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.

I recently picked my mother up from where she lives at Merrille Gardens to stay at my home out of state. I was told they did not have enough of her meds on hand to last until I brought her back and would overnight them to me. They did not arrive and I’ve called this facility for over 6 hours straight, no one answers, goes to voicemail. I’ve left 3 voicemails now and still heard from no one. My mother has serious medical conditions and cannot live without her meds. Unbelievable this is the type service or lack thereof! Can’t imagine the residents are getting the type care they need if there’s no one even there to answer or return calls!!

My loved one was previously a resident at Truewood by Merrill Charlotte Center. The staff communicated with the family when a problem was apparent, but either did not pick up on sublet signs of decline or did not feel that it warranted a call to the family. It seemed that there was not consistent communication from direct care staff to those with higher levels of licensing until an issue arose. Honestly, it is not entirely the facilities fault that things did not go well for my loved one there. I do think that families need to have a better understanding of what a facility is capable of doing, in terms of level of care. My loved one's physical mobility greatly declined over the five weeks that he was at this facility, in part because he was not interested in participating and in part because the facility did not have the capacity to be consistent with ensuring that he was getting up and moving around. Also, I'm sure that the meals were fine from a nutritional standpoint but my loved one's tastes were not satisfied by them. And the 'extra fees' that were incurred were not clearly communicated. I would not recommend Truewood by Merrill Charlotte Center unless family members have the ability to visit their loved ones frequently to ensure that there is not decline over time.

What we think Merrill Gardens at Sheldon Park could improve on to better the experience would be to accept none bubble wrap OTC meds, from family , evaluation needs improved,

I regret to say that my experience with was deeply disappointing. My father's time there was marked by multiple oversights, lack of attention to his needs, and an overall absence of empathy from the staff. On numerous occasions, I found his basic necessities ignored, leading to discomfort and distress. It's a heart-wrenching feeling to entrust a loved one to professionals, only to feel they aren’t receiving the care they deserve. I sincerely hope other families have better experiences, but based on ours, I cannot recommend.

Don't commit to this company. I can write more later, but despite caring employees (who often don't stay) this is a really incompetent, dysfunctional company. You can't trust them with your vulnerable loved ones.

Some staff are great but constantly say we don't have time for you. We found our Mother laying down unable to move or even reach her water. After we came in and started feeding her and giving her water she got better. They said we don't feed the residents. We understand that but they knew she hadn't eaten for 3 days and didn't notify any family members that she couldn't feed herself. they bullied and intimidated a 91 year old lady then lied to the manager about when we reported them. The only thing they care about is the $ [removed]per month that they get. Most of the food sucks, looks like road kill with gravy on it. Will be filing a complaint with the state DOH

My mother’s diamond ring was “misplaced” from her right finger. She is in memory care, has had a stroke, and doesn’t talk or walk anymore. Her rings were very tight on her fingers. After this ring went missing, my dad had to take her wedding ring off for fear of it also being “misplaced.” He and one of the caregivers had difficulty removing her wedding ring. The response from the facility was, “Things happen.” I’m disappointed for my family that this heirloom is gone.

This may be a decent place for Independent Living but is a horrible place for Assisted Living. [name removed]and [name removed] are gems and are the only two good staff besides the people who work in the dining room. Management is horrible and so are the med techs! RUN and do not come to this place.

My mom is a current resident in assisted living at Merrill Gardens. She went through covid and they left her in her room and the nurse barely helped her with anything. Now she is suffering from the stomach flu or possibly food poisoning. No one will help her. The front desk won't answer. We had to call the ambulance ourselves. This is not a good place for my mom. They can not be trusted to take care of when needed. Isn't that the point of assisted living?

This was not a facility, that was a good fit for my loved one. They had issues with bugs. For the amount that I paid, my loved one did get the type of care that I was expecting. There was not a lot of interaction with the staff The food was awful, and sometimes they ran out of food. They did not have any activities.

Sunshine Villa was an absolute disaster. I would never send even my dog to their memory care unit. The upstairs part looked fine. But their memory care unit was unacceptable. It looked and felt like a morgue.

It was a clean facility. My loved one needed memory care, and advertised that they took care of dementia patients. My loved one was there a short period of time. They did not give them showers, do laundry or did not know how to handle my loved one. They were not giving them their medication as needed and on time. I picked this place becasue it was a smaller community. It was very expensive. It was a negative experience. The staff was not accomodating.

The food was terrible. The staff was not very good. The food is not good. The cleanliness is not good. The invoices is different every month. Overall, everything needs to improve.

I have been to the Pines in Newmarket several times. Mostly, I smelled urine throughout the halls and filthy hall bathrooms. It made me gag and I had to hold my breath. Another time, I sat in on a get-together with the elders and sat next to someone with memory issues. She was a true delight and reached out to hold my hand. I looked down at her hands and noticed black dirt under her nails. I asked her what had happened to her fingernails. She said, "my bum itches, and I have to scratch ." I went to the office and reported it to the woman there. She did come and took her away. Another time I was invited to have lunch with the elders. We were told it would be free. We were served spaghetti and sauce. My plate had at least an inch of water under the spaghetti and it was served cool. For dessert, we had ice cream. The ice cream was served with freezer burn over the top. The "chef" came running out and said we had to pay $20. I said we were told it was free. He said, nope. Never again.

This is not a good place for memory care. The staff is not equipped nor inclined to enrich the lives of residents. It works for those residents who are not able to participate. It doesn't really work for those residents who are mobile. The community is also not equipped to deal with negative behaviors associated with memory care.

Unprofessional and regular hiding of complaints by tenants and Family. Food budget cut to bone. No security. Egos roam large there. Expensive and poor cleaning of rugs - steam cleaned not once in 2 yrs. Bad place to house your loved ones. General Manager never on site or on Vacation

I was moving in and at the last minute they told me I was going to have to pay an additional amount of money. My things are still there so I am going to have to go get it all. I was very disappointed with my experience with them and wish they would have been more upfront with the cost of things.

If you truly care about your loved one then PLEASE don't allow them to be a resident at the Ackery or any LeisureCare facility. I realize that it's a business and their goal is to make money but they're also dealing with human beings and they didn't treat our Dad as such. Once in memory care, he was left to sit in his chair for most of the day and all night and developed severe distortion in his neck. He now has trouble breathing, swallowing, and can't even look his loved ones in the eyes. We brought it to management's attentions several times and they assured us they would stay on top of it, provide us reports, and ensure that he was receiving physical therapy to fix the ailments that their neglect caused and we're still awaiting those reports. It was bad enough to move him and now he's in good hands at a fraction of the cost and in a facility that is easily putting the Ackerly to shame. Please do your homework and stay away from these places.

The staff seemed to try to help get things together and figured out but when we were there they were not. The food did not look to appetizing. Don't send anyone that you love to this community. I would not even let my dogs live here.