Benchmark Senior Living at Waltham Crossings

The staff at Waltham Crossings was very nice and accommodating. My concern was just they don’t have a nurse on duty 24 hours. The rooms were small in general.

My daughters and I went around with the nurse and we decided unanimously on Waltham Crossings (The Harbor Program). We feel this offers the best level of treatment, which my wife needs. We feel that the caregivers per person are of the highest ratio, and they are very kind and lovely people. They really care for her. My wife is in a shared bedroom with another woman, but she has her own bathroom. It has a closet, and we furnished it with items that came from home. We brought her a bed, a recliner chair, and we decorated it with some stuffed animals and family pictures. So, it is a very comfortable place. I stay with her on Sunday evenings, and the people come to change her padding every two hours, and she sleeps very well. I eat lunch and supper there. I am very pleased with the portion sizes, which are proper for people who are not very physically active, and also with the selection of the food. They give the seven food groups every day. Since she has Type 2 diabetes, we ask them to limit the sweets intake, like pastries and candies. Some of the people are not able to feed themselves, and after everybody has eaten in the dining room, the staff goes around and feeds all the people who have not eaten their full meal. It is a guarded facility and you cannot get in and out without a digital reader. We are very happy with how she's being taken care of, as she has other physical problems related to her Alzheimer's. They have activities like movies and live and recorded music. They have a recreational room where they all gather. They have some kind of engagement or stimulation all day long.

My father lived at Waltham Crossings for several years. Overall our experience with them was very positive. The staff was excellent and really cared about the residents well-being. One thing we noticed about the community which we really liked was that many of the residents kept their apartment doors propped open during the day, so that as other residents walked by they would often stop in the doorway to chat for a few minutes. We felt that this really added to the social aspect of the community, and was something we didn't see at other assisted living facilities. A word of caution - there were some changes going on at the management level during my father's last year there. There were a few occasions, particularly during this last year, when we questioned some of the assistance charges my father was being billed for, and found that he in fact was being overcharged (they did correct things immediately when we inquired, and compensated for the errors). It is a good facility, but family should definitely ask questions throughout the experience.

I visited my grandfather at Waltham Crossings multiple times with the rest of my family. It was a nice facility, warm, and peaceful. My grandfather seemed happy there. They got to take day trips to the park, mall, get haircuts, and have socials. He seemed to like talking with the other residents as well. My grandfather loved to eat and he seemed to enjoy the food, which was a big deal to us and him. The staff were friendly and accommodating. They answered all the questions my mother and I had about what he would be doing with his time, how easy things were to access, etc. The only thing that I noticed I did not like was the size of the rooms. This may be standard, but they were very small for the price he paid to live there. Overall, I would give it 4 stars. I based most of my review based on my grandfather's happiness as well. I would recommend it.

I will give Waltham Crossing three stars because while some aspects were excellent there were other aspects that were horrendous. My grandfather was admitted here when he was no longer able to live a stable life at his own home. The admission process went smoothly and he was assigned a nice apartment to live in. At first, everything seemed great. The nursing staff that we had met was wonderful and he was provided many activities and social gatherings to attend. His favorite were the resident socials that allowed him to meet his neighbors and other staff members. The horrible part of this experience was the communication between our family and the staff at Waltham Crossing. One one occassion, we received a bill from the pharmacy that they made us use for over the counter medications that were not covered by his insurance company. This outraged us as if we had known that he needed them we would have bought them at BJs or some other discount store. When we tried to contact the pharmacy or the facility we would never receive a call back and he continued to receive these meds that the doctor never had to prescribe in the first place. Also, he had a fall and we didn't hear about it for three days when he called and told us! His care plan clearly stated that all medical issues needed to be discussed with us. In all, he liked living there for the most part but the communication lines need to be much better.

When looking for a place that would be right for my grandmother just last year my family and I stumbled across Benchmark Senior Living of Waltham, Massachusetts. The place was quite nice and people seemed happy. We did however see some things that were extremely odd. One was that the residents had a lot of restrictions and had to abide by the set schedules that were given out. If a resident did not want to participate they would need a "note" from a physician excusing themselves. That was very odd to myself and my family and we decided it might not be out first choice. All the accommodations were very nice and the staff seemed quite nice. But like many aspects of life the people in charge aren't always the right pick.