MorningStar Senior Living

This one we were not too impressed with. It seems more of a nursing home than an assisted living. They don't allow residents to even have a microwave unless they are approved.

If you want to battle all the time to get what your family needs. Morning Star is the place.

My Dad was in the memory care ward a little over a year before he passed. One would think with the monthly rent they charge, care would rank accordingly. WRONG. In one year, 3 directors and a high rate of turnovers for caregivers and other staff. The good ones were overworked and underpaid which left the residents in the care of those who really didn't give a damn. Little attention to vanity and cleanliness of the rooms, clothes and linens. Also, poor tracking of residents as far as showers and meals. Overall terrible experience and had it not been for the fact that it would have created more confusion for my father than he already had, I would have moved him from there in a heartbeat. Beautiful facility from the outside into the lobby though.

Things did not go well at Atria Park. We were there for less than a week and they gave us a 30 day notice that we had to leave because my husband was too combative. I would like to say that he is now at Jack's Place which is a small group home with a homey feeling. It is a wonderful place with a flexible staff and they understand how to deal with Alzheimer's patients. It is a wonderful place and thankfully things worked out in the end.

My loved one first moved here when it was still called the "Bonaventure" and it was a terrible experience. We were paying so much money for 1/10th of the services we get at another place. They charge money for "extra care" that the resident can do on their own. They even charged for picking up the trash. Also, there were all kinds of sicknesses that came through here. There were items stolen from her room that they didn't seem to care about, and it just did not seem to be a good fit at all. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

The administrators were good at getting the paperwork done. After that the staff from housekeeping to aides to the service members it was very dark and not friendly. I would not recommend the community.

I would want others to know when looking into Morning Star of Boulder that our loved one was not given a shower for 23 days and I was never notified. She was sent to the hospital with a severe UTI and entered sepsis because of a simple UTI that was noticed too late when I was out of town. She contracted 5 UTI’s in the span of 5 months a year after the hospital incident. The executive director has no integrity and forced families to push their loved ones back to memory care through manipulation, pressure and lies to families (7 families in 6 weeks) in order to fulfill a directive to push assisted living in a more independent direction. This facility changed every single management position, both in memory care and assisted living, 3-4 times in a matter of 2.5 years. Since the building’s very opening, they have exhibited a consistent failure of management and executive/regional directorship. Morning Star puts money into its hotel-like, luxury feel and spacious apartments. They are selling real estate and not care. They use this to impress families, but you would never believe what goes on here beneath the veneer. Over the years we were here, they were frequently understaffed, putting pressure on caregivers who were fired if they spoke up. Good members of middle management struggled to do their job in a responsible fashion, but the current executive director put them under unreasonable pressure and in dubious binds, trying to please corporate. For one year, a good executive director was hired, who did a great job and listened to families and was making the facility better. However she was pushed out by corporate and left because they were focused on sales and business and would not allow her to serve the needs of her particular community. The current executive director cares more about her numbers and career than the residents. I heard multiple horror stories from other families and discovered broken state regulations and know they did not train staff properly. For example, they had illegal hoyers at some point in time. On multiple occasions I discovered only 2-3 staff members on the overnight shift for the entire building of over 100 residents. If your loved one does not encounter health issues or problems, you would never know these things. But when faced with real problems, there is serious incompetency, neglect, and abuse of power. Not just for us, but for many other families I knew there over the years. Due to these issues, after almost 3 years, we decided to leave in the fall of 2019. We found a 100% better community. Look around, talk to other families, do not be fooled by their sales pitches.

Please do not consider this facility if your love ones cannot assist in taking care of themselves. If they need assistance in feeding themselves, bathing, putting clothes on or off, we discovered that most of the staff was not caring enough to reassure the family that they could/would keep our Mom safe or comfortable. The night shift was terrible; they were rude, condescending, and dismissive; and they were not held accountable when issues were brought to the attention of the managers. The managers were dismissive when we brought issues to their attention, and did not follow their own directives in notifying the family of falls or other medical issues. Their initial presentation to family to consider their facility was wonderful; but please don't believe that they can deliver. We are devastated that we considered and decided on this facility.

All I can say is not good. 1/2 the aids work hard the other 1/2 don't care. It is not family friendly although they are trying to change that. They brought back a great person at the front desk who is friendly, she is so nice to people. I'm in hopes the new administrator clean up the mess the last one left. I hope she does something about the other management there. That she puts patience and families first. That she hears their voice as important an listen. Hope to see some changes coming right away.

Our mother was at Morning Star, Boulder Co. for 7 weeks and it was the WORSE experience for not only her, but for the entire family. The care is SUBSTANDARD!!!! The Director and Nurse both lied to me about our mother's physical condition, not only once but twice. I witnessed many many times when NO ONE was around for an entire hour... the poor residents (memory care) were left helpless. It was heartbreaking to watch. They NEVER bathed her... We had secured another facility to move her into but she passed before we could move her. We truly believe this horrible place contributed to our mother's death. NEVER NEVER put someone you love in this awful, shameful place!!!!!

We removed our mother from MorningStar after three months. The administration was disgraceful and incompetent, setting the tone in creating a money grubbing, deceitful place that was constantly short staffed. It was obscene when they cloaked themselves in piety, saying they served God and put seniors first. Please look beyond the dry-dock cruise ship look and realize its the Titanic. Find a smaller, homey place, with attentive staff--seriously--who cares about the fancy counter tops, when no one shows up to take your Mom to dinner or snaps at them during a shower they're being rushed through with no dignity. We found a place that is in a house with four other residents, run by a woman who has a Masters in gerontology. There are two live-in care givers and two that come in during the day. They have chickens for fresh eggs, an herb garden, flowers everywhere, two beautiful living rooms, and my mom has her own room and bath room. There is laughter, spontaneity and kindness. My mom said she feels like she's finally "home." We finally sleep at night.

Both my parents have dementia and moved into the memory care section. Things were so bad, I had to move my parents out after just short of two months of living there. The afternoon/evening memory care staff is lacking in training and in being able to be responsible and follow a simple schedule. My father needs to have his catheter emptied of urine every three to four hours by a caregiver due to his having dementia. On several occasions, the evening staff would forget to do this, and while my father was sleepy/tired and wanting to get into bed, he himself would disconnect the leg bag from the catheter himself, causing urine to get all over his mattress. On a couple of occasions, I had to call to remind the staff that his leg bag needed to be drained, and to get him ready to go to bed. There were other problems, but one that should be mentioned is the gentleman who was the medications tech. One evening just before dinner, and with my brother present, while he was taking my father's blood sugar reading, he wiped off the blood from my father's finger with his own bare finger, thus causing cross contamination. This guy would never wear gloves. One time, when I asked why he didn't wear gloves while doing the blood sugar monitoring, he answered with, "If I'm in a rush, I don't wear gloves." Can you believe it. Many of the discrepancies were reported to the Director of Nursing (who in my opinion was not at all qualified for this position) and she never corrected anything. She would just make promises. The Executive Director also didn't make any improvements, and sometimes would not even respond to my emails. The list of things goes on and on, and like I mentioned at the beginning, my parents were living there just short of two months.

Our loved one has declined in the Juniper facility. I my opinion it is poorly managed and basic senior care requirements like locking the wheelchair bake when returning the resident to their room, and leaving them unchecked from dinner to bedtime is dangerous for some elderly. This continues to happen after months of expressing this concern. Injuries requiring trips to the ER have become numerous. Maintenance issue like cleaning blood,and accidents out of the carpet and leaking toilet and wet floor take days or weeks to resolve, even with multiple request. Promises of being able to order anything on the menu have proven to be frustrating because they frequently are out of four or more items at once. And Atria would leave fruit and cookies out after dinner. Not Juniper. Very disappointed since Juniper took over this facility. I feel sometimes the residents are mocked and disrespected by an unsupervised immature staff. The best caregivers have left.

This facility is no longer run by Artia. Juniper has recently taken over. 2018 reviews reflect the quality of an Atria facility, and Juniper runs a lower quality operation in my opinion. They are attentive though the sign up process. However months later -the toilet leaks for over three weeks and we have to be responsible for making sure the water is off the floor to avoid slipping hazard. The carpet remains unsanitary after accidents and from the facility flu outbreak. Numerous request week after week produce nothing but excuses, such as, parts ordered hasn't come in......what's Home Depot for? What about safety????? What about germ control????? Undelivered medications that can't be verified because that person went home?? Bandages that can't be changed because there's no nurse on site even thou leaking blood. Loved one told to sit in that chair and not move after falling and fell again because they needed to go to the bathroom and all the falls happened because their walker hadn't been left in reach by staff. The ER could have been avoided if only the staff had put their walker in front of the chair, or inquired do you need assistance. If your loved one can't push their call button for help because of a high fever, laying in diarrhea, or they hit their head falling, I recommend avoiding Applewood JUNIPER. In an effort to understand the unending and difficult demands put on the staff of a senior care facility overall, and new management transfer, my patience has now run out as more and more basic senior care requirements go array. I feel there is now poor management of this facility

Never again. The most horrible experience in one's lifetime.

If you don't care what the food looks like, taste or texture. Morning Star will be great. But if you read their ad an believe you are getting chief quality meals you are mistaken. If you have a person in the alzheimer's unit who has to go on either mechanical soft or puree do not believe the ad. They only put that ad out for families to read so families think that they have really great service and meals for their patients. Families are led to believe their loved ones will get quality food . Even in the main dinning most food is just frozen stuff like you find at Costco nothing Cheifs make from scratch .When a family tries to get them to do what the ad says a fight that will never end happens. I tried to post pictures here but couldn't.

Do NOT send your loved ones here! This place looks great from the outside, and with the amount of money they charge for a room here you would expect nothing but the best. This place is horrible! The carelessness which they treat their residence’s is so sad. The staff is poorly trained, and incapable of fulfilling the duties that come with taking care of elderly people. When you bring up a concern to the management, they treat you like crap. Many times I have told them that they are understaffed and they pretty much called me a liar. The most recent kick is that they ran out of food! The facility is shared with Assistant Living and they get served first. The chef blamed the kitchen staff for not watching portion control. They have monthly meetings for the family to address concerns and it turns into a shouting match—nothing ever changes. I can't stress enough how horrible our family's experience has beenwith this place. If you want a safe, caring place please look elsewhere.

Sloppy care, and communication. Constant employee turnover. Would not recommend to anyone. Monthly rent/care equal to 5-6 mortgage payments for a room the size of a one car garage, and grade school cafeteria food. Clothing, and linens constantly mixed with other residents. Clothes always stained. Should have took a picture for the health department of the bathroom toilet, and floor covered with feces, and soiled diapers hanging from bath towel racks, with no towels, or washcloths in sight. All these "senior care" places suck. Suck your life savings as much as possible. Prices they charge are as much as they can possibly gouge you for, to satisfy they're never ending greed. They know they have you, since there is not much in the way of alternatives for senior care.

just say NO. They have gone through more cooks than I can count and the food is still bad. They loose all the good caretakers because they are treated bad. Don’t try to fine the management at lunch time because they are all out for a smoke break. Poor management that don’t have you families interest. The building looks new but the floor has pockets under the carpet where you think you will fall through. (Mostly on the 2 and 3 floor on the rig

just say NO. They have gone through more cooks tha. I can count and the food is still bad. They loose all the good caretakers because they are treated bad. Don’t try to fine the management at lunch time because they are all out for a smoke break. Poor management