The Arbors at Chicopee Assisted Living and Memory Care — Local services in Chicopee

Having to put a loved one in assisted living is one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make; choosing Arbors Assisted Living was easy.

Mom has Alzheimer’s and was doing well in her home with daily visits. Home was the one place she remembered. We were managing caring for her needs the best we could and then one day that changed. She needed more care after an injury with hospitalization and a rehab stay. Knowing the reputation of The Arbors made the decision to contact them easy. The Arbors is a private, family-owned business that we can tell values the care and reputation that serves its residents, and it shows.

Having an apartment available in the Reflections Memory Unit (10 apartments, 12 residents) was a sign that this was meant to be. Allyson was our first point of contact and from that point on everyone we have encountered has been 5*. One can see that the staff members here are not just hired, they are chosen and trained to high standards. The staff began knowing our mom before she arrived and all of that made the process that much easier. We have been guided and welcomed through this whole process and couldn’t feel better with our decision.

We had thought of keeping mom in her home and finding 24/7 care but realizing the stress of scheduling and trusting those care providers was beyond what we were capable of. Not to mention the expense could have been double. The Arbors takes care of all that-meals, laundry, activities and top-notch care. In the reflections unit it is not uncommon to see a staff member hold a resident's hand or sit by them; there is much love felt here.

Mom has adjusted well and although she may at times mention home, we see all that it has done for her. Rehab had diminished her and now she is once again thriving; interacting with other residents and daily activities have brought her back to life. The facility is beautiful and well cared for and residents feel respected and honored like elders should. The Arbors staff always put their residents' needs first and they are all known by name; newcomers are welcomed into their family. The care, love and compassion given by the staff is felt and it is everything we had hoped for.

We are so thankful to have a great place for mom where she is safe and well cared for. She can continue to live rather than exist for the rest of her life and we can continue to live our lives as well. Being able to visit her rather than just care for her...

I am a Ph.D. Psychologist who was recently helping my own mother consider a move to the Arbors Assisted Living Residence in Chicopee, MA. My mother had a stroke more than six months ago and we have insured that she has had the highest quality of care from both medical and mental health professionals. While she did have some initial confusion about where home was and how she would live moving forward like many elderly individuals who suffer a stroke, she has done incredibly well and all of her caregivers have given her the green light to move from a higher level of care to assisted living. All good. Not quite. After having met my mother, had their nurse evaluate her, and having received the documentation they requested, they asked for a deposit, gave her a contract, and a move in date. When we brought her for lunch to help her assimilate before the move they actually suggested she begin her stay that night instead of waiting the week for the move-in. She met several residents just like herself while she waited for a small bag with her personal items to arrive. She was overjoyed until her bag arrived an hour later and the staff suddenly decided that after having just reviewed her case, she was ...no longer welcome. They hadn't at any previous point in our interactions with them noticed that as a stroke patient she had had some confusion in the early aftermath of her stroke and didn't think they wanted the "liability" that she might be for them. What was astonishingly unprofessional was that they hadn't done their homework in advance, hadn't let either my mother or her family know that they had any concerns in advance, and after the fact, didn't want to take into consideration any of the opinions of the medical or mental health community about her ability to be safe and independent. Unfortunately, my mother was left feeling disappointed and more importantly incredibly ashamed. The saddest part is that we are now working through the reticence that my mother has about moving into assisted living at all as she's afraid that she will not be welcome. It's very sad for us all. We are working to get her through this. We only wish that the Arbors had stopped to consider the person behind the stroke and treated her "as family" as they say in their story of this family business. I write this so that others can be protective of their loved ones as you...

When we were looking for a place where our mom could live independently in an apartment but have the services necessary to keep her safe we looked at a number of assisted living communities. Most have nice facilities, a variety of services and well maintained accommodations. We chose the Arbors in Chicopee because it was large enough to offer the services she needed and the diversity of activities to keep her active. Other places were so large we were afraid she would get lost, both in terms of finding her way around the place as well as being lost in the sheer number of people in the facility.

After being there for two months we are confident we have made the right decision for our mom. For someone who really did not want to be there initially she has adapted and now throughly enjoys her new living environment. While the Arbors is a nice facility, what we have come to learn is that it’s the employees that make the place so inviting. Everyone is friendly, outgoing, and helpful and SO focused on the residents. We are constantly amazed at how everyone there will drop what they are doing to help the residents or answer a question. Employees go out of their way to provide assistance and make sure she is included in activities. They are also very responsive to her needs as well as the requests from her family. When this behavior is so pervasive it has to be part of the culture. We would highly recommend the Arbors in Chicopee to anyone considering an assisted...