Merrill Gardens

Our tour at Truewood Georgetown was fine. I thought it was a little pricey for what you get. And we didn’t notice many residents out and about in the common areas.

The value is great at the community. Some of the things that could use improving includes communication with the family and staff. Also, the housekeeping of my loved one's room could use some work. They the community is providing laundry service and picking the trash up as well. There are three meals a day served to the residents, and there are choices for them to choose from.

Merrill Gardens at Barkley Place was not going to work for my mother. The building was aged and they definitely were in need of some updates. My loved one is also vegetarian and their idea of a vegetarian meal was a cold salad and any vegetables that they had in the kitchen. It was not going to be suitable.

My mother lived at MGR for nearly 2.5 years, [dates removed] She thrived there. The social aspect alone really made her blossom: she never missed a meal, because sitting with her friends was so appealing to her. The food was always good. The restaurant staff were friendly, personable, and accommodating. There were issues with delays answering calls for aides. Each resident wears a lanyard with a call button, and there are call buttons installed in the rooms and bathrooms, but there can be a delay up to a few hours sometimes. That was discouraging. The monthly cost was not small: started out about [price removed] for the 1-br (a perfect size for her), and rose to [price removed]. On reading other reviews, it reminded me of the horror that was the move-out process after my mother passed. The manager at the time was incredibly unhelpful (e.g. didn't point out that I could use the trash bin on the first floor) and at no time did she offer condolences, either in person nor with a simple card. Shocking.

The manager, [name removed] is not involved with the facility residents and staff reported that she was inaccessible. In my case, Merrill Gardens hired contract workers who were not properly trained. When my mom fell, the worker did not call and tell me about it until the next morning when she was already in the hospital. The general manager was shocked when I called and woke her up with that news and they never made it right with me. Merrill Gardens uses a point system to grade the resident for how much cost their is for their assistance. This weighs heavily against the residents. I would prefer the al a carte menu used by other facilities.

With being out of town the staff could improve on their communication and one thing we think they would benefit from is having some sort of video chat booth or something similar so families who are not able to visit are able to facetime and engages one way or another with their loved one.

The day to day caregivers is really good, but the head of nursing is not good with communication, and it takes days to get a response. They are missing, the higher level of additioanl care services. It's not what I expected.

We toured with Merrill Gardens at Burien and found the facility to feel very institutional. When we walked in we got the strong odor or disinfectant and alcohol. The people were all very nice but it was not going to be a good fit.

The facility is very clean and everyone is super friendly. They all seem to love my mom. Mom really likes the activities director and she enjoys the outings that they go on. She said the food is ok, but she wishes that they had normal table wear instead of plastic forks and spoons. Nurses are also giving medications in the dining room during meals. They are looking for a new director of nursing so we hope that happens soon and things get figured out. For the amount of money that we pay, I do think that internet should be included. Overall I would definitely recommend Truewood by Merrill to others looking compared to the others that we saw.

This was a good community. It wasn't the right location for my loved one.

It's an older place. Was not worth what I was paying. It wasn't what I thought it was gonna be. The people where nice but the food stunk. I wasn't eating there 2/3 time. I had to move out. I found a much better place for much less money than what I was paying. I am on a limited budget. The facility is older. If you can live in there in the independent living area, then an apartment would be much cheaper elsewhere.

Huge staff turnover. The place is beautiful and brand new. They need an Ambassador program. They don't seem to welcome new people like they should. My loved one loves her apartment.

On my tour at Merrill Gardens, I was not satisfied with their answer to some of my questions regarding their dementia care.

Our family had an in person tour and it was just not going to be a good fir for our loved one

Our family had an in person tour and the lady who showed us around was not the most knowledgeable - but to her defense she was subbing in for the lady who was actually supposed to give us the tour. The finishes are more down scale which we were not very impressed with, but we absolutely loved the rooftop gardens. We were able to sit up there for awhile and actually speak with another residents. However the residents told us the meals were dreadful, and if you need assistance and call a staff member for help it could take hours for them to come.

My loved one is safe, and the environment at The Pines is safe. They are keeping an eye out for her and they do tend to her. But the quality of the care is lacking and not amazing. She doesn't need as much care, but other than them making sure that she eats every day, I'm not sure what they're doing for her, especially regarding memory care. Every time I drop in, she's in her room doing nothing. The food is terrible. I don't ever see activities going on, although I know they have a few here and there. They are not doing a good job of keeping her room clean, and her laundry is not getting done at all. I've talked to the daily staff about some of my concerns, but I don't think that's getting conveyed where it needs to in order to effect change. At this point I probably need to talk to management. I do appreciate that my loved one is safe and fed, and the staff are mostly friendly. But I would like to see so much more.

The facility very nice, however the care services were completely lacking. The first day our loved one moved in no one came to her room until the afternoon and that was after she pressed the help call button. We told them she needed help with her medication, they thought she could do it independently which resulted in her running out of her medicine way to quickly. The place is very nice and the people are nice, but the care was non existent.

Our tour was not nearly as good or as involved as the one we had at the community we ended up choosing. Merrill Gardens didn't spend as much time with us or offer us a meal. It was during Covid times, and things were just starting to open back up. But the deal breaker for our loved one was there was no in-room laundry.

My loved one did not like the feeling of these communities and that was the only reason that we did not go with this community.

Good housekeeping, & good food. Front desk staff are rude and unhelpful. They can help with meds but not insulin so they don’t really provide diabetic care.