Fox Trail Assisted Living at Stephens City

My brother is now at Fox Trail Assisted Living at Stephens City. Their care is fine. He seems to be reasonably happy there. His room is not as clean as I would like for it. They just clean the room once a week. However, he is a pretty messy person. I understand if he does a little better himself, it will probably be a little bit better. They have a lot of activities going on, but he doesn't participate in a lot of them. They could improve their menus, their food, and their food service. His biggest complaint is that the food is not what you would expect it to be at a place where you pay that much. They have a couple of game rooms, a room where they have church services, and a conference room for families. My brother's room is fine and large enough where you can visit him in his room. They have some very good staff members, but then they have some that are just there collecting their paychecks.

My mother-in-law absolutely loves Fox Trail Assisted Living at Stephens City, and so do we. The layout is fantastic for her, and she has activities to do every day. She enjoys her tablemates. The hallways are long and straight so she's doing some PT while walking along them. Everything is fantastic. We love the place. The big thing for her is the daily bingo. They do regular bingo and something else called song bingo, where they hear a song and if that's on the bingo card they cover that. She went out just the other day, and the activities director took them out to get sundaes at McDonalds, which she loves. She's helping out at the library. She's organizing books and putting them away. She's having a ball, she really is, and she thanks us for moving her there. The staff seems to be very caring and knowledgeable about their population. I have seen them interact with residents of all capabilities, and I've really enjoyed watching what I've seen. One of the advantage Fox Trail has is that it's a small community, so all of the residents really get to know each other. We joke that it's like living in a geriatric dorm. If you want you can walk around in your PJs, or go out in your sweats, or if you want you can get all dressed up. The other advantage they have is that the residents wear alert pendants, so if they fall and get in trouble they can use them. The pendants also have a GPS associated with them so if a person presses the button they would know which part of the building he or she is. In addition to having three meals a day -- which are listed on a white board so the residents can see what they're having -- they do neat things with their food. First they find out what things their residents don't like, and they keep that information posted in the kitchen. So for example if my mom doesn't like lima beans and they're serving that, they don't put lima beans on my mom's plate when they serve her. They give her a different vegetable instead. I just think that's really wonderful. Another thing is that they always have snacks and drinks available. They're in the front lobby area that's outside the dining area. There's always a container of flavored water or lemonade, or something in paper cups, and there are either fresh-baked cookies or packaged snacks so they can just grab those if they want something.

The staff in Fox Trail Assisted Living was very nice and takes good care of my mom. The best thing is that it's reasonably priced compared to all the others we've looked at. She's in a shared apartment with her own bedroom and shares the living room and bathroom. The food looks good, and they have activities, like bingo. They try to involve my mom, and the activities director is really good.

We're very happy with Fox Trail. It's very nice. What struck us most was the reception by the staff. They were very friendly and informative. We went there twice and both times we had a positive experience. My mother is planning to move there within the next couple of weeks. To me, the food was a little bit bland, but she liked it, so that's OK. The first time we went, there was somebody playing a guitar and singing. The second time we went, most of the residents were out on a field trip. My mother chose Fox Trail because she liked a smaller, more intimate atmosphere.