Northstar Senior Living

This is the worst place ever to send the elderly - they will talk a great talk but cannot live up to expectations. The food is the absolute worst, cleanliness is terrible, and the care givers do not care about the quality of care they give to the elderly. From a dirty dining room and silverware, to mishandling of medications, to slow responses when called, to even letting people lay in soiled garments because they would not take them to the restroom. I drove 16 hours straight to rescue my parents from this place. The management is more concerned about putting on a "good show" to new people, that they do not take care of the current residents. Tenants Beware!

This is an amendment to my initial review from March 2019. After move in, be prepared for changing of staff frequently. My mom was in assisted living after she had a heart attack. She was able to care for herself, however; she needed to be observed for any additional heart issues. She was to be watched four times per day--breakfast, lunch, dinner and medication time. Unfortunately, there were many issues that came up during her last two months that lead to her decline in health. My mom unexpectedly passed away. The final days and move out process was absolutely intolerable. In retrospect, I am sorry that my mom and I chose Vineyard Ranch.

We moved my father into this location after we had a medical emergency at his previous adult home. We stressed how important quality care would be, particularly given the memory and movement issues he struggles with following brain cancer treatment. Unfortunately, after four months as a resident, we are now looking for a new location. While the apartments and property are beautiful, the care has been inconsistent and ultimately hazardous to his health, from bedsores to medication issues to a lack of consistent bathing and eating. The communication between staffers is horrendous, and therefore the communication to family regarding residents is equally as dismal. We've addressed issues with staffers, management, and corporate office, but nothing has changed.

My mother lived here for a little over a year. They recruited her, but this was when it was Brookdale. As soon as Elmcroft purchased and took over the facility last spring to summer, things took a really bad turn. Mom no longer got the care she needed. She has dementia, but so do a third of the people living there and much worse than my mother. It was more important for Elmcroft to purchase high end looking menus for the dining room than to hire enough people to care for the people living in this facility. I changed moms bed, washed her clothes and cleaned the apartment many times over the last six months she was there. I would press the button to get help when I needed to shower her or help changing the bed and no one would show up for 30-40 minutes. Thank God my mother wasn't on the floor. This happened several times over the last six months she was there. I was also harassed by the manager and one of the nurses by phone about my mother. It was very stressful. Mom even knew they were not taking care of her and expressed this to me many times. She would sleep in her clothes and they would come get her for breakfast and not help her change many times, she stayed in same clothes and a dirty bed many times. I contacted the CEO and he referred me to one of his underlings in another state to take care of any complaints. She was nice and asked for a list by email of our concerns. We did just what she asked and received no reply. I know she opened and read it since I got a read receipt. Her concern or lack of it was not encouraging. I would not recommend Elmcroft to anyone who has a loved one that needs care. Don't get me wrong, there were some people that actually cared about my mom there, but they had no control over how things where run. I am grateful to those staff who tried and really cared, but without proper leadership, it is hard to do the best job.

Please rethink if considering, the building itself is beautiful and well decorated, but talk to any employee in the (if you can find one willing to acknowledge you) and you will realize how little EVERYONE in there cares... not a place to send anyone you care about, I wouldn’t put my worst enemy through that complete neglect.

Be Warned!! Do not leave your loved one here. When my 86 year old sister suffered intense pain, we were told the Gardens did not believe in pain killers. They let her lie in her own excrements and gave little care unless demanded. We visited daily to assure her well being. She died 9 days after the final monthly payment of $5700.00 plus, but they refuse to return any prepayments, saying there were additional charges for not picking up her belongings immediately, etc. etc.

I’m moving my mom out! It’s sad to see the new management has turned against long term employees. The moral is so low. It doesn’t look like anyone’s happy or cares anymore. Do not move your family member in here.

We have paid our down payment and stayed in close touch with [name removed]. She has been most accomodating! We have been assigned a cottage, but the management has yet to work out it's problems with the city inspectors. We keep checking and checking but we've been given no move-in date yet. Our house is sold; our furniture is in storage; and we have no where to go.

I for one had a very bad experience, during the time my husband was there. First of all every time I went to visit my husband, he was always pushing the same female resident around the facility and, calling her by my name.The problem with this is my husband is Passive Aggressive, meaning if anyone was in his way while he was pushing her he would just run them down. Also he is very unstable walking and, always uses a walker but, he leaves his walker to push the female resident which is a safety,volatation Also while I was searching for his clothes in his dresser I found 2 pocket knives, another safety issue. He was there seven months and no one thought to check and see what was in his chest of drawers. Other patients were allowed to wander in and out each others rooms, any one of them could have found those knives. Then I find out that even though they are aware of his Diabetes, they never gave him his special diet for Diabetics, they stated that everyone gets the same thing to eat at every meal. And I found out that the only time that his blood sugar level was checked was when he went to his DR. appointments. When I brought these concerns to Human Resources there reply was; Patients Bill of Rights with that smirk on her face. When I was picking him up because, we were moving him out, my daughter stated to the nurse, well I guess that female resident will be lonely now ,and she said oh no we have her lined up with someone else. So if that someone else is your husband be ready for a big heart break. I have Congestive Heart Failure, and this whole ordeal just about did me in . So the bottom line is that this facility is playing Match Maker, to make their job easier by, someone else occupying this resident. [Removed] I paid alot of out of pocket money a month, and this type of care is not acceptable. they also said that it is ok for the residents to interact this way because she is single and has Alzheimers.

The activities and outings are wonderful. The lack of staff is concerning. There are multiple times when a staff member can not be located (even with going on each floor and yelling for help). The meals are either really good or not good at all. There is a large language barrier with the current RN and it can be very hard to understand her. It's very difficult to get a hold of anyone in the telephone in the cottages and numerous times messages go unanswered. Some of the carestaff need more training as they tend to talk to the residents like children. Not a place I would recommend.

This facility is a horrible place to place your loved ones. So unless you hate your mother, father, or spouse I wouldn't recommend placing them in this runned down facility. The staff is full of ignorant and careless people. They don't possess the passion that it takes to do the job at hand. They don't properly clean nor care for their residents. They are disrespectful towards the residents, especially the ones in the memory care unit. Please be smart and do some heavy research before deciding where to place your loved ones. This facility is fully staffed with two faced people and you will regret it the moment you place them here. Your loved ones are worth more than this place can provide and if money is an issue, ask yourself what's more important. Family or money?

My mother was a resident of Royal Gardens for 9 months last year. After receiving very pore hygiene care amongst OTHER things plus CONSTANT calls from R.G. stating mom had to be taken to an ER (diagnosis, urinary tract infections) my family had enough. As an R.N. with a brain I was forced to relocate mom in another facility that is fabulous! Even though the new facility is rather pricey I'm so glad I did. They take care of all her needs and I no longer get phone calls to come over and take care of her. PLEASE do not place your loved one in this facility! This review will probably not get published because of the dislike for this place. Check out all of your options or visit A Place for Mom.

Stopped by on a Sunday and no one was available to show me around or give me information. I was directed to their conference room by the receptionist and waited for a little while. 15 minute passes and I left. Was looking for a place for my mother and this facility was recommended. I'm not sure what kind of facility this is but I was not impressed. I parked out by the front entrance. There doesn't seem to be any parking for any visitors. There were only 3 spots and 2 were already taken. Right when I walked toward the entrance, the outdoors had such a strong urine odor. I was trying to figure out where the odor came from and as I opened the door the odor wasn't as strong. About a few minutes after completing a form I went to the restroom. I was curious and walked the halls a little further. Walking along that hallway, some of their patients doors were kept open and no one was in sight. Their patients look hopeless. It was such an awful sight. I do not intend to go back and get some information. I should have looked at the reviews prior to stopping by. Perhaps they are only on appointment based?

Please do not send your loved one here!!!! They are under staffed and do not take care of their patients. They disrespect and talk down to my dad and he falls and they don't come help him for an hour. And they are not friendly. They are supposed to shower my dad twice a week but they do not. The last time they showered him was 3 weeks ago. Even the staff hates working there because they are under paid. PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONE HERE!!!

DO NOT PLACE YOUR LOVED ONE HERE! Placed my mom there on a temporary respite and they did not properly care for her. She got a UTI which ended up as septic shock and she passed away. Her feet had become swollen abd their so called Dr. put her on Lasix for one week. They thought by elevating her feet would solve the problem. Mom had been able to use the restroom on her own, but because of swollen feet, they put her in Depends. When I would complain to staff, they would get rude with me. I brought mom some compression socks and the medstaff came in and yanked them off her feet. They made my mother cry....stay away from this dirty place.

This is a larger facility, they have an independent side, and a memory care side. She went into the memory care there because of the price. None of us liked it but it was what we could afford. She lost 17 pounds right away. They said they would double up on her portions. We were told when you go in to a place smell, make sure it doesn't smell like urine, everything seemed ok, it was old and a little beat up but smelled fine. within six months everybody was being locked out of their room and their bathrooms. They just wanted to keep them in diapers, they herd cattle and feed them bathe them and put them to bed. It smells like a port-a-potty in there. She had so much toe fungus and her toenails were so long that she was walking funny. I wasn't even notified about it. I always take her out, we go to lunch or where ever, and one day I noticed she was itching, and she had bites everywhere. I took her to the emergency room and they weren't sure if it was Scabes or bedbug bites, and the doctor said that she had it for a while whatever it was. When we took her back we noticed the next room was being exterminated. I removed her from there right away. As far as the independent side they can make decisions for themselves, but the memory care side is no good!

NO! That is the worst place ever. My mother was there less than 6 weeks. She got horrible care. She got scabies! That was the worst care. When I went there they promised they world with their pamphlet and not any of that happened. The care was horrible. I went to see her daily and no body knew anything about her. That was a horrible experience!