Distinctive Living

Memory care is understaffed. No way for residents to get help other than yelling and if no aide is in the hall, it can be 2 hours before help comes. Most aides are kind and caring but one should be stationed in each of the hallways at all times. Because memory care is not given silverware- all proteins should be precut. There is not enough staff to cut everyone is food.

The place was dark and closed up feeling. I did not feel that I wanted my mother living there. I watched a women in a wheel chair trying to get into the bathroom and no one was helping her. Never saw a room, but just felt the place was dingy.

The residents and facility are nice. And many staff members are lovely but not all. Communication between the administration and families is mediocre at best. Questions are not answered in a timely manner and upper administration doesn’t take responsibility for their lack of attention. On-boarding needs improvement. There is no welcome packet. No explanation of who to contact for different questions/issues. And not at all apologetic about not providing this info. Nursing staff is great. Wellness Nurse is attentive, responsive and warm. He did welcome my family members upon move-in and assessed them. He made my sister and me feel very comfortable leaving them in his care. There seems to be other staffing issues. Since my folks arrived on [date removed], there have been at least three changes to administrative staff. Overall, my folks are safe. My mom enjoys many of the activities and the other residents.

You walk into the building and sometimes greeted by the front desk sometime not. I never see the Executive Director around. The staff aren’t smiling and they seem as though they don’t want to be there. I see [name removed, the jack of all trades everywhere. He is the sweetest and kindest person there. I also always see Shawna running around. This place really has potential but something needs to change.

It presents well with a very friendly and happy and helpful staff. In my opinion, they are understaffed actually it is a fact, One staff member should not be in charge of over 100 assisted-living clients upstairs. That is unsafe. Also, there are lines to the elevator every meal with clients sitting in the hallway for long periods of time. Again due to being understaffed in my opinion for the amount of money that is handed to them, it would be appreciated if they hired more employees. It presents well during the day at meals, but I would suggest going there a few times unannounced. Again, one of the better places in New Jersey, unfortunately but for the price unrealistic, do not have enough staff at hand it is not fair to the client or employee that is overworked or under cared for.

This was my first experience with ALF so perhaps I didn't ask the right questions but I'd say mediocre....3 Cleanliness of the facility-- the lobby dining area rate a --5; as far as housekeeping of resident rooms=2 The private aids I hired cleaned the kitchen and bathroom areas because those rooms were untouched when housekeeping came twice from mid-July until September 6! Friendliness: 3-4. Some of the aids and other staff (kitchen, reception and activities) and initial registration and administration: 4 Health = 3 When Mother got Covid on the second day I was instructed to take her to the ER for a psi I'd and PT mother never saw the therapist until the Friday before she left, which was near the end of the 30. Admin staff were very helpful. But they were not so helpful once I started to complain about the above issues. Activities. Scarce compared to the facility we ended up moving her too. And not consistent but they were ok. Back to PT: there was a sign on the door: "By appointment" and a phone number which I called twice in addition to requesting PT thru Health services. :"1" Quality of care:5 for the dining area since mother's decline resulted from a food allergy. Since mother was going blind and required eye gtts, the med aides were resistent to direction, learning and suggestions. That is, one eve the tech put in the wrong eye (ie techs left eye not mothers!). Then I learned the Eve drop supposed to be 3-6 after noonish that they waited until the other drop was ordered for bedtime, but they were putting it in at 8 pm when they started getting residents ready for bed. That is one drop on top of another!!! Contraindicated!

Assistance to residents at mealtime was not good. Was told they ran out of salad and milk was not available. Clothes were missing even though Labeled them. Staff would gather in hallway and were very loud. Had to request laundry to be done. [community name removed] rated higher but food not tasty and small portions. Use paper plates to serve meals. Care of residents needs improvement. Hair greasy. Clothes soiled, not shaven for days. Several times when I arrived early he was still in bed and brought down smelling of urine. Facility very nice and roomy for the resident activities. Ankle security device not on. Asked multiple times to look into it without results. Like that a floor for memory care is on one level and no other residents from other units are kept separate. Ample space to go outside in a safe environment

There is no alternate meal. Diabetics and normal diets are the same. Most meals consist of rice, mashed potatoes, noodles, some kind of meat, and a roll. If you can’t eat something, you get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There is no dietician, or even a menu for the folks ahead of time. There are no nurses on staff after 4:00 any day, or week ends. The meds are passed by med techs.

Things were going pretty good until [name removed] fell from his wheelchair. Hospice was called and he was admitted to the Hospice facility. Hospice told me that [name removed] needed a facility with skilled nursing, not assisted living and memory care. So [name removed] went to a snf. I asked for a refund for days remaining and was told no. Said I needed 30 day prior notice. How was this suppose to happen? So I did not get a refund. Very disappointing.

1. The physical, occupational, and speech therapy professionals are amazing, thoughtful, and caring. (They are not staff members, they are contracted from Heritage. ) 2. The recently appointed Activities Director is superb, creative, and uses the residents to advise her on possibilities. I have been cleared by [name removed], Wellness Director, to pay rent at a Level one resident since [date removed], but I have continued to be billed and paid $900 more a month at the silver 4 level than the services I have received. The cleaning is way below level.

The facility is nice but what ever air deodorizer they are using affected my asthma as soon as I walked into the building. I wondered how this affects residents with serious respiratory conditions.

The staff here is lovely and welcoming. However, this wasn’t a great fit for my Dad. He really needed a lot of care with everything: toileting, personal care, eating, etc. They just didn’t have enough staff to provide that much care in a timely manner.

The main hallway floors often dirty, streaky. They do well keeping the individual apartments and main entrance clean. Dining area also. The staff are friendly and outgoing for the most part. There have been multiple complaints have been made as my loved one is often left in a wet diaper which causes them to develop sores. Lack of staffing and lack of on-site supervision appear to be the issues. There are a couple of bright stars in the support pool but mostly they cannot seem to get to my dad to get him dressed for the day before 11 am. They are supposed to change him twice during the night and if he is changed once, it is rare and not consistent. When he calls to get changed outside of the normal set times they are to change him, it could be hours for a response. My parents are frustrated because they are paying additional money for the highest level of care and are not receiving the consistent care they are paying for Dining is inconsistent. What they are served is often not what is presented on the menu. Food is tasteless and served cold at times. There have been several occasions where kitchen staff did not even show up. They have had many occasions where my parents have waited for over an hour for food. There are various daily activities and monthly events as well. My parents introduced their favorite game and now have others involved on a weekly basis. My mother has started a knitting/crocheting group and is involved in many of the other activities offered. Both participate in the religious activities. The van that can be used to transport my dad in his wheelchair to outside activities was not working for almost a year but is now operating and my parents participate when they have room for my dad.

This is a nice facility & it’s taken some time to acclimate my husband to his new surroundings. They are short handed & keep trying to hire more people but they don’t like the work. The caregivers are generally congenial but they are reactive to patient needs instead of proactive as I am when I’m there. I visit almost every day and most days I take his laundry home to wash. He is losing belongings at every turn. Very frustrating for me. They have a very nice garden in back for a little sunshine & fresh air. Rooms are adequate. Food is generally pretty good and served to them at their table. Meals are important for most patients so that’s very good. Physical therapy is available at the facility. Communication with medical personnel is spotty, especially since they only have a PA once a week. Wound care is basically non existent (my husband has taken quite a few falls) so I change bandages & freshen antibiotics. This is a memory care unit so he doesn’t even know to ask for care.

There has been a 100% plus staff turnover in memory care. They have a new memory care director who's fantastic. When we moved in we were supposed to be in a 1 bedroom apartment and we are STILL waiting on the "renovations" to the new unit to be completed. We just went through theft of her soft drinks but that was instantly resolved as soon as we brought it to the director's attention. Nothing about her care is bad but I feel like the community somewhat misrepresented what we were going to get for our money. We have to change trash and clean her bathroom regularly because there isn't enough staff.

Facility is nice but needs updating. Especially in the dining room area. Staff is very friendly but not real responsive in answering questions. Especially for families who live out of the area. I would recommend this facility only if family is local.

My loved one was previously a resident at Inspired Living at Bonita Springs and the overall experience was good. The management and nursing were very responsive, but like every facility they have a couple of excellent caregivers and a majority of paycheck collectors. I moved my loved one to a different facility only because of the distance and I wanted him to be closer to home.

We have already had two price increases. This may be the same with all but her clothes, towels and toiletries are always coming up missing As far as activities they never leave the facility.

ALF cost has continued to increase. Food quality is not consistent, always out of products, few interesting activities - take a long time for staff to respond to urgent needs - home always smells bad. Theft seem to be an issue.

The price was raised by $[name removed] a month in less than a year. The staff though nice and caring are always changing and leaving. The Chelsea was sold to a new company that is taking over next month. I would not recommend to anyone