Oaks Senior Living

It's important to note that I believe my loved one had an unfavorable experience at Oaks at Mt. Pleasant; BUT I also believe that majority of that is to no fault of the community. We had a very unique experience regarding how we transferred into the community and memory care, the state of my loved ones well-being, and the short timeframe that she lived there. Going in, I thought memory care would be "people who don't remember much", and its not like that - it borders on lack of self awareness within the residents. I did find the staff very helpful, but there was an issue I had with the absence of activities. I'm unsure if they offered as many activities as they could've. I would advise others that if it's an issue of trying to save money, then it could be a place you might want to check out. If your looking for top notch mental stimulation for hours at a time, then I don't think this would be the right place for you. It was hard to gauge how my loved one was doing most times, but overall it turned out to be a better place than I anticipated.

In my opinion, nobody is a 5. They've just had a turnover. And there are some good things and some bad, as with any place. The hallways are always clean, and it does not smell like urine like other places I've walked into. My loved ones have had some bugs, but they also drop crumbs on the floor, so that doesn't really count. The bathrooms have all been pretty clean. As far as care, we have to remind them of things sometimes. And laundry wasn't getting done at one point. They've also had mix-ups where Mom got somebody else's clothes. But after we addressed it with them, they've been getting laundry done on a regular basis. Our expectation for incontinence is that they would wash the sheets, even if it's not regular laundry day. So we've had to get onto them about that. My mom keeps telling me they're understaffed. But she loves the people who work there. One thing that really aggravates me, and I think it's true of all of these assisted livings, is the medication has to be routed through their pharmacy and pre-packaged. And it costs WAY too much to do what they're doing. It costs me hundreds per month, vs. less than $100 at the regular pharmacy. I think it's a monopoly and a rip-off. I don't think they're giving meds at the proper times either, or with proper medical checks beforehand, because they don't have the proper personnel. I would still recommend somebody else put their family member there, but you can't just totally turn it over to them. You still have to be in constant contact and communication. Again, that would be at any place. And they do respond to you better than a different place we had Mom. If you reach out to them, they will respond. Right now the residents are locked up in Covid quarantine, and they don't have enough staff to help with mundane little tasks like TVs and computers not working. That's especially problematic since the families aren't allowed in to come and help. My parents do not like the food. Some of the vegetables are not to their taste, things like asparagus and brussels sprouts. They say their table mates complain about the food as well. The food isn't bad. They just serve things that age group doesn't normally eat. Also there is supposed to be lots of alternate options, but they don't necessarily have those available.

This is a clean community that offers some nice outside sitting areas. The people we met were friendly. The community is clean and well taken care of. They seem to offer some nice amenities.

The tour of The Oaks at Braselton went well. I just showed up and they still managed to give me a proper tour and explain everything. It was a nice community and the set up was okay. It could benefit from a little updating. The staff that i met was very nice and caring.

Very helpful staff, always friendly. The facility is clean and pleasant. The food is fair, but the staff is willing to find alternatives.

I have been the primary caregiver for my parent for several years, and spend a lot of time at Dogwood Forest. My parent has resided in four different assisted living facilities over the years. Dot Wickersham had been the Activities Director at one of the facilities he lived in a couple of years ago. He asked to relocate here because she had taken a position here. My father is blind, but has very good cognitive function. He enjoys the activities, but needs to be in a location where the activity director will make the effort to plan some activities he can participate in. Overall, I would say that my father and I are moderately satisfied. There are things that we are not satisfied with. 1. When Dot is not working, there are no activities. I know that things are listed on the activity calendar, but almost none of those activities happen. And no one comes to get my father for the activities that do happen. And when Dot is on vacation or out for several days, my dad usually doesn't even leave his room except for meals. I find this really upsetting, and it puts a lot of stress on me to make even more trips to visit him since he is so lonely and bored when there are no activities. My second complaint is that the rooms are not cleaned very well. My father's bathroom is never cleaned well. In fact, my daughter will not even use the restroom in there because she says it is "yucky". The shower looks dirty, the bed is never neatly made, and the furniture is never dusted. Because my father can't see, he doesn't notice how dirty his apartment is. My husband & I come in and clean every week. We brought a vacuum cleaner in, and have just taken over trying to do things ourselves. This does bother me, as I feel like proper cleaning is part of the service we pay for.

This is our first experience in the assisted living world and during our search we looked at and met with several communities. The Staff at the Oaks were very professional, friendly and helpful. During our search they made the experience easlier through their caring attitude. The facility is clean and well equipped. All of these things were very important to us and our mother in selecting a community. I would highly recommend The Oaks At Hampton.

They do all the big things right, like medication, really well but a lot of the small things they do not. The workers are trying and really want to do everything but I feel like they might be understaffed. When I say small things I mean things like missing some laundry, certain parts of bathroom not clean, and other things like that. I feel like they say they check on them every two hours but if one is not with the main group then they do not check on them as much. Overall they are doing the best they can and the current staff is really trying hard, they could just use a little more help.

I had interviewed 11 Assisted Living Centers from Augusta to Gainesville, NC to Blairsville and Ellijay. I received information about each facility except the Oaks at Ellijay. I thought this was unusual. The initial interview with the marketing person was positive, the location and price were within the parameters I set for my decision for my sister's next home. Oftentimes the communication was not optimum. I had to hunt employees down once I entered the facility. Rarely was there someone at the front entrance to assist me as a family member.

My mom says the food is just ok. I still have to get food for her. Also, the quoted price is not what I am paying. I am paying about $[removed] a month more. Thus far, no one can explain why though I have asked. At this point, I feel another move would be too stressful for my mother, so I am trying to get these issues resolved. On a positive note, the staff who provide care are attentive, kind and patient.

I would recommend this facility only for residents who would be taking their meals in the dining room.

Communication with staff is not what I hoped it would be. No particular staff person is assigned to a resident so I don't have a person to communicate with regarding my family member who resides there.

The resident rooms are a comfortable size but need handicap bars for the toilet and shower. The common areas are very well maintained and attractive. The Oaks at Post Rd has had trouble keeping kitchen help and the management staff has changed three times in the last year. The med-techs are excellent and very caring. The weekend temps are not.

I like that it is fairly clean and the nursing staff is super kind. The administration needs help on compassion and the food that they sell Heap a lot of help. It used to have a reputation of having good fresh food and now everything is canned and terrible. Also, the activities are lackluster. Some days they are decent but other days they are listing activities that are there all the time like a table of puzzles and a hydration social. Which is typically just a jug of water sitting out. They need to have more activities for what we pay and also they need to do more activities in general. Everything shuts off at 5 o'clock at dinner a lot of these people that pay good money to be there. Want to do stuff after dinner.

Facility Needs modernized and Care Takers need better supervision in memory care where they tend to congregate together more than concentrating on their residents.

They do not give the care that you pay for. If the resident has disabilities , family MUST oversee!! My mother is legally blind and hard of hearing plus wheelchair bound I have to be there EVERYDAY. Today she had no water.

It is a Clean and inviting environment, friendly staff. we found their management staff unorganized and not prompt to return phone calls.

The reputation these type facilities have is true here people wanna half do their job. I don't recommend any type of facility of this nature. If I could take care of him myself I would.

The staff was friendly and very capable of doing their jobs. The facility was new and comfortable.

Biggest negative is the food service. The quality and variety is poor. Portions are too small for men so they are always hungry. The facility is generally in good condition and clean. Efforts are being made to refresh the decor and equipment. The Oaks at Post Road presents well. The staff is helpful but they are trying to find a new executive director. Some of the service staff don't seem to be engaged in their work. Staff turnover is a problem.