Piper Shores

Jack

I went down and looked at Piper Shores, and I liked the concept. They're the only one in the state that has the continuing care aspect. I also liked the location because it's near my son. The facility was nice. They have a courtyard and a nice pool. They have a cooperative and they make an effort to engage the people who live there in running the place. The resident who showed me around was a complete stranger to me. She didn't show me her apartment, but she showed me someone else's. It's a nice building and a nice location. You get one meal if you're in the independent living building. They had a beautiful dining room. It had a fancy dinner service with a view of the ocean and flowers on your table. They described it as having waiter service. You can order from a menu or you can walk up to the self-serve area. The main building for independent living fronts the ocean. Not all the apartments front the ocean, but most of them at least had a view.

Wayne

We are already on the waiting list for Piper Shores. We toured the independent living, the main apartment building, and one of the cottages. We saw where the assisted living section is in Holbrook, but we didn't go into that facility. We saw the gym, pool, woodshop, art studio, founders' room, and dining room. We found it to be quite comprehensive in the services, and the people that gave us the tour were very upbeat. We also have spoken with a couple of people in the marketing department. They've been extremely helpful, and so we have signed up. Because of Covid 19, we did not get to see very many people. We saw two ladies out walking on the trails, and two ladies coming out of their apartment with a dog, and we got to pet it. Dogs are permitted, and that's very good because we have a dog. The couple who gave us the tour were quite impressive. We also had an opportunity to meet the CEO, which was almost just a happenstance. He was going one way, and we were going the other with this tour group and they introduced us. So, we spoke with him. We saw the store, a volunteer was working there, and that looked to be adequate. I mean, it's not a grocery store, but you certainly wouldn't starve if you had to go there to buy your box of cereal or something. So that's what we've done. The cottages were quite nice; we saw one cottage with two bedrooms. It had a den and a 2-car garage. It was good. We would prefer to be in the apartment building because we would prefer to have an ocean view. They are available from the apartments, and not from the cottages. But if you're in a cottage, you still can eat some meals in the main dining room, which is looking right out over the ocean. So, it's gorgeous. We did see the dining area. Because of the restrictions on COVID, there was no dining going on there, but the dining room was right along with the windows where the seating was looking out onto the ocean. It's on the third floor, so it's got a panoramic view out over Casco Bay. We didn't get any food. They normally would do that, and they apologized; again, because of Covid. They've had no deaths in this facility, 99 percent of the people are vaccinated. We felt we had to wear masks the whole time. We had to pass through the gauntlet of taking your temperature and filling out all these things. We can't even get in to start our meeting with the marketing people and with the leaders. We've received in the mail, ideas of what kind of events are going on monthly, I think it was December or January. They sent us what was going on, and there were several things that interested both my wife and me. We got to speak with a cleaning person, and she was pleasant. I asked the question, "So, do you tip?" There's no tipping, no tipping is allowed. But they do some kind of a fund that the residents contribute to, and then they provide the staff with some kind of a Christmas bonus from money contributed by the residents. We saw where the store was. We saw where the delicatessen was where you could go get a sandwich or something like that. I think we saw where the hairdresser is on the way. I didn't see where the barbershop was, but then it's somewhere, it's not a problem. What I saw in the hallways and the common spaces looked excellent. The grounds looked excellent. It's wintertime, so we didn't see a lot of flowers and things like that, but everything else was well-kept and well-maintained. In the cottage that we saw, we talked to the people who are living in that cottage. They said before they moved in, they wanted these changes made, and they were all done. We've spoken with the marketing people. They said before you move in, depending upon how long it's been since the apartment was upgraded, they will be upgraded or be refreshed so that it looks good. I'm not saying it doesn't look good normally, but they'll spruce it up and make it clean and pleasant. I have such a small sampling of the staff. Those we met with were all quite good, but we didn't see more than half a dozen total staff. I think the staff is good. Certainly, the people who gave us a tour told us they're great.

Phillip612162

Piper Shores was beautiful and very big with the ocean view. It has 1300 residents, and that didn’t bother us at all; in fact, we liked that. It had beautiful and bright rooms.

Caring106079150

Piper Shores is very clean and very beautiful. It is probably just too expensive for us. We checked out the apartment as well as the cottages. It is very nice, and the space is just right. The staff was very friendly and warm.

Park245

One of the best CCRC's on East Coast if you can stand winters in Maine! In demand so long wait list.

rosalindr

My mother lives in the independent living side of this facility. It is very expensive but well managed and staffed. There are a lot of activities available for residents, but no one is required to do anything he or she doesn't want to. Mother has a large, 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a little bit of ocean view. Mother can make her own meals, or order a take-out meal from the dining room, or have dinner in the restaurant-like dining room. It is in a beautiful location on a private beach that's a 10 minute drive from town. There's a shuttle bus that takes residents to the supermarket a couple of times a week or to Portland for concerts or plays. Residents with a car can park in the covered garage.