Carriage House at Lee's Farm

Pros: nursing staff very caring and attentive. Good communication. Nice environment. Cons: director is lovely in person but hard to get a response from otherwise. Also, this facility feels geared towards people who are in less advanced stages of Alzheimer's/ dementia. They require a private aide in many circumstances which is incredibly expensive. Ultimately I moved my mother elsewhere because of this.

The whole experience has been a very positive move for my mother. The activities and the support of the staff and social connection has been very good for her. I also feel like the staffs attention to care has been excellent. The degree of independence that she has with the support has been very helpful. I would recommend Carriage House at Lee's Farm for sure.

This community was nice but wouldn't take my loved one at the level of care they were at, at that time. My loved one needed two person transfers.

Honestly, it was the best place for my mom. Mom was very happy there- more so than being home.

I liked Carriage House at Lee's Farm a lot. It is a small, privately owned facility which I liked because they have more control over what they do. The facility was very, very nice and we were highly considering it for my loved one.

This is such a special place. The staff have incredible hearts. There is always something going on. The food is excellent and the staff do an excellent job communicating, especially during the COVID-19 situation. I highly suggest considering Carriage House!

I find the staff and leadership to be outstanding here. We would recommend Carriage House to anyone!

The building is attractive, the caregivers are very nice and the apartments are large for assisted living. Unfortunately the administration is terrible. If you ask for something to happen they'll be very nice in a meeting and then do nothing. The Carriage House did not work for my family member so we changed facilities.

Caregivers are great but administration don't know How To run the place staff does not stay in this place nice building but a place that always changing staff like changing underwear meaning the administration is really bad.

We love Carriage House. My aunt and uncle have lived there for 2 years in the Avita memory care section. I can only speak highly about their loving, caring and concerned staff. Jazz, the director of Avita , has been there since it opened. She is Phenominal. My uncle had a hard time adjusting to leaving his home and Jazz worked miracles. They work right along with each family individually. I am around the facility at all different times, I have only seen calm staff members interacting with all types of situations. The nurses are amazing. Each transition we have made with my aunt has been professional and smooth. A few times I questioned their decision and found out they were right on, they would reassure me and all went well. The front desk staff are outstanding. The executive director Tori is very involved, she gets to know all the residents by name and their close relatives.

I toured this community it was clean and the people were nice. They were a little too far away for us but I would have been happy if my husband was at this community. I also wanted to thank A Place for Mom for their assistance in finding a community.

We had to move our mother out of Carriage House during our 2nd year. We brought her to Carriage House to take advantage of an assisted living/memory care services and keep her there a long time. It did not work out that way. Assisted living and memory care were not integrated as described when we were evaluating. They operate distinctly separate based on what we saw. Our mother has vascular dementia, so Carriage House was a good fit by design but the delivery of care did not match what she needs. The original Director stressed their ability to develop a transition plan from Assisted Living to Memory in order to make it comfortable and meaningful experience to our mother. They stated that services could be added to Assisted living (for a fee) until which time she is ready for the memory care unit. Carriage House is on their 4th Director (I believe), 3rd Head Nurse ( I believe). Carriage House finally agreed to a transition plan but terminated it after several months. We were told to either move into Avita or move out within 30 days. Note: The closer we looked at Avita and compared to others the more we knew it was not the right spot for our mother. Some of the caregivers with the Assisted living area are terrific, they are the front line and make the difference. I do not want to mention names but they are terrific people. But others do not seem well trained or engaged nor have the right temperament to be working with the elderly. The women at the front desk are simply amazing communicators, caring and really engaged. Over a 2 year period, however, I did not see a Director of facility on the floor with residents. Obviously they do get on the floor, but having visited weekly for 2 years I never saw them on the floor. I saw the Head Nurse at the nurses station a couple times. There does not seem to be integration between the management and the front line. We compared Carriage House to Newbridge, North Hill, Wingate, Maple Wood, The Cottages, and other places. The big advantages we found elsewhere were; walking paths, better layouts and much larger courtyards, Directors that reside with the residents verse off in an office, bigger complexes with restaurants, shops and other amenities. We also found that some of the other places better focus on the needs of the individual resident. IE daily walking groups that leave the memory care unit. Flexibility with getting up and meal times. Set a personal plan on what resident wants to do and does not want to do. More reading materials and maturity towards the patient verse talking to them like they are children. I receive periodic emails on how she is doing with emphasis on making her happy. Some of the Directors at these other facilities are just amazing and the front line personnel like to follow their lead. There is a distinct advantage being a small unit within a much bigger facility. Parents can live in a 12-24 person memory care unit, and have access to much more. Shops, restaurants, art galleries, and all the things they enjoyed their entire lives...which we inadvertently take away. We did find another place. It is terrific. But transitioning her to a new facility was difficult and not something we would ever want to go through again. It was heart wrenching taking her from her apartment and her friends with short notice at a time she was not ready to make a change. The worst gut wrenching experience that I can recall. When you look at Memory care unit: Go in and observe without Director or sales person, and go in a couple times. And then send in a family member without you and compare notes. It is amazing how we all see different things. This is complex decision. Do the residents seem happy/content? Is there a lot for them to do? Are there varied reading materials and other things all over the place? It should feel like a home and it should not be perfectly neat and sterile. Does it feel like a home or a hospital. If it feels like a hospital you have bigger issues in front of you. Does your parent have a champion or are you just being sold to? Observe staff on their own: do they take initiative and seem compassionate? Okay back to Carriage House, here is my net: Food- very good, good portion control, better than most Fees-billing is accurate and fair, they do not nickel and dime you. Likely better than most. Management ....we had poor experience. But they just made another change and maybe it will revert back to how it used to be managed. Caregiver verse Real estate play......for a lot of these companies it is a real estate play. The best ones we saw were non profits and/or affiliated with hospitals. Facility- bigger is better. This said Carriage House Assisted living was better than the norm, memory care was below the norm. Find a great memory care within a larger complex. Best of both. Ethical- yes, just not as compassionate as we needed. Making a connection with the caregiver...we had a good relationship with the earlier management team but not the one that was there our last year. Carriage House was not a good fit for our mother with Dementia, but it may be good for you.

Our experience with Carriage House has been a good one. The place is clean and well kept, and all of the staff I've spoken to have been friendly and professional. It's a very nice place, overall.

Carriage House has been so fantastic to my father. He can be difficult at times, but they have been so friendly and accommodating and now he's enjoying living there. Despite his health problems, they are really working with us to keep him in a comfortable, familiar environment as long as possible. My family is very grateful.

These are the kindest people! Our family member is not the easiest person to deal with and everyone on the staff is giving 100% to make it work for him. They are very willing to customize their programs to make it what he needs. The nurses are knowledgable and supportive and are very on top of his medical condition. An example-he didn't like the food (due to a medication that had his sense of taste off) and instead of getting defensive, the chef came out and got to know him. Now they are buddies and he loves the food. This is typical of how flexible and understanding they are. Our biggest regret is that we didn't get him here sooner.

We are now two weeks in to my parents' new assisted living apartment home at Carriage House and all is well. In fact, all is wonderful. The care, the food, the activities and most of all the staff and administration are superb. I find myself smiling instead of grimacing when I speak about my parents now - and that is a very great change for the better.

To much money, a 1 bedroom is 5300 with 1500 for an extra person