Benchmark Senior Living

Most of these folks are correct in their criticisms. The apartments are cheap. The cabinets and kitchen layout pathetic. Few need such a large kitchen, but if it is going to exist, it should be of descent quality. The carpeting is cheap and marks easily. The fake wood floor in the entry area/kitchen is ugly (it looks old and worn although they tell us it is new) and doesn't clean up easily. At least it is slip-proof. The bathroom is not well planned and aging in such a bathroom will be difficult. The shower is a joke. No place to put soap, shampoo, bath sponge or washcloth, or anything unless you put it on the seat in the shower. The shower-head is not handicapped accessible. It can barely be reached although it is supposed to be able to be hand-held. The exterior deck is not maintained unless you complain that it is dirty. Then eventually someone comes to clean it. The facility itself is fairly well maintained unless you use the back stairs which are not cleaned very often. The very best part of this place is the layout of the facility, the plan. Most of the places we looked at had narrow corridors. These are wide and brightly lit. Very friendly as opposed to cavernous. There are no bends and turns- everything is directly off the central atrium where the lobby is on the 1st floor and the dining on the second. There is lots of light so the atmosphere is heads-up over the competition. The staff is great on an individual level but the coordination within each grouping is horrible and the organization between departments (areas under one person's supervision) is terrible. The structure is so obtuse that it is impossible for family members to really understand the chain of command. What is needed for family members is a clear guide to "which group does what and who" in that group is responsible for specific tasks. The information supplied during the sales pitch is misleading as someone else pointed out. We had specifically asked if there were a lot of outside caregivers coming in and were told that most care and everything else is supplied in-house. NOT true by a long shot. Keep an eye on your bill. You'll see lots of family members complaining about the charges/overcharges. The other comment about lack of imagination in resident programming is very true and it seems that bingo is the fall-back activity. There is a lot to do there but it gets tiresome and most activities are not very stimulating. More trips and stimulating activities are much needed. The atmosphere is great and the air is clear as the place in near the shore. The grounds are lovely but it would be nice if there were footpaths with benches so the residents didn't have to walk on the street. The footpath leading to the road to the beach has an enormous chasm in the middle of it, so forget going down without supervision or using a roller, walker, or wheelchair. If you plan to send your "loved one" as they call your family member, be aware that you have to either get really involved to help organize the care or just give up and sit back and let things be what they will be... Many families have experienced the same billing problems and in general have the same complaints about organization and structural problems with the administration as we have experienced so I know we are not unique in our disappointments. Nonetheless our family member seems happy enough and this is the only place we looked at that had people roaming around, sitting together, talking together- the best for this we think of all the places that we considered.

This is a nice community,and they are caring for my mother in law very well. We do have minor concerns, but we do have family meetings with the staff to resolve issues we have. They are doing very good job caring for her, but I do wish their responsive time was better. The staff is very caring and helpful. The food is pretty good. We know she is safe and in good hands. I would recommend it.

The Village at Mariners Point was okay. The model was nice which included granite countertops in kitchen and bath and nice cabinetry, but when viewing an apartment it was cheap laminate counters and an awkward arrangement in the kitchen and none of the feel of the model so that was deceiving and a bummer. The pool and theatre were nice features and the people seemed nice.

It's been okay. They are extremely personable, and they know everyone. I was surprised by how quickly they get to know everyone. They work really hard. I think they do get a bit overwhelmed and there can be some confusion about who is in charge of what. We have a difficult time figuring out who to call about what. There are a lot of activities, and I think the meals are okay. I think given a little time they will go up to a four or five star.

Initially our experience with Chelmsford Crossings was a good one. When my loved one was at a lower level of care things went very well here. However, as his care needs advanced the quality of the service really declined. I think the transition from this facility to a higher level care facility could have been handled more professionally.

I liked the set-up and the rooms and it sounded like they had everything I wanted, but ever since my loved one moved in I have been frustrated. The have not been very responsive and take a long time to get repairs finished. I am hoping they improve though.

The majority of staff are wonderful, caring people. The problems/issues result from a significant amount of turnover at the managerial level - causes a lot of disruption and lack of continuity and oversight. The corporate office of Benchmark appear more concerned with the overall appearance of the place rather than the quality of services. The memory care unit, again staffed with wonderful, caring staff lacks oversight, training and assistance to the staff. Some of the marketing people do not seem to know how the memory care (Harbor) operates, as we were very misled about things when we first toured. There is little creativity in programming and the corporate office (Benchmark) does not seem to care about that. I contacted them several times and basically all they tried to do was 'handle' me. Benchmark appears very concerned about the outward appearance of the place, but fail miserably with quality of services. If you decide to take a tour, write down your questions and write down their responses. Chances are if you move in, their responses won't materialize.

They did very well when we moved in. My Mother has been there for a month now, and there is very little communication. We have talked to administration and the issues we have are being worked out. Mom has not been there long, so we are still ironing out some issues.

Although I think the facility and care staff at River Ridge at Avon are both nice, our experience with them did not end up being a good one. I think that during the touring process they were just telling us what we wanted to hear, because my loved one was only in their memory unit for 4 days before we had to find another facility. It's a very nice looking place, and I am sure that they do an excellent job in their assisted living wing, but I would make very sure with them that they can handle your loved one's specific needs.

Our experience with Greystone Farm has been somewhat mixed. In general it seems like a nice place, the staff have been very friendly and my loved one seems to enjoy living here. However, there are a few cleaning and maintenance issues that we've been asking them to fix that have yet to be resolved.

We toured this community while looking into care options for a loved one. Crescent Point at Niantic seemed like a nice place overall, but I don't know that it would have been a good fit for my loved one. It was clean and well decorated, but felt a bit like a hotel and seemed too formal for my Dad. The community was also mostly women, and think he would have more comfortable somewhere with a few more men to socialize with.

I feel the staff was very very friendly which was very helpful and making her feel comfortable. There is a large variety of food with two main choices for each meal time.

My loved one stayed here for a short time, and while I thought it was a nice enough place overall there was some definite room for improvement. The facility itself was well kept and clean, and the staff were friendly for the most part. One reason we selected this community was that they offered a high level of care, but they seemed to have some communication problems between the various shifts of nursing staff. More than once when the extra caregiver we hired to help in the evenings arrived she would find that my loved one was wet and had not been changed recently. We were paying extra for a higher level of care and I just didn't feel like they really delivered on that, they could have been much more attentive.

Things have gone well in general at The Village at Brookfield. It's a nice looking place and the people seem friendly. We have, however, had some issues with the CNAs that work here.

In general we like Academy Point at Mystic a lot, in terms of the care and the amenities they provide to the residents, but there are a few issues that have really soured the whole experience. The nursing staff here is very good, they take great care of the residents and they have been very easy to work with. The dining staff also do an excellent job, the service is fast and the food is good! Our biggest problems have been in terms of maintenance issues, and in particular the maintenance man himself. Our loved one has had multiple issues with her toilet leaking/overflowing, and we've had to call the maintenance man in more than once for this issue. He has a very bad attitude, and has gotten nasty with me on more than one occasion. He hasn't made effort to fix the cause of the issue and fix the toilet, he just sets up fans to dry the bathroom out until we have to call him again. Our experience with him has been negative enough that we have considered pulling out loved one out of this community to avoid dealing with him at all, which would be a shame because otherwise it is a very pleasant place.

This seemed like a nice enough community, but after my loved one recovered to the point where she did not need assisted care anymore she just did not feel comfortable here. They do a good job looking after their residents, but my loved one was much more active than most of the residents, and was not fitting in socially. While she was here, though, she had nothing but good things to say about the food! She was especially fond of being able to have bacon every morning with breakfast!

This community was nice enough in terms of looks, and the staff were all very friendly and helpful, but unfortunately my loved one just wasn't ever able to really settle in. She said the residents just weren't active enough for her, and she was having some trouble fitting in socially. She did say the dinners served here were very good, but that she would have liked more extensive breakfast options.

The place is great looking and the go all out to impress It's too bad they don't put that out to the employees education or payroll The staff has either severe communications skills or memory problems. There are few that are on the ball I feel they may be short handed and they should have daily charts to follow for each resident and for each shift This may help the staff remember the specific needs for the resident they are caring for on the day It is awful for a love to go home and wonder if their parent is left in a room choking and no one is checking on them because the employees are stretched too thin I don't blame this on the employees I blame this on the CEO's for not putting 100% into all areas of the facility Being putting the employees and their education first The communication and desire to love and care for the elderly and fulfill the needs of each resident so these residents can have peace and comfort is important and a serious issue that each employee must have, if not, they are not cut out for the job After all when wouldn't want that when your elderly and put out of your home for the rest of your life So Mr CEO, snap into shape, your doing well, do right to who's helping you and you will do even better Can't find good help today and the places that are doing well have at least one year waiting list What's your waiting list

I was very pleased with Greystone Farm at Salem until the last few months. The staff is very caring and are doing their best but in general they need more help. Waiting for the residents pendants to be answered for more than 20 minutes is not acceptable. I know they are trying but the staff is getting worn out.....hopefully things will change

I'd like to share the good and the bad and hope that others can be helped. I tried checking the reviews before I moved my mother to Sunrise of Stamford. On the positive: my mother does like the other residents and one of her care managers is very good to her. The major negative is that the goal of Sunrise is to continually upgrade her care so they can increase her monthly bill. They are less concerned with actually delivering the upgraded service. i.e they upgraded her care that she needs help going to the bathroom but no caremanager knows that so she goes to the bathroom herself. They continuosly call me every 2 or 3 weeks to tell me that she needs additional care which requires another few thousand a month. I am afraid to answer the phone because I'm afraid they will be upping her bill again. I thought that it would be less stressful for me to have her in assisted living but in fact it has been more stressful. I will be looking for another facility for my mother.