I went to Homewood at Martinsburg. I like that whatever condition mom is in, they can take care of it. They can go from independent living to hospice. It's very nice, very clean, and upbeat. My mom really liked it. The staff was very good, informative, friendly, helpful, and knew all the answers. They had a nice dining room. We didn't have any food, but we've seen menus; they cover all the bases. One thing they have that's really nice is every room has either a balcony or a patio. They can walk out the door and be outside, which my mother likes. They had crafts. They take them out on a tour, and they take them shopping if they want. There's a lot of stuff to do. The facility was great.

Homewood at Martinsburg is probably as good as any place, maybe better. My mother was only there for two and a half weeks before she passed on. They had all kinds of activities; they had a full range of any kind of activities that you wanted to do. Like, if you couldn't talk, there were programs that they socialized you into. Truly, there wasn't anything that they would not offer you. It was beautiful, clean, orderly, and growing. It was a good home. They allowed you to bring your furniture if you wanted to, and this was in the single care rooms. They had Alzheimer's patients as well as those who could think, and they all had different things that they could do. They had programs posted on the wall for the entire week, what you will be doing, and they had programs of celebrations. I liked best the people who cared for them. One of the things that was nice was that everyone's got a window that they could sit by. And, you could walk out the door, if you could walk at all; you don't have to stay inside. You could take your walker or be wheeled out in the chair and sit by the grass and have flowers around. That's one of those things that mean you are not totally shut in, no matter how bad you are. Another thing is that you can buy in at any age after fifty-five. You can buy into a house, which is called a cottage, and they will take care of everything you need. And then, if you don't want to do that, you can buy an apartment and live there just like you would in any apartment at any place, except you buy in, and then you still pay a fee. Then, if you really get sick and you can't take care of yourself at all, or if, before that, you need any help, they will come for a fee, I think, and they will help you take a bath, make your bed, and wash your clothes. And, if that doesn't work anymore for you, you can move into a room with a window and as much freedom as they can give you. What they talked about and showed the people, it showed that no one was punished, and you didn't have to do anything that you didn't want to do; that is number one. Number two, you did have to go to your room once in a while, but they don't force you to. Then, if you didn't want to eat, they didn't make you eat, but no one lost weight. They wanted to be sure that they offered you all the wonderful things that you'd be willing to eat - ice cream, and all kinds of other foods that you will eat. Of course, it wasn't cheap either.

Overall, Homewood seemed to be a well-run assisted living facility. I probably visited Homewood a dozen times during the period when my grandmother and great uncle were both living there. Compared to other similar facilities I've visited I think Homewood was slightly better as far as the quality of amenities and the quality of the rooms themselves. The staff were courteous and the residents were well taken care of in my experience. The individual rooms were of good quality and the private balcony was a great amenity to have. The ability for residents to be outside without having to travel a great distance was a big plus. On the negative side, I felt the food provided to the residents was sub-par and should have been of better quality considering the cost of residence. Also, improvements to the atmosphere in common areas could have been made. There seemed to be excessive noise (lots of beeping) in areas were residents congregated. The architectural and environmental factors could have been better.