A Banyan Residence - The Villages

Rhonda

My parents have moved into A Banyan Residence. What I like best is that the whole facility is enclosed. My mom has dementia. She's not a wanderer yet, but we don't have to worry about it. What I like least is that the units are so small. Every time I'm there, I eat and it is awesome. The activities are great. My parents are not yet good about joining in the activities, but the ones that they have done, they love especially the music. They have live music and that's one of their favorites. Value for money is good.

Marcia

A Banyan Residence was extremely expensive, but the people there were extremely happy and kind. My husband was in memory care and they had him sitting up in the wheelchair from early in the morning until bedtime often. I complained several times and said that they can't have someone sitting like that all day for a year and half. He needs to lie down and take a nap after lunch and so they started doing that for him. There was a lot of entertainment, where they would go from one entertainment to another and many people that are in charge of activities said, "This is not good for these people. They need to lay down and rest." You just cannot have lunch and put them into this big exercise room that had a huge TV there, and kept them going all day. That was not desirable, but they did many other things that were exceedingly good. The staff were extremely kind, always helpful, and always guiding. The food was horrible. One case was they had a little piece of dried-up, overcooked chicken, very thin, like a piece of paper, that you couldn't even cut with a knife and other things in the plate that you didn't even know what they were. They had two skinny little pieces of bacon and a tablespoon of egg. The Christmas meal was just a disgrace. They had a piece of whole wheat toast, a little piece, like a Pepperidge Farm size, and they put them alongside. No jelly. No butter. They put them in the oven and I said, "Why aren't you toasting it and giving it a nice piece of bread?" They said that they don't have a toaster. I said, "You have a couple hundred people and you don't even have a toaster?" That was just unbelievable. In the morning, no butter on the pancakes and syrup. I really complained and then they started changing things. The place is beautiful, but they are putting all the money outside, on the grounds. They have in many cases, a recliner, that you can't move (if you're really in a horrible shape, I guess you don't need it.) They have so many things going for them, but they're spending a fortune outside in landscaping. It is absolutely an oasis. When you have a memory problem or you're just sitting around staring, you don't need all of that.

Donna

We've chosen A Banyan Residence - The Villages for my father because they had more outside areas for walking. The rooms are very small and they're not private. They've got a room, and then a bathroom in the center, and then another room. Both sides go out to a courtyard, so that's one plus there. They're private only by a sliding door. I wish the bathroom was a little more private. The qualities of the food were healthy and they were good. They have an exercise room, they do ice cream socials, and they've got a movie theater. They have a walking club. They have different crafts room. They do once a week outings with a limited amount of people that can go to different places.

Charlena

A Banyan Residence - The Villages was very nice. It was just too expensive for us, but it was very nicely done unlike any of the other places that I've ever been to. Normally, if you go into an assisted living/nursing home/rehab or any of that, you have two beds in the same room and a curtain. No privacy. Over there, they have the bed then a sliding barn door. In the middle, there's the bathroom and the kitchenette area, then there's another sliding barn door to another bed. They both have a door for them to come out. They have a garden that's closed in, so they can't run away. It's beautiful. From the time that I walked in the door, the lady was super friendly. The gentleman who toured us around was also very friendly, very knowledgeable, very caring, and understanding. He even followed up with a phone call to see if there's something that they could help my mom with. So, they were very, very nice people. They have a movie theater, an ice cream parlor, an arts and crafts room, and different activities. It's a very down-to-earth place. It's a home-like setting. It doesn't feel like a nursing home or an assisted living. It's just really, really nice. I liked it.