Encore

The latest event: Power outage 2:30am, at 1:00pm power still out. No working emergency lights in hallway. Residents served cold food (pizza brought in) on paper plates, no forks offered, cold coffee. There are gas fireplaces keeping the common rooms comfortable for now. Encore Senior Living, their corporate owner, does not answer phone calls or emails directed to individuals who have sent signed letters. This is the most recent example of situations that put residents at risk. Staff on site work hard but it feels like Encore is not providing adequate resources for training and equipment of all types. We don't blame local staff - they are all good people.

The staffing is terrible - there are hardly any staff still here that were here when she first moved in. She does not like the food. There are always leftovers because she does not eat them. Residents wear alert buttons - her button was not even working for the longest time. That is the only way to get staff to come to the room for help so that was a big issue. The stealing that goes on is ridiculous. A lot of things that I sent with mom disappeared. The billing has been terrible. When you get an invoice there is no invoice # or any way to track it. We have been very disappointed and would not recommend them to other families.

They wouldn't clean the filthy carpets. The thermostat stopped working, and they wouldn't change the batteries. We've had to do these things ourselves. The staff are sleeping at night and not helping the residents. The kitchen staff are quitting a lot, and they're short on food. They've been helping our loved one a lot with her medical problems. The RN and care staff have done a good job and seem to really care. But there are a lot of things they need to work on.

If your loved one needs memory care then I would not use this community. If they only need assisted living then they make work for you.

Clean but looks like a nursing home with one room rooms only. I'm looking for an apartment.

We did not have a good experience at Countryside with my mother's care. They did not honor our advance directives. Communication was poor and the night time care was terrible. I would not recommend this facility. I picked it because it was a very pretty facility which was the wrong reason. I moved my mother to Azura, which was not structurally a pretty facility, ( it is being remodeled) but was far superior in nursing care, She was well cared for at Azura on all shifts and treated like family. I highly recommend Azura if you want your loved one treated with compassion, respect and love. My mother was very happy at Azura, not at Countryside.

Facility is tired and needs a lot of updates. The people who worked there were very nice.

Beware of false advertisement. If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is. This is our personal experience. I have never written a review before but now that we are in a better place and can see the drastic difference in care, felt it was important to offer up some of our experiences. Bottom line, if management is not quality, the care won't be either. Some of the claims on the Gracewood website include: Claim 1: Reliable and well trained caregivers are on-site 24/7 to provide supervision and assistance with cares... Care is very inconsistent. I thought nursing assistants were certified but later was told they are not required to hire trained staff. So, the "well trained staff" are trained by the facility. Staff turn over is very high. Only 1 assistant per shift for assisted living side and 1 assistant for memory care. 1 medication passer. No management overseeing employees on evening or night shift and I rarely saw the RN or House Manager during the day. Call lights can be on for several minutes or longer before someone arrives to room. Unfortunately, the "good" employees leave as they are overworked and underpaid. Imagine, if the 1 aide is assisting a resident on toilet and the med passer is assisting a resident, and then you have another resident who has fallen or is needing help, there is no one there. For some residents, this would be ok however for most, help is needed and that is why they are there and paying extra fees for services which they are not receiving in a timely manner. When we toured the facility, we were told there would always be 2 staff available to assist with cares. This is definitely not what was experienced. Claim 2: Safety checks every 2 hours (or as needed) to help prevent falls. My loved one reports not being looked in on for several hours at a time and when puts call light on can wait for up to 45 minutes before help arrives. Claim 3: Our caregivers are scheduled in a way to help promote recognition and reassurance for your loved one... Staff is very limited. I heard from residents that they don't feel very reassured and often feel guilty as they see the limited staff there working so hard. Sometimes I would come for a visit and ring the door bell and no one will come to let me in. Claim 4: We've got great cooks and our fully equipped kitchens provide home cooked meals along with many healthy snacks available 24/7... We had been disappointed to visit during mealtimes and observe residents having a hard time cutting food, food is not always prepared in a way that is enjoyed by seniors. Staff do not walk around and ask if help is needed, nor do they ask residents if they would like more or something different if they are not eating. One lady came very late to dinner as she had a visitor. She found her food sitting at the table cold for her to eat. Breakfast is continental. Claim 5: Activities are scheduled throughout the day and we invite our local churches, music groups and child care organizations to join us to provide a multi-generational experience... There are activities (bingo, crafts) but activities are the same each week, nothing new, no off site "fieldtrips", no 1:1 visiting. With this said, activities are probably the best feature of the facility. The facility is lovely, has a homey feel and rooms are adequate. Cleaning is pretty good however limited. Stains on carpet sometimes that aren't cleaned for several weeks. Dishes after meal times can sit on table for quite a while before someone cleans up. Unfortunately looks are deceiving sometimes and the nurse who originally met with us when we toured told us everything we wanted to hear. We quickly realized the true scoop and had to leave. We still have friends in the facility and hear it hasn't changed since we left a short time ago. I was told the staff turnover is even worse. Very sad. I ran into an employee who was one of our favorites and she is still working there but looking for another job as morale is so low and there is no managerial support. I came home and just had to write a review as I hope it can make a difference for families looking for care. It may be a cheaper facility but you also have to take into consideration that it is still a tremendous amount of money and if your loved one is not getting quality care, I don't think it is worth it anyway. We were at the Champlin Gracewood. I don't know if other locations are better but I would assume that the overall management is the same.

I was very disappointed in the care that my Mother was given. She ended up with a UTI and is now on medication for it.

We did not have a positive experience at Parkside. Our mother who was suffering from alzheimer's had a private room there. We visited and evaluated many care facilities prior to choosing Parkside. Although the facility presented itself well during the evaluation stage, it did not provide the level of care that was promised as they were under staffed and some of the staff lacked basic compassion for the patient. We had multiple incidents where the level of care was mediocre at best. When we confronted the staff they reacted and expressed regrets but the problems persisted. I would encourage anyone considering these type of care facilities for their loved ones to do their homework, ask lots of questions, and have at least one unscheduled visit before before making a decision.

Our father, in mid-stage Alzheimer, was at this memory care facility for two weeks. The staff was friendly and seemed to care for the residents. Unfortunately dad had repeated issues with the staff related to his conduct (his behavior, according to several sources including the Illinois Ombudsman, was/is VERY typical behavior for ALZ patients). We received the call to remove him from the facility on a Tuesday afternoon and was told he could not return. Needless to say that led to a scramble to figure out care for him while we searched for other facilities. That seemed unconscionable to me. After touring several other facilities and speaking with several in the industry they all agreed that his behaviors are typical and Fox Pointe's handling was not how quality care facilities that have proper policies/programs in place operate. If you are considering this facility do so with an understanding that they are not designed to handle typical ALZ behaviors.

From my tour visit: Extremely small parking lot. Seemed dark and dated (sad). No one was available to show me around but the staff seemed friendly.

This place is awful. The staff for the most part are not trained to deal with elderly, or just don't know what to do. I have seen all kinds of crazy things. Some of the staff are great, the girl who does the activities is wonderful with the residents, and so are most of the nurses. When staff complains out loud about having to care for someone, brush their teeth, clean their bottom or do their laundry, (that is another sore subject), then you need to find another line of work.

Staff care about Residents while management only provides the very minimum of staff per shift. Memory care is most under staffed and Residents are left unattended while staff is/has cares in a specific Residents room.

I always see caregivers and staff on their phones and preoccupied with their own lives. The conversations are not professional and not something I would expect my mom to enjoy listening to. I know my mom can still understand what is said to her just not communicate back.

Salesperson was very nice but greeting room smelled of urine. Very stark and too few residents for adequate stimulation. This comment is relatedto the assisted living cottage.

Had a bad odor . Newly staffed.

My father was a resident of Countryside, and while the facility itself is beautiful, overall the experience was disappointing. The individual caregivers were generally kind to him, but they did not have the time to give much individual attention to the residents. Every resident needs to do the same things at the same times, and generally all the residents are parked in one place so that they can be monitored more easily. At Countryside you pay for premium care, but the care does not match the cost. Also, moving him out turned out to be an expensive experience. In our experience there are better alternatives.

My loved one has been there for 6 months now. At First I thought it was a nice place but now I am totally frustrated. As with any facility I am sure - the laundry is HORRIBLE! Things go missing and other peoples clothes (underwear) included end up in the room and drawers. There isn't enough staff and when you push the buzzer it takes somebody a long time to get there. I asked once if there is a log with times recorded that they are check on and did not get an answer. I had to complain about brown stuff on the walls and handrail in the bathroom that had been there for weeks and should have been cleaned off. My loved one has fallen 3 times now. I am starting to think about moving my loved one out to another facility.

I give this community only a fair rating. In a very short time there were too many shortcomings for the dollar value we were out putting. It began with minor issues to more serious ones which unfortunately I will not mention as I do feel with some time and proper management/supervision this community can succeed. My issues were address and I also followed up with corporate on my issues ~ corporate was very responsive which is a plus. The community's management seemed to be a little offended that I had complaints ~ sorry, but this isn't about you or me ~ it's solely been about my love one's care as well as other residents. I agree, after a certain time in the pm ~ everyone seems to be zombie like. It would make anyone seem to wonder. Nevertheless, I wish this community lots of luck in getting coverage where needed and more streamline process to ensure nothing is missed.