assisted living which offers a full day of activities and residents are supervised.

The reason I liked The Forum at the Crossing a little better was some rooms had a washer and dryer hooked up and that seemed to be important for my mother. The cost is a little bit higher there but again community and one thing to gotten about and like each other. The residents seemed to be happy. The staff was very pleasant, and the rooms were very nice. My mother plays cards a lot, and they provided many social activities. They have the social calendar, and we knew she play cards around people and we like it, but they will take her places if she wanted to because we would like her to stop driving. They provided them for personal activities. The only drawback was the cost. We had limited funds; I am not sure we excluded there but it was one of our favorite places.

I liked the location of The Forum. Perhaps it was a bit more expensive than what we could afford, but it was a nice facility, and it was very private. I thought the staff was great. The rooms were nice and adequate. They had a very nice formal dining area, and the food was good.

The Forum at the Crossing was in a marginal neighborhood, and was not very well-kept. There was a cockroach when we visited. The maintenance was definitely not kept on the building. There were things on the outside and the inside of the building that needed to be maintained, like painting and general maintenance. The room that we saw, the closet doors didn't open very well. We didn’t eat there. We also did not see the residents out and about even though we were there at a time they should have been out and about. So I got the feeling that the activities just weren't there. I did not get the feel it was as vibrant community. But the staff was very friendly. There was no problem with that.

One thing that I really liked about The Forum was that they had an onsite fitness center and they had a certified fitness trainer on their staff, which also had an extra certification in elder care. The food looked and smelled fabulous. The apartments and the bathrooms were spacious. They had a closet space for storage and each of the apartments had either a patio or a balcony. The also had a lot of activities in their activity room. It was new and everything was fresh. However, it was too far away.

I really liked this place. It had a warm, comfortable, at ease atmosphere about it. I went to this facility with a friend whose aunt lives here, so we could really talk with her about the services and staff. She was very happy, and even bubbly about the many activities and interactions that "her home" (as she referred to it) provided. She said the food was good, but not great, but she understood that many "old folks" don't like spicy foods (she is 92). My friend and I had lunch there after we talked with her aunt, and I thought the food was exceptionally good. It was well prepared, hot, attractive and exceptions seem to be made for personal preferences. I would say it is the equal of many 4 star restaurants. The grounds are truly lovely, and that is important to me. The residents can go on field trips, and have board games, and have what she feels is a very satisfying social life. I was not able to assess what they offered in the way of art or craft or music activities. There was something very relaxed and uncomplicated about the staff--and the decor. They seemed much more interesting in being responsive to the needs of the person right in front of them than of following strict guidelines and protocols--this I found very refreshing. As I said, I really liked this place, and it is on my A list.

I visited the Forum at the Crossing around a year ago. The facilities were all very clean. The staff was very friendly and the manager made sure everyone was happy. I ate in the building's main dining room. The menu offered a variety of choices. The food was okay but understandably bland. The only main complaint I have about the Forum at the Crossing is their choice of d̩cor. It seems like the interior had not been updated since the early 80's. The carpeting and wallpaper were very drab. I can understand that the management is probably more concerned with keeping residents happy and coming up with fun things for them to do. I just do not think it would take much effort to replace the pink and white striped wallpaper with something more classic and timeless. A more neutral wallpaper would not detract nearly as much from the resident's and guests dining experiences.

My grandfather moved here last year, and our family has been nothing but pleased with the attention and service of the staff here, as well as the beautiful grounds and living arrangements at the Forum. On top of this, the food is absolutely delicious! An on-staff chef makes fresh, top-notch meals. On-site physicians, grooming services, and even a small store make this a fantastic option for seniors.