Koelsch Senior Communities

My mom was at this facility at the recommendation of her Dr who coincidently also has a vested interest as the Dr for the facility. My mom developed a urinary infection that was not treated and ended up in the hospital, and we then transferred her to a different place.. They do not answer call buttons in a timely manner. People are crying in hallways, multiple times they forgot to bring her food to her as she couldn't go to dining area. The rooms are bare with no stimulation, no TV, very basic and the cost for what is provided is horrific. Her clothing abs personal items were stolen. Random residents could just walk in other peoples rooms, no real supervision. Under staffed. What is marketed at intake is a money grab. I would never recommend.

This community was overpriced and it was depressing and dark to us. It was an old facility. My loved one was actually here for some time. Staff were not friendly either.

WE moved my Aunt into here in 2017. Though not perfect, I would have rated it a 4+. For some reason the then director, [name removed], was removed later in 2018. What a shame. The place went down hill. The new director, [name removed] (who never seemed to be there or available unless they wanted more money), and the new head nurse [name removed] were not interested in patients. They couldn't even manage my Aunts medications correctly. With my Mom's caregivers that is grounds for firing. On one occasion they didn't get my Aunt out of bed so she could eat and then lied about it. My Aunt had been on hospice previously for weight loss.[names removed] just didn't care. [name removed] was more interested in protecting the nurse, Carmon, that was the root of the problem with medications. They even put out the word to the staff that anyone talking to my aunts visiting care staff would be fired. Amber Creek is owned by Koelsch. I tired calling them. Guess what? One can only talk with a receptionist who will take your problem and someone will decide if you will get a call back or not. Now there is a way to run a business! On the day we checked my Aunt out of there they refused to give us my Aunts DNR! When they handed over my Aunts medications we didn't get them all and we discovered other medications that had been missed. Please don't consider Amber Creek or any Koelsch nursing home.

This company just caters to its picket bpoker very poor staffing conditions not enough staff to meet the demands of the residents the kitchen manager has a hygiene problem very poor menu items also

Our experience was shocking and sad. In late November 2018, our 96 year-old aunt was moved into Maple Glen Memory Care in Glen Ellyn, Il. She was in very good health, vigorous, but had advanced dementia, impaired eyesight and i hearing. She was friendly and relatively happy. She was evaluated to only require level 1 care. She had been living in an independent living community with the assistance of private caregivers. She was no longer able to join in the activities offered by her independent living community. We hoped that the special expertise we would find at the memory care facility would help us through the years ahead. The facility looked beautiful, well appointed, and new. The staff were friendly. We were assured that staff would provide my aunt with attention during the “transition phase.” We were assured that if her needs increased, the facility would increase her level of care at additional cost. We were assured that they discuss issues that arose. Our experience was a wake up call about this place, but perhaps the memory care industry in general. Buyer beware. Very little real caring is offered here. Our aunt fell 7 times in the 6 weeks she was there. Her hearing aids, her glasses and her wheelchair were all lost within the first days. She had a UTI, followed by pneumonia, and then followed by C-Diff. She was kept in a room with a roommate suspected of and later diagnosed with C-diff. She was placed in that roommate’s wheelchair and exposed to the roommate’s bedspread which was tossed on her bed. In six weeks, she lost 25lbs of her 135 lbs. Her mental status declined precipitously. After a month at Maple Glen, my aunt qualified for hospice. By then we had found a different place that could give the level of care she needed. One week after moving her out of Maple Glen, my aunt died. Throughout this horrendous experience, we were offered one alternative -- that we hire full-time round-the-clock, private caregiver to tend to our aunt day and night. Maple Glen staff said that they were doing all they were expected to do. In addition, our experience with Maple Glen’s administration is that they are incredibly disorganized. We had to ask multiple times for the invoices to submit to the insurance company. We had to ask numerous times for them to look for the missing items and each time they acted as if it was the first time we mentioned the missing items. There was no care plan developed until the 5 weeks into our aunt’s stay although the law requires such a plan. The plan that was finally provided offered no real insights into what was needed in our aunt’s special needs and circumstances. It is our view that they should have admitted that they could not care for her and told us to find somewhere else for her. To sum up, it looks nice, but the care is no more than bare minimum. That might work if your loved one is relatively self sufficient. Our aunt was very mobile, in late stage dementia and blind. This was a very problematic combination. It was gut wrenching that although people seemed nice, no one at Maple Glen appeared worried about all the bad things that happened in just six weeks. No effort was made to help guide us towards a more satisfactory situation.

Very nice place but to advanced for my Dad.

Overpriced Staff don't adequately encourage my mom to engage in activities Very much about the money - Deceptive information given when we made choice to move in; hardly anyone my mom's age despite being told otherwise Mom had far better care and amount of care provided for way lower price before. Cascade Inn offers a lot more activities, but since she isn't engaging... It's just not worth it. That's about the only thing they've got going for them, and it's not enough. I can't wait until I find a better "place for mom." She's not a senior citizen yet. There must be something better.

My mom was a resident and did not get the attention promised. With the type of residents it always seemed like too many residents and not enough caregivers. The nursing director was very rude and condescending.

We were told not to visit our dad for two weeks to let him get acclimated to the community. We visited after nine days and found that he had had a stroke and nothing was done. We took him out of the community at this time. The community did not stop his medication from being delivered. The marketing person so nice and helpful before my loved one moved in. The last person we dealt with was very rude. The staff seem young and do not seem to know what they are doing.

I wish my loved one was never at Amber Creek. They were often short staffed and caregivers were overworked. Caregivers could not get around to all residents. There was not enough supervision. Caregivers were good but were unable to do their job well because of too many expectations for their population. Many residents were fall risks and the staff could not supervise well. They often were short. More staff was needed because of who the residents were. They might have met state guidelines but it was still NOT GOOD. Don't judge this facility by its beautiful cases in the hallways and the vintage car in the enclosed patio. These things do not give care to a loved one. They look good for the families who will be bringing and paying the rent.

I regret my mom being at this facility. I was treated rudely and unprofessionally. My mother could not communicate and if this is the case with your loved one do not place them at Amber Creek. My mom was not cared for well. In my opinion, small care homes (10 bed max) offer more love, quality of care, time spent with your loved one, and a homey feeling.

very old and not very clean

Thank you for your response. I do not agree that it was friendly or professional to ask that I move my mom on a Tuesday night and come into her room on Wednesday, the next day and say you were thinking of your timeline to be Friday, which was in two days. You also told me that you would prefer her move to be sooner than later, also very unprofessional. The reason for the move was that I was told you were not supposed to be caring for a stage 3 wound on her coccyx (buttocks) that she had developed while at Amber Creek months prior to you asking me to leave. I am assuming that not everyone in administration knew it was a stage 3 wound, although I had conveyed this information to the Director of Nursing at Amber Creek. A wound doctor with [Remoived] had confirmed the stage 3 wound.

I took my parents out of there after a very short stay. The care was not there. It only took a week for one of them to end up in the hospital, and the other to be left just sitting. The room was always a mess. The food was alright, and they have activities, but if you aren't cognizant of what's going on, they just leave you to sit in your room. It's nice looking, and the salespeople were very prompt in getting back to me, but once we got in the care just wasn't there.

We utilized Canyon Creek Memory Care Facility in Billings for their respite care services. We needed a place for our mom to stay for 5 days while we attended a convention out of town. We were very specific in working with my mom's doctor and Canyon Creek staff to ensure her medication orders came through accurately and were received prior to our family leaving town. We left on a Thursday morning and on Saturday mid-day I called to see how my mom's visit was so far. When she got on the phone, I could tell something was wrong. She said she was sick and in bed. I asked her if she had been getting her medicine and she said she had not. My husband then called and talked with a nurse, who after some digging through records, told us that the order from the doctor with her medication directives, had been misfiled and that she had not been receiving her medication. We were not only shocked by the negligence but horrified at the mental and physical condition this had put my mom in. When we returned to Billings and picked up my mom, there was no acknowledgement that any mistake had happened and of course no apology. I was told repeatedly that the executive director would call me back and I have never heard from him. My mom voiced other concerns such as, the staff was warm and friendly while visitors were there, but when it was just the staff with patients, the staff was rude and treated the patients like small children, even ignoring their requests at times. This facility is very beautiful in appearance but the care for my mom was not only unacceptable, it was negligent.

Absolutely the WORSE place possible. My mother needed a higher level of assisted care and we moved her there. They repeatedly tried to [removed] her up to the max. They tried to pit family members against each other constantly. They tried to force us to change doctors because they wanted a doctor who would prescribe as much medicine as they wanted. Our doctor met them half-way and my mom was a drooling mess, sleeping all the time, frequently incontinent, barely able to walk and slurring her speech. Then Canyon Creek wanted her on EVEN MORE MEDS. When I went ballistic over their effort to [removed] mom up even more, they threw her out on the street with only FIVE HOURS notice to the family! Utterly disgusting and contemptible place. BEWARE!!!

the place stinks like a dirty locker room

They took me for thousands of dollars for just 20 days. In my room, the TV and phone didn't work. The drapes on the window didn't work. There was a big bay window looking into the courtyard full of weeds, and they charged me for a courtyard view, which I wasn't aware of. If you told them to do something, you had to tell them 2-3 times. I had to have a blood draw, and they charged a considerable amount to bring someone in to do it. The problem is, they have an open shot to your bank account and can charge you at at any time for anything they want to, which is just not right. And they act like a bunch of [removed] when they're telling you something.

This is a horrible place. The upper management was rude and refused to listen to my parents daily care plan or implement it during there short stay. During covid isolation they had no TV or music. They refused to put my mom in the recliner and kept her in bed unless she was eating. They also would not change her out of her PJ's during the day. One caregiver was impatient that my mom was not swallowing her food fast enough and kept forcing her to eat which made her cry. I am so thankful my parents are out of this place. Oh, they said the food was terrible.

Keep Searching. This is a horrible place. The upper management was rude and refused to listen to my parents daily care plan or implement it during there short stay. During covid isolation they had no TV or music. They refused to put my mom in the recliner and kept her in bed unless she was eating. They also would not change her out of her PJ's during the day. One caregiver was impatient that my mom was not swallowing her food fast enough and kept forcing her to eat which made her cry. I am so thankful my parents are out of this place. Oh, they said the food was terrible.