The Bellingham at Orchard

Rob44

We did a tour of The Bellingham at Orchard for my mother, and it seemed great. The staff was very nice. The facility is very roomy and fairly big. They also had nice dining areas and a lot of nice outside spaces.

Provider Response

Reviewer RC#0129

The Bellingham at Orchard was very clean and very friendly. I even talked to some of the residents there and it just seemed like a good fit. The gentleman who took us on the tour was wonderful. They have a salon. Their courtyard was part of the reason I liked it. They have a very nice, secure courtyard where you can walk on this little trail and get outside, and they do barbecues. That was nice.

Provider Response

Pamela

The thing I love the best about The Bellingham at Orchard is they have what's called the SPARK Program. What that looks like is they do all kinds of dance and music, and they use tons of all kinds of activities. It's a holistic approach like mind, body, and social activities. It's a smaller facility, so there's a lot more one-on-one contact with the people. They have two sides to the facility up there. They have more advanced care people on one wing and then the other wing is where people are less advanced in their care needs. They ongoingly reevaluate their clients. The people that I visited and talked with were family members that had been visiting their loved ones, and they were thrilled with them. They loved them. And I saw people were having a birthday party and they had these giant balloons and people were sitting in wheelchairs. The big balloons came by, and they reached and touched it, and they were laughing. People were moving to the music. They have been so great in working with me on this transition. Everybody in the place knows everybody, which is wonderful. They also gave me numbers to call because my dad is a veteran. They have a resident dog, a beautiful yellow lab for the people there, which is very nice. The woman that worked in the kitchen has been with this program for 15 years. And the fact that she will put her own dad and that he'll be eventually going there speaks volumes to me. Another thing that I like about The Bellingham at Orchard is that their residents have an area. It's really quiet, it's really safe, and it's not on a busy road. But in their back they have all these exits. Everyone has a room with a view and a window to an outdoor area, which is nurturing. And there's this path where you can go in a wheelchair, or you can walk and wander around. And you are all in a beautiful area with gazebos and beautiful trees, and you can't get lost because you're in an area that you can't go outside of. The person who took me around was exemplary. The food looked really, really good. The menu was up. They do something that the other places didn't do, which I found interesting. I talked to them during the interview, and I said my dad has very few teeth. And she said, "Your dad will always be able to have soup, and we always have mashed potatoes and gravy, and we can make all these soft foods for him. Don't worry. And of course, there are people that get to the stage where they can't swallow, and we take care of all of that, too, and it even goes into hospice care when that time comes up." What they did differently is, later in the night before people go to bed, they have snacks for everybody, because sometimes people want to get up and they need a little bit of snacks.

Provider Response

Linda

The Bellingham at Orchard was really nice and the people were also really nice. It had a really homey feel to it. They allowed pets and had all kinds of activities that maybe Mom could have got interested in. I really liked it. Jan, the director, was very nice and explained a lot of things to me. She was very helpful.

Provider Response

Reviewer

The Bellingham at Orchard seemed clean, bright, and cheerful. It didn't have an overwhelming smell of urine like some of the places do. We're pretty pleased with it. My friend has only been there for a few weeks. It looked like a great place. The staff was friendly.

Provider Response

S and A

Our mother spent two months living at the Bellingham at Orchard, starting in late December 2015. She came in under difficult personal circumstances, and because of that she was not cooperative in helping the employees maintain her daily hygiene. We appreciated the Bellingham taking her in under that situation and understood that her behavior would be challenging. However, after the first month our mother’s behavior improved, but the staff was still unable to provide an adequate level of personal care. When we came to visit our mother her room was frequently dirty, with the bed not being made and the floor having food on it. Our mother frequently looked disheveled. Her clothing was often covered with old food stains, even though there was daily laundry service. While we authorized our mother to be given a haircut as needed so that she would look less unkempt, her hair and general appearance continued to deteriorate. Twice we found our mother sitting in the dining room in short sleeves, shivering, and left to herself. We often found her wearing no socks, even during cold weather. We also often found her sitting alone, balanced precariously in her walker, in a place where no one could observe her (e.g., stuck in her bathroom where she might not have been found until the next meal). Based on experiences such as these, we moved our mother to an adult family home, where she is receiving much better care at a significantly lower cost. Also, based on our experience, we could not recommend the Bellingham.