Juniper Communities

Beautiful facility. Residents appear to be higher-functioning; almost overwhelming amount of activities - probably beyond my mom's abilities. Expensive.

My husband visited it and said that it was nice

Liked this one.

The director was very helpful. Location not good.

Facility is like upscale hotel

Update: 8 years ago, mother began in assisted living with a live-in aide I paid extra for. It was approximately $10,000 a month for the monthly payment + the live-in aide. After 5 years, as she began to decline, I moved her to memory care & I appreciated the sincere care from the nursing staff. I'd actually previously posted how dedicated I found personnel & for the most part that still stands. 2 of the 3 directors deferred to my POA financial & medical position & followed without argument what my mother had in her advance directive. They always responded to any issue & were conscientious & respectful. The newest director who began 2019, ignored my questions, scoffed at me & told me I had no say at all regarding my mother's healthcare. His disrespectful & arrogant attitude unnerved me thinking he intended to challenge my mother's rights & mine as her advocate. Sadly, I chose to move her to another facility who provides the same services for $1,500 a month less! So it seems this new director inadvertently, did us a favor b/c I would never have moved her if he hadn't made it clear he wasn't going to follow protocol to at least be sensitive & empathetic to the needs of families & the difficult & stressful situation of caring for a loved one. I'd written to Juniper's President/CEO about my concerns. It was the 1st time in 8 years I felt I needed to do so. There was no response which gave credence that families & their loved ones don't matter to the power who is suppose to be in control. It appears they are only motivated by $$. A sad commentary after all this time. The President/CEO & supervisors need to reevaluate their consideration of what they're in business for, the care of Seniors & family members. Unfortunately, this is NOT an asset to Juniper Village.

The positives: Activity Coordinator tries very hard. The general staff is pretty good. The negatives: The population, specifically my relative, has a very poor memory. The management is constantly confusing her with schedule changes such as shower times, laundry, housekeeping etc. It seems when someone is scheduled to be there a staffer doesn't show up. When we go there and try to speak to the Director she is never there. No one ever seems to know what is going on if there is an issue. For all this cost one who hope for much better care.

I first became acquainted with this place when it was "Wood River Village," and was not greatly impressed. More recently, I have returned on several occasions to visit a friend who has lived here for about 5 years, and do not see much difference (improvement) from my first introduction to this retirement community, thought the grounds to appear to be better maintained than was the case earlier. According to my friend who lives here, the quality of meals is about the same as always -- usually okay, but rarely very good. Compared to other similar communities, Juniper's public areas (lounges, activity rooms, etc.) are average -- adequate for most purposes. Medical care is satisfactory during weekdays, but can be sluggish (or simply lacking) during the weekends. Compared to other retirement communities in Bucks County, Juniper Village would rank somewhere in the middle – neither among the best nor the worst.

Brookdale Spicewood Springs under the Brookdale umbrella is disappointing. While I cannot say anything bad about the staff’s integrity and character, there has been a marked decline in quality management under the Brookdale umbrella. Good staff, just not enough of them. Call light response times border on complete abandonment with wait times as much as 50 minutes and some residents claiming no response at all. With possible head injuries this is concerning. Often EMS can gain access to a resident’s room quicker than Brookdale Staff, yet private medical alert systems are prohibited within the facility. After a 13 year residency, it is not in the best interest of our loved one to move. Many calls to staff regarding concerns have been met with placating instead of resolve. Detailed documentation regarding these calls, including staff responses, is available. People considering Brookdale Spicewood Springs should press staff for a written commitment regarding call light response times. Further, families considering any Brookdale facility should also press for details regarding frequency and amounts of rent increases. Our invoice amount for 1-01-15 care was $4,031; for 5-17-16 was $5,169; and currently is $5,458. Brookdale runs their facilities like a typical corporate environment—low overhead, more revenue. This is having a noticeable unfavorable impact on resident care. Unfortunately we’ve moved into an era where vigilance is necessary in eldercare facilities.

The quiet, shy, hard of hearing non complainers like my 93 year old father are basically ignored/overlooked by the staff, even thought his fees are increased because they feel he needs to be watched more closely. Sure, its easy to care for outgoing, friendly people, but its the shy, lonely ones who desperately need the attention. My father never seems to know what activities are available. The schedule is available but when you don't even know the day of the week, you certainly won't go looking for possible activities to attend. Quiet people like my dad feel there is nothing left in their world except to eat then stare quietly out a window or watch the world pass them by.

I dont want to say poo poo Emeritus completely but they weren't able to handle our situation. My step dad could never get out of rehab and they basically were not taking care of him there. He was somebody that needed a lot of care, our private caregiver was the one who would notice that things would be wrong and would call the hospital, not the people at Emeritus. For people with a lot of dementia [removed] even though I thought this was not going to be hard for mother to move in this place, so she was disoriented, she couldn't find her room and was always so lost, it was like a maze in there. For people who don't need a lot of care or aren't too bad with their memory then this would probably be alright for them but our solution has been to have him live with our caregiver and this is the first time we've finally gotten a break.

Unfortunately many of these establishments are all about profits. They should really prioritize care in the mode of thinking that this is the way they would want their own parents treated. The staff constantly changes as well because they are not treated well nor are they paid well.

My mother-in-law worked hard her whole life and, like so many other seniors, deserves a pleasant, caring place to live her twilight years. She is 97 and lives independently in a month-to-month rental situation at Juniper Village (Bensalem, PA). In the short time she's been there she's lost one amenity after another as they tighten belts while raising rents. The place is very clearly privately owned and run for maximum profit. You are reminded of this every day as they strip away the most fundamental services promised to all who moved there. There has long been minimal and sometimes no medical staff on the premises. There is no doctor or even a nurse practitioner even for those in assisted living. Residents must see an outside doctor or get themselves to an urgent care center. Food service is pared back more and more. The small green house was closed down, though staffed by a resident volunteer. Staff will no longer help with bringing heavy groceries to your apartment. It goes on.

I wouldn't recommend this facility to any they are changing me more now than I was told plus they added more money to pay for diapers and other things . My TV was taken before she got to her room the 1st day had to be an employee.

The facility itself is older yet homelike. It’s small, which is good and you get to see other families visiting, which is also nice. The aids are great, management is another story. They do not respond to emails or phone calls. Revolving door of Management/Directors. Management/Director salaries should be going to their aids. Never saw an actual MD other than a podiatrist the 8 months my parents were there. Glucose was not being checked. New meds were started without family notification that had adverse effects. The more meds the higher the points for their inconsistent rates. The food in memory care is absolutely terrible. Never served a fresh fruit or fresh vegetable, sandwiches are their go to meal. They do try with activities and holiday parties for the residents. Overall, be sure to keep your eyes open and check loved ones medication list regularly! Good luck!

With the care services - the physical and occupational therapy that was paid extra by our family was excellent, they were great. However the care provided by the community was the opposite. We had pulled our loved one our early due to being sent to the hospital twice and on the second trip the hospital told us to find a different option for our loved one - that spoke volumes to us since our loved one pretty much digressed upon move in. With the meals our loved one had issues with constipation - they weren't the healthiest and did not have a good variety.

Terrible food. Poorly run shuttle service. More helpful staff.

They aren't very forthcoming with their information. When a patient falls, or a medication is changed, family is not notified in a timely manner. I've found out information through the pharmacy that is used about a medication change, and other things through family members.

We , with a loved one in memory care, have been extremely disappointed with management, total lack of communication throughout the facility, no periodic team care-planning meetings in which we were supposed to participate as promised by marketing, except when requested by our advocate, other marketing misinformation - glaringly and most importantly a caregiver to resident ratio of 1:6 - never witnessed that. as explained prior to placement, Physician's Assistant (we've NEVER met the facility doctor though promised we'd meet within a week following placement)and except for a very few caregivers who have devoted a lifetime to providing care and a few exceptionally skilled new hires, caregiving is far below satisfactory for our loved one. When you telephone the main "switchboard" the recorded message glitters. In reality Juniper Village South does sadly NOT measure up in terms of Memory Care for our loved one. There is much guilt in our decision to place him here.

The concept was great with limited spacing. The residents have pods. The tvs were small and very little interaction between the residents. The staff weren't interacting with the staff during the tour.