Charter Senior Living

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 communication between the three shifts and also between the facility and the family members could be vastly improved. It's pretty much nonexistent. I can never determine what my loved one's day has been like. I leave notes all over the wall so they can see what I would like to happen, and then it doesn't happen. He's fallen a couple of times because they're not putting him in the chucks we provided for him. And his room always smells like urine because they leave his dirty clothes there all week. He's not getting a shower regularly. There's also another resident who wanders the floor and breaks things or takes things form the rooms, so everyone has to keep their doors locked in the memory care unit. We're trying to work around these things We'll see how it goes. But there are only 2 people to care for 20 memory care residents, which is just not enough.

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.

I would recommend you confirm all the items on your list, and make sure you are getting what you expect for care for your loved ones. The staff are good to work with. They are responsive to any questions or concerns I may have.

They have changed ownership, and everything has been a little messy since then. Other than that it's been okay. I would urge families to wait to move loved ones in until after things have settled down with the change in ownership. And then it's always a good idea to keep in close contact with the management and staff there to make sure that things that need to be addressed get addressed. The overall building is quite nice and decorated well. They have a nice library. They offer pretty standard activities like bingo, trivia, movies. I think they could do more to encourage the residents to attend them, or to find out what the residents want to do that hey would like to participate in.

The facility was small and the outdoor space for memory care was even smaller. The staff to residents ratio was not good at all.

They were really trying to sell us. They were only showing us the high life side of the facility and we did not get a good feel.

I would advise to be patient with this community and hopefully things will improved staffing is the biggest issue.

Our family was able to have an in person tour and at the time there was construction in the area but the tour was still nice. However, the first thing we mentioned to the community was that our loved one needed a two-person lift out of her wheelchair and they were not able to accommodate that.