Charter Senior Living

The place is kept clean for the most part, but my loved ones room could have been cleaner. The staff were usually friendly and helpful.The care staff, did the best they could with my loved one despite being understaffed. (A common issue these days). I understand they were working on hiring another nurse, which will help. The food was hit or miss. My loved one disliked the food immediately after our first meal corned beef, which was a hard, rectangular patty no juicy layers of beef. She was then put off by the small portions and cold temperatures of the food. With activities, there seemed to be quite a few options but many were scheduled in the morning. Mom was never one to get up early and so didn't participate much, but she liked Bingo. They have a bus, and groups go out into the community. Mom was looking forward to warmer weather when they would go out for lunches and other places. In winter store trips were more the norm.

This facility is not equipped to handle people who need assistance with mobility, especially those using walkers or wheelchairs. They don't have help call buttons. I don't think the staff in general is very trained, some are wonderful and some are not. The Director is wonderful, but she can't be there all the time.

Overall she is happy, active and social.

The sales girl was fabulous. I am overall happy with Charter, I think it is the best out of the ones that we looked into, but no facility is going to be great. There have just been some issues we have had. Some of the staff members are amazing, and some you can tell it is just a job for them. We have had to really stay on top of things which is disconcerting because it makes it impossible for us to relax - it is very frustrating. I would tell others just to advocate for your loved ones and make sure the line of communication is there. I would highly recommend putting a camera in your loved ones room. If there is something you do not like, then address it with them.

Charter Senior Living was a nice facility and the staff were very caring and attentive towards the residents. The room that we saw was very small, I am not sure we could even fit her bed and her dresser in there. To me it did not feel homey at all, I know gray is the new color but it just didn't feel bright and airy.

I toured this community and it was nice. Clean community and nice staff. They had a lot of extras that could be great for some, but wasn't the best fit for my loved one.

I definitely think that their could have been better communication with the residents about what is going on and what is available. We had a bad experience on check out as well. My loved one was hospitalized and when we were ready to move back, we were no longer candidates. I understand why, but it would have been nice if it was communicated to us beforehand. Other than those issues it was a good experience.

This place was ot a good fit for my loved one. I did not like the smell.

My loved one wasn't there for long, she had a stroke several days after being admitted. I would say they were somewhat responsive to her needs. We were told not to visit for a month, so we didn't get to see what was going on. You might want to ask questions to get a status update, I had to call in to see how she was doing. I did have to call because after a week I didn't hear anything from them. Communication could be improved; for people who are being admitted they need to provide some sort of update on how they are adjusting. My loved one was admitted to their memory care unit, and since we were asked not to visit we didn't get to see things in action. I did see activities, but not where my loved one was participating in them. They seemed to have lots of activities going on for memory care though. They asked us to not to visit so that they could get our loved one acclimated first, without causing interference or feelings of wanting to go home. I think they are doing a good job, the other residents I saw seemed to be doing well. The place was very clean; the backend of the place was very well cleaned, so I think they did well for cleanliness. Communication was very general and they are good at that. The executive director did send texts with general information regarding the community, but I was looking for more personal updates on how my loved one was acclimating since I wasn't allowed to visit - and I had to call for that because I did not know.

Make sure you stay on top of what's going on and don't just leave your loved one there. Mine didn't have a bath schedule for quite a while when he first got there. Don't just take anything for granted. I think the people there really try to do what they're supposed to do. But for my dad, he feels trapped there because it's a secured community for people with dementia. So he's not as comfortable as I would like him to be. I would prefer that cleanliness be better, especially in his bathroom.

I thought Charter Senior Living of Bowie was okay. The rooms were small, but the staff was really nice. For us, they were tied with another facility for 2nd / 3rd choice when it came to decision time.

From what I saw on our tour of Charter of Vinings, the people that work there were wonderful and seemed to really care about the residents. But the facility itself was really in need of some TLC. It was old and aging and hadn’t been maintained.

Good community, just too far from family to visit for our loved one.

The lady who I worked with during our tour and after the fact was very pleasant and I enjoyed working with her. The facility did not have showers in the rooms in memory care and that is something that we had to have.

All rather unknown at this point...

It took us a while to get adjusted at this community. It was a big change in moving. Overall the people are friendly the staff you can get a long with and talk to therm. There is also an open policy with the director. It could be better but what I'm hearing from other people this community still rates among the better ones.

I was eagerly planning to move my mom into the Landings (due to close proximity to my residence) and had been waiting approximately three months for a particular room to be vacated and renovated. (They extended the date of taking occupancy twice). The day of signing the lease papers, I was notified that they were changing from an all-inclusive rate to a level pay rate. I had numerous verbal conversations with agreements and notes on the monthly amount for a two year lease, but at the last minute, they pulled a bait-and-switch. I want to caution interested parties to get discussions/conversations in writing before making the final decision/commitment.

My loved one was there for a short period of time. She started out in assisted living but had to move to memory care due to rapid progression of her dementia. Unfortunately they were never able to provide her with an appointment with their on-site neuro nurse while she was there. And the memory care unit seemed very understaffed. Being around the other memory care residents was like walking among zombies. Their level of dementia seemed much more sever than my loved one. So there wasn't really the right group of residents for her on her same functioning level. I very much liked the people that we worked with at The Linden. I loved the sales person. The head nurse was great. The program director was great. Really all of the head people were great. They were all very personable and seemed to know my loved one. I think they were just understaffed, and it wasn't the best environment in memory care. If she had been able to stay in assisted living, that would have been ideal. It was a nice place - her room was very nice, they had good programs going on. Assisted living I would rate at 4/5. Memory care was an entirely different experience. That I would rate a 2/5.

This was a good community but it was just not what we were looking for our loved one.

The lock down goes on for ever. When I try to call to inquire about my mom, no one answers the phone. The phone system does not let you leave a message. It’s almost scary not knowing what’s going on inside.