Brooke Grove Retirement Village

Recently I was able to tour Brook Grove Retirement Village, a continuing care retirement community in Sandy Spring, MD.  Brenda Marquis, Director of New Business Development, and Laura Wright, Independent Living Retirement Counselor, were my tour guides.  I really appreciated their sharing their time and expertise with me!

Brooke Grove is a non-profit continuing care retirement community.  It is smaller than many of the continuing care retirement communities in the area, and it is surrounded by nature.  It has independent living, assisted living, memory care, long-term and rehab skilled nursing care sections.

Brooke Grove is somewhat unusual for our area in that it has 40 cottages that serve as their independent living housing.  The “cottages” range in size from 1350 to over 2000 square feet, and they all have garages.  They are quite new—the first cottages were constructed in 2000.  The cottages might be an ideal place for someone who wants to move to a continuing care retirement community but who isn’t yet ready to truly downsize.  The homes are all in a neighborhood together, surrounding a clubhouse that has a dining room, a meeting room, and a fitness center.  Dinner is served in the dining room Monday – Friday.  Lunch is available as well.  Each cottage also has a full kitchen.  Independent living residents have a wide variety of activities and trips they can participate in.

The clubhouse and dining room for the independent living cottages.

The assisted living and memory care sections of Brook Grove are located in seven different residential-style homes.  Residents are placed in the homes according to their abilities.  Dogs and cats live there as well, or are brought in by the staff, to really add to the homey feel of the bulidings.  There’s also a large backyard shared by many of the buildings.  There’s even a playground in the backyard, for when residents’ young loved ones come to visit.  

The playground in the backyard of the assisted living and memory care homes.

Finally there is the long-term care and short-term rehabilitation building of Brooke Grove.  While long-term and rehab are both currently housed in the same building, a separate building just for short-term rehabilitation is currently under construction.  Assisted living, memory care, long-term care, and short-term rehab all have family-style dining for all three meals of the day, as well as activities for the residents. 

You can learn more about Brooke Grove at their website, www.bgf.com.