Merrill Gardens

*Meals were terrible *A resident was verbally attacked for complaining about the quality of the meal during mealtime in front of other residents. *Wait time to be serve meals was disgraceful for the residents because they were frequently short of help. My parents chose to return to their apt without eating because of the long wait for service. *Housekeeping was terrible. Apartment floors were not mopped on regular basis. *Facility exterior security/safety lights were not fixed for the duration my parents were there (1 year). *Landscaping was nicely done at the front of the facility but the east side area was neglected. *Window screen was missing from the time my parents moved up until they moved out in spite of reminding manager and maintenance staff on several occasions. *Balcony was filthy and so were the windows. *East side 2nd floor exit door lock mechanism was not fixed for several weeks even after my repeated complaints *My parents' rent increase by $250.00 after 1 year. When I informed the manager that my parents were moving out, the rent increase was changed to $25.00.

I don’t even work here and I could still tell something was seriously off just from visiting family. If it’s this obvious to outsiders, I can’t imagine how bad it is behind closed doors. The way staff are treated is honestly disturbing. You can feel the tension the second you walk in. At one point, I was told that most of the kitchen staff had either quit or "being fired", which says everything you need to know about how this place is run. Management is very unprofessional. There’s constant drama, and somehow residents are being pulled into it, which is entirely inappropriate. This is supposed to be a place where people feel comfortable and cared for, not like they’re stuck in the middle of workplace issues. And [Name Removed],she may come across as nice at first, but it quickly feels forced. There’s a clear difference between the front that’s put on and what’s actually going on underneath. It doesn’t take long to see through it. The environment feels disorganized, negative, and uncomfortable.

Terrible experience for memory care Our experience at Truewood Memory Care was a nightmare of mismanagement and medical disregard. We moved my father here in late [date removed], and within the first week started looking for a new facility. We started here because they had no wait list. Issues: 1. Lack of Staff Training: Despite being a specialized memory care unit, the staff seemed untrained in dementia behaviors. They labeled typical symptoms like agitation, talking loudly, not following directions, or being easily distracted when someone is talking as "aggression." Instead of utilizing prescribed medications or redirection techniques, staff called the police on my agitated father. 2. Safety & Communication Failures: My father suffered two falls in the first week that led them to send him to the ER. He lived with me 3 years prior to going to this facility and never needed ER care or police escalation. After the second fall, he was in the ER and no one notified our family. We are moving

Went to see the memory care with a friend visiting mom, loud smelly and unorganized. I would never put a loved one here and I saw something’s that should be reported to someone in charge, care ppl on phones and ignoring residents, who runs this dump?

Last summer ([date removed]) Merrill Gardens Anthem interviewed my dad for about 5 minutes or so and declined him to their memory care unit (saying he "didn't meet their criteria") to live there and then interviewed my step mom for 30 minutes and accepted her into assisted living. Since then, they have been separated and in a state of decline in separate states. My stepmom calls me regularly in the evenings lonely and crying that she misses my dad horribly and my dad wanders around asking if anyone has seen his beloved wife. It's the worst possible ending scenario for a couple who have been married for 33+ years...I called last week to try to start piecing together what the criteria was and was told at first that "they didn't keep those records." After I pressed further the lady who interviewed him said she could try to pull them from corporate. No word yet...it makes one wonder...

The admin staff was more concerned with filling an empty bed than caring for my mom. They need to be more cognizant that new residents WILL BE disoriented and need more help than long term residents. This facility refused to provide that.

I rate it a zero. Memory care unit does not have enough caregivers. My husband is in a Brightstar Care Home group home now and is receiving wonderful care. He had many falls at Truewood. I saw many issues there with the patients. Also most of the people are not friendly. Food was terrible. I definitely do not recommend.

1 on all. We had bad experience. They are NOT equipped or trained for memory care /dementia

My brother was ready to move in , flights were booked, hotel was booked, rental car was booked all left was to order furniture then I got a call saying they could not take my brother he needed to much care. My brother is doing amazing, he is self sufficient and making friends. He gets his meds twice a day and that’s all. I will say [name removed] was fantastic, she made you feel like moving into Merrill Gardens, they are lucky to have her.

Merrill Gardens Memory care- Staff on their phones most of the time and the activities were mostly watching a move not engaging. The rooms need to have standard basics (we were told we had to purchase blinds for the window). Asked what size they were and were handed a tape measure! If families need to provide they should have dimensions! Not a standard size and would have needed a ladder. Ridiculous. Many employees of Merrill Gardens (Monterey) call the director The wicked witch of the West and residents call her evil. I witnessed a public argument between an elderly resident and the director at the entrance of the facility that should have taken place in a more private area.

Friendliness of the staff would be a 0 if it went that low as long as the care services. The care givers were mean and unable or unwilling to provide even the minimum care. They on several occasions left my father soaked in urine and did not change the bedding the next day. They raised the cost on multiple occasions without any change to the care plan or any notice. He was injured and I found him bandaged and unbathed and no one could tell me what happened. He was afraid all the time. They retaliated when we did complain which made it much worse for him. I'm very upset that I didn't move him out much sooner. He was walking with a walker and had been living in independent living prior to the move to Gilroy. When he left he was wheelchair bound and had given up. I was afraid he would have died if he stayed there much longer. 3 months in a new facility and he's walking again to the dining room 3 times a day. He's hopeful for the future, thriving. Please stop referring Merrill. I don't want anyone else treated like my father was.

They kicked him out because staff and management didn't want to deal with his condition which wasn't bad at all. He had Lewy body dementia but at the time he was there he was fine. It hadn't progressed. Hope this helps it was a horrible experience for us with them not wanting to help or come up with solutions.

After almost 5 years at this facility, with many positive experiences on both the assisted living and memory care facilities. I can say how our experience ended is heartbreaking and not what I expected from management. My mom passed, and dad was moved to memory care. As his dementia progressed, rather quickly, he became wheelchair bound, non verbal and needed extra assistance moving to and from his bed. He continued to feed himself, and enjoyed his simple life. I was paying a large sum for his services, but was told, out of the blue, I needed to find a new home for my 96yr old, WWII Vet, dad. The contract nowhere says a 2-3 person assist is reason for discharge. On the Merrill Garden website it states. YOUR NEEDS MAY CHANGE OVERTIME, BUT WE BELIEVE YOUR HOME SHOULDNT HAVE TO. After talks with management, they tried to make this wrong a right, when the discussion for care should’ve been their first course of action, verses, you need to find a new place, lacking compassion.

Truewood did not work out. My mother fell out of her wheelchair chair and broke her hip. While she was in the hospital, Truewood would not take her back. They seemed very nice, but I don't think they were watching her well enough and that's why she fell. She also fell out of bed a few times.

Merrill Gardens was a horribly run place.

My husband was in memory care for over 2 years. There were some lovely caregivers, and an awesome woman who ran the unit (later fired!) but the corporate culture is awful. There's terrible communication with the manager of the whole facility, and they literally made it so I had to move husband when he was beginning the dying phase, after assuring me that they would continue to care for him. And the reason they gave was nothing that had been mentioned earlier or made sense for standard of care. I cannot recommend this place at all.

At the time I was living there, the manager and assistant manager picked favorites, and if something went wrong, they just said this was independent living. They didn't take responsibility of anything. There were several people with Alzhiemer/dementia and schizophrenia. It was very scary. I promised my son to give it one year. I did and then left. It is full of people in their 90s and only a handful under the age of 70. It should not be listed as Independent Living. Most of the people there should be in memory care or assisted living. It was completely making my life miserable. They're under new management and I'm still in contact with some of the residents. They are still unhappy. Most people are there because the family doesn't want to pay memory care or assisted living prices. The rent goes up 10% every year. Impossible!!

My mother was in the independent living, but was still supposed to check in daily. This was a reassurance to me as I live out of state.i called her daily at the same time. One day she didn’t answer, I wasn’t overly concerned as it took her awhile to get to her phone and I presumed she had checked in, on the second day she didn’t answer I was extremely worried. I called the front desk and asked if they had heard from my Mother, and please go check. The next thing a paramedic called and said she was unresponsive on the floor with a broken hip. After I had calmed down and she was taken to ICU I called to speak to the manager who admitted they hadn’t heard from her in two days and they were so sorry. They had a new desk clerk who neglected to do what she was supposed to. My mother laid on the floor for 2 days. Anyway my mother never fully recovered from this ordeal, ended up having to go to and passed away .very disappointed with this . My mother did like the food though

Unless you have unlimited resources, they present a nice shiny picture when you go in however, after your loved member is there they don’t do what they say they’re going to do and they double the bill and then claim it’s correct and don’t even explain themselves they just say pay it This has been a horrible seven months. since my mother arrived there she has been hospitalized no less than seven times. Meanwhile, she had not been hospitalized even once in the prior two years, my sister and myself who were the local family members assisting, have been severely adversely affected physically and financially, by this, and I myself at the moment and sitting in ICU, and just received a bill for $[removed] monthly rent instead of the [removed] without prior notice , so there you go unless you have unlimited resources and want to get ripped off don’t go to Merrill Gardens

I wouldn't recommend this place to my worst enemy. I was the POA of the person who stayed there. He had a stroke They never contacted me. I got contacted by the hospital very [removed]. He ended up dying in the hospital. I probably should have got a lawyer to deal with this, but it was too hard on me.