4 Independent Living Communities in La Mesa, California

Barbara

I'm at Grossmont Gardens and they're very accommodating here. The staff is quite friendly. I love my apartment, and it has a lot more space than I expected. It's very pretty inside and very peaceful. If you look outside, they also have the gardens, and it's wonderful. The meals are very good too. I'm very content. I watch different activities from my patio, and they're great. The seniors that live here are so friendly, and they're open to meeting new people.

Kelly

The Montera was beautiful and beautifully maintained. The landscaping and the architecture of the place were just gorgeous. I want to live there. The staff was wonderful, and the lady during the tour was really good. The room was really nice, roomy, and spacious. The residents seem happy, 'cause there were residents hanging out in the front area. They have a whole level of care for memory care, which is a different area separate from the other residents that don't need that much care. They have a beauty salon, a pool, daily activities, exercise, and game nights. They have like 2 or 3 activities every day. It is expensive, but for the second person, the price really drops. It's almost $3000 for one person, for the room, food, and everything, but the second person was only $800. You get a discount for a couple. The food is like done by a top chef. It's like gourmet. They have these cookies that the chef made, and they were just to die for, they're so good, and they melt in your mouth.

Roxanne

Waterford Terrace Retirement Community is a happy place. The people are generally clean and happy. It's a pleasant place to be. Everybody is very engaged and the people are doing a lot. They ask about my father when they don't see him come down for dinner. He's enjoying it. The food is great. We love it. We looked at the one-bedroom and the studio. We liked the studio because it was very spacious and there was enough room for Dad. They have a breakfast bar every Thursday, they did Oktoberfest, there's a theater, a library, a van that will take you to your doctor, and laundry rooms. Everything's convenient. He gets three meals a day and they put out cookies in the afternoon daily.

Patrick

The general appearance of Waterford Terrace Retirement Community was great, and the tour, facilities, and all the amenities were great. A one-bedroom apartment was $4,000, which was way out of my price range, and that was the cheapest one, plus I had to put down a deposit, so I would have to pay about $10,000 to $12,000 just to move in. The person who accommodated me, Ashley, was fine and showed me and my brother-in-law everything that was down there. We saw the home theater, recreation room, game room, and where to eat. She said if we have special diets, it needs to be written and given to the chef. Everything was perfect, but out of my price range. I talked to one lady who's living there, and she said it's a great place to live. Everything's immaculate, the grounds was great, everything was clean, and nothing was out of place. If I had a question, Ashley answered right away, and answered pretty straightforward.

Marianne

My husband stayed at Arbor Hills Nursing Center. It was a little better than the previous place my husband stayed, but there were a few incidents that shouldn't be happening in a nursing home. It was nicer, brighter, and cleaner, but one time when my husband and I were sitting in the lobby, some woman in a wheelchair was flat on her back and she was wheeling around and couldn't see what she was doing. Nobody was with her and there was nobody at the front desk. I went back to where the nurses were and I told one of the guys there about the woman and they said, "Yeah, she does that a lot." I told them she's out there by herself and there's nobody there. When I came back, the woman was banging against the glass of the aviary with live birds inside, and nobody said or did anything. It was not a good impression. My husband was getting physical therapy there, which is the one thing I liked about the place. They had a really good physical therapist, but there was one time they were showing my husband how to make rice crispy treats and there were people there that were old and senile making a mess, and it wasn’t anything my husband wanted to do. I just think they need to find out what these people are interested in. They did have music and people were singing along, so that was good. I just thought that it's not a place for my husband. He hated the food, quit eating, and lost about 50 pounds. The lobby was beautiful, but the rooms were tiny.