Carefree Living Brainerd

Reviewer#ET1016b

I toured Carefree Living Brainerd. It was very crowded and there were many people. The staff knew each other well, but the ability of them to call everybody by name wasn't there. The staff was knowledgeable. I didn't see that feeling of care for the patients I saw then, and I don't know why, that was noticed very clearly. Maybe they're better than I thought, but I compared it to the past and it had gone downhill tremendously.

Bryan

We toured Carefree Living Brainerd. We didn't like that there were shared bathrooms and a community shower. It seemed more like an institution than a place to live. So we didn't think very highly of that one. The staff was helpful. It was clean. It was a little bit older building. The room we toured was small and had a shared bathroom to that. The atmosphere felt uncomfortable. The rooms were average-sized, nothing fancy or special.

Debbie

We toured Carefree Living Brainerd. I did not like the fact that there were a bunch of residents sitting out front smoking. The primary entrance just turned me off right away. When we came into the building, there was an odor. I understand that the building was old, but I think that things can be done to make it a little more home-friendly or more like entering a home. I did not like the size of the rooms. For assisted living, if the person is going to do a little bit of cooking and have some food in their room. There's no place for a stove or a refrigerator. I didn't like the carpet for potential residents to have a walker or a wheelchair to try to navigate on that carpet. The person who did the tour was fine. She was friendly.

Pat-08

My mother has moved into Carefree Living Brainerd. The staff seems to be friendly and helpful. The carpet could use some cleaning, but on the whole, the building is pretty clean. My mother likes it there, and they have activities she likes to participate in. She played bingo, she went to listen to some music, and, one day, they painted bucket hats. Currently, my mother is in a very small room, but she will be moving to a regular-sized room next week. Right now, she's pretty cramped, but it was the only thing that was available at the time. In their dining area, they have assigned seating so that she's always with somebody and generally it's the same person. The dining room is fairly large, and she gets plenty of food.

Cheri

I liked the staff at Carefree Living Brainerd very much. I thought the place was OK, but it's a little big for my mom and it's a little farther away for me, but I liked it. I saw more of a studio apartment. It didn't have a kitchen. Some of them had little refrigerators and microwaves, but some didn't. They were very thorough and very experienced. It looked like a good place.

Cheryl

Carefree Living Brainerd was comfortable. My mom enjoyed it. She liked the people. She liked the feel of the place, but the staff didn't know we were coming. We thought we had an appointment, but they hadn't been notified. They were still very gracious. I think it was a nurse who showed us around, and she was very warm, kind, and very thorough. The rooms were all studios, but they looked very clean and comfortable. They have quite a few different activities. Three meals a day, laundry, cleaning and so forth were all included. The residents were out in their yards. They had kind of an outside area, a gathering place that they could be outside.