The Brook of Portland

Reviewer#RD0918q

I visited a friend at The Brook of Portland. It is very clean. It is decorated very nicely. It's very current. There's nothing old. All the smells were good, clean, and wonderful. They were having dinner at that time, and the food smelled good. Everybody waved and wanted to say hi to our friend. It is very pleasant. They're bright, happy people. My friend just moved there, so she is a new resident, but she'd lived in the area for a long time, so she knew a bunch of the other people there. Everybody is kind, nice, and helpful. They have a family type feel to it. It's lovely. The dining area is nice, open, and sunny.

Jamie

The Brook of Portland was very nice. There were little apartments in there. They have pull cords. My dad is allowed to have a dog if he wants one. They have meal plans. We saw them delivering the food to the residents. The staff was amazing. In some of the rooms, like the more assisted areas, they supply a microwave and a small fridge. In some of the more independent apartments, they supply the stove and refrigerator, but you have to bring your own microwave. They have pool tables, a theater room, and all kinds of programs. They bring in people who play music a couple of times a week. They do have one laundry room in each quarter that is free to use. They also have a laundry service that you can pay for. They'll come to pick up your laundry and do it for you.

Susan

My parents already moved into The Brook of Portland. They are adjusting to it because it's a loss of freedom, but it is a really good place. They're getting all the care they need. Everything's taken care of and they have memory care for my mother, so it's going well. It's a new facility, they just built it in September. The reason we went with The Brook is we wanted to find a place where they could be together. My father doesn't have Alzheimer's, but he is beginning to slip a little bit too and he's a double amputee with his legs. They wanted to be together and the apartment they had there was not huge, but it's bigger than anything we looked at on the list for the other places. When it's time and they run out of money, they're willing to sit down and help with the Medicaid for them, so they're not just gonna boot them out like some places will. The staff is very helpful. We get to see my parents, but we have the Plexiglas barrier. The staff that we've seen and interacted with has been very upbeat and very happy. The woman that we've worked with mostly has met with us several times and worked out a lot of things like with mom's medications. They've been really accommodating. They don't want to charge you for things you don't use. They want to make sure they get all the services they need. It's been really good so far. My dad says he doesn't like the food, but he has never liked the food anywhere we've ever gone. He also didn't like the size of the refrigerators, so the staff let us go ahead and purchase a little bit bigger refrigerator to put in there to make them happy on that one. They have a big kitchen. I know they make a lot of their food from scratch. I know that they care about nutrition because they're trying to get my dad to eat more nutritiously and that might be part of the problem. That was one complaint of his, but I also kind of question that on his part because he just wants to adjust. The food is probably fine. The lady in-charge really took pride of their kitchen and their meals. It's a brand new facility and they keep it very nice and very clean from what I can see. We don't really get to go in there. They have designated sitting areas and have Plexiglas or plastic screen right now with Covid. But everything looked really nice. When I've gone through to the window to talk to them, it looks really nice. The staff said when Covid is done, they will have outings and things that they will encourage them to go to. They have a little theater in there, arts and crafts, puzzles and games, a billiards table, and a library. They had a New Year's Eve party, but I don't think they participated because they're still adjusting. I know that they try to get them out and do things. They do not want to just take everything they can get from you, they work with you. For the two of them, comparative to the other places I called and talked to, every place is expensive, but it was relatively less expensive than the other places.