Commonwealth Senior Living

Great Place Great Help!!!

So far things are working out well. We haven't had any major complaints so far. I would think if five is the best they would be right up there, about a four and a half. We are pretty happy with them so far.

I am an only child, so I really needed all the help I could get. With the help from A Place For Mom I started my task of getting my mom the care she needed as well as moving here closer to me so I could support her and help her with the transition from her home in Richmond. Angelia was most helpful in assisting me with al the arrangements needed to allow my mother a comfortable transition to her new home. I visit my mom 3-4 times each week now, because she is only about 10-15 minutes away. My mom after about 30 days is on track to understanding why she is where she is. All the folks at Churchland House really work hard and care for all their guests. Thanks so much for all you do!

I'm happy so far. I don't really have any complaints. The only thing I would like is some more activity on the weekends. I chose them because they were smaller, and just in the beginning stages, and I thought they would get to know him. I like that his room looks out over a pond with ducks and geese. They were comparably reasonable in price, and very accommodating.

It was a nice place, and definitely was an option we considered. Had a room not opened up at our first choice, this is where we would have picked. The biggest drawback for us, was the location and the traffic on the way here. This was our second choice place though, it seemed very nice.

I really liked it. There was one old lady who had a fur coat on. I thought that was really cute. They let people be who they are which is great. She had this illusion that she bought the place and no one ever told her anything. It was really cute. The biggest problem was the location. It was a little far from where we live. The other thing is that it was expensive. I would like a flat rate. I didn't like the way they did pricing.

We are pretty happy so far. We had one concern about a staffing shortage, but they are getting a new employee, so that seems to be being addressed. The people I spoke to when I was first choosing, I clicked with them, and that's one of the reasons we chose here. I also liked that they had the Montessori memory program, and it was just a nice place.

I could not be happier with the staff and cleanliness of this facility My mother is having difficulty adjusting to her new living arrangements, and all staff members are being extremely understanding and helpful. She is unhappy with the food, but the facility is willing to offer her alternatives.

Place for Mom was a really helpful and finding a place for my husband. All the places they gave me to look at were reasonable and clean.

Everybody has been great there at Elmcroft of Chesterfield. Dad's sense of time is somewhat displaced, and they tend to be a little late with their meals, so he tends to be overly dramatic about that. But the food is good, the staff is great.

My mom lived here for the last 4 months of her life or so. They were wonderful to her, and wonderful to us as we kept the vigil by her deathbed. She was in the Montessori unit in building 8. They provided her with dignity right up to the end. I am forever grateful for the care they showed my mom.

Overall, I think it's a very nice facility, I think the care is okay, it's hard for me to really assess because I'm not there very often. I can say that she gets her medcation very well everyday, but I don't know how frequently the nursing staff or the doctor sees her. When I ask my sister, the kind of answers I'm getting from her aren't very clear. She's a very private person and very selective on what she does. She had been in a place in New York before so she had the experience of what a facility is like and I think this facility is superior from a phsyical standpoint. The building is beauitful, well maintained, the activities they have are quite comparable to what they had in New York, she would say "they're all the same" but she's quite ciritcal. I don't think I could satisfy her wherever I put her, I'm never going to get her to say "this is wonderful," but as far as I'm concerned, you can't get a better value in this area.

In reality Willow Lake was chosen out of desperation, we were set to move to another place but circumstances led us here and I actually ended up liking Willow Lake better. It is hard to rate the value as I don't have much to compare it to, I looked at several different facilities but all provided different ranges of care services, so there was no real "apple to apple" value comparisons I could make. My mother likes Wilow Lake very much.

Mom isn't really taking advantage of the activities and doesn't always care for the food. She's very picky. They keep the place pretty clean. Sometimes mom doesn't have a trash bag and her carpet looks like it needs a vacuum (she drops a lot of crumbs), but that's about it. The staff is extremely friendly and supportive. Mom has been having issues with two of the male residents though. Admin is nice and approachable. The food is plentiful but not the best at dietary restrictions (like being a vegetarian). Good variety.

My mom is level 2 dementia and we had a mishappening, I rang the bell several times for help and after 25 minutes I went in search of a nurse after I found one it took another 10 minutes for them to come to her room. If this had been something more serious I can't even imagine what would have happened to my mother

I liked that it is a small community and most of the staff know the residents by name. I liked the two people that convinced us to go there but they are no longer there, so communication is lacking much of the time. Their billing system "sucks"!!! There were lots of mistakes on the first and second bill and it took me 2 months to clear things up. I was later informed that they don't reprint corrections to the bills, you have to wait for the next billing cycle. Their business person is a very poor communicator and does not return phone calls. This has been a difficult transition for the sibling (but not my mother!). She is content there and is socializing much more than when she was home.

They are understaffed in the memory care unit. They also said they take aggressive people, but really I did not feel the staff was trained for this. I spoke with the manager of the facility and she agreed They needed more training and I believe she was in the process of setting training up before my dad left there. The workers are very nice and so is the reat of the staff, but there is a high turnover. We made out ok with having my dad there, but there are definitely things to improve on.

We have been fairly happy so far. My mother loves the activities. Sing-fit is my mother's favorite. But they offer a lot everything from live music and outings to bingo.

Get friendly with the staff. It helps you direct the care that's needed. Also offer to supply some supplies

Nice facility, very modern & appealing to the eye. They definitely oversell the facility with how great they said the food is & how wonderful the staff is. The food is ok, the staff is 50/50 meaning there are a few excellent workers that love the residents & others that don’t really care & seem to do the bare minimum of their job. This is sad to see because these are our elderly who have reached a point in their life where they need help.