Orchard Estate of Woodbury

Overall experience: I have to say that of the 12 to 15 assisted-living places that my family and I looked at along with my mom, the Orchard Estates was by far the nicest one. It was the cleanest, the one with the nicest outside areas and the furniture and the Physical plant were only four years old, so it was not worn down like many of the other ones that we had seen. That remains to be a +4 Orchard Estates, but the reason I didn't give it a number five is because they seem to be unable to fix an air conditioning problem that they've had for the entire year that My Mom has been there, and the air conditioner leaks right over the front lobby as you walk in. I feel like it's very dangerous to the residence that someone could slip and fall, and I feel that they should have gotten it fixed by now. In all fairness, I haven't been there in very hot weather yet so I'll have to see if they've been able to get it fixed this summer. Also, the administration is somewhat lacking. The executive director seems to pretend to care, but does not ever address any concerns that we have had, such as a group of women sitting near the back door complaining that people shouldn't use it to go out into the garden. That's ridiculous! Anybody should be able to use that door. I have had to force my mom to use the door because she's been bullied into not using it so it's things like that and also things like they're having been a very bad Covid outbreak over the winter and they did not handle it very well, so that's why my score is not a five. Cleanliness of the facility: I gave it only a four because sometimes the public bathrooms on the first floor are not sparkling clean. However, I have to say that of all of the assisted-living that we visited, Orchard states was definitely the cleanest and remains to be the cleanest to date. They do a very good job cleaning my mom's room, there's never a speck of dust anywhere, and they're very responsive to, cleaning up emergency spills and things like that. Housekeeping staff is very diligent in terms of changing linens and washing laundry. It's just short of being "excellent" because of those bathrooms that could use a little more work. Friendliness. Again, I gave it a 4, not a 5, because of the lack of friendliness of the executive Director and some of the administration. However, the aides, especially the head aide and the aides and the kitchen staff that take care of My Mom on a regular basis, are exceptionally great. They are very friendly and attentive. Some of the staff of the activities, especially the Director, could be more friendly. They are also sometimes very unattentive. Quality of Care: I answered this question with the understanding that "care" meant medical care and general overall care at the place. I gave it a three because I'll give you an example of what's happening today. My mom seems to have a bad cough, and by now, the third day of this bad cough, the nurse should have referred her for a doctors appointment at very least and perhaps a chest x-ray at Best. I feel that they wait until the resident gets sick enough to go to the emergency emergency room because they don't want to bother taking care of them there. I know this sounds terrible but this has happened to my mom several times since she's been there as she has gotten sick at least three times. So I feel that the quality of care could be better. Food: I gave the food a four but perhaps it should really be a three because they do not cater to individual requests. They do not have any sugared sodas because so many people there have diabetes, but my mother does not and family members that visit do not, and we cannot get any sugared sodas there for lunch or dinner. that being said, the quality of the food overall is good, meaning that it is fresh and that it seems to be adequately prepared. They do have a good variety of foods available and my mom really likes the food there which is more than half the battle, which is why I gave it a 4. Activities: I gave it a three because they do not have a "theater room" like almost all of the other assisted-living's that we looked at did have. I think that's a huge miss on their part. There seems to be very little space dedicated to "activities" and the activities are repetitive and My Mom doesn't find them very interesting. Her 93-year-old hands can't do crafts beading so she stays in her room instead. She doesn't enjoy the book club and some of the movies and does like the Orchard Estate van that takes her to Catholic Church every Sunday morning. They should have a piano so that they could bring in piano players to play classical music or something like that and they don't have that either. They do have a lot of lunches out which my mom does not want to do because she's already paying for the food there and you have to pay for the lunch out. She does like going on the shopping trips occasionally. She likes the fact that there is an on-site Salon every Wednesday and can get her hair done every week. Value for the money: well this one is a really hard one because most of the other assisted-livings that we looked at were $3-4000 more a month. So I really can't complain too much about the money but they do raise the price every six months, which was something that they did not discuss with us before Mom signed the contract. I felt like that was a bit of a bait and switch. Also, they reevaluate My Mom every six months and add more services on so that ups the cost. She started there a little bit under $7000 & now one year later, she's paying over $8000 per month. So when you talk about the value for the money, it's kind of hard because, yes it is less expensive than the Atria or Bristol or Sunrise or the other ones like that, but it also is the farther distance out on the LE and it is a smaller physical plant than those other places are. I'd have to say the final arbiter of whether it's a good value for the money is whether my mother likes or not, and she generally does like it, although she is not happy to be living in any assisted living place, I have to say that she is "content" there.

The staff at Orchard Estate of Woodbury are generally friendly and try to find ways to be helpful. The move in process seemed pretty well coordinated (at least from Orchard's side). My mom would probably like more movies to be shown (beats me why they don't, as it would seem pretty easy to pop in a disk in that room). The dining is spacious and more flexible and fluid than I've seen elsewhere, which tends to avoid people sitting around waiting to eat. I do recommend Orchard to others. My mom isn't so happy with the Assisted Living concept, but admits that the place is quite nice.

Orchard Estates of Woodbury is a wonderful assisted living environment and has cared for my father for the past three years. The level of care is excellent and I highly recommend it.

No more worries about my mother’s safety, activities, housekeeping, and meals!

I moved my mom from another facility to Orchard Estate’s Memory Care and it was truly the best decision I made! The difference was obvious from our pre-move in meeting until today. I looked at other facilities and there is no comparison to the clean, beautiful and happy environment. Everyone from maintenance, front desk and exceptional nursing staff is very professional, kind and uplifting to me, my family and my mom. And as far as the community fee, which I was not thrilled with, I realized why it was worth it after our first month. My mom is safe and happy and I am grateful to have found Orchard Estates of Woodbury!