Memory Care Communities in Bellingham, WA

"The thing I love the best about The Bellingham at Orchard is they have what's called the SPARK Program. What that looks like is they do all kinds of dance and music, and they use tons of all kinds of activities. It's a holistic approach like mind, body, and social activities. It's a smaller facility, so there's a lot more one-on-one contact with the people. They have two sides to the facility up there. They have more advanced care people on one wing and then the other wing is where people are less advanced in their care needs. They ongoingly reevaluate their clients. The people that I visited and talked with were family members that had been visiting their loved ones, and they were thrilled with them. They loved them. And I saw people were having a birthday party and they had these giant balloons and people were sitting in wheelchairs. The big balloons came by, and they reached and touched it, and they were laughing. People were moving to the music. They have been so great in working with me on this transition. Everybody in the place knows everybody, which is wonderful. They also gave me numbers to call because my dad is a veteran. They have a resident dog, a beautiful yellow lab for the people there, which is very nice. The woman that worked in the kitchen has been with this program for 15 years. And the fact that she will put her own dad and that he'll be eventually going there speaks volumes to me. Another thing that I like about The Bellingham at Orchard is that their residents have an area. It's really quiet, it's really safe, and it's not on a busy road. But in their back they have all these exits. Everyone has a room with a view and a window to an outdoor area, which is nurturing. And there's this path where you can go in a wheelchair, or you can walk and wander around. And you are all in a beautiful area with gazebos and beautiful trees, and you can't get lost because you're in an area that you can't go outside of. The person who took me around was exemplary. The food looked really, really good. The menu was up. They do something that the other places didn't do, which I found interesting. I talked to them during the interview, and I said my dad has very few teeth. And she said, "Your dad will always be able to have soup, and we always have mashed potatoes and gravy, and we can make all these soft foods for him. Don't worry. And of course, there are people that get to the stage where they can't swallow, and we take care of all of that, too, and it even goes into hospice care when that time comes up." What they did differently is, later in the night before people go to bed, they have snacks for everybody, because sometimes people want to get up and they need a little bit of snacks."

"Spring Creek by Bonaventure was wonderful, but you have to be a private pay the whole time your family member is there. It never rolls into Medicaid, so that could be as much as $7000 or more a month until the person dies, so that's a lot. That was frustrating because that was really where we wanted my sister to go. Originally, I visited for memory care, and then I went on to a visit in assisted living. I liked the activities, the stimulation, the rooms, the apartments that the residents had, and the cleanliness the best. It's lovely. The rooms are a great size, more than enough, very clean, floors were current, no chips, no cracks, nothing that would concern me. They have everything. The staff was very friendly to us and very helpful. I didn't deal with the kitchen staff, the dining room staff, or the cleaning staff, but the people who were trying to get us to sign up were helpful. They have a chef on staff who was new to the facility, and he came over and spoke to us. He makes pastries, so there were all kinds of fresh pastry everywhere for the residents to go and get whenever they wanted. They had like a walking group. They took them out to activities throughout the month or whatever."

"We went to Where the Heart is Assisted Living and Memory Care. We looked at all sides of it. They have a good system and a good program. The facilities were excellent. The people were very nice and you could see that they were interested in doing a good job with the people they were working with. Just looking at it, I thought it was a lot newer than it was."

"HomePlace Burlington Memory Care was very good. They had several little bungalows and each one had at least 1 or 2 caregivers. Looked like they did activities there, too, which I think was just phenomenal because they try to have people work to the best of their capabilities. I was impressed with that. There was a puzzle there and that's what they encouraged their residents to do. The lady was very personable and very informative. She was just very good and she emphasizes how they try to get their residents to be able to do things, not just sit around."

"My husband is at Highgate at Bellingham. It's way too far out expensive. Right now, it has been really rough because of Covid isolation. My husband is pretty sad that he can't even see anybody, but that's not their fault. The problem I have with some of it is that he gets a lot of missing items. When I send about 20 pairs of pants, he is down to 2, and that's not appropriate. Other than that, there has been no issue except for the cost. It was all virtual tour, so I didn't get to even go in his room. They don't have a whole lot of activities because of Covid. My husband said the meals are fine. He said the breakfast is not good, but lunch and dinner are fine. The price is terrible because they're charging way more than other facilities, and I'm not getting anything out of it. The part that bothered me even more was when I went to put him in there, they charged me an extra $3000 to $4000 just to get him set up in there. I thought that was totally inappropriate. I was not happy about that and that bothered me. I just don't think they're upfront on everything. The people were very nice though."

"Cordata Court was my favorite of all the places I toured. I was talking to one of the ladies who was in charge, and she was really nice and friendly. I liked the building and everything inside. The facility was so cozy and warm. The rooms looked great. Everything around looked really homey and cozy. It was a friendly environment. The residents were eating lunch and they were all smiling and friendly."