Pacifica Senior Living

Management and ownership changed during May 2015. What was once a very good community care facility completely changed and not for the better. North Star the new management company reduced staffing and programs without notifying the families of the residents. The staff were given two to three days notice. Changes were implemented on 6/1/15. The whole atmosphere changed from positive to negative. North Star admitted at a family meeting that they made a serious mistake and stated the care and service would be improved. After another meeting with the families and substantiated complaints to licensing, staffing has increased marginally. After four and a half months, North Star is still trying to figure out how to staff and manage the facility. Quality care will not be achieved until adequate staff and supervision are provided. If you are looking for a community care facility for your loved one, check it out thoroughly and ask if there are any planned changes of ownership, philosophy of care and management.

We have had issues with every part of the service at The Arbors at Rancho Penasquitos. The layout is not very good . He is in a wheelchair, and the rooms are so crammed that the hallways are not conducive to his situation. The bathroom is not set up for someone in a wheel chair as well. Same for the dining room table - he cannot get right up to the table with his wheelchair. There have also been some issues with the pricing. Every little thing is an additional cost. They try to up the price in any way possible. It also felt like the caregivers are not properly trained. We did not have a good reception, as there was nobody there to greet us or help out when it came time to move him in. They have poor internal communication among themselves. When we would communicate something to one person that needed to be relayed to another, it never was. There have been numerous other issues as well, but it has just overall not been a very good experience, so we are currently in the process of moving him out.

All levels, not just independent. Residents ok but not that engaged. Common areas nice but apartment dreary.

The rooms are very small and dated. The person that toured us was not very good. I felt she was very weak as a director. The residents did seem happy. I can't rate the value or the care services because I didn't get into that during my tour. It is not applicable.

The apartments and facilities were reasonably roomy and well-kept. It's a smaller community with fewer amenities and activities. The resident parking was very tight and limited, and the smoking area was right next to the main entrance - a big turnoff.

Things did not work out well here for my loved ones, and they moved out only a few weeks after moving in, they just were not happy here. The place just seemed severely understaffed, and the care and cleanliness in the facility suffered for it.

This facility would lend itself to residents who are in the last stages of dementia, who don't require a great deal of stimulation. My husband is currently a resident and due to his energy and activity level challenges the facility and it's caretakers. The activities are less than fulfilling for someone who requires more stimulation and actual participation; i.e. their mainstays are bingo (every Tuesday), sing-alongs, trivia, coloring, etc. Very simplistic. If there is nothing going on, the residents who can, congregate outside in the yard or walk in circles. The meals seem to be OK, although my husband still has a good appetite and could probably eat more if offered. As with several of the men there, he is bored, confused, but bored. If you have a more active family member, I would suggest Arden Courts in Palm Beach and Delray, or Morselife and Palm Beach. I've toured more than 15 facilities and the two I just mentioned seem to provide the best and most effective care. My husband will be moving to the MorseLife facility very soon.

My cousin has dementia and has been living in this facility for about 1 1/2 years. Her son placed her here for his own selfish reasons. He and all my cousins relatives live in NY state, more than 1000 miles away, all on retirement incomes and cannot visit cousin more than once a year. Cousin has no nearby advocate which is sorely needed if you reside in this facility. She needs hearing aid battery replacement which staff DOES NOT do. Her clothing has her name on it but is never returned to her closet upon laundering. Her bed is often missing sheets. [removed] Closet doors were off track, threatening to collapse on cousin. Hole in bathroom wall. One wash cloth for two residents in a room. Not enough staff to help with any situation. Find a different facility for your loved one!!!

I was told by the sales person during the sales pitch and don't forget that that is what you are getting when you go to look at these places. The activities are always canceled. the dinners are chicken fingers and tater tots, ground beef casseroles, grilled cheese & canned soup and just processed crap, but the menu will say otherwise. eg. fajitas are on the menu but the supplies given to cook with are not for fajitas ,Ground beef, no bell peppers. The staff usually has to figure out something else to make with the items they are given . The staff is amazing, underpaid and over worked. Residents are often left alone for long periods of time and buzzers, and alarms go unanswered often. I spent 40 minutes looking for a staff member one time and found out that they were showering someone. Who was looking after the other quests during this 40+ minutes?? There is no security at all, Anyone could walk on and rob the dru g cabinets and rooms without anyone knowing. No cameras and no security gate to get in, only to exit??? A big sign says push button to enter gate. The area is full of transients, and those living in transitional housing and weekly motels. I was told during the sales pitch that my loved one couldn't wander out the door into the elements at night because they would have to pass by the nurses next to the door that has someone there to stop them. No one is ever at that desk and my loved one could wander out into the courtyard in the snow and die of hypothermia and no one would notice. Most of the time the outside lights don't turn on and it is very dark. the courtyard should be roofed in to allow old folks to walk in the winter without slipping on the ice or getting rained on. The carpeting is awful!! it has absolutely no padding at all and stinks from urine soaking the concrete floor, which has radiant floor heat ( which is way to warm)so that the smell and bacteria is unacc eptable. They should have laminate flooring so that it can be kept properly cleaned. If your loved one has dementia take them to Creekside or somewhere safer. If I didn't think it would upset my loved one I would have moved them long time ago. Also get a good attorney like Robert [Removed]] @ [Removed]on Northwest Blvd. to help you understand how to pay for good care, he was worth every penny we paid him!!\r\nBest advise is look way past the words in the sales pitch and study a place. Good luck

I have visited a friend at this facility for the past several years. Some of the active senior living accommodations are quite unique and have out front parking. The year old transition from the old nonprofit to the current wall street ownership has been painful. One would think that Pacifica who runs numerous facilities could do better. So far no long run management just continual change. Off with the old but almost no on with the new. One can only hope, but so far Pacifica has not shown that they can really run the place. For activities I do not think that they are meeting state standards.

They really give you the sales pitch. They tell you about home cooked meals, but when you get in there it's a completely different story. The food is terrible, it's french fries and chicken fingers with a chocolate chip cookie for desert. It is totally processed. They are understaffed, and the housekeeping is terrible. They can't maintain the temperature in the room, she has to open the window. Laundry doesn't come back. Mostly it's the meals and staffing that are the biggest problems. They have an activities calendar, but that's a joke, they often don't happen. They don't have the supplies for the crafts that are planned so they do some kind of art a kindergartner would do. It's not very secure, you can enter anytime, and they have drugs there. It's not in a nice neighborhood, and I can go in 9:00-10:00 at night and nobody bats an eye. When you bring up an issue all they ever say is that they understand, but they don't have a solution. Sometimes I feel like if I don't go they won't put her in her pajamas, it won't happen. She went two weeks without a shower, because they were shorthanded. Lisa is amazing, she has been there since they were Bee Hive, and they were great then.

The whole complex is old and the apartments have many maintenance issues that go unresolved. They claim to be "pet friendly," but charge $500 for one pet. The food is sub-par in terms of menu selections and food preparation. The residents act like grade-school children (spying, tattle-tailing, making nasty comments, etc.). The Executive Director doesn't appear to be empathetic towards residents and tries to use his position to intimidate them. The cost is not worth the service or amenities.

Totally disorganized

I was given certain assurances when we chose this facility, none of which have been true. The staff is full of excuses but nothing ever changes, the food is frozen processed most of the time and the staff , while hard working are over worked and underpaid so that most of the good staff leaves for better paying jobs at other facilities. The turn over of young workers is so that my loved one is always being helped by strangers. I would not recommend this facility and if it wouldn't upset my loved one I would have moved them out a long time ago. This used to be owed by Beehive Homes and was fabulous. Now it is owed by Pacifica which is a Hotel chain and these folks have never before been in the business of eldercare and are running this place like a hotel. Our elderly deserve more than a place like this to be able to operate. Some of the blame should lie to the state of Idaho which has no staff to guest ratio requirements so you have to rely on the broken promises given during the sales pitch. Keep notes and names of people who make lyou promises and hold them personally responsible for what they said, If they are even still around next week.

After my initial viewing of Villa Bonita and a couple other assisted living type of homes in the immediate erea I brought my mom down a couple of weeks later to get a feel for herself. My mother is blind and needed to be closer to me so that I may help her with mail, documents and so forth. When I first arrived at Villa Bonita I explained to the young marketing person my mother's needs. Including a very bright room, transportation and transportation to go shopping weekly. I was assured that all of these things would be provided for her. As it turns out the transportation for doctors appointments are on Tuesday and Thursday and must be within a 15 mile radius only. That doesn't work. Worse yet for the shopping trip you must be on a list and as it stands mu mom is about four months down because they use one car that seats seven people. My mother was told that only that the Executives carry keys that could open any room but that was false. Someone got into her room and stole her beautiful pearl necklace. As you can see there have been numerous lies lies and lies by omission.

Undesirable neighborhood. Apartments are a decent size, staff personable. One of the apartments I was shown smelled like urine.

I put my mother in Skylyn Place she fell one night about 3 am and laid there for 4 hours before she got help. The staff did not know how to work the emergency button. I had to go check on my mother about 6 months ago about 1 am and found the staff member asleep in the office. 2 months ago she fell and could not get help so she called me, I told her to call 911, the staff member that was carrying the emergency pager left it in the dinning room and left work, did not tell any one she was leaving ( she still works there) every one I have talked with complains about the quality of food they serve there residents and staff included. I wish I could some other place to put my mother but I'm afraid of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

They were very disorganized. They’ve lost directors and nurses. I really like the feel of the facility. I loved it when I walked in. Some of the nurses’ level of communication is very poor. It’s very clean and friendly. She’s clean. She’s well fed. There were a lot of transition issues. It’s getting better. They’ve always been wonderful, but they could be more organ

The surroundings are very nice. It appears to me they do not take good care of the elderly patients. Short staffing is a problem. My mother is 101 years old and soon will be 102. She is incontinent--wears a diaper however I have been with mom approximate 2 hours or more and not one staff member checks on her if she needs to go the bathroom. She's feisty, however they need to take her to the bathroom more often. We pay enough for her care and for what they say they will do--so I expect it. I pay, however, I do not feel they follow their own care plan of what they say they will provide. There are not enough staff for these delicate patients. Where are the Registered Nurses? It's a money making machine--limited care for patients and not well staffed. Frightening to think we could be placed in one of these so called Assistant Living programs.

$3,000/mo reviews genrally negative at Senior Advisor.com