Charter Senior Living

There are a couple of things I am disappointed in. We are there for memory care, they told me they never use psychotropic drugs, after speaking with the doctor, that's not true. The food is very high in carbohydrates with not much protein in it. As far as the staff is concerned, at first, there were some people left over from the old management that were good, and now there seems to be a bit of a turnover. They used to be Paradise and now they have new management as Encore, and they still have a ways to go to get the program together. I like the grounds, they have very nice grounds, and it's fenced so it's secure. Where we were before there was no fence so there was always a concern about memory care residents sneaking out. They seemed to have the attitude that it's not good to have a lot of medication, and that was very important to me.

The people were very helpful, during the short time we were there. There were some things that they weren't able to accommodate for, like rails on the bed. They were good while we were there, and they called us right away when there was a fall. It just wasn't the right place for our needs.

My father lives in the memory unit. The facility is very clean, has lots of natural light, and is attractive. His room has a sliding glass door (which of course can only be opened a few inches) that looks out to the pond and willow tree. There is a walking path around the pond and outdoor courtyards (all secure.) There are many activities throughout the day, including guest musicians and fun exercise classes. The only negative is the food but the assistant director is currently working with the kitchen to improve the situation. I would recommend that the family try to be as involved as possible, especially in the first two months of transition to a memory care unit. Try to be your loved one's advocate, learn the routines, and let the staff know their likes, dislikes, and any concerns.

This had the look and feel of a nursing home. We were not looking for that type of environment.

Overall this is a pretty nice place. It's clean, looks nice, and the staff are all very friendly. They always seem to be a bit understaffed, however, and I feel like my loved one needs a bit more attention than she gets normally. They're always very responsive and happy to help if I point out anything I'd like done, though. I also like the pricing structure, most of the services they provide are simply included in the base price, so you don't have to worry about the price increasing drastically from a la carte services.

They don't really deal with memory care, she was ok, but the caregivers there were not trained for memory care. They worked with her pretty well. They were mostly clean and friendly. I would use them again, if I had to use rehab again.

Staff is helpful and friendly. Common area bathrooms are not as clean as I would like. Activities are baseline, but my mom seemed to really enjoy the scenic drive through Seymour/Oxford. Some of the food is not the best quality, e.g., tomato rice soup, turkey cheese sandwich. Soup is watery and the sandwich is not substantial enough.

Everyone was very helpful

There are many things that are very nice here. But there are a couple of things that I complained about. When I moved in the shower stall was NOT clean. I complained and the lady (after cleaning it ) said "you mean you want the walls of the shower cleaned too". I know that I moved in on Sept.1 during a major holiday but things did not go smoothly, Starting Tues. things went much better. My apartment is nice, the people here are helpful and cheerful. I think that they could do a better job of cleaning( not only showers) But I do like it here. I had never seen this facility before I moved in. Food is much better than I had before

The first, and most important thing I want to stress, if you are thinking of putting a loved one in Clare Bridge of M.C. is don't do it if your loved one has advanced Alzheimer's disease. If your loved one is in stage 6 or 7, you may not want to go that route. It is important to remember that this facility is considered an assisted living facility, even though every resident has some type of dementia. Which means, they are NOT allowed to restrain the residents at all, even if that means they are going to be at risk for falls. Sure, I don't like to see anyone restrained, and, it is extremely rough on an Alzheimer's sufferer. However, this rule also means that they can't even have railings on their beds. And, alarms on wheel chairs and beds only alert the staff that someone is getting up when they shouldn't be. Therefore, all those who are at risk of falling must be kept out in the common areas (or the nurse's office) where they can be seen. That can be a problem for those with advanced A.D. This is not a fault of the staff at Clare Bridge. They are doing the best they can under the circumstances. And, although the ratio of on-duty staff to residents is not bad (it's much better than in a nursing home), they can't be expected to keep an eye on everyone, every minute of the day and night. I explained at what stage my loved one was at (end of stage 6) and was assured they could take care of her. But her agitation and confusion (which is common at that stage of A.D.) ended up having the nursing staff get orders for more medication to help calm her down. This included anti-psychotic drugs. Now, this is the order of her physician (and I won't go into how I feel that the Drs. are poorly trained on care of A.D. patients). And, again, the staff can only be expected to do so much. But I don't think anti-psychotics are the answer. Unfortunately, I don't know what IS! If I had known how things were going to turn out, I don't think I would have put my loved one in this facility, just because it just wasn't the right fit for her. I know Clare Bridge says their goal is to provide care for dementia patients till the end of their lives. But sometimes that just isn't going to be possible, in my opinion. I do have to say though, it is good that they allow Hospice in the facility. Having said all of the above, this facility looks good, is kept clean and smells good. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The food is pretty good and they give the residents more than enough of it (even the cooks are very friendly to the visitors!). And they do the best they can to help the residents who aren't able to feed themselves. Clare Bridge is VERY secure. You won't have to worry about your loved one getting out of the building on their own. From a professional viewpoint, I think the administration needs to work on their policies and procedures, to make sure all staff is on the same page, so to speak. I witnessed several miscommunications between staff members. Also, there were some verbal discrepancies on things I was told by different employees (mainly right before and after admission). I also think they need more work on their activities program (or possibly it is that they need to hire more educated staff? I don't know). It seemed like at least one staff person was rather disorganized (although very sweet and good with the residents) when trying to carryout activities with the residents. Overall, Clare Bridge is a great facility for those with some types of dementia (those in early stages of A.D. or other types of dementia where they aren't difficult to take care of). I would recommend it to anyone, whose loved one fits into one of those categories.

In my case, I had to make a decision really really quickly and I didn't have a lot of time but they really went out of their way to accomodate me. Once I went to the place it was much more and I winded up paying much more. Their intial response was very pleasant and they made little small gestures and I appreciated that but otherwise they had a lot of extras that I didn't know about that kept driving the price up, but I would say that on the whole they worked hard to accomodate us and I appreciated that. We haven't gotten to the point where I want to be they do try, the people appear to be nice and gentle, and that's what you need, gentle. The day of the move, she didn't act like she wanted to come, so the person who's the director, Michael, he called and said I'll treat her to a hair salon appointment and she let me get her ready and get over there. The key so far is it is more civilized.

A beautiful picture was painted at the initial meeting. One rarely sees the decision makers and only lower level staff. The worker bees are nice but they are slackers too.You seldom see senior-level staff walking the premises to see what is happening. When one puts in work orders, they are ignored more months and likely perpetuity.

I like the pleasant nature of the helpers. They could improve on actually delivering on what you pay for in regards to assistance. However, we would not recommend this community to other families. If your loved one needs actual assistance they need to be somewhere that will actually get it. This is a corporate facility where the e

What I appreciated most about Charter Senior Living of Towson was the living accommodations. My family member had a one-bedroom apartment, which provided a separate bedroom and living area, along with ample closet storage. The bathroom was spacious enough to accommodate both a walker and a wheelchair. The kitchenette, equipped with a small refrigerator, microwave, and sink, was a nice addition. Since they had a corner unit, the natural lighting was exceptional. I also liked that the floors were not carpeted, making cleaning much easier. I found Charter to be a relatively small community, which made the staff more accessible. If we needed maintenance assistance—whether for repairs or help setting up the cable—I could simply email the maintenance person directly. Similarly, we had email access to the nursing staff, which was a big plus, as some facilities only provide a single point of contact, leading to communication breakdowns. As for the facility itself, the back porch and patio were pleasant spaces, but one side of the building had stairs, making it impossible to walk all the way around with a wheelchair. I was also concerned about the dryers, as the filters were consistently clogged with lint—especially concerning given the frequent elevator malfunctions during our time there. Hopefully, these issues have since been resolved. The dining experience was underwhelming. It’s difficult for me to fully assess, as my family member only ate breakfast and dinner, skipping the main meal served at midday due to the short gap between breakfast and lunch. Dinner options were typically light, such as sandwiches, chicken tenders, and salads. While there were a couple of excellent waitstaff members in the dining room, many were slow and inattentive. Additionally, the facility charged a “tray fee” for in-room meal delivery. I caught staff delivering meals to my family member instead of bringing them to the dining room—charges that should not have been incurred. On one occasion, it seemed like an intentional avoidance of duty; another time, I suspect it was due to understaffing, with the caregiver simply trying to ensure everyone was fed. The activities team made an effort to engage residents, and the more dedicated caregivers encouraged participation. However, caregiving itself was my biggest concern. My family member required assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) but did not need nursing care, making assisted living a suitable choice. Charter seemed committed to fulfilling their responsibilities, but staffing shortages were a persistent issue. And with the staff that were employed, some caregivers were excellent, while others avoided tasks—especially at night when no supervisor was present, which I found concerning. Understaffing at night led to serious problems, such as "double diapering" or caregivers failing to check on my family member, evidenced by dried-on feces in the morning. Knowing mornings were the busiest time for care, we hired a private duty caregiver, who often reported the poor condition my family member was in upon arrival. There were also troubling delays in response times. On multiple occasions, my family member waited for what they thought were hours after pressing their call button at night, though staff later claimed it was no more than 20 minutes. When I requested to see the actual response records from the system, they refused. Many issues went unreported, including missed laundry pickups, uncleaned rooms, and trash cans emptied without replacing the bag. At times, I refrained from complaining about caregiving lapses, understanding the staffing challenges. It was easier to just take care of what I could on my own. However, as my concerns continued to go unheard, I felt increasingly frustrated. In one instance, they even suggested that our private duty caregiver was responsible for an issue I reported, rather than addressing the real problem. Overall, while Charter had positive aspects—particularly the living spaces and accessibility of staff—the inconsistencies in care, especially at night, were deeply concerning. I hope they have since improved their staffing levels and caregiving standards.

[name removed]was on the Memory Care Unit from [date removed]. We had to move him home as he was not thriving in that environment. The Memory Care Director is fabulous, but he needed one on one care. It is best for me to keep him at home and use the help of sitters.

The friend whom we convinced to go to Charter has a lot of anxiety issues, and although the apartment that she has is very similar to the apartment in an independent living facility that she left, there are still issues. Perhaps because of staff turnover, it has been difficult for her to get a regular shower schedule, and to get advance notice of when that will happen. It would be good if they had a resident handbook and suggestions on how to deal with particular problems, or how to better adapt to the facility and communicate with the staff there. It has also been difficult because there are at least three of us who are trying to help her, and perhaps the staff does not know who to contact if there are specific issues. It's tough for everybody, and that is not unique to the situation at Charter.

They are renovating, but facility needs upgrades. Very old. Wish these facilities provided social work services so residents could access needed services better, like medical care, therapies, etc.

The situation: my LO was only there about 10 days. During that time they experienced falling but it took them a day or so to hospitalize them. They had a stroke, that they never recovered from. They were not returned to Charter. Charter asks the families not to visit for 30 days, so we have no idea what day to day activities were like or the meals. Everyone was friendly.

Their call buttons for the residents at the beginning didn't work. So the only way to get help was if someone came and checked on my loved one. The facility was taken care of, except for their outdoor areas. The regular staff have been very friendly and are so helpful and provide great care. The meals are average. In December, policies are changing and there will be charge for residents to eat in their rooms. I think the overall cost is average.

It was an ok place, my dad was happy there while able to walk independently. Once he needed more advanced care, situation was much trickier. There were occasional issues that were corrected after I would bring attention to them but I was there every single day. Would not recommend leaving a family member there without close supervision, they were very disorganized, would miss room cleanings, forget to do his laundry, or would not put clothes on him after shower. Front desk people were nice and facilities were pretty good. This was the only facility we ever used so can't compare to others.