The Kenwood

The Kenwood is a wonderful place. Everyone is so friendly, both the staff and the residents. You couldn't ask for nicer people. Mom's seventh-floor apartment has lots of windows and light, and room for everything she wanted to bring with her when she moved in two years ago, including her piano. It's an easy walk to the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden and an even easier walk to a beautiful neighborhood park a block away. They have a very nice dining room in the building that serves good food, where I occasionally joined Mom for meals pre-Covid. During the last year and a half, the staff at the Kenwood has kept all the residents safe, and I truly appreciate that. I am so grateful for that. But I very much hope Mom never has to go through another round of extreme isolation again. The people who live at the Kenwood are an independent, energetic, accomplished group, who engage with life and the community. And they, together with the equally wonderful and accomplished people who work there, make it the good place to live that it is. Highly recommend.

I posted a review about a year ago extolling the virtues of The Kenwood and how happy my mother was there. At that time, she had been living at The Kenwood for a few months. Now, a year later, we are just as pleased. I say "we" because having her so happy and well cared for not only makes me happy, it also means I don't need to worry. I highly recommend The Kenwood. While my mother uses a wheelchair and needs a certain level of assistance, I see residents of all levels of independence, and everyone seems to be happy and enjoying life.

When our mom first moved to the Kenwood she wasn't sure she would stay but was giving it a try. Within 6 months, she was an active member of the Kenwood community, involved in many different discussion and activity groups. She stayed for 13 years, and couldn't imagine moving anywhere else. She had a personal relationship with her weekly housekeeper, as she later did with the kind aides who came in to help her out through her final failing months before she passed. Mom participated in the gardening group and loved eating out on the terrace in summer. She enjoyed having a meal with friends in the dining room. She started a scrabble group that ran for years, and participated regularly in the current events discussion group. Until she was apartment-bound, she used the exercise room. The Kenwood has so much available. We also cannot thank Jenny and the Kenwood staff enough. During the early stages of the pandemic, they kept COVID safely out of the building until the vaccines arrived. And during Mom's final illness, Jenny and Karen and Andrea and Alex and Connie were constant supports to our family, helping in ways that simply aren't part of any rental contract.