Echo Ridge Knoxville, TN

There is a lot to say about Echo Ridge. First, they have trouble keeping staff. I suspect that the pay is poor and potential for advancement is nil. Managerial turnover, bus driver turnover, activity director turnover are all high. Lately, the majority of new residents are not very independent or "able". This reduces the overall number and quality of activities. There is only one elevator, which gets crowded before and after meals. Unexpectedly, there is no swimming pool, and even though there is a YMCA about 2 miles away, no effort is made to bring residents to the pool for exercise. Food is another story. It is very salty, very startchy, and sometimes, they even run out of food! If you like hot dogs, collard greens, and peanut butter + jelly, this is the place for you. The nicest thing about Echo Ridge is the grounds. There is a lot of green space, flowers, trees, and so on. A lot of people walk around the building on a nice day. One more thing... the price of rent is not a given. It is highly negotiable, and management encourages residents not to talk about rent or to compare notes. This perpetuates inequities. So buyer beware!

We did not care for Echo Ridge. They were about as expensive as the other community but didn’t offer as much.

I visited Echo Ridge, and it's my second choice. They have at least one two-bedroom apartment with access to the outside. It has nice lawns, nice people, is an attractive facility, well-located, and near to where I live. I was impressed with the staff.

My wife and I were very impressed with Marianne Hitchcock and had a wonderful luncheon where we met some of the residents. Price too high but we loved it.

I am already living in Echo Ridge. So far, everything has been fine. It is mostly elderly people on walkers, not assisted living. It is just a retirement facility, so everybody is in their own apartment, but we have our meals together and all the community gets together and does activities. They have bingo, movie nights, board game nights, card games, and bridge, and they have some walking activities and exercise, and they do Bible studies. We have a salon, a chapel, a putting green, and a pool table. The food is very good. The staff is very acceptable, very pleasant, easy to get along with, and very helpful. We have a general manager who we are not too crazy about; he is hard on the staff in ways that we don’t feel are fair. But other than that, most of the staff is very nice. In an effort to get full, they seem to be taking residents who are not capable of taking care of themselves and that is going to present a problem pretty soon. I am in a studio and although it is big enough for me, the closet space is not. It has two small closets, and anybody who is downsizing needs some closet space, so that is the only thing that I can complain about. I have my own little patio, a walk-in shower, and a small kitchen area with a refrigerator. It is not the dorm-size refrigerator but the next size up, but it is not the full size either.

I visited Echo Ridge. They showed me a couple of rooms, a bedroom, a sitting area bathroom, and a kitchenette. The rooms were not big, but they were nice, clean, painted well, and had great-looking carpet. They told me about the recreation and a lot of the activities, and invited me for lunch. I liked that it was quiet, but the price was not affordable.

Food is great, staff is very friendly, but two home aid workers always hanging out at the snack bar, is tacky and not professional. Was there for 3 hours and they never left.

Took a tour with Marianne and she was phenomenal! Very nice place and pricing is reasonable compared to assisted living we have visited.