I moved into Charter Senior Living of Bowling Green. I was able to bring my dogs. They have laundry facilities that either they do it or you do it yourself, depending on your abilities. You have to bring everything on your own for your room. They have a refrigerator and a stovetop, but they don't have an oven. The staff here is great. The problem is nobody wants to work right now, so they are short staffed. They are very, very supportive and upbeat, which helps the residents remain upbeat. They serve three meals a day, though the food could be better. They keep the building just as clean as they possibly can. They are always cleaning, and they clean your apartment once a week. They don't just put your clothes away or anything like that. They sweep once a week, and they do a good job. They make your bed when it needs it. Because it's independent living, they also expect you to take care of yourself and pick up after yourself. They have activities up until about 4:00. Everybody goes home at 4:00 or 5:00. They have an activities director, and there are other activities that you can do on your own, like puzzles. There's a TV in your room. You can go somewhere else, if you don't want to use the one in your room. The activities they do are pretty good, but sometimes they're a little bit juvenile. They don't have activities planned for people who are not handicapped mentally. They don't do anything on the weekends. We have a group for ladies that meets on the weekends. We sew, knit, or crochet. That's done by the residents; the staff doesn't do that. Some of the activities they do during the week are just geared to people with more mental handicaps. I wish they could do less of that or do more for those of us who haven't completely gone over mentally. In terms of value for money, it's pretty expensive. I did not do a lot of shopping, so I don't know how their fees here compare with other facilities. I have two rooms with one room set up for my crafts. That is why my rent is so high. I also have a living area, two showers, and a kitchen. They have a guy here who does the marketing, selling, and gets people in here. I like him so well that I just didn't even look around. I like all the staff here because they are great and awesome. This is an old building. It's showing its wear, but they do their best to keep it up and all that.

I have a nephew that lives at Charter Senior Living of Bowling Green. I haven't been in the rest of the building, but I have been into his room. It's nice and clean. He likes it there. His room is just one big area, and just as soon as you walk in the door, you could see the bedroom, and I didn't like that. I like the bedroom to be curtained off or something, but the rest of it was laid out nice. He takes his meals in the dining room. They have activities. I think he joins in with just about everything. He likes to play games and go shopping with them. He is very well adjusted.

Charter Senior Living of Bowling Green was one I'm very familiar with. And that's the one that would be my choice. The only issue I'm having is I can't afford the payments. I know some resources that would help me, but I think they would be temporary help. I would hate to get in there and then four or six months later, after I get rid of all my stuff, try to start all over somewhere else. I love that place. It's got a heated indoor/outdoor pool. They have private entrances. They have patios, a little garden space. It's a nice place. And then to not have to worry about cooking, or even buying groceries, and having somebody come in and clean my apartment once a week. It's kind of ideal. It's like five minutes from where I work if I go to the office, which I don't do much. I saw them congregating and visiting after dinner. There were about 20 of them congregating around one table and they were all sitting there chatting back and forth. There were people on the porch, chatting back and forth. I just got such a good feeling for it. They had a pool table and they had a library. They even have a chapel and they have different churches come in, in case the people don't want to go. They have community trips where they put them all in like a big van and they go to the farmers market or to the mall to shop. They provide transportation locally where like if you have a doctor's appointment and they're not going to let you drive home, they'll take you. They make three meals a day and you can get substitutions if you don't like it, or can't eat something. They do your laundry like your sheets and towels and pillowcases and blankets and stuff. They do have a laundromat and it's first-come, first-serve on the washers and dryers. They have a full-service beauty shop there. They just have everything that you could need. You can come and go as you please. So if you had a job where you started at four o'clock in the morning, they wouldn't say anything about you leaving at 3:30. The studio apartments, they're kind of small and they don't have a door to a patio. You don't get your door and they don't have a kitchenette. But they're still nice rooms, and I saw a couple of them where people had their sleeping area and their living area and their dining area where they had them. They had enough room that they were able to put those items in there. The efficiency, they have a small kitchenette, they also have a door to the outside where the patio is. People had even brought like cabinets from home that they could put things in. And what I'm getting at is there was enough room where they had the space, to put those things in there. Their bathrooms either have a tub or a walk-in shower with a seat that pulls down. So that's convenient for someone who can't stand a lot. The one-bedroom was amazing. I saw someone had put a queen size bed in there and it fit. That's a pretty decent size. The two-bedroom is what I want, and they will like it if you pay your money to get in and you want them to custom do your rooms. They don't charge anything else for it, and they will even put down carpeting or put down flooring that's not carpet. They will paint it whatever color you want. They will redo some things in the kitchen. There's a community fee, it's a one-time fee of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and that's kind of like a deposit, but I don't think you get it back when you move. It's an older building, but they have remodeled and they have kept -- they got more than one building, but they have kept those buildings up where they're not like falling apart, and they're very presentable.

I looked at Charter Senior Living of Bowling Green. The rooms were small. It's smaller than what my parents would want, the place that they live in right now is larger, and so I thought the two-bedroom was small. But overall, the place was very nice. I love the eating area for them, their activities, they had a ton of activities. They had things right there that were very convenient for them and that I did like quite a bit. The staff was very pleasant. They were helpful. They were more than willing to sit there and show me around and ask me if I had any questions. I did look at their menu, but I did not get to taste any of their food. They provided us with a complimentary pie to take home, which was very good. My husband loved it. I did like the variety that they had on their menu, and the balancing of the different foods such as vegetables, fruits, and meats.

I toured Charter Senior Living. The person that took me around on the tour was Don, the marketing director. It really impressed me that he knew the name of every resident. He greeted them by name and and just talked a little bit about them and introduced me to them. In most cases, he knew how old they were. "This lady coming up here, she's 101 years old", and with some others, it was how long they had lived there. That is what I was looking for a place for my stepmother. They all praised the place and one even offered, "would you like to come and see my room?" He kind of bantered with her a little bit. I was impressed with that. It's very clean. I also know someone that lives there, and she likes it. I know someone whose mother lived there until she passed away, and she really liked it. So that was something else that really recommended the place to me. It's an old building, and it has been renovated multiple times.

We toured Charter Senior Living of Bowling Green. They showed me the essential part of the living experience. It was a very good tour. It looked inviting. It looked like a place where an individual could make a home for himself and still receive the kind of assistance that he needed. There were lots of activities. A resident could choose what he wanted to do or chose not to do anything. The staff members were very good especially the gentleman who took me around. They were very friendly, and they appeared to care about the individuals living there.