The Village at Willow Crossings

As a professional working within the Senior Care space, I have the privilege/opportunity to visit, observe, and work with many senior care communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. One facility we’ve worked with closely is the Village at Willow Crossings - a Benchmark Community in Mansfield, Mass. I’d like to take a moment to offer my impressions and some feedback on this fine organization. One thing that sets Willow Crossings apart is that it is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). This means that it offers multiple levels of care (Independent Living to Assisted Living levels) designed to serve individuals holistically as they age. This CCRC designation also allows a very real, long-term relationship to develop between the residents and the staff. Because of this time horizon, and since Benchmark employs the best people, there naturally exists a real commitment and devotion by the leadership and employees who truly care for the residents as individuals. This drives everything to work in symphony, and the smiles of the personnel are genuine because they love helping seniors. They are in this business for all the right reasons. Be it the food, the activity programming, or the gentle watchfulness of the front desk - it is evident that great compassion and astute attention to detail are at work here. In the Senior Care community circles it is sometimes considered an insensitive term to call a place “a home”. This is probably due to antiquated phraseology, i.e. nobody wants to be “put in a home”. But in reality everyone wants to have their residence FEEL like a home. Willow Crossings in so much less the former, and much more the latter. This feeling is due largely to the people, the well thought-out daily operations, as well as the physical design of the building layout. All of these combine to promote a feeling of true community, and to subtly discourage isolation. For example, the floor plans all stem from a grand staircase (and conveniently available elevator), and these conveyances draw folks naturally from the lobby and the residential wings into the cozy, yet spacious dining hall. Nor do the residential wings appear at all like long, lonesome hallways as one sometimes sees in other facilities. This is primarily due to the inclusion of many widened gathering spaces on each floor. These are made even nicer with well placed plants, built-in alcoves, and low intensity lighting galore. These “in-between places” provide “in route” comfortable seating for resting, visiting, and socializing. It’s a wonderful soft experience to visit these corridors, and the effect is to invite one to pause to have a nice chat, or to even help out on a jigsaw puzzle! One of the nicest events I observed at this community is their annual Wreath Stroll. This is a lovely social gathering where various (background checked) organizations outside of the Crossings are encouraged to design and decorate holiday wreaths. Then there is a fun party where food, beverages, and music encourage residents and visitors to mingle and bid on the wreaths in a silent auction. The proceeds all go to the local food pantry, but the real riches are realized by the community visitors who get the opportunity to talk with some true legacies among us. To me it felt a lot like a stroll down quaint streets, and with so many smiles, Christmas sweaters, and laughs everywhere. A community that does this is such a joy to experience, and this doesn’t happen by accident. Indeed, it is by virtue of superb top-down leadership by the Executive Director, to the Director of Community Relations, and even the Chef. I even had the honor to meet the matriarch - some of whose recipes are included on the daily menus. Now if that’s not home, I don’t know what is! Happy New Year to all and I hope everyone has a wonderful 2025 to come!

An absolute joy to have found The Village at Willow Crossings for my mom to thrive in during her golden years. A very welcoming, clean, tastefully decorated facility. Over her 7 years living here, she found lasting friendships, was treated respectfully at all times and at the end was surrounded and loved by her family including the most compassionate bunch of staff who I came to feel were actual extended family members. I would recommend The Village to anyone looking for the best facility around.

Moving a loved one to an assisted living facility is a major transition, both emotionally and physically. After losing my father my brother and I went searching for a place near us to bring our independent mother. We visited many places, but only one made us feel like it could be a home, Willow Crossing! The staff and residents, the bright airy foyer, and oh my god the fresh cleanly smell all pleasantly welcomed us. Mom has been here for almost a year, and I have to say it is one of the best decisions my brother and I have made. The staff is amazing. Everyone from the receptionists, wait staff, medical, maintenance, and management are extremely friendly and helpful. Mom is amazed at how they go out of their way to chat, to help, to be a friend. Mom is blind, she lives by herself with no special care, and is thriving in her new home, with her new friends. She misses her past life with dad, but tells us often how well we did choosing Willow Crossing. By far the best assisted living facility around!

Over a decade ago my parents moved from our home of many years into assisted living at VWC. While I was at first very apprehensive about the change, over the years I have found my initial fears to have been unfounded. Whatever VWC’s recruiting process, they employ an extraordinary staff—one consisting almost exclusively of people much kinder, friendlier, more caring, more patient, and more positive in outlook than the norm. These are people who enjoy interacting with the residents, like what they are doing, and do it well—from those who cook wonderful meals for the residents to those who clean residents’ rooms to the nursing staff and the management. Of special note is the assistance the staff gives residents with practical matters such as, e.g., internet purchases and device maintenance. The planned activities, special meals, and social events are also very popular; and VWC has a vibrant sense of community that never feels overwhelming. I would want and expect nothing less for my parents and, as I have told VWC staff, in taking care of my parents they have been taking care of my sometimes-anxious mind as well. More importantly than this, my dad—alone since my mother died some years ago—has come to look on VWC with a great sense of affection and familiarity. I will be grateful to the Village as long as I live.