Integral Senior Living Management Group

Fernwood is a nice enough place and has all the great amenities of the Holiday model. It's nice and quiet, so if you prefer a quieter place this would be good. I didn't like the setting it's in - on a very busy street and no park or nice place to walk nearby. There is a community pool across the street which is a plus.

Toured STR as well - good tour. I liked the size of the apartments and the fact most were away from the street noise. Kitchenette is only a sink/refrigerator - no cooking facilities in apt. Dining was more restricted - both hours and menu variety.

When we toured this property the sales person assured us that if my Mom didn't come to at least one meal per day that someone would check on them. There have been many times due to health issues that my Mom hasn't come down for 2-3 days and no one has ever wondered where she was. They also said the enrichment coordinator would contact her when she first moved in to see if they could interest her in any on property activities which hasn't happened. The building is old and there are structural issues in the common areas that make things difficult for seniors with mobility issues, for example the garbage room doors on each floor are so heavy they are very difficult for my Mom to open. The dining hours are on a strict schedule so you must sit down at a set time ( this also means everyone needs to get on the elevators at the same time). It would be great if they had a "flex" dining time and maybe even a combined breakfast and lunch, how many seniors want to be down in the dining room at 8 am? Smoking is allowed in your apartment so at times my Mom's floor smells like smoke from other resident's apartments. There is on property home health care, OT and PT. This is a great feature if your family member needs it and the staff of both of these are very friendly and caring! The apartment itself is a good space with everything my Mom needs. Everything is included besides phone service and she really likes how warm it is in her place! The area and the community around it are very nice and is blocks from a train station that goes into the city of Chicago.

My mother has lived at The Vintage for 6 months. Although we love her cottage, we have had some issues with cleanliness of the main building in the common areas. The rugs and furniture need to be cleaned. It's very run down. My mother is not happy with the food and frequently eats out or cooks for herself. On the occasions that I have eaten there, I was not impressed and would not eat there daily. The original managers have been moved to oversee another property and the substitute managers don't seem to know what is going on. When asking for help with an issue - they 'will get back to you' but we never hear back from them. I have to say, my mother is happy there and has made many wonderful friends. I just wish the food was better for her and it was cleaner.

Not really assisted living. No nurse. Seemed short staffed, poor manager literally running all over the place to answer call buttons.

Toured without my parents, not interested due to the layout

They were very friendly, but it was not as nice. There wasn't a washer or dryer in the room, and it didn't have a full kitchen. Each floor had several washers and dryers to share.

It seems to be a nice place. On the good side, there are residents there all the time. It's all independent living, not cared living. They do provide three meals a day. They try to have activities, but it seems like a lot of the time they are a bust. On the bad side, the staff has changed out. There are only a couple of staff members that have been there the four months that my mom has been there. Tons of manager turnover. That kind of surprised me. They use a pressure sales tactic to get people to move in and I am sure there is some sort of commission thing that goes on, so the staff doesn't last. The other thing is that her apartment is very small, about 600 sq feet, and she pays about 2200 a month in rent which includes electricity and cable but not care. On top of that, my understanding is that they raise the rent every year. As far as what my mom has said, she doesn't really want to move out, but it drives her nuts being there because everyone that stays during the day is in wheelchairs or has dementia. All of the active people leave during the day. My mom can't drive, so she feels stuck. She doesn't really have the social life that she had hoped for. For extra help, you can hire Visiting Angels, and I think they have an office in the building, if you want to pay extra for that. The other thing that is kind of nice is because the unit is in Groton, Groton has a really, really nice senior center. A bus comes and takes people to the senior center, but the catch is that you have to be able to walk. My mom uses a walker so she can't get up the steps on the bus. If you could walk, that would be a huge perk. She has a one year lease where they can't raise the rent, but she can walk away any time. She had to pay a month's rent in advance.

I think the activities are pretty good, but I have found that the times of the activities are too late for people that are older. My dad can't participate because they are just too late for him. Even the meals are very late. Dinner is about 6:30, and they plan activities after dinner. The other drawback that I have found is the way that they serve meals. It takes them a long time to serve meals - about an hour and a half. You do this three times a day, and I could see how this would be very frustrating. There is one staff member there in particular there that is very helpful. He calls me to tell me how things are going. My dad also has his dog there and they have worked with us considerably to keep the dog. It's definitely a blessing.

Kitchen area in apartments. Access to laundry facilities.

The guy there was real nice, but it was the community fee. It was like 2500 bucks, but they offered some other stuff with it. I can see that place working for other people, it's a Holiday, so it's nationwide. I could see the advantage of being nationwide; you're already paying the rent here, so you could go stay at another one for a weeks or two if you wanted and you wouldn't have to pay more to stay there. That just wasn't worth the 2500 bucks to us.

Our main issue was getting my mom's apartment clean before she moved in. I had a few run-ins with the management. The cleanliness was appalling. I had them in twice to clean. I let them know what was still very dirty and when I went to visit my mom a week later it was horrendous. I went to the management and told them to bring a note pad. They weren't hostile with me but they were not happy to see me and were unwilling to look. The oven was digusting, the toilet was still dirty, and there was something spilled down the front of the cabinets. Mostly they've cleaned it up. The drain in the shower is old and rusty and I've asked them repeatedly to replace it and they've just painted it. My mother absolutely loves it there! She has so many friends. To hear her happy every night is great. She has so much fun. She has a group of four lady friends. It's awesome.

For the amount of money, I think the whole facility should be handicapped and it's not. My father has a hard time getting off the toilet and there are only a few apartments witht they high stools and they've told him that they can't replace it because of the plumbing. Also the chair is the dining room are low and they have wheel on them. They're very nice chairs but they're not good for my father. It's a big issue. Also, we are paying for Gracie Home Health to manage my father's medicines and once when we went to pick him up he told us he only had 1 diabetic strip left. I'm not sure if it was my father or them but they're supposed to be keeping up with his medicine. The place is clean and the people are nice and everything but the toilet and the cost and diabetic strips are big issues for us.

Mom was not real impressed with food, but it appeared fine. WE had some lovely ladies during lunch to give us their perspective and the mgr did invite us to lunch. ladies shard some good info. Seems there are lots of floor plans and that gets confusing; have to study a bit. One thing which seems to be a deal-breaker is that there is no transportation on Sun to Catholic church...its on your own.

Seemed too 'stuffy' for mom. The people were nice, just the dining area was all we saw and it seemed too much for her. She would feel out of place for sure.

Facility and services seemed very nice, but their 90-day minimum stay contract was beyond my short-term respite care needs.

independent only, no cooking

First choice: the living room, dining, kitchen combo was very small. Bedroom good size.

Really good location; nice common area facilities, but really small apartments with no stoves or laundry.

Liked it, but 1BR are very small, Nice otherwise. Worried about there being only one elevator (which doubles as the freight elevator) for the long wings and three floors.