Merrill Gardens

We moved my 90 year old mother in law to Merrill Gardens in August 2014. It's a lovely place. Lots of activities. They do pay attention if people do not show up. The food and food service staff is excellent as is the resident handyman. Early steps of moving in were smooth and supported by staff. There appears to be problems at the management level. Whoever is on main front desk person needs to be better trained to be more helpful and informed. The fact the paid for TV service went out in August and three weeks later is still out, with continually changing timelines for restoration and no explanation for what is happening is frustrating at best. Points to a lack of foresight /organizational planning at higher levels and suggests a lack of concern for resident's experience as a prime priority. I have had family in other similar facilities in the area as well as out of state. Merrill Gardens would still be my first choice. This is clearly a bottom line focused business first and senior residence second: occasional cracks in the facade of outstanding service can be seen. I worry about the future of the place, as I have seen a constant flow of managers in all previous places we have experience with. On balance, many in house staff do go the extra mile to make sure residents are respected and treated with kindness and personal attention. It always helps to have an outside family member paying attention and keeping track of things.

The people are great.They try to help you in any way that is possible.

This is a great place if you can afford it-however, during the first month, there was a tremendous amount of staff changes. The food was excellent when we went to look at the Bedford, but they are now on their 3rd chef and the quality of food has gone WAY down. Also, my mother was NOT given her tour of the place after she moved in, her name tag and also STILL does not have a key that works her patio door! She moved in 6/21/14! Seems a little long to wait considering the price they charge!

I stayed here a year and returned to my home. It was a good place to stay but with every year 5% rent increases it gets expensive. I wanted to get a bigger place as all I had was a single room but the prices quoted were terrible and the rooms didn't have any more sq. footage than what I had. Food was good, activities were enough, and the servers were courteous w/ housecleaning done efficiently. A good place to stay if you can afford it.

The staff at Merrill Gardens in Willow Glen are extremely helpful and cooperative. The facility is clean and well maintained. The menu in the dining room varies but is limited. The lunch and dinner menus are the same, but sandwiches, hamburger and hot dogs are always available. Some items are quite tasty and high quality, but overall the quality varies from mediocre to good. Little attention is given to the presentation of the food, which makes it less appetizing. There are activities and entertainment, but there is little to do in the evenings.

Only concern is disorganized nursing services.

We were happy to get my wife's parents into this place and we believe that it is a quality place. The biggest drawback is the wait for the elevator when they go to meals. The elevator is often full when it stops and it stops anyway & goes to the first floor & then up to the higher floors and loads up and maybe bypasses the second floor two or more times before it stops with enough room for 2nd floor residents. We are moving them out and into another facility where they will have a first floor lanai. A room with a view and exit to the outdoors from their room. We feel that this place is a good option with may plusses.

Overall the staff is very focused on making the residents feel welcomed and cared for. Horoko, the fitness instructor and Charlie, the event coordinator, are both exceptional!! However, the Maintenance dept is inept as it takes forever to get ANYTHING done. Even the smallest of tasks take forever! Whoever runs it should be replaced by someone who actually knows how to run a maintenance dept.

I can tell you the staff in the garden house are all caring and watchful over mom. Food is good. My biggest concern is cost vs actual care and services. They are up $[removed] since mom came on a year ago.

Everyone that works there is very polite and helpful. [name removed]the med director is fabulous. I wish they had one level of care in memory care. It has gotten quite expensive for the services provided. There are very few activities for those that can still engage!

Good facility as long as you're not a memory care resident. They don't know how to divert the patient out of memory situation. A worker actually called me at home telling me my aunt wanted to go out .They did not how to divert her .You pay for extra help for memory care level but they don't have the extra help to give the patient .She fell needed ice on her arm she kept taking it off instead of them figuring out how to keep it on The pines Director of nursing [name removed] said she wasn't compliant so they gave up . Memory care patients need that extra care

They recently lost a lot of staff to another facility so the activities have been scaled way down. The chef just left. There was a power outage and the elevators weren't working for a day. They have asked management about the possibility of a generator but they aren't planning on having one. The new facility manager seems a bit out of touch. Newly remodeled which is very nice. Food is only ok. Staff is friendly however they are short staffed

What we like the most about Truewood by Merrill is the convenience to town, however the food could probably use improvements

Stayed for only 6 months and moved to facility with much better activities. At Truewood the residents were set in front of the TV for most of the day. Not unusual for aides sitting with them busy on their phones. I think they do much better with the assisted living group. Not really equipped to take care of those with memory disabilities. Probably Not Great for Memory Care as the assisted living group seems much more active. I guess you get what you pay for. Truewood is $[removed] a day, current memory care facility $[removed] a day.

This is not an Independent Living facility. It is listed as such but is is really an Assisted Living only. If you do not fit the qualifications for assisted living they will kick you out with no refund.

Directors motto was. I’m nice to them until I start getting their money and I could care less about them. She treated me like shit three times in in four months. The elevator was down and there was no way for me to get down from my floor to do anything or do any go outside anything because I couldn’t go down the stairs with the walker Food not always the best. You could’ve used some work. I know there was a combination of our old shift and a new chef and our old chef on certain days. It was ridiculous. Activities were very, very little.

I'll rate everything at a 3. It was my brother that lived at Truewood. He was only 69 years old and felt like he was in prison. He actually improved while he was there probably because he wanted to get out. but the care he received was intrusive. It was intrusive for him. It might not have been for others.

My mom did not like food at all. The medical assistance people were very kind, but the administration was just ok (not as friendly) The place was clean and the activities were good.

This is a great place for someone who is fairly independent. While the caregivers from [removed] are amazing, they don’t have enough staff to provide one to one care. The food is great and they always have a choice of at least two options. The director was rude and the customer service has some room for improvement. Overall, this place offers a nice environment with lots of activities for residents, but my family member needed more care.

I would say that it is good for independent living if you don't need their additional services for care. The care they offer not good and VERY expensive at least for the independent living. I have no experience with the memory care side.. When my parents needed more care we had to move them to a residential board and care