Newcastle Place

I'm currently at Newcastle Place. I've been here for 8 to 10 years now. I've been here a long time, so I must be pretty satisfied. The place had been bought several times during these years. Initially, when I first came, I believe it was more like a not-for-profit place, and over time, it was now a for-profit company. So they look for any way that they can cut back, and with that done, they have not compromised the quality that much. We've noticed a decrease in the quality of the foodservice. It's not below average or nothing is unacceptable. It's just that before, it was higher quality. The maintenance has stayed pretty good. The housekeeping has been good. The response time to problems has been good. The staff is generally in a good mood. My room is considered as one-bedroom in the mid-size range. It does not have a dishwasher, a cooktop, oven, or garbage disposal, I think, all for safety reasons. The bathroom is a shower, toilet, and sink. Well, there's pool and whirlpool, which has been out of commission, it seemed like for a long time, but it is there. They have exercise classes and yoga classes. Every morning there's an exercise class that people could do like from your wheelchair or your chair. Every day there are several activities to pick from. We have happy hours. There's a fair amount of bingo. Every day, there are one or two group activities like crafts and those things. They'll show video in the corporate gathering room. They have coffee and donut in the morning. They have bible studies, they have a chapel with church services, different denominations, and whatnot. There are some things they could probably be added to improve a little bit. They're expensive but you get what you pay for. It is expensive, but the value is still there.

I recently moved my mother to an assisted living apartment at Newcastle Place. The facility and apartments are lovely with quite a bit of private living space - bedroom, living room and even a kitchenette. The common areas are beautiful and the library even has a lovely fireplace. All the staff have been so kind and helpful getting her moved in and also keeping me informed of what activities she's participating in and how she's doing. There's always some sort of class or activity that is taking place and she's been joining in often. I've heard many people say it's the Cadillac of senior living centers and it has lived up to that reputation.

We have our 97-year-old mother at Newcastle Place in Mequon. It's been great, she has received excellent care, she loves the community, she loves all of the activities they do with her, and she couldn't be any happier. The staff is terrific, they couldn't be any nicer and any more professional. She absolutely adores them. Newcastle is a godsend, it's provided everything she needed and much, much more. The environment is wonderful, their food is wonderful, their nursing and attention to all of the residents is wonderful. I was surprised at the size of her assisted living room. The independent living apartment she moved into in this facility was way more spacious than the one we moved her from in Ohio, so she was very happy in independent living. We were concerned that the size of her assisted living apartment may not be enough for her, but we were pleasantly surprised at the size of it. She was actually able to keep about 90 percent of everything she had in her former apartment and put it in her assisted living room.

My mother started at Newcastle Place in Independent living. It was a wonderful experience. Everyone paid attention to her to make sure she was well and taking care of herself. The food was amazing. We recently had to move her to assisted living. The move was well coordinated and happened without an issue. Her room is very similar to her apartment in independent living so this made mom feel at home. She lived in a facility in Ohio. It amazes me how much better Newcastle Place is. The employees, the food and the nursing staff have all exceeded my expectations!