Independent Living Community in Guilford, Connecticut

Wendy

We loved Solstice Senior Living at Guilford. Mom's actually gonna move in there. We liked that it was a community where she could get involved. Since COVID happened, they've cut down a bit, but they have social hours, and I know the dining room is opening April 1. They got the OK from the state that they can open the communal dining area again. She lives by herself and she's all alone, so it would be really good for her to make friends and get into a little community kind of living center. They feed them all three meals, and they are included in the monthly fee, they take care of the linens every week, they do housekeeping every week, she gets a Med-E-Lert sensor, and she can have a pet. They're pet friendly. It was very nice, and it's very close to my home, so I think that was the biggest selling point. She's right down the street. They provide transportation to visits, they will take her to the doctor's appointment and bring someone in with her, so she'd have an assistant with her or someone to take care of her. The staff member was wonderful, very informative, explained everything, and went over everything with us. She didn't pressure us into anything at all, and she gave us enough time for my sister to run all the finances. If things should change that somehow we couldn't do it, we can get out of it right now. We put the deposit in, but should something change, there's no penalty if we change our mind before then. They have an on-site laundry for them to do their own laundry, but it's not open right now due to COVID, and that's the downfall. I'll have to take her laundry out, but that's supposed to be back open soon. We met the greeting people at the front door, and a few of the residents, and they were all really nice. The food menu had a big variety, there are specials every day where you can pick from hot dogs or chicken. If you don't want the special, they have another little menu that you can choose from, and they also deliver it to your room if you don't want to eat in the dining room. It's not like cafeteria food. We did virtual tours of the other places, and we liked this the best. The apartments were really nice and set up really conveniently for her. She's got macular degeneration and it's very hard for her to get around, and they have those accessible tubs, walk-in tubs, and they're changing the toilet for her. They're getting her a high-rise toilet instead of a regular toilet. They're redoing the floors and everything to accommodate her, so it's really nice.

Gloria

Solstice Senior Living at Guilford was lovely, and the tour was fine. It's just too far out. We prefer the location of Madison because it's in town. The staff was very nice. The apartments are lovely. They have a library and an exercise area. The facility is large.