Charter Senior Living

Memory Care is an excellent option for those needing daily supervision. Unfortunately, for dementia patients, staff must be highly specialized professionals. Additionally, the oversight in the Memory Care unit would greatly benefit from the infusion of technology to improve accountability and supervision.

I really liked the facility and the staff. My complaint is that they don't take Medicaid and the 30 day notice rule. My dad was there for about 3 weeks and we had to pay for 8 weeks.

There was a core group of about four staff members who were wonderful for Mom and loved her. They were very, very upset when she passed away in July. The director of the facility was absolutely no help with anything. And if they felt like the staff was getting too close to a family, they would either move them to another floor or fire them. I don't get it. Several of the best workers they had got let go because they targeted them until they ran them off. At one point the air conditioning went out and it was out for over 8 weeks this past summer when it was so hot. The director bought box fans for the offices but none of the residence rooms. The director bought portable air conditioners and put them in the offices. At one point I found mom sitting out in the Commons area Overheated And very sluggish. I don't know if they have the air conditioning fixed as of this point or not. In the winter last winter the heat went out for a while. So it was very frustrating. I finally went to the director and said I'm going to go out and get one of these fans from the building and put it in my mother's room. She said which one are you going to get? I said you tell me. After that is when a portable air conditioning unit showed up in my mother's room. I don't like the way they treat staff who are doing a good job. They brought in a lady who is a nurse over the staff and she spoke the staff and to the families of the residence in a very non-respectful way. We were to the point we were going to try to find Mama another place but she started transitioning with her dementia and we just decided to stay there. The only reason she got as good of care as she did there was because my sister and I were there everyday. We took turns and went on the opposite days. So the facility and staff knew we were going to be there.

As with any place, there are great team members and some mediocre. We have been fortunate to experience decent care. There have been many staff changes throughout the year. The current leadership team has only been in place a short time, so I'm anticipating improved services and more stability with staff. Team members are very friendly. The Assisted Living section is very lively. I would like to see a similar activity level in memory care. With a little more structure and additional staff this will be possible. Food/dining - there is good variety/Meals are on a consistent schedule.. Overall, Charter has been a good place for my Mom.

The staff have been good and attentive. They don't communicate with us as much as some other places, but they have resolved any issues or questions that we've had. The food selection and options are only mediocre. They don't always bring the food that my parents have selected from their menu.

They have recently hired a new site director and a new chef. My relative had been complaining about the food for some time but now says it's getting better with the new chef. They also were without their van driver for transport to shopping and to appointments for a considerable amount of time.

They seem to have a lot of ownership and management turnover. They weren't very successful at all and getting my uncle [name removed] out of his room. And on his last days, they seem to be in conflict with hospice. Overall, they did a pretty good job, but I think he needed full nursing care so he was beyond what they could offer.

Very nice facility but just getting set up on activities for residents. I would recommend

The facility was bright, spacious and clean with a section for more serious care if needed. Initial impressions across the board were favorable. However, I found the level of attention my father needed was not provided as time passed. If you have a loved one there, you must visit everyday to ensure proper care.

Biggest complaint is food. I find staff very helpful and friendly. Facilities are up to date. Lately dinning room seems to be short staffed. There are activities scheduled for most of the day, from exercise to soap making. Choose what and if you like. As I said in prior writeups, food menus seem to be a challenge.

The staff were sometimes lazy and inattentive. Being understaffed is a problem. My loved one was often not clean and they seldom assisted with teeth brushing. (Her tooth brush was usually dry and her dentist said her hygiene was terrible) She also was agitated due to boredom. I saw few activities or enrichment beyond watching TV. She fell out of bed and suffered significant bruises and they did not call hospice or me to notify us. I would not recommend the memory care if you had other alternatives, but unfortunately I think there are not very many alternatives, they are all about the same unless you spend a lot of money at Penwick. My husband is a doctor and we asked around and it seems to be the consensus that they are all about the same (no very good).

My experience at Charter is mixed bag. Starters the location is perfect and common areas are cleaned, but the rooms were not getting cleaned once a week as promised, they still are not. The facility had a great group of people talking care of mom and that was important. However they have issues keeping caregivers and med techs so people are often over worked or not there and then my mom's care suffers. The sales people get people to come, but also make caregivers uncomfortable due to difference yet they have influence with the administration. When I get more time, I may explore other options for my mother unless things change. They are failing at keeping the staff that does a good job..

Charter Senior Living could definitely improve on the food and maintenance. They are "renovating" right now but it's just cosmetic stuff and the building is old. One of the elevators was broken for like 5 days and that to me is just unacceptable. Most of the staff is really friendly and the director works her butt off.

No matter what your family member needs an advocate. The supplies we pay for tend to go missing. My dad has gone several days without being bathed or having his clothes changed. For the most part it's a good facility with good people but it's hard for them to keep the staff. So there is a lot of turn over and the customer suffers.

What i like most is the location and that it's a smaller group of residents than it was at the last place she was at. They could improve on being more organized, more aides to assist residents, and more activities.

Always available to discuss needs. Willing to work with family to ensure patients are cared for. Limited resources for bed ridden patients. Limited resources for transferring patients needing physical assistance (bed to chair, chair to bed). Activities - need to include patients who are not able to physically participate because they are bed ridden. Food - menu options need to be expanded. Need to provide more advanced knowledge of food menu options. Be able to accommodate food restrictions for patients.

Putting humans in a warehouse for old people is a tragic experience. Memory Care is the worst. Charter Senior Living is a for profit enterprise. Costs are cut to make a profit. This showed in some of the low quality caregivers they hired and some of the med techs they hired. The people who worked there were a mixed bag. Some were caring and attentive to my wife and some just ignored her or did not try to help her. When I tried to get answers to medical questions, it was extremely difficult. One of the med techs was as helpful as she was able. There is not a medical doctor affiliated with the place that I could see. The applications for payment to medicare for my wife's medical care were made by nurse practitioners or physicians assistants. Of course, even though they were being paid, they were not available to answer questions. As for the food, Memory Care did not receive the same quality of meals that the general population did. Some of the meals in MC were OK, a few were good, and most were deficient in protein and vegetables. Any time a dish was to have meat or chicken in it, you had to search carefully to find the little shreds of meat or chicken that were there. My wife loved the pink lemonade. Usually there was only enough for one serving. Pinching pennies just went too far.

Staff are never around, you never see them. Food is not tasty and seems to be cooked elsewhere and ready to heat for serving.

A beautiful picture was painted at the initial meeting. One rarely sees the decision makers and only lower level staff. The worker bees are nice but they are slackers too.You seldom see senior-level staff walking the premises to see what is happening. When one puts in work orders, they are ignored more months and likely perpetuity.

I like the pleasant nature of the helpers. They could improve on actually delivering on what you pay for in regards to assistance. However, we would not recommend this community to other families. If your loved one needs actual assistance they need to be somewhere that will actually get it. This is a corporate facility where the e