They decide what level of service you will need if you live here, and you get to pay for it. They can, and will, try to up-sell the level of services constantly and relentlessly. The decision of what level of care is needed is made by employees of this company. So they have a vested interest in selling more services. They did this with my father who lived there for five years. Every little thing that happened to him was an excuse to move him to assisted living, which he did not want to go to. He lost his driver's license-- time for assisted living, he got pneumonia and recovered-- off to assisted living... literally every six months they would do this. When he returned a box of clothes to JC Penney's-- a $500 a month "care manager" to help him shop was recommended. Eventually when my father did need more care, their price for assisted living was quite literally double what neighboring communities charged. Then to add insult to injury, they charged him for an extra month's rent-- because he didn't give them 30 days notice before leaving. But it wasn't his decision to leave, it was theirs. They should have given him 30 days notice ! I would suggest looking at other places. If the price of the independent living apartments seems very reasonable, the reality is that they don't let people live there for very long. read more

As an update, The renovation that was promised to be done by end of year has not begun. There are 13 other apartments in her building alone that need to be sold before they start trying to sell hers. As for the response, they are correct, they are following the letter of the contact that we signed. The reassurances from every representative and the CEO that they are a non profit and will refund the earnest money is simply talk. That is obvious by the other reviewers. I will post an update and discuss some of the positive aspects of friendship village once they refund the earnest money. However there seems little hope of that happening soon. Such a shame. Original Review: Like so many others have said. They have not returned our earnest money after 18 months of my mother's passing. They have ripped up her apartment and will not remodel until all the others are sold. The verbal promises of returning our earnest money after 16 months were a complete lie. Response 12/30/2021 Dan: We understand your concern about not yet having received your entrance fee refund and we share your frustration. Please know that we're working hard to sell apartments and return refunds as quickly as possible. However, we are following our policy on refunds as spelled out in the residency agreement. As for remodeling apartments, we have recently upgraded all of our standard apartment finishes (cabinetry, flooring, appliances, etc.), and are speeding up our renovation process. If you have any questions, please call the Marketing Department directly read more

My husband and I have lived here for 4 years. The move from our house to Friendship Village was the smartest thing we could have done. We are in a safe place with many services available to us in this building, including a medical clinic, bank and many other things important to us. And, I don't need to cook any longer! read more

Do NOT buy in to this place. They are in severe financial distress and have not been paying their bond holders. There is no transparency whatsoever in terms of what is going on- you just have to trust them. Hard to do when they don't communicate. You can ask any of the 75-100 families that are waiting to get their money back and I'm pretty sure you will get the same feedback. Don't risk it. read more

Lived at Friendship Village for 3 years. Love the concerts, amenities, lectures, etc. A great decision to move here

Friendship Village has been a wonderful place for my Mom after my Dad passed away. She has so many friends and activities that it is sometimes hard for me to find a mutual time for a visit. We do not have to worry about her at FV. read more

I have lived at Friendship Village for 5 years and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a continuing care community. Lots of activities and a very friendly atmosphere. Food is first class with a menu that is constantly changing. The Bluestone lounge serves beer, wine and cocktails read more

Have lived here for three years. Made the decision after looking at five other places. Couldn't be happier -- great friends, wonderful staff, more activities than what I have time for. Couldn't be happier! read more

I love my life at friendship Village. I start my day with a lap swim in oue beautiful pool then either a lecture or fitness event. My apartment is my refuge here I enjoy reading or doing puzzles.I have more friends than I have ever had and enjoy dinner every night with my new special friends, read more

I moved to Friendship Village in November 2021 and couldn't be happier with my decision. I am as busy as I choose to be every day. If I feel like participating in the many offered activities, I can. If I choose to hole up in my apartment and have a quiet day, I can do that too. Yesterday, for example, I treated a visiting friend to lunch in a great restaurant, led a book discussion mid-afternoon, and enjoyed an Illinois Brass Band concert with a complementary glass (or two) of the bubbly in the evening. All without leaving home! What's not to like? read more

This retirement home has amazing food. They offer 3 restaurants! Mosaic is where we went and the fish was cooked perfectly. Every meal I've ordered there is excellent. But you need to be a resident or a guest of a resident! So happy they chose to live here. read more

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Five years ago, my cat and I moved into Friendship Village which was the best decision I ever made. I find it so peaceful walking in its many floral gardens enjoying the silence and beauty of nature. Being an active senior, I take advantage of the many amenities that Friendship Villages offers; swimming, singing & the choir, participating in the pom pom squad, painting classes, and crafting classes. We also have many cards and book clubs and have guest lecturers speaking on a variety of subjects. As well as live entertainment on weekend and on special occasions. The staff here is exceptional and the residents are truly friendly. It's the greatest place to retire. Come join our Friendship Village family! read more

It has been over two years since my grandpa passed away, and my family is still waiting for Friendship Village to refund the money that they owe us. In the meantime, they're earning interest or dividends on this sizeable chunk of money that belongs to my family. What a terrible way to treat customers! After our experience, I would not recommend this place to anyone. They just want your money and will do everything in their power to keep it as long as they can. read more

I would never use this place. Beware will take your 100k and once your loved one passes they hold your money, it's been over 2 years. So sad especially in a time of covid when people are struggling and yet they won't give the money back. read more

They forget to think of their employees that work even or over night shifts and didn't salt their sidewalks or anything. Most of their staff at older and have hard time walking. It's sad when residents come out and help salt for the employees that are walking to their car in the dark . read more

The purpose of this review is to warn perspective buyers of what our family is going through, and the failure to get closure regarding this very unfortunate situation! It has been almost 2 1/2 years since my mother-in-law has passed away, and our family is still waiting on the money that is owed to us. We were initially promised that we would get the money back from her purchased unit, no longer than 18 months after her passing; however, as we now know, that is a lie! We reached out to Friendship Village several times after her passing to check on the progress of selling her unit, and it was at that time when we found out that the 18-month promise (made by a previous sales associate) was a lie, and in fact the money would not be returned until her exact unit was sold. We are now in monthly contact with the sales team, to try and get updates on the number of showings on her unit, and sales information on other units. We were informed that the number of showings per unit, is not something that is tracked. When we asked how many vacancies there were in the facility, the response was approximately 100, and 90% of those units, the families are still waiting to get their money back. That statistic is shocking! How unethical it is to hold on to people's money for that long. We feel that Friendship Village is in absolutely no hurry to sell the units, when they are making money off of other people's money, particularly because they state to be Not-for-Profit. We are hoping for a resolution soon, but at this point it doesn't look very good for our family. read more

I just toured Friendship Village. What an incredible place. Have been looking around for a place for my mother. These retirement communities have come a long way. I guess because people are living longer of expect more. A couple things stood out to me at the Friendship Village. One was how "Friendly" everyone was. I guess I should have expected that. The other was how busy it was. People don't sit around there. That's why I'm writing this review, I was very pleasantly surprised. read more

I've lived at Friendship Village in Independent Living for twelve years. Moving here was one of the best decisions of my life. In 2007 I was living in Chicago. I would occasionally ride my bicycle three miles from my condo to my office downtown. That morning I was hit by a car. Since then I have been unable to walk. Living here has enabled me to be independent and happy. read more

Most reviews that talk about return of funds and their loved ones apartments were not rented, however that is NOT the situation for us. We have proof its been rented and their marketing and sales team confirmed this. In accordance with the contract, once this occurs, refunds are supposed to occur. It's 6 months later and we are still waiting. This is a breach of contract. Our story: Our mother passed in August. Her apartment was painted and ready to go by October. There was a contract on it by Jan. 2022 ( we had heard Nov 2021 but based on our research we think the new resident did not move in until Jan 2022. We have yet to see our refund money. We have talked to several different people in marketing, HR, sales, finance and each time we get a different answer. One says the apartment is not rented the other says it has been since Feb. We went in and obtained pictures. It has been rented since late Jan. 2022. We have also been told by numerous people that they cannot provide the funds back to us (her down payment ) because there are people in line and the creditors and board will not release funds. So they hold your money until they get their dividends and interest from it for as long as they can ( this was confirmed by the Controller). There is a concern they are on the verge of bankruptcy (read the legal filings - just Google it). Some families have been waiting for over two years. Our friends family waited over 2.5 years. DO NOT place any funds down at this place and expect a refund upon death. Make sure to hire an attorney BEFORE YOU SIGN A CONTRACT. Don't always believe all the reviews. Not sure how we can praise a place that does not provide honest responses and does not fulfill contract obligations. read more

I am very frustrated with Friendship Village not being able to distribute the covid vaccine to my relatives in residence. Although the State of Illinois says they care about the residences in these facilities they are not making sure they are protected. Sad read more

I'm a healthcare profession that saw many FV residents for PT over my 30 year career. I recommended to my in-laws to reside there and I regret that fully. When purchasing into the life program it initially sounds like a great deal. The issue is that the contract is iron clad. The social workers and the MD determine your level of care -from independent to assisted living to memory care to a simple hospital room. My in-laws were independent upon coming into FV. Once assessed prior to residing there the social worker evaluated them and said they were more appropriate for assisted living. We disagreed as a family as they were doing quite well together at their own home and suggested they reside in independent living as a trial first. I believe it was a ploy to gain extra money per month for FV. Long story short, over the time they lived there, my MIL required additional services and had paid approx $700 per month to have meds delivered by a nurse 2x/day. During covid, we had extremely limited interaction with my in-laws - generally for MD visits. In Mid December 2020 my FIL developed a sore throat and I called Dr. Peplow's office to notify them as my FIL had an appointment later that same day. I received a call from the Dr. for less than a 5 minute call. I suggested a covid test several times and Dr. Peplow said no. He said it was not warranted as it was a sore throat and my MIL could monitor his symptoms and that a cold was going around. (Odd bc no one was getting colds bc of quarantine/masks and limited interaction with residents at FV and covid was more probable.) Again, my suggestion for a covid test was dismissed. I now believe it was to decrease the documentation of covid cases at FV. 5 days later I received a call from Dr. Peplow's RN stating that I had to take my FIL for a covid test as his symptoms were worsening (during the 5 days we were in constant contact with him and he had not fever, just a sore throat). The results the next day were (+) for civic and he was sent to covid rehab at FV. Now my MIL had to be tested. I will NEVER understand why the two of them weren't covid tested together as they were residing in the same apartment. While waiting for the covid results, I was in contact with the nurses and assured that my MIL was fine, although they did keep calling to inquire as to the results of her covid test. 9 days after initially calling Dr. Peplow's office I received a call from the CNA that my MIL was very weak and appeared not to have eaten for 3 days. How could the nursing staff not assess and notify us that my MIL was failing medically? They dropped the ball. I requested 911 be called. My MIL was sent to ICU and died of covid 2 days after Christmas, without family, with a nurse holding her hand while she died. We are devastated. While in covid rehab at FV, my FIL was evaluated by the social workers and bc he was extremely hard of hearing, agitated over his situation, recently found out his wife of 60+ years had died over the phone (we were not allowed to visit him to tell him in person) and bc he was confused from his covid diagnosis, it was deemed by them that he was only appropriate to reside in a hospital room in the medical facility at FV for $15,500 per month. Again, their staff determine your level of care. It's all about the money and not what is best for the resident. BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING. You only get your refund when someone purchased your unit. It took 10 months for us. EVEN if you die, your family has to wait until someone purchased the unit before you get the funds. I would never recommend FV for anyone. read more

I have lived at Friendship Village for over 5 years now and I couldn't be happier. It is really a FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE!

The rehab in Briarwood has a great group of therapists and nurses who helped my grandfather recover after his illness. He was very weak after he was hospitalized and needed rehab for recovery. We chose Friendship Village and were impressed with the team helping him. My grandfather improved a little everyday. He was also underweight and a nutritionist monitored him and supplements were added. He also liked the food served. I cannot thank the people enough here! read more

I wouldn't send my worst enemy here. Well. . .maybe my worst enemy. My aunt is here, and now she's stuck. At $90,000 a year for health care, she's now on Medicaid. There's barely a day that goes by that she doesn't call me close to tears. The staff is rude, the dieticians don't know there butts from a whole in the ground, and the billing department seems to have flunked Accounting 101. I'd give it 0 stars -- or negative stars, but that's not an option. read more

Absolutely awful. Be very cautious about signing a contract. Realize your loved one's ability to remain in their independent living apartment is no longer under your control, or your loved one's current health status. Rather, it is dependent on the bussiness's goal to maintain full beds in other units (I.e. memory unit etc). I absolutely will move my grandmother as quickly as possible to a facility which values her health and well-being above a paycheck or quota. read more

Staff is extremely unfriendly and rude. A CNA on the rehab / post surgical unit made ignorant remarks to my father while caring for him. Wouldn't recommend sending anyone here if you care about them. read more

Dear Friendship Business Manager - I am glad you noted my comments. There are many great things about friendship but our experience became very negative and we feel put our mothers health at risk due to financial gain and a nightmare of red tape. By looking at other reviews, this is a trend. Just because Friendship Nursing/Rehab has not caught in actual Medicare Fraud, does not mean it does not happen. They simply just follow the guidelines of the Medicare program to make sure the patient "qualifies" for the Medicare treatment in advance. From our view, this was fraudulent and under false pretenses. In our Case, they made sure that when they sent my Mom to the Hospital under false pretenses, they directed the nurses and doctors at Alexian Bros that they wanted them to keep her there for 3 days so that Medicare would kick in and cover all of the therapy and care in the rehab wing. There they immediately put her in diapers, made her use a walker and the list goes on. She did not need diapers and walkers and being there literally was sucking the life from her. They made her stay in a hospital bed in this wing for a month while only receiving therapy at most for 1-2 hours a day was simply hell. We had to be there all the time so she would not rot. You would not let her back to her room and no assisted living room was available so friendship was very content leaving her in that purgatory for months. They did not even want us to take her on weekends because if she left the building for a couple days Medicare would stop... Thank god she had us advocates to get her out of there.. I feel sick for all the poor souls w/o advocates stuck rotting in there. Also, care workers in this area also felt that many patients were held there for financial gain and went out of their way to let us know they did not agree with it. I only posted this as a service to others in the YELP community so that others could also see the potential problems they may encounter as they progress through your care system. Thanks for your comments. read more

Thank God we didn't get into the FV trap. When we first came in for a visit, we were very impressed. My wife and I did sign up to go into Independent Living. We had to buy in for $250,000 and pay $4600 a month. This was affordable for us and we were looking forward to coming in. My wife has Alzheimer's and we knew she would eventually need more care. After a few weeks, we had our intake interviews and they decided my wife needs to immediately go into memory care. In memory care, I would be allowed to visit her, but she couldn't visit me. I guess they don't want memory people mingling with "normal" people. They also lied to me about bringing my dog,which is my wife's unofficial therapy dog. Bottom line, we don't have to buy in, but it would cost us $12,000 per month. They figured we had enough assets to live there for seven years, and then what? All my money is gone. All they 're interested in is getting your money. My first impression of the place was it's just too perfect. I was right. read more

My mom lived here for 7 years until her passing this July 2018. Friendship Village is a wonderful facility. She truly enjoyed living there and it was her happy place. She met many wonderful friends and enjoyed having lunch every day with them. The staff and facility is wonderful, clean and professional. I would highly recommend this senior living village to anyone looking for a wonderful place to live for themselves or their parents. read more

My 90 year old aunt moved to Friendship Village two years ago, and from the start, the staff couldn't have been nicer and more helpful. From guiding us to select the appropriate apartment for her, to getting her moved in, to responding to any needs she had while she was there, the staff was just wonderful! The residents were great too, and she made many many friends and participated in the wide variety of activities. She especially loved her art classes and her teacher Tracy Pearson. In January, she began to have medical issues and spent time in Friendship Village's Briarwood rehab facility and finally in their skilled nursing care. Every caretaker, nurse and administrative staff member who assisted my aunt couldn't have been more wonderful and genuinely caring. During the last several weeks, she wasn't as easy to deal with, as her mental and physical state changed, but the staff couldn't have been more understanding and caring. In her final days, many of her previous caretakers visited her daily on their lunch hours, breaks or after hours. I've never seen that kind of care in any facility. There were too many staff members and caretakers to mention individually, but without exception, they were all wonderful. I would highly recommend Friendship Village to future residents and their families. read more

Really a good place. Very big with many hallways which can be confusing for an elderly person. Great food. Briarwood is a great nursing pavilion. read more

My mother moved into Friendship Village in October of 2014. She had a one bedroom apartment in Bridgewater and it was quite spacious with a washer and dryer right in the room. Yes, it is expensive to be sure but in pricing other places in the area it's comparable. The cleaning staff that comes in bi-weekly to clean does the bare minimum which I wasn't too thrilled about. The food is just okay in most of the restaurants and they do charge extra if you take some leftovers back to your apartment so I told my mom to bring her own plastic container to avoid extra fees. There was an increase in her monthly rate every year she was there of about 4% which I felt was too much. There are lots of activities for the residents and entertainment, family parties etc. Sadly my mother didn't participate as much as we would have liked her to despite their efforts of trying to get her involved. The facility is beautiful with lots of places to sit outdoors etc. My mom's health took a turn for the worse in May of 2018 and after a week in the hospital she went into short term rehab. The rehab staff worked with her daily to get her back to her apartment and after 2 weeks she returned to her apartment. During the time she was in her apartment a nurse from Dr. Majahan's office came and monitored her and took blood work etc. She also had rehab in her apartment. The social workers at FV coordinated all of this for me. In July of 2018 she was back in the hospital again and went back into short term rehab after a stay in the hospital. Despite the efforts of the staff at FV she was not improving and a decision was made by the medical staff, social workers and therapists that she had to go into the long term nursing facility. In fact, her condition was so bad that we put her into hospice care there and was not expecting her to last more than 4 weeks. That was in August of 2018. She lasted another 10 months! During that time she remained in the nursing facility but they were working on getting her returned to assisted living this time. In fact, her name was on a waiting list for an apartment in November of 2018. Unfortunately soon after that her health declined again and she passed away May 26, 2019. My experience with the staff at FV is quite different than the negative reviews I've seen here. I always felt the staff from the social workers, the rehab people, the CNA's the unit nurse manager and all the nursing staff were superb at what they do. During the time my mom was there they had daily activities from bingo, arts and crafts, sing a longs, family parties and would come to everyone's room and get them involved. My mother loved it because she was being "invited" and she made many friends there. The rooms are small in the nursing home area but they are clean and I can't say enough nice things about the nursing staff. They are the best I've ever seen and above all they have "heart", you can see it in their eyes. I felt at peace the entire time my mom was there knowing she was being taken care of. In her last weeks and days they couldn't have been kinder to me and to her and for that I will be forever thankful. I think the bad reviews don't understand how the "contract for life" works but outside of the few complaints I have about the expense etc., I would recommend it. read more

My husband just completed a 9 day post-surgical stay at Friendship Village's Briarwood Healthcare Center. He needed respiratory, physical and occupational therapy and we are quite satisfied with the care he received. We would especially like to compliment the CNAs. Theirs is a job full of responsibility and little appreciation. Pat was especially helpful and caring. We noticed that other CNAs, such as Jasmin and Amy, stepped in to help if his assigned CNA was with another patient. The nurses took good care of him and we especially liked Dr Estrada, his assigned physician. Of course,he is happy to be home now but he will definitely recommend Friendship Village to anyone needing therapy after a hospital stay. Thanks also to social worker Judy for coordinating the services and medical equipment he needed for his return home. read more