Merrill Gardens at Columbia

Lila

I left Merrill Gardens of Columbia because it was terrible. They gave me no care whatsoever. I was in Assisted Living and they gave me no care. It flounders. There's a person in charge that doesn't know what they're doing. There were no activities. Activities are listed but they never do anything. Everything is always canceled. It's Independent Living. They do nothing for someone who's on Assisted Living. They just charge you but you don't get anything. I was there for four months. They never take my blood pressure. They never did took my weight. They never did anything whatsoever there. The rooms were very small. Everyone was friendly but nothing was going on ever. Everyone said "hello" to each other but there was never anything other than bingo. The staff didn't care anything at all about the people. There was never a fresh vegetable. There was nothing fresh. Everything was prepackaged and brought in. The facility was okay.

Della

I am moving into Merrill Gardens at Columbia. It was a brand-new facility. It opened 2 years ago. It was very modern, big, bright, with huge double windows. So, there was a lot of light coming in. It was a 4-story building. The first floor was a welcome center. The dining room was on the first floor, then the apartments were on the 3 top floors. There were 5 different activity rooms. Just about anything you'd want to do, they've got it there. They had a beautiful rooftop garden where you could go and sit and have hot dogs and hamburgers. It was also right by the ballpark, so you could watch the fireworks from your apartment. They had studio apartments, 2 different sizes for the 1-bedroom apartments, and then they had 2-bedroom apartments. They had a great chef there. The staff was excellent. They were very nice and very helpful.

Reviewer#DT0110

Merrill Gardens at Columbia was a very nice place. I like the place, and the location was fine. It was a neat facility. The staff was nice, but I think they're fixing to push independent living. Out of four floors, they've only got 15 people that have assisted living. You could tell that their primary focus is independent living, and they have some. If you were independent, that would be the place to go. The rooms were nice, but they're not set up for an assisted living. It's set up for an independent living. They're more geared toward independent living. Even the rooms are set up for an independent living. Who ever heard of giving somebody in assisted living a stove? So that's why I'm saying that it was an afterthought on their part. They have one activity director, and she's talking about my mom, saying my mom can join in any of the independent activities. She can't because she's in assisted living, so she's limited in what she can do. If you just so happen to be in assisted living and can do what they can do, then you're welcome to come along for the ride. I toured them for assisted living, but their assisted living rooms and independent living rooms are the same. They got four floors in that facility, maybe three. You would think that they would have one entire floor for assisted living, but they do not. There's not any difference in the ranks. They have one activity director for the whole place, and they've got four floors of independent living people. So, who do you think they're going to gear their activities toward? The little guy that gave me the tour was filling in for somebody, and he didn't have a lot of answers to my questions.

Christie

My parents have moved into Merrill Gardens at Columbia. It's newer, nice, clean, and had more to offer. They have washers and dryers in their units. Mom has a full kitchen, and her unit was nice and clean. The staff was very friendly, and very nice. All the residents that we spoke to were extremely friendly. If they decide the food is good, then that's a good thing because they are hard to please that way. They have senior activities, physical therapy, a beauty salon, and a media center. They have lots of different activities rooms, and three meals a day. The assisted living residents get a hot breakfast. They do offer some transportation, and they have cable internet. In terms of value for the money, it was very reasonable compared to the ones that we looked at.

Elizabeth

Merrill Gardens at Columbia was a beautiful place. It's new, very clean, and the rooms were very well laid out. It had a lot of space and it was the nicest one I've seen. They had a pond and a walking area around the pond. There's a minor league baseball field that you can see from the building. It's a very nice place. The staff was very cordial and very knowledgeable.

Regina D

I toured this community and was amazed at how beautiful and mainstream it was. From the colors to the furniture to the big open windows that allow all the natural light. Even on a rainy day the natural makes the community so bright. I even had the opportunity to have lunch and the food is absolutely phenomenal! If I would recommend this place 100 times over!