Country Meadows of Bethlehem Bethlehem, PA

My dad is in Country Meadows of Bethlehem. It's all on one floor and very well kept and clean. The staff has been excellent and very helpful. There are lots of activities for the people there to do. From what I saw, they have bus trips, movies during the day, Wii bowling, card games, arts and crafts, building things, and many more. They also have a signup sheet where they fill the bus and go to the supermarket or shopping. He's raving about the food and saying that it's really good.

Country Meadows had a graduated service, which was very nice and more inclusive than an independent home. The best thing that stood out was the care. The staff was very friendly. The only thing that made it a little difficult was the layout involed a lot of walking to get to the different areas. It smelled very nice and didn't have any odors.

I visited Country Meadows. The people were not that friendly and did not know the residents. They only served one meal a day and took a lot of outside trips. I thought they needed to have two meals a day and needed to know their residents. They showed me a nice apartment with a washer and dryer inside.

My mom needed to transfer to a skilled nursing facility ("SNF") for wound care following a hospital stay, so my research began with a list provided by her case manager and continued on the internet. I made Country Meadows ("CM") my first choice for several reasons: (1) It offers the full spectrum of retirement living, from independent living to assisted living (with or without memory care) to short-term rehab to 24 hour skilled nursing (also long-term); (2) the reviews were uniformly positive; (3) CM provides a link to its Medicare inspections right on the section of the website devoted to its SNF; (4) it looked pretty; (5) the sample menu seemed tasty; and (6) it is amazingly pet-friendly. In fact, this last feature is what made me lobby hard for a bed for her at CM. My mom is a tremendous "dog person," but just generally an animal lover, and the fact that not only are residents allowed to bring their own pets, but also staff bring their well-behaved dogs to work to interact with the residents, and each "neighborhood" has resident feline "mascots." Despite her love for the canines, my mom became quite fond of one of the SNF cats. My mom, who has dementia and started requiring oxygen for the first time in her nearly 81 years during her hospital stay, was in the CM SNF for about a month and just moved into a memory care apartment in the connected building next door. Everything I can think to say about CM is absolutely positive. The staff is genuinely caring and knows each resident by name. Because it boasts being one of the top places to work in PA 12 times, there appears to be relatively little turnover. There is a whole range of activities geared to interest and "function" level, even in the long-term SNF; for example, my mom, who used to love to cook, was chopping veggies for the canning and salsa-making (these products are sold from the CM neighborhood to benefit a designated charity, often the Alzheimer's Association. One day, there was a "full campus" activity, a performance by a pianist from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The food is actually genuinely good ... and the dessert cart in the SNF is "diet-busting"! My mom's extremely recent (yesterday) move to the memory care neighborhood was pretty seamless, and an activities coordinator accompanied her all day to help her get acclimated. CM's attention to detail is evidenced by the fact that her roommate (until a private becomes available) has a family dog who will be visiting - terrific informal pet therapy for my mom. Finally, CM is very good about calling regarding any issues that arise with a loved one. I've discovered that I am definitely a "helicopter child," but the CM staff is helping me to "back off" a bit and still feel all right about it. Certainly my peace of mind has exponentially increased. Obviously, no "personal care"/"assisted living"/skilled nursing residence can ever be the ideal solution (wouldn't we all rather have our loved ones healthy, with memories intact?), but CM, as far as I can tell, is very near that unattainable goal.

We chose Country Meadows for my father-in-law. It is very nice, and we have been very pleased. He is in a one-bedroom apartment, and I just have absolutely nothing negative to say about it. It has been a very positive experience, and he has adjusted very well. He was living by himself in Florida and having him here -- we only live a mile away -- is absolutely wonderful. The apartment is very nice. They cleaned it up pretty nicely before he moved in and put fresh carpeting in, and it has a little kitchenette with a microwave and a sink; it doesn't have a stove, but he has all of his meals there. And they just have a lot of activities going on. When he was there at Christmas, he went out to see the Christmas lights; he does a lot of just rides down to the community and to the stores. There is a happy hour with the guitar and such that he enjoys. The chaplain there is just outstanding. I am not sure exactly what else he goes to, but he has a cat, and you are allowed to have animals there. That was big for him because he had to give up his dog since he really just could not take care of the dog. You can even have a dog there, but you got to be able to take care of it, walking it outside and such. So he got a cat that is easier to maintain inside, he enjoys that, and it has worked out well.

I went to Country Meadows unannounced, but it was excellent. They were extremely pleasant, very accommodating, showed me the entire facility, and gave me all the information that I needed to get. It is almost like going into a hotel and getting a single room. It is like you are in a fancy hotel.

I chose Country Meadows because it seems to be all-inclusive. Everything is included there. A lot of the other places have a la carte fees. If you need to get a ride somewhere or if you want something done, it's extra. They have people coming in and helping with physical therapy, ordering what you need, doing your pacemaker check, your PT and INR checks. The people there are very, very nice. Mom didn't want to go, but she's managing fine there. They've helped her a lot with physical therapy. They have an occupational therapist come in, and they make them as comfortable as they can. They will either supply furniture or you could bring your own. You can bring your pet. They have a lot of things going on. They play bingo, they play bridge, they have trivia. They take them out for a ride, go to lunch. Anything you need, they take care of it for you. I've not had a problem. When you first go in, they give you a buddy who stays with you to get you integrated into the routine.

Both my parents are at Country Meadows. My dad said there are individuals working there that are very caring and give individualized care. They are busy and there are a lot of people in this facility. They have a lot of activities that my father can participate in. They have religious services at my parents' convenience. The food, I would not say it’s the best ever, but it’s not terrible. During the summer months they have outdoor activities. I believe there is a room where in the winter they can go and get some sun without having to experience subzero temperature. They also have activities that my father would be able to leave the premises and they transport them. They also take them to doctor's visit within 10 miles which is nice. Basically it’s like many of the other facilities that I've seen, but for now my parents seemed to be okay there and I'm not worried about them.

My parents were at Country Meadows of Bethlehem. It was in a nice area, and it was clean and well-kept. My father had Alzheimer's so he stayed in the Alzheimer's area, while my mother stayed in the assisted living area. I liked that she could visit him although they kept them separated in different areas in the same building. The staff were attentive to the needs of the residents and when something happened especially to my father, they called me immediately. They also had medical staff available. My parents were in shared rooms and they were big. The bathrooms were set-up for washing and cleaning with a special toilet and special places for them to clean-up. They also provided help for them if they went to the bathroom. They had activities for the residents like sing-along. The food was good, well-balanced and fresh.

I visited a relative at Country Meadows. It was very clean and the employees were kind. The rooms where the residents stayed were nice. It was like every resident had their own little apartment. The kitchen area was very nice as well. Families can sit and eat together. The grounds had fantastic landscaping. The residents could go out and sit on a sunny day. Since it is an assisted community, nurses checked in during certain hours. It was nice to know that someone is checking in on your family member. There's also different activities that the residents participate in to make friends. When you are visiting, you can watch these activities.