Commonwealth Senior Living

As far as the Cleanliness, I have visited at times and the urine odor is so overwhelming. I feel they could improve in cleaning my brother's room better. The staff are usually friendly, but they have had situations where they had agency nurses who are not very involved, but socializing. There is a break down in communications, which is on going. Administrative staff--I have no idea who they are. I could pass them in the facility and there is no greeting or "Hi". Quality of care, to me has decreased. Luckily, my brother is able to dress himself and go to the bathroom and is alert. With the lack of communications and not knowing the managerial staff, I will address things with the nurse ( who may be agency) and the "ball is dropped"...no responsibility. Food has been fair to good. I have eaten there several times. Most of the dietary staff are accommodating and friendly. Activities have been adequate as my brother will tell me when he does attend Activities. Value for the money--billing has been better since I addressed my brother's improvement. Initially, they charged by brother as a "total care", and it took some time to have his level be changed from a "4" to a "2". There was "no way" of having my brother refunded.

My mom, who dies in April of last year, btw, was there for about three months. She eventually decided to move to an independent living community, because in spite of having and paying for a high level of need, she felt it was necessary to keep personal staff person with her during the days. This was something a number of residents had to do, telling me that the care was insufficient. Trying to get laundry done was a nightmare. The dryer didn't work properly and laundry was sometimes returned very wet. When her staff did the laundry they were restricted as to the days or hours (I don't remember which) that they could do the washing. Mom needed her sheets changed daily and also went through several changes of clothing per day. The staff were ok. One lady in particular was very bossy. She took a potted plant that I brought for Mom without permission and put it in the common hallway, but put it in a place that my mom never went to, so she never saw it. I took it back and put it onto her room and told the staff person not to move it again. That was one of many incidents. The food was just ok. Pretty bland and soft. I joined her for a few meals and was not particularly impressed. When people would die, the staff would vie with one another to get some of the person's belongings if the family let it be known that they didn't want to take them. It's fine if th family don't mind the staff taking things but it was very obvious what was going on and in rather poor taste in my opinion. When my mom moved out the people who moved her left behind a table, thinking it belonged to the facility. Literally a few hours later I returned to get it and one of the staff had taken it. I did get it back but I had to make inquiries to do so. On the positive side, the facility itself was nice and the common areas were clean and nicely kept, especially given the age of the building. The company contracted to do therapy was great. I think the overall experience was probably better for people who were able to be more independent and didn't need to rely on the staff so heavily. If Mom hadn't had such a high turnover of laundry I would have taken it home to do it but that was impractical.

Positives: clean, bright, elegant dining area, cheerful staff. Many activities. Negatives: Disconnect between sales and medical staff. My sister-in-law was not a good candidate for Assisted Living, as she still has nursing needs such as being dressed and changed, unable to move from bed to wheelchair, etc. According to the staff at her previous facility, they accurately advised Commonwealth of her needs and condition, and informed commonwealth that she was not a good fit for Assisted Living, she needed long term skilled nursing. The person holding my loved ones POA has notified Commonwealth that [name removed] will be moving to a different facility. Commonwealth appears to be a good facility for individuals needing an assisted living facility, but not individuals requiring skilled nursing. An independent professional appraisal of what skilled nursing services they can provide should be undertaken before making further referrals to this institution. This appraisal may be overly negative.

Food is good. Staff is mostly friendly and efficient. Apartment is small and arrangement is a little strange, but he gets a discount. It is clean. There are activities daily.

The staff was very nice. The facility is lovely. The room size was nice and Dad even shared a "double" with a roommate. Some rooms smell like urine. My Dad loved the food as much as he could since it wasn't my mom's cooking. My Dad probably needed a nursing home, at the end. Bed sores got very bad and he would not change positions for long. The care team let him dictate whether or not he moved based on his mood. They sometimes wouldn't change him, if he didn't "feel" wet. But he should have changed position every couple of hours and changed diaper too.

Facility seems fine for those without neurological conditions, but Staff is not neurologically trained/experienced enough, nor has enough patience for effective care of those with Parkinson's

The staff is often short staffed, with most staff being helpful and kind. Activities are varied and interesting for seniors The food/ dining is average to good. The facility and rooms are in excellent shape, spacious and attractive.

It has the potential of being a great place but supervision needs to be tighter. Too much of people standing around either waiting for others to do job or things just not getting done. I felt they wanted my husband to go on hospice so the facility staff didn't have to do as much. He was in memory care & I always felt the residents there didn't get as much attention as others & they needed more.

The facility is in poor condition and needs modernization. Roaches were apparent on multiple occasions. Communication on mom's condition was poor. Health records / issues were not updated properly or consistently. Mom's care plan was changed without discussing it with me and her charges were increased. I was promised by management i would be refunded the difference but never was. Mom passed away on [date removed] and her room was cleaned out completely by [date removed] and i was promised a refund for the remaining days but never was.

I do see other residents participating in the activities and enjoying them and we would recommend this community to other

We understand they may be up for sale, so that's a consideration for future clients. I can say she really hates the food. It's up for sale - tread carefully.

Overall good experience…many management changes. Food is ok. Care sometimes is a little less than I expect for almost [removed] a month. Some staff is good while others are not. Maintenance does a real good job and very responsive. Clean property. There is no perfect place out there but overall Senior Commonwealth is clean and smells nice….better than a nursing home. I expect more from a property that customer is paying [fee removed] a month for accommodation and service.

Meal times are inconsistent. Food not hot. Water in apartment is warm at best, though efforts to repair in the works. No orientation provided so mom isn't sure of contacts & had to learn from other residents about services, meal times, trash location, etc. Staff are really nice, but housekeeping terribly understaffed!

The staff was friendly. My mother never received her meds on time. Although we addressed it. She and other residents complained about the food. My mother said it was not good at all. Her room was not cleaned only something's in the bathroom occasionally.

Most of the residents who can afford it bring in their own staff people to help them. My mother did and she was not the only one. She did not get sufficient attention from the staff there and since she brought in her own people she got even less, yet they were charging us full rate for hands on care. The laundry services that she paid for were terrible. The dryer barely worked. A load left in for two hours was returned to her still damp. When her staff tried to do her laundry they were told they could only do so on a specific day. Mom ran through 1-2 sets of sheets per day. That was insufficient. Even Mom's staff complained about the care there. The PT services was good but we had issues with the billing with them.

They were the best that we tried. They did not give mom her medicine and when she acted up (no meds) they were not very tolerant. Most of the staff were great. One night team was horrible. They handled her in a way she fought back. We paid a huge fee to get her in and outrageous monthly fee. We feel like we paid enough to have her taken care of better than she was. They have a good reputation and 2/4 of the staff is great. We appreciate them taking care of mom. If only they would supervise the night shift a little better it may make a difference. I would recommend them for a moderately ill person. Anyone that is a little disruptive should not be there

Make sure everything is explained up front. Hard contacting doctor on patient. Director not as responsive as I would like. Nice place overall. No perfect place out there but for $[removed] a month I was expecting a little more.

Night staff is always short. For the most part , the staff likes to congregate the memory care people in one area. Be prepared to wait to get in and out of the secure memory care area. I would recommend Commonwealth to others looking. My husband picks up the deceased bodies for a funeral home and he gets into many homes. He says the three common wealth facilities are some of the best in our area.

I understand that elder care is a challenging issue from both a business and human condition perspective. Gloucester House was really on point when we moved our in-laws in. Staffing changes and challenges have dulled our enthusiasm. There are still good people working there who actually care but there are others there (doctors and nursing staff specifically) who either don't care or are too overwhelmed to have the time to care.

Very lacking in nursing care. The aides are great but I'm not impressed with the 2 nurses they have had. For example, found my mom in her nightgown at 4 pm, still in her room, not feeling good, and all her pills on the floor.