The Bloomfield

The Bloomfield is a boutique assisted living community at 5561 Franklin Road in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, set among landscaped grounds with a community garden and a paved patio. The setting is built around the idea that each resident is a person with their own interests, habits and friendships, and the small scale of the community supports that approach every day of the week. Outdoor space is a real part of life here, since the garden and the paved patio give residents who enjoy fresh air, a little planting or a quiet seat in the sun somewhere to go without leaving the property.

The landscaped grounds surround both areas, so the view from the dining room and the lounge is green for much of the year, and visiting family can walk the garden together after a meal. Mornings on the patio and afternoons among the plantings are the kind of ordinary pleasures that a community garden makes possible for residents who once kept gardens of their own. Inside, a private lounge gives residents and their relatives a comfortable room for conversation, cards or an afternoon visit, and an elegant dining room is where meals are served and where much of the community's social life takes place.

A salon on site means haircuts and grooming appointments happen within the building, and a laundry center keeps clothing and linens looked after as part of the routine. Having these everyday conveniences under one roof lets a resident keep up appearances and stay close to friends without arranging transportation for every small errand. Assisted living here is led by a licensed nursing home administrator and supported by a team of caregivers and contracted professionals.

Trained staff provide the day-to-day support that makes assisted living workable for people who want help only where it is needed. Services such as around-the-clock safety monitoring, daily assistance with dressing, grooming and bathing, and medication management can be arranged through an outside provider that the resident or family chooses, which keeps the choice of who delivers that care in the family's hands.

The community is wheelchair accessible, which keeps the lounge, the dining room and the outdoor areas open to residents who use mobility aids. Weekly life enrichment activities give the week some structure, and they are meant to encourage residents to pursue their passions and make friends, while the garden, lounge and patio offer natural settings for friendships to form between scheduled events, and residents who prefer quieter company can settle into the lounge or a seat on the patio whenever they choose.

Daily life follows a gentle rhythm of meals, personal care and company, and because the community is boutique in scale, staff and residents see each other often. Preferences about routine, mealtimes and privacy are easier to notice and respect in a setting like this than they would be in a much larger building, and neighbors come to know one another through shared meals and weekly gatherings. Meals served in the dining room give the day its anchor points, and the salon and laundry center keep personal routines running smoothly between them without anyone needing to leave the building.

The location places families in Oakland County, in a residential part of Bloomfield Hills with Trinity Health Oakland Hospital about 4 miles away and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital about 5 miles away. Nearby towns and main roads connect the community to the rest of the county, which makes it simple for relatives to stop by for a meal or a walk in the garden on the way home from work or an appointment.

Families considering The Bloomfield will find a setting that favors a calm, residential atmosphere and personal attention over the larger scale of a traditional senior living campus. A visit in person lets families see how the lounge, dining room, salon and garden fit together, meet the people who provide care and ask how services are arranged for a particular person's needs.