MBK Senior Living

So my review of the Wellington is quite mixed. It started out fantastically. The sales pitch was beautiful and they seemed to care about their residents. The place is beautiful, the staff friendly, and the residents seem cheerful. Unfortunately, my grandfather is a stubborn old man and made this as tough a transition as he could muster. However, their handling of his issues left a lot to be desired. They took away his power chair, which, to be fair, he did have a few mishaps. A secretary told me, though, that there were other residents who had gotten into far more accidents that still had their power chairs. Their manager also decided to tell me that my entire generation was disrespectful, which was a tad rude, especially as I was a potential customer, by myself, trying to find a place for my grandfather to live, and had said nothing even close to rude or disrespectful to her. They also took several weeks to get the internet and cable in his room working, and turned off the stove without telling anyone, which was fantastic on Christmas morning, when we brought food to be cooked and could not cook it. I understand that it had to be turned off, but it would be a good thing to know. We also spent the entire time hearing different answers about their pet policy. He has a german shepherd and the first people we met with said he would be able to keep her, then the next group said no. It turned into us asking everyone we came across, and most had different answers. Finally, and potentially most importantly, they told us that in order for him to remain there, he needed to be a one person transfer, or in therapy working to become one. They started therapy last week. He's 97, with a bum knee. This week, they say it's not going to work because he's a two person transfer. I'm not sure how much progress a 97 year old can be expected to make in one week, but we had been led to believe it would be a bit longer than a week. All-in-all, it's a nice place, but I have the impression that the reason their residents are so happy is because they're so cherry picked. It's hard to last here, and for the seemingly stupidest of reasons. Hopefully, in the future, they are a little better equipped to actually work with people who need assistance, rather than push them out the door as fast as possible.

Overall it's a really nice place, but the upper management just doesn't seem to follow through on things they say they will do. There were a myriad of things that they said they were going to do that they didn't and some of the things were fairly basic yet they didn't happen until I complained. I don't know if it's because they are understaffed/overwhelmed or its a training issue but it is very irritating. I have even called the corporate office and the first two calls were not returned, the third one finally was. The food is about a 3.5 out of 5, it's pretty good. The day to day staff are awesome! Everyone at Palisades is very friendly and my mother does like it there, I just wish they would hold themselves more accountable for what they say will do or simply not say it. Note: my mother is in Independent Living so the "care services" rating is really NA. - John T

Cottonwood Creek is a half-decent place, not bad at all. There's nothing particularly impressive about it, but they keep it clean and they're very reliable when it comes to the medication services. They provide 3 meals a day (whether you like the food is a different story). The rooms are a decent size, and the price is around 2500 a month.

We looked here before and liked it; $9-10,000/month; questionable if Papa could be in their assisted living if her needs memory care-might insist her be in memory care; participate in PACE program=like medicaid so help if they run out of $$; bedroom would only fit two twins or a queen so would need 2 bedroom

They were okay. They just weren't able to accommodate the level of care we needed anymore. They are an independent living community that allows home health to come in. They are in the process of getting assisted living certification. The staff were hard working but they just didn't go out of their way to be friendly. My loved one was also always complaining about the food.

Here is what we liked about Oakdale: Services - such as visits to the bank, doctors offices, grocery stores, trips to Wal-Mart, scenic drives... Laundry service Activities such as Happy Hour and onsite chapel All inclusive meal program (and everything else for that matter, minus internet) Life Alert type services for all residents Price was very reasonable for what they offered Location to our house Pet's accepted If you move from independent living to assisted living, the service comes to you - changing rooms or buildings is not necessary Pricing is up front and listed in their website Here is what we did not like about Oakdale: The front of the building was very nice, but the hallways, dining areas and rooms were a little tired With all due respect to them, the residents we encountered seemed very old. My mom's immobility is decreasing but her mind is fine and I just don't think she's quite at that stage yet. It's hard to describe, but I hope you know what I mean.

Nice apartments - Staff very friendly and gracious - Ladies bridge club - Only serve breakfast and lunch

The housekeeping wasn't good, it was dirty and dark. When we left all of her jewelry was gone, but I never reported it, I didn't have proof or details. Some of the staff were fabulous, like the dining room staff, but some of the people, and one in particular, Rosa were not nice at all. Maintenance stuff didn't get done, the grass was dead and it never got fixed. The care was substandard, in my opinion. It was good before management changed, and then everything went downhill.

It just had an old feel to it. It just seemed like it needed to be remodeled or something. I remember thinking I wouldn't want to live there. I just didn't care for the overall atmosphere. They also had smaller rooms for more money than another place I had found.

The staff are all very nice and the place is clean. However, I think that my loved one just needs more care than they can offer. It would be nice to maybe have more CNAs that are certified. They do have caregivers there to help, but some residents need a little bit more medical attention. Other than that, they did have an opening when we were stuck and needed it, and it is a really nice place.

They offer both Independent Living and Assisted Living here, but there are far more people that are in severe need of assistance here. With that, the response time could be faster. They have a 15 minute window, but in some situations, 15 minutes could be too long. Also, the caregivers do not knock when they enter the resident's rooms, and instead, just come in, which can bother some of the residents. The activities they do are really minimal. It would be nice to see more trips, but everything they do is done mostly inside. As for the food, the menu seems to have a decent variety. Although it's not perfect, I'm not worried about my loved one's safety and we're making it work.

I think that there is definitely some room for improvement when it comes to being precise and clear about their information during orientation. There was definitely some miscommunication that could have been avoided. However, they did have availability in a time crunch and they were close to our home, so we chose them mainly for that reason.

rooms seem small - not a good fit for 2 br

It didn't work for us. I felt like we shouldn't have been there, period. She should have been in skilled and I don't know if we miscommunicated to each other or what happened. It sounded like it would be more custodial than what we ended up with. People would come if she would call them, but she wound up in the hospital within a week of getting there, partly because she shouldn't have been there. They kind of sold us. I explained what level she would need, and we were all in the mindset of wanting her to be independent, but they shouldn't have signed her up. She fell numerous times while she was there. I think that the staff that were there tried to help, and we appreciated their assistance, but they're so busy trying to get people in there to pay that they're not giving accurate representation of what they can do. Most of the other residents were much more independent. We should have put her into a skilled nursing facility, but they made it seem like she would be OK there.

I thought it was nice, but Westminster Terrace was more lively. They said that they were going to do something and they didn't do it, and I don't like being lied to, so I chose Westminster.

They had assigned seating for meals, I'm sure they were friendly and it would have been fine but the main thing was we didn't want him sititng with the same people everyday. We have a friend whose sister is there and they don't even talk at lunch and maybe they're more extreme cases than he is yet.

It looked kind of nice but it was more of a lock down. You had to check in and out. It was like one step closer to a nursing home and it was more expensive that the community we ended up chosing.

They are a bigger community that are setup kind of like a hotel. When I went to visit this community it just did not seem like it would be a good fit for my loved one. The community was just to big and would not be able to provide a home like feeling.

May be a buy in. Very new. Evasive about meal plan. Sounds like a Residence Hotel.

Entrance to room goes through another. He wasn't home to meet. Room is fine. It's the access I question. Met the guy, Gary. Very messy and my Mom feels besides being very hot inside,it smells. No offer of daily care other than a shower twice a week?? Was told there is a possibility of them getting a pool, chair, but no promise. I can wait for an answer....