American House

During our loved ones time at American House we really did like the staff, they were very friendly and we wish we could of worked something out. However we do think they could improve on their response times for the residents who fall and call for assistance.

This was an okay community. I didn't feel it was the right fit for my loved one. The community wasn't as clean as I had wanted, and I didn't see a lot of activities.

We thought American House Lakeshore was great until we saw the memory care ward. Everyone was just sitting in wheelchairs in the main room, doing nothing or sleeping. That really turned us off. I think for assisted living, it looked great and had a lot going on.

The facility and rooms are very dated but they keep it clean enough. The AdvisaCare (medical option) is I believe a scam and should be reevaluated as a service. If you can bring in outside help do it - do not use the AdvisaCare services.

I would suggest you find a different community. The community has weak leadership. the memory care unit. The director is rarely there, doesn't seem to be an effective manager, staff is indifferent and disengaged and seems to have high turnover. My loved one's room is usually messy, little indication of help in there. My loved one's (labeled) clothing disappears regularly. They stopped having activities. Rarely record word of updates on my loved one's conditions or recommendations for care. Whole place smells like urine all the time.

American House has been dealing with bed bugs for over 6 months now.All they do is spray.They wont fumigate the place because they don't want to spend the money.Meanwhile residents are getting bitten by these bugs.Do.not move your relatives into American House.I think a call to Ottawa County health department is in order

We have not had experience with the meals or dining service but when we talk to our loved one he says the meals are good and they he is being fed well and we also think he is getting good care. However they could make some improvements with communication and just all around response time. They could also be consistent and follow the date in the contract that states when the monthly payments will be pulled.

Our family had a lot of issues we were very disappointed, what was promised was never followed through with. The meals and dining was terrible, they never received healthy meals and it was never enough food. The activities were good we did love the activity leader she was very sweet. We heard such good things about American House hopefully they can make improvements and it can be a better experience.

Food service and activities

It was not worth the money. With the medical team, it felt like all they were concerned about was the money, and they did not show concern for my loved one as an individual.

When my loved one moved in, the community was originally Elmcroft, with a different director, sales rep, and head nurse. About two weeks before my loved one passed away, American House had taken ownership. The original Elmcroft staff were very kind and courteous, and their daily care staff remained under American House during the time we were there. Elmcroft was always clean, and the residents would always be up and about watching TV and socializing, with a couple of staff members sitting with them and assisting them. I do have misgivings about the American House transition. Under American House, I noticed an unpleasant smell when I came in and had never experienced that before. I experienced that unpleasant smell again on a separate occasion, and this time I could smell it even before I entered the facility. I have a more distant relative who moved in under American House's ownership, and they have already moved out. One thing of note is that American House wanted a substantial buy-in fee, which was not the case under Elmcroft's ownership.

I was not at all impressed with American House Livonia. They had no air conditioning in the individual apartments which I found to be extremely odd. You have to buy your own AC units and they will install them for you. That aspect of it all was very disappointing to me because otherwise it looked like a nice place.

We have had several issues with American house and are trying to work through some of it, but overall we are very dissatisfied with this facility. There is no continuity with the staff as they are different every time we go in. No one knows what transpired in any given day so that we are left in the dark regarding my loved ones care. She has severe dementia and does not remember anything. We have seen many issues of uncleanness in her bed, on her person, in her room, and in her bathroom. We have found medication she was to have taken in the bottom of her walker basket. She sleeps in her clothes because no one takes care to help her get into her pajamas and into bed at night. She has a wheelchair they are supposed to use to transport her to and from but all they do is stop by her room and say it's time for breakfast and then they leave. I don't know if she's getting the meals she's supposed to be getting, I don't know if she's getting the medications she's supposed to be getting at breakfast time and at bedtime, her level of care is totally unknown at this point. If we could, we would move her in a minute but it was such a traumatic thing for her to be moved this time and it took her a long time to get settled in and we don't want to put her through that again.

Our experience at Anthology was not all that good. I had problems with the medical director. I think they should have spent more time and been more thorough on the initial care assessment. After our move-in, they determined they could not care for my loved one. So if you're considering Anthology, I would recommend making sure that the patient is going to be a good fit with the community and that Anthology would be capable of taking care of them based on physical and psychological limitations. It was a nice facility. It was clean. And they had a pretty good offering of activities. But it's really important to make sure that it's a good fit care-wise. Most of the people I talked to on the intake side were very sympathetic and empathetic as we got in and they found out they couldn't meet her needs. But because of the unexpected short-term stay, it was certainly an expensive experience and not a good value.

We did not care for American House Riverview at all. When you walk in it feels like you are walking into an institution, it is not homey feeling. The dining room looks like a cafeteria and the apartments were not near as nice as some others we had seen. It was also much more expensive.

They did not care for my loved one. When I went in to see him, he was dirty, and he smelled. His hair was long and shaggy. They were supposed to have a barber come in, and they didn't I had gone two weeks without seeing him, and it was like he was an entirely different person. He was depressed and just was not clean. I had placed him there when the facility was called Elmcroft, and it was fine. The food was good, and the director managed the facility appropriately. But when ownership changed to American House, there was no staff and not enough people to do what needed to be done. For instance, the custodian had to let you in due to staffing issues. It was pitiful. And a terrible value. It looked like American House's corporate goal was to acquire more prosperities and make money. And patient care didn't really factor in.

Our family had an in person tour and the community and building itself is very pretty to look at with great views of the lake. However the residents were not active, it just did not give off a good vibe and the food was nasty.

Be very careful. I think they do a bait and switch. They are very good at selling you on amenities and the quality of the location. However they're not equipped to handle people who are not mobile. I don't feel my loved one was place in the ight part o Anthology and therefore did not get the care that he needed. He was placed in memory care, which is locked down without access to the community amenities. His cognition was much higher than most of the other memory care residents, and because he was a mismatch in that section and they did not attend to him properly, he didn't want to eat and became severely dehydrated. He had a studio apartment, which we were able to furnish very nicely. And it had a handicap-accessible bathroom and shower, yet they never gave him a shower once in the time he was there. They also had a therapy spa tub, which was a draw for us when selecting a place, but he was never able to use it because memory care patients were not allowed outside of their specific unit. So all of the attractive amenities he was not able to use - and they should have told us that from the beginning. I asked a lot of questions, and I felt like they were more interested in getting him in there than answering honestly. They had given me a special monthly discount, but then each month they were charging me the full amount. It felt like they were badgering me, and every month I had to prove to them they had approved the discount.

I would tell others to look somewhere else. I don't have confidence in the quality of care for someone who requires assistance. I don't think you can count on them for things like medication management or response to call buttons in a timely manner. We recently expressed our concerns to the executive director, and she assured me that an issue was corrected. Right after that conversation, we walked upstairs and saw that was not the case. They do not follow through with their promises or manage the healthcare needs of my loved one appropriately.

We wanted to stop the tour right away, this is not somewhere that you want your loved one to be. The tour guide should not be in the position that he is in. It did not flow well and was just uncomfortable.