Commonwealth Senior Living

Great Place Great Help!!!

So far things are working out well. We haven't had any major complaints so far. I would think if five is the best they would be right up there, about a four and a half. We are pretty happy with them so far.

I am an only child, so I really needed all the help I could get. With the help from A Place For Mom I started my task of getting my mom the care she needed as well as moving here closer to me so I could support her and help her with the transition from her home in Richmond. Angelia was most helpful in assisting me with al the arrangements needed to allow my mother a comfortable transition to her new home. I visit my mom 3-4 times each week now, because she is only about 10-15 minutes away. My mom after about 30 days is on track to understanding why she is where she is. All the folks at Churchland House really work hard and care for all their guests. Thanks so much for all you do!

I'm happy so far. I don't really have any complaints. The only thing I would like is some more activity on the weekends. I chose them because they were smaller, and just in the beginning stages, and I thought they would get to know him. I like that his room looks out over a pond with ducks and geese. They were comparably reasonable in price, and very accommodating.

It was a nice place, and definitely was an option we considered. Had a room not opened up at our first choice, this is where we would have picked. The biggest drawback for us, was the location and the traffic on the way here. This was our second choice place though, it seemed very nice.

I really liked it. There was one old lady who had a fur coat on. I thought that was really cute. They let people be who they are which is great. She had this illusion that she bought the place and no one ever told her anything. It was really cute. The biggest problem was the location. It was a little far from where we live. The other thing is that it was expensive. I would like a flat rate. I didn't like the way they did pricing.

We are pretty happy so far. We had one concern about a staffing shortage, but they are getting a new employee, so that seems to be being addressed. The people I spoke to when I was first choosing, I clicked with them, and that's one of the reasons we chose here. I also liked that they had the Montessori memory program, and it was just a nice place.

I could not be happier with the staff and cleanliness of this facility My mother is having difficulty adjusting to her new living arrangements, and all staff members are being extremely understanding and helpful. She is unhappy with the food, but the facility is willing to offer her alternatives.

Place for Mom was a really helpful and finding a place for my husband. All the places they gave me to look at were reasonable and clean.

Everybody has been great there at Elmcroft of Chesterfield. Dad's sense of time is somewhat displaced, and they tend to be a little late with their meals, so he tends to be overly dramatic about that. But the food is good, the staff is great.

My mom lived here for the last 4 months of her life or so. They were wonderful to her, and wonderful to us as we kept the vigil by her deathbed. She was in the Montessori unit in building 8. They provided her with dignity right up to the end. I am forever grateful for the care they showed my mom.

Overall, I think it's a very nice facility, I think the care is okay, it's hard for me to really assess because I'm not there very often. I can say that she gets her medcation very well everyday, but I don't know how frequently the nursing staff or the doctor sees her. When I ask my sister, the kind of answers I'm getting from her aren't very clear. She's a very private person and very selective on what she does. She had been in a place in New York before so she had the experience of what a facility is like and I think this facility is superior from a phsyical standpoint. The building is beauitful, well maintained, the activities they have are quite comparable to what they had in New York, she would say "they're all the same" but she's quite ciritcal. I don't think I could satisfy her wherever I put her, I'm never going to get her to say "this is wonderful," but as far as I'm concerned, you can't get a better value in this area.

In reality Willow Lake was chosen out of desperation, we were set to move to another place but circumstances led us here and I actually ended up liking Willow Lake better. It is hard to rate the value as I don't have much to compare it to, I looked at several different facilities but all provided different ranges of care services, so there was no real "apple to apple" value comparisons I could make. My mother likes Wilow Lake very much.

Compared to similar places we saw I would rate Commonwealth as 5 starts as some places were just not appealing at all. Overall however I would say our experience was a 4.5. We were happy with the size of the room, the cleanliness of the place and the care of mom. The office staff was exceptionally good and most of the care staff as well. We visited at all times of the day and evening and the care seemed to be consistent. Mom chose not to participate in the activities so we don't have much to comment on those but there appeared to be plenty there she could have taken advantage of. The food was probably the least impressive of the areas to rate. We would probably give that a 3. It seemed to consist of lots of cafeteria style canned food that was average but not very appealing. There were times we felt she could have used more help with feeding than she got. I don't know if it was a function of them being busy or just not going the extra mile. We realize there is limited time with every resident and mom didn't always make it easy by being a picky eater or just refusing food frequently. We would have appreciated more of a heads up that hospice would have been useful and possibly improved her care and pain management toward the end. We would recommend the facility to others looking for care for a family member.

Clean and caring. It is an excellent facility, clean and caring. If your loved one requires an elevated level of care, thoroughly discuss your expectations so there is no miscommunication. Please emphasize their dietary needs.

It is a passion for some of the staff, and a job for others on the staff, for any of these facilities... Location-wise for our family, Common Wealth was priceless for the short time of 15 days and her passing... A "Place for Mom" really came through for us... Common Wealth was my mom's 3rd place of stay, in her very active end of life journey. A place for mom was very helpful.

sales staff were very helpful and responsive for determining appropriate care needed.

I have had great communication with individuals on the staff, particularly nursing and med techs. (Val, Blair & Amy) Alice at the front desk is always friendly and helpful. My brother-in-law has recently been diagnosed with early dementia at age 66. He is personally struggling and finds a lot to be agitated and complain about but I feel that he is being well cared for and they are trying to allow him to feel needed and not so helpless as compared to some other residents there. He has only been there about 8 weeks. I was expecting an independent level of care there (even though he really needs assistance) but discovered that is not so at the Bon Air location. They seem to be working on the food aspect. I like the concept of bistro dining and the family night activities. He has made friends there! I have hopes that he will continue to feel more comfortable but I know it's hard for him as he had a seizure and a stroke and then was diagnosed with the dementia so he never went back to work or to live in his house and can't drive. So many changes in about 9 months!

All of the staff, from aides to administrative to activities to maintenance have been genuinely warm and welcoming, presenting as a unified team.

The people there are caring and my mom has enjoyed the food options. We picked them because of the location and availability.