Best of Dallas Senior Living 2016

We all want the best for our family members and ourselves, especially when we begin to need more help with daily life. SeniorAdvisor.com can help you find outstanding senior communities across the US, based on reviews by residents, family members and friends, and visitors. You can read our award selection criteria here or you can read on now to see the 2016 SeniorAdvisor.com Best of Senior Living award winners in Dallas.

Assisted Living

Assisted living communities offer help with personal care, transportation, cooking, and housekeeping so residents can focus on social activities, wellness, and leisure.

Grace Presbyterian Village has won the Best of Senior Living award twice, in 2013-14 and again in 2016. This continuum-of-care community in the South Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff appears in multiple categories because it offers residents a variety of living and care options. Grace Presbyterian Village assisted living services include help with activities of daily living, managing medication schedules, and weekly housekeeping and linen laundering. Amenities include tai chi classes, aqua fitness programs, and an on-site spa.

Reviewers mentioned staff continuity and the sense of community when they left their ratings. “I like their attention to details and the individual care and attention they give to the residents,” wrote a woman whose husband is in memory care at the facility.

Alzheimer’s Care

Senior living communities that specialize in Alzheimer’s care are staffed by personnel trained to help dementia patients to stay oriented to their surroundings, as active as possible, and socially engaged. Alzheimer’s care centers also provide security to prevent residents from wandering outdoors.

Weismer House is a residential care facility near the University of Texas at Dallas campus. Weismer provides care for Alzheimer’s patients in a suburban home setting with traditional décor and a backyard pool and patio. The community provides long- and short-term care, including respite care. Based on the setting and the quality of care, reviewers have voted Weismer House among the Best of Senior Living two years in a row, in 2015 and 2016.

One reviewer wrote, “The care is exceptional, the facility is outstanding and it’s a true home. There is genuine interest in each patient.” Another wrote, “They are very in tune to the individual needs of each patient and tend to them well.”  

Arbor House of Dallas, on the south edge of the city near Duncanville, specializes in memory care for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Residents live in 4 houses on the campus, with a secure courtyard for safe outside time, an aviary for birdwatching, and a daily routine designed to keep residents active and comfortable.

Arbor House of Dallas has won the Best of Senior Living award in 2015 and 2016. Family members who reviewed the community liked the color-coded hallways to help residents find their way easily, the cleanliness of the facility, quality of care, and activities like live entertainment and cooking classes.

Brookdale White Rock is a memory care community in the Lake Highlands neighborhood near the White Rock Creek Greenbelt.  The facility features a secure courtyard with seating areas, walking paths, and raised beds where residents can garden. The activity calendar provides options like weekly pet therapy visits, daily exercise classes, birthday celebrations for residents, karaoke, and worship services.

Pets are welcome at Brookdale White Rock, and respite and short-term care are available. This is the community’s second consecutive year as a Best of Senior Living award winner. Reviewers mentioned Brookdale’s unrestricted visiting hours, quality of the food, and programming as positives.

Grace Presbyterian Village (see Assisted Living above) runs a memory care unit for residents at all stages of Alzheimer’s progression. In 2002, NBC Nightly News described the Anderson unit at Grace Presbyterian Village as the most appropriate care setting in the US for Alzheimer’s patients.

Independent Living

The best independent living facilities are like resorts where you get to know the other guests and staff. Active retirees who want to focus on fun rather than maintaining their own homes tend to prefer independent living settings.

Meadowstone Place in Preston Hollow has won the Best of Senior Living award two years running, and has earned more than 40 reviews. This pet-friendly community offers large 1- and 2-bedroom apartments with personal emergency response systems and covered parking. Residents have access to Meadowstone Place’s dance floor, spa, outdoor pools, putting green, fitness classes, and video game station. Add-on amenities include chef-prepared meals, field trips, housekeeping services, and a private suite for guests.

What many reviewers mentioned was the sense of community. One reviewer, a resident since 2013, wrote, “Every staff member is attentive, friendly and caring.” Another resident wrote that when she moved in after her husband passed away, “almost immediately, I felt secure and accepted.”

Grace Presbyterian Village (see Assisted Living and Alzheimer’s Care, above) independent living options include 1- and 2-bedroom cottages and garden homes with porches for relaxing, in-home emergency call buttons, and Wi-Fi. The campus has 25 acres of natural areas with walking paths, an onsite chapel and ministerial services, and a choice of dining areas for meals served restaurant style.

Senior Group Homes

Group homes are usually just that—residential homes that have been adapted to serve senior residents who prefer a small and homey setting. They’re often family owned and are staffed by caregivers who take the time to get to know each resident well.

Only the Strong Survive is a small, private care home that specializes in caring for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia, and psychiatric conditions. This 4-bedroom home has won the Best of Senior Living award twice, in 2016 and in 2013-14, based on strongly positive reviews from family members of residents.

More than one reviewer mentioned the quality of the meals prepared by the staff. One reviewer, whose wife lived at the home for a year, wrote, “I was very much pleased with the way she was taken care of the whole time she was there.” Only the Strong Survive is located in a residential neighborhood on Dallas’ northeast side, near Garland and Centerville.

Weismer House (see Alzheimer’s Care above) in far North Dallas also won the Best of Senior Living award in the group home category.

You can see the complete list of 2016 SeniorAdivsor.com Best of Senior Living award winners, including winners in the Dallas-area cities of McKinney, Mesquite, Arlington, and Plano here.


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