The Birches at Newtown

BGBourgeois

My aunt is a resident of the Birches at Newtown. Her room is large enough to accommodate her dresser, chest of drawers, nightstand, a loveseat and a corner shelf. The staff I’ve met are excellent. If I had one complaint it would be the food. The prior place she was in provided 2 choices at each meal as well as the everyday menu and they were mostly hot meals. The Birches don’t provide any choice except the meal and anytime menu.

Mommy MJ

The rooms are a nice size. The food is good and thecsoups are very good (in fact I ate there several times). For the most part floor staff is superb!!! They are caring. They know the names of every resident in the wing (my resident is in memory care) some are affectionate with the residents. They sing and dance with them.

Erin T

I visited my aunt recently and found the staff to be extremely helpful and friendly towards the residents. My aunt says the food is usually good, and she’s comfortable and enjoys the activities.

SJ

The only thing I miss is having my own oven but the food is very good. Cranberry bread pudding last night was delicious!

Dr, Ed M

Any facility is only as good as the staff. The staff at the Birches have taken excellent care of my wife who suffers from Lewy body dementia, the worst type of dementia as it includes Parkinson's disease as well as dementia. This is a very demanding care task for anyone and this staff excels with love and attention to details. Any questions or issues that come up are handled in a timely and efficient manner. The staff are very responsive inquiries and are always available 24-7. Activities for the residents are ongoing daily. Some for stimulation/therapy and some for just fun. Outside entertainment is also brought in regularly. The enclosed well maintained garden in the memory care area is very relaxing and gives access for the ambulatory residents to be outside anytime they wish during temperate weather. The staff also move the chair bound residents outside so that they too can enjoy the garden. The food is amazingly good with a great variety and great preparations. Alternatives to the daily menu are always available and the friendly chefs are very receptive to dietary restrictions/desires. The facility itself is kept very clean with a pleasant and cheerful atmosphere. Visiting access to your loved one is basically unlimited. I visit my wife every day at lunch and dinner times. I enjoy feeding her meals to her myself (she is unable to do so) and the staff are amenable and welcoming to my visits. Overall, I cannot say enough good things about the care my wife has received at the Birches.

Mary G.

My friend is happy there and likes the entertainment and has made nice friends. It is pleasant to visit her and the people and staff make me feel welcome.

Duncindy

I wanted to share a few words regarding the care my mom receives at the Birches Community. I am so thankful for this dedicated group of caregivers. My mom receives excellent care not only physically but emotionally and mentally as well. These caregivers have created a loving safe environment where she feels valued. The memory care unit provides activities to help stimulate and entertain the residents. My mom is safe and loved….this is priceless. This is priceless .

Grace

My mother was in Personal Care, Memory Care, and Hospice at the Birches at Newtown. The care she received was professional, attentive, and competent. But most importantly, it was delivered with thoughtfulness, kindness and compassion, which was extended to family members, as well.

Linda

The staff at The Birches at Newtown was very warm, very caring, very knowledgeable, very accommodating, willing to take time to answer questions, provide lots of contextual information about the facility and the residents, and had a very timely follow-up. The facility was very, very nice, clean, well-kept, and upscale. It's just compared to the other place, it was not quite there. If I had only seen that place and I hadn't seen the other place, I would be giving it fives, but it's a little bit older. It's not as new as the other place. The dining area was restaurant style and it was very nice. I saw people in a common room, kind of looking like they were playing some games. I saw people sitting, watching TV together, and reading together. They had an exercise room, a theater, and several common areas.

Jacqueline

The Birches at Newtown was a beautiful facility. I toured it last September. It was absolutely gorgeous, clean, and very organized. The rooms looked nice, the dining hall, everything about it that was beautiful. I saw all the common areas. They had a little movie theater that they built inside. It was just nice. The staff was very phenomenal, when I entered the building, they knew I was coming, were very organized, and had a tour and briefing set up for me. So, the staff was really good. I was really impressed with what they were able to offer. They look like they like to keep the residents occupied, busy, and doing different things. So, that's something I really like.

Victor

My mother is doing good at The Birches at Newtown. We like it very much. They all take it very personally. They treat my mom like their grandmother. The staff members are good. They take care of everything. They clean, they do her laundry, and they give her, her medication. I don't have to worry about anything. The food I had was good. They have bingo, arts and crafts, sing-alongs, and karaoke. Today, they had a chef demonstration. It could be a little bit cheaper though.

Elizabeth

My mom moved to The Birches at Newtown about a month ago now. She's in assisted living and we are very happy with it. They're very accommodating, very thorough, they answer all your questions and they get back to you immediately. The facility is very well maintained. They encouraged the residents and get them down to do the activities. My mom didn't want to and they kind of just brought her down there and she made friends. The day staff is excellent but the night staff seems a little more reticent. They're a little more reluctant to go the extra mile. They do all of the gettings in bed and bedtime diapers. They do their job, they just don't seem as thrilled. The food is excellent. There's a whole big dining room and they offer lots of choices. If you don't like what you're eating, you can get something else.

Nancy D.

Carole was so helpful and compassionate. It was really a good experience (as possibly could be under the circumstances).

Dana

The Birches staff was attentive and caring towards our loved one, answering her call bell. You brought her continued assistance and gave us, her family, peace of mind.

Jeanann

From the very first day that our aunt and uncle have been at The Birches, we know that they have been in excellent hands. Uprooting them from Mass was a necessary step toward insuring that they might have a better quality of life as they were no longer able to care for themselves. Although their transition to assisted living has been a challenge, the care-love-patience of your wonderful staff has made all of the difference in bringing them back to full health.

Keith Bradt

My mother moved into her new suite at The Birches in April, 2019. She had previously lived with my wife and I for 3 years. In those years, Mom would spend the day in her pajamas and watching television. All though we made her meals and dispensed her meds, we saw that her health was declining and her muscles were getting weaker due to lack of activity. Mom had become a fall risk. It was time to look for a safe place for her to eat properly, monitor her meds, introduce physical activity and rebuild a social interaction with people of her age. I had spent several months visiting personal care facilities in the Holland-Newtown area, trying to find just the right one for Mom’s comfort. The only facility I had visited twice and eventually became my choice, was The Birches! I liked the fact that it was a smaller, modern facility with the right amenities to be a good fit for Mom. It was obvious that the whole staff (Director, Marketing, Nursing, Med Techs, Physical Therapy, Activities, Dining, Housekeeping and Receptionist), were professional and genuinely cared for the residents at The Birches! A special thanks to Carole Williams, from the Birches Marketing Team, for her professional guidance which led me to the decision to bring Mom to her new home! The transition from my home to her new suite was seamless and she quickly settled in. In no time, Mom was back to her own self, meeting new friends, socializing, attending activities and taking local trips on the Birches shuttle. With daily exercise, Mom got a lot of her strength back. At age 87, my Mom has an enjoyable life - THANKS TO THE BIRCHES !!!

Maggie

My father is in The Birches at Newtown. We like the rooms and the staff, and they have a nice outdoor space that the seniors can access whenever they want. We like the person in-charge of the memory care program. She's very engaged and took an interest in getting to know his needs and likes. He's happy with the food. They have a good schedule of physical activities, they have a lot of books available for the residents, and they pay attention to what the person likes. He's interested in gardening, and they got him gardening the first day. They have informal and structured activities. Their staff is very caring, very dedicated to their jobs, they make sure that each resident has a good experience, and it's personalized.

Nancy

I liked the assisted living portion of The Birches at Newtown. Their memory care was okay. The people were very nice. The staff was very good. They had a physical therapy room. I liked that they had a jazz band came in. They had a big area for cooking demonstrations and some areas for gardening. The assisted living area had nice rooms. You can get a large room, which was an expanded room, and they also had a two-room suite, which could be two bedrooms or could be a living room and a bedroom. Right across the street was a shopping center with a variety of food stores, restaurants and banks. It's aesthetically really nice.

Michael

The Birches at Newtown looked nice. It was also clean and well kept. The rooms looked like rooms. There was nothing special about the rooms, but the staff was friendly and informative.

POAreviewer

The Birches is a relatively new assisted living facility in Newtown, PA. The apartments are sufficiently large and are designed to accommodate residents with limited mobility. The dining room food selection for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is limited. The presentations are bland and require individual seasoning. The kitchen does their best to accommodate residents with special food requests. Support staff is minimal. One assisting staff member to each floor and wing. 1 to 12 ratio. The day staff is sufficient, however, the night staff is not capable of maintaining adequate support for residents under their care. There are several activities and special events to interest all residents. Daily group activities, evening events, outings, and therapy activities are among the many opportunities available to all residents. The administrative staff is always eager to listen and correct any deficiencies noted by family members. in all, The Birches is above average compared to similar facilities in the area.

Provider Response

GM

The Birches at Newtown is a very beautiful place. It's practically brand new, and it is literally right down the street from my house. We had a very positive interaction with the director. They gave us a small gift bag. The place is big, open, airy, bright, and clean, but their memory care unit smelled. My sister and I noticed that right when we walked in. It is behind locked doors, so it is kind of closed off from the rest of the place. The director was very informative and nice, but the memory care unit was not good. It was very basic and it had that odd smell.

Provider Response

RelentlessOne

The facility has deteriorated rapidly since it opened. Constant changeover. Cannot even get a phone call returned. When my family member is injured, I cannot even understand the problem due to lack if speaking English. Would never recommend.

Provider Response

Carol240634

The Birches at Newtown was very nice, clean, and modern. The staff was very enthusiastic. The problem is, my mom has dementia and they would lock her door at night. Though she would have a bathroom in her room, she can't walk from the bed to the bathroom all by herself at night. I would have to pay somebody to stay by her bed at night.

Provider Response

bd113054

I have two family members in the facility and they complain that the lettuce is not fresh , it is wilted and dirty. One complaint to me would not cause alarm, but multiple complaints has. I have instructed them to talk to the staff and administrators before I get involved. The facility is so new and the therapy is wonderful., we just need to iron out the constant complaining of the food. "not enough" "lettuce is dirty" "taste terrible" I have not come over to eat with them yet, because I want them to try to work with the staff.

Bob715182

I wanted to put my mother in The Birches at Newtown. It was excellent, and the building and physical therapy were great. They had physical trainers on site who helped the old people exercise every day for 30 minutes a day to reach their level of performance. The dining facilities were really good, the rooms looked attractive, and there weren't any odors. It was almost like a residential hotel. They charged more per room, but their charge for services was lower.

Dawn767653

The Birches at Newtown was wonderful, very new, clean, and nice. It didn't have long-term care, but I did like the facility. The woman there was wonderful. They offered a lot, and they had a lot of amenities. They offered personal PT, bingo, games, movie nights, and outings.

Caroline318103

I placed my mother in the Birches. The rooms are not fancy, very nice, and very clean. The staff is helpful, follow through, and do a really good job. They have physical therapy and two dining areas in the memory unit with scheduled meals. I don't have any complaints.

LMD2

The Birches is a very nice community. The facility is beautiful and the staff is very friendly.

The Brother

The Birches at Newtown was my second choice for my sister. It was very good. I thought they had adequate staffing for the services they provided. They were strictly a memory care facility, which is what I was looking for. They weren’t as new a facility as the other one, but the facility was in a very good condition. The tour of the facility was done on a weekend, but they really didn’t have somebody that normally does that available, so I don’t think the tour was as good. As a result, there wasn’t a lot of time to sit down and ask questions and go through it.

Provider Response

Anonymous115902350

I really like The Birches at Newton. It’s very convenient for me. The place is new, so everything was very clean and bright. The people seemed very friendly.

BJ7

The Birches at Newtown was a really nice, new place. The staff seemed very nice, and I really liked them a lot, but they did not have anything available. They had really good physical therapy where they keep everybody active. I liked that.

Robert98173250

I saw the Birches at Newtown's dining area, but I did not eat there. I think the rooms lack a little bit of spaciousness. I saw an art room, and I think there was somebody who was instructing painting. There was a person there who greeted me at the front door. They could upgrade their décor.

Provider Response

Caring91380650

I also visited the Birches. It was brand new. The rooms were big and beautiful. Everything was clean, spotless, and open. They said they had activities, but I didn't see any because it was Saturday. We didn't eat there, but we saw the dining room; it looked OK and clean. The staff was friendly. However, they don't recognize Medicaid/Medicare at all. They said to us "If you to come here and your money would run out, they would not let Medicaid, and you would have to transfer out to another facility," and that was not good at all.

Provider Response