Charlestown

Beware of the "transition" from Independent to Assisted Living. My MIL made friends quickly and was quite happy for her first year or so at Charlestown. The facility has a swimming pool, movie theatre, beauty parlor, model railroad room, library, card room, ice cream parlor, several restaurants, bank, and medical suite... Her 1BR apartment was $2K/mo. (almost as much as our mortgage for a 3BR house), and had a washer/dryer, kitchen, and meal plan. BUT...once her health started to fail (at 93), their system fell apart and the cracks began to show. She had two rehab stays after falls (NOTE: Do not let a senior use a "walker" with 4 wheels!). In her first stay, the staff pushed HARD for Assisted Living, but she wanted her own apartment, and we prevailed. She did well for another 8 months, then fell and broke a hip. This time, she DID need Assisted Living--but there were no spots! Instead, we had a patchwork of aides at $25+/hour, with a 2-hour minimum. Like most seniors, she hated strangers in her space, became very lonely and depressed—and then refused to do anything but sit in her chair. Charlestown had no programs to help ease the loneliness of seniors who were no longer mobile enough to leave their solitary apartments, and left it up to the residents. Some of the aides were great! Others would sometimes clock in and then disappear, took some cash and small items, and were so ineffectual at getting her to bed that she ended up in the hospital because she would sleep sitting up in her chair. When she came home, she needed TWO aides per hour, doubling the cost and the hassles (my husband was getting multiple calls at work each day from aides trying to get him to ask her to "behave.") We moved her to Waterfalls in Catonsville, which took WONDERFUL care of her until she passed away this week. But, Charlestown charged THREE months rent AFTER she moved out (even though they likely re-rented her unit in a week or two), PLUS a $6,000 "updating" charge to replace $400 worth of carpet. Read the fine print.