Priority Life Care

So far Emeritus has been fairly good for my mother. There are two items, however, that could be improved for her. First she says the food isn't very good. I'm not sure what is likely to be done about that. From my experience, my mother is more likely to eat because the food is delicious, not because she "needs to eat something". In her active, earlier life my mother was an extremely good cook and baker. The other problem I feel could be solved without inconvenience to the staff: She could be given her evening sleeping pill at a more favorable time for her. At first it was given to her just about every night about 8 pm which meant she must be ready to turn off the TV (and miss her favorite shows) and go to sleep much earlier than normal for her. Now she is given the pill anywhere between 8 pm and midnight! When she receives it so late in the evening, Mom still must rise early for breakfast when she's not had a long night's sleep; consequently, she falls asleep after breakfast during daylight hours. This is all my mom wants: TV, reading, good food, and a quiet, safe life. For someone who is 95, I don't think these are unreasonable requests. I feel very confident she is being cared for and help is only a push of the button away, but I am concerned for the other creature comforts she most desires. So far, better food and a more definite evening time for her sleeping pill is all she would like. I realize that people in the same situation (assisted living, nursing homes, etc.) are probably prone to wanting and yearning for their past situations and tend to complain-- at least this is what I have heard from families and neighbors with whom I've talked since we began the search for "a place for Mom". But can't each person be treated a little more personally? What would YOU want if you were in my mother's place? What would YOU expect? What would make YOU a little happier?

Dining in main clubhouse is different than what they serve residents in Assistant Living, very disappointing. Have addressed issues but with no resolve. When you tour facilities they sell you on the idea that assisted living residents can dine in their building dining room from same menu as clubhouse dining room. Not true. The food is terrible in the 2 AL buildings. Very sad to see your parent be unsatisfied with their dining experience.

Seems like 3 director changes in 7 months has created chaos. That coupled with cuts to nursing hours have made us decide to leave. Lots of staff turnover and no remediation for issues that yeild compliance. Is sad because the place has potential.

The patients hospice nurse could see her there, which is why we picked them.

My mom was safe there, and the caregivers were kind. The room was very small, but a greater disappointment was the director.

To be honest if you are ambulatory and can take care of yourself it would be fine. In my aunts case she needed help and they just didn't provide it. They do have activities that seemed fun for an ambulatory person. The food looked good but all my aunt could eat was soup and they put in the microwave and sat in front of her and did not help her eat. The room was very nice.

There have been significant staffing issues there and my father has been extremely vocal about the medical care he has received and pays significantly more to receive. Current management seems to be trying but there are still issue

Staff is overloaded. Food was not standard for healthy residents. They need better nutritional meals and more aids. Im not happy with care mother received. I was an aid so I know. Premises was fairly clean. Medication was 95% accurately provided.

While the apartments are nice and they did was OK, I thought they were abusive in the administration. I was offered a special of [amount removed] dollars per month. One month later my rent was raised by [amount removed] dollars per month. Who could afford that? If had to go through the pain and expense of moving twice in 3 months. As a disabled person this was horrible. Further they tried to transfer [amount removed] out of my checking account the first month and [amount removed] the second month. There wasn't enough money in my account to cover t those payments so I was put in the CHEX system for writing bad checks. My experience was nothing short of a nightmare

The Good (in my opinion) was the most of the care takers who ( not all) seemed to care for the residents and tried to develop relationships with the families ,on the down side of that many of them worked back to back and sometimes three straight days of 16 hour shifts which of course led to them being exhausted and not being as attentive as normal. I tried bringing this up with the director and they said that the employees volunteered to do the extra shifts but my argument was how could they be competent after working so many hours to be able to care for the residents safely.

The people staying there are horrible, not all but a lot of them. My rooms were nice.

Some of the aids were very friendly and attentive. The clients were not allowed to stay in their rooms and had to sit in the common area all day except for meals. They were given water only a couple of times a day.

Well, if placing a loved one here anytime after September make sure to ask how much the cost will increase in the next year. We were blindsided when a month after mom was here to find out they were increasing every cost by 10% in the new year. Care we were told could be met is not. Major staffing changes continue to occur but we are not formed of them. We just find out. Bottom line if I had to review this place I would not recommend it for someone that really needs assistance on a daily basis. We are in the process of looking at other places

Dresher Estates has a very nice facility and a terrific activities staff that provides a full schedule of things to do every day. Molly and Betty are great and interact compassionately with residents. There are aides who provide compassion and care to the residents, and the dining room workers often take the time to help residents with their food orders, as they get to know them. Some even help cut their food for them. There is a wonderful psychologist, Dr. Jessica, who is in the facility for a full day every Wednesday. (There also are doctors in the facility who come in once a week, but very limited time periods.) They also provide pet care services – I don’t know if other assisted living facilities in the area permit residents to have pets if they can’t care for the pets themselves. Those are the plusses. On the downside, there has been an excessive amount of cost-cutting and staff turnover in the last six months. The previous Executive Director left. The head of accounting left. The main receptionist/concierge, who knew all of the residents, left. The facilities director left. They are on their third management company in a year. Two heads of nursing have left, and no one has come in yet to take that role. Many nurses and aides have left. The wonderful hairdresser, who had been there for around 20 years, was let go, and they contracted instead with a corporate salon, whose hairdresser left within a few weeks. Now they have contracted with yet another corporate salon. Tablecloths and flowers have disappeared from the dining room, and it took over a month to replace a dishwasher, making it feel much more like a hospital, with residents eating off of paper plates and using plastic utensils. Snacks in the community coffee room are gone, and more services for the residents now have added costs. And here is my most serious concern: They have moved to a more corporate model of having only one aide on duty (down from three aides) for an entire floor. This may work if residents are totally self-sufficient, but for those who are wheelchair-bound and need help with dressing, showering, using the facilities, and getting in and out of bed, it is a huge problem. I have seen residents waiting more than 40 minutes after pressing their Call button for help, which is unacceptable, particularly when they need to use the bathroom or get to an activity. It is painful to watch a parent be demoralized in that way. It’s also painful to watch good aides being overworked to that extent. Likewise, the number of nurses has been reduced, and the company has replaced most of the nurses with med techs. The management has not given any indication that they are concerned enough to move back to more staffing, which seems to indicate that they value profits over people. My parent is safe, but not always treated with the dignity one would expect from any facility for seniors, and particularly from a private one. That was not the case when my parent first arrived.

No nursing staff (LPN, RN) available after 7 or 8 at night. If patient with dementia attempts to get out of a door, be prepared to have to pay for a private sitter for approximately 48 hours. If any kind of financial or billing questions, be prepared to be ignored. Administration gives you their cell phone number to call for concerns, and then doesn't answer and doesn't return messages.

Management has no experience dealing with the elderly. Activities director either ie simple and not challenging. Most residents don't receive weekly housekeeping. Most Servers don't see to residents needs ie, Go in bathroom and come out wearing same gloves, picking up thing off floor while serving. Rude to residents, Food is getting better but nothing is hot. Are they trained in restaurant etiquette?

We moved her after a month. The administrative staff was rude to me and to my mom's nurse when they were gathering the information about her medication. There were limited activities for people, and the food was not acceptable. The trash was collected on a weekly basis. The staff who had daily contact with my mom were very friendly and helpful.

Dresher Estates has a very nice facility and a terrific activities staff that provides a full schedule of things to do every day. [name removed] and [name removed] are great and interact compassionately with residents. There are aides who provide compassion and care to the residents, and the dining room workers often take the time to help residents with their food orders, as they get to know them. Some even help cut their food for them. There is a wonderful psychologist, [name removed], who is in the facility for a full day every Wednesday. (There also are doctors in the facility who come in once a week, but very limited time periods.) They also provide pet care services – I don’t know if other assisted living facilities in the area permit residents to have pets if they can’t care for the pets themselves. Those are the plusses. On the downside, there has been an excessive amount of cost-cutting and staff turnover in the last six months. The previous Executive Director left. The head of accounting left. The main receptionist/concierge, who knew all of the residents, left. The facilities director left. They are on their third management company in a year. Two heads of nursing have left, and no one has come in yet to take that role. Many nurses and aides have left. The wonderful hairdresser, who had been there for around 20 years, was let go, and they contracted instead with a corporate salon, whose hairdresser left within a few weeks. Now they have contracted with yet another corporate salon. Tablecloths and flowers have disappeared from the dining room, and it took over a month to replace a dishwasher, making it feel much more like a hospital, with residents eating off of paper plates and using plastic utensils. Snacks in the community coffee room are gone, and more services for the residents now have added costs. And here is my most serious concern: They have moved to a more corporate model of having only one aide on duty (down from three aides) for an entire floor. This may work if residents are totally self-sufficient, but for those who are wheelchair-bound and need help with dressing, showering, using the facilities, and getting in and out of bed, it is a huge problem. I have seen residents waiting more than 40 minutes after pressing their Call button for help, which is unacceptable, particularly when they need to use the bathroom or get to an activity. It is painful to watch a parent be demoralized in that way. It’s also painful to watch good aides being overworked to that extent. Likewise, the number of nurses has been reduced, and the company has replaced most of the nurses with med techs. The management has not given any indication that they are concerned enough to move back to more staffing, which seems to indicate that they value profits over people. My parent is safe, but not always treated with the dignity one would expect from any facility for seniors, and particularly from a private one. That was not the case when my parent first arrived.

The money pit.... they keep taking money and the place is turning into a PIT! 2 stars is for food only... the chef is great. Don't believe anything the management staff tells you... they will stab you in the back. The staff acts like they care, but they are all corporate drones out for only the dollar. Promised amenities included in my lease after 1 year are still not available. The washer and dryers anywherbut the first floor.. where prospective tenants are toured, are old, malfunctoning and after being asked to be serviced 3 different times, nothing has changed. When asked about the gym, I was told to buy one of these steppers off of the tv. The pool steps are so steep that it is impossible for most people to get in. The management looked at me like I was crazy when I said all the leaves and plant debris need to be skimmed from the pool. Based on the number of times the pool hasbeen professionally cleaned and service, I wouldn't trust the cleanliness of it.

Food is good and it’s clean. They are understaffed and have been for months. If your loved one needs assistance going to the bathroom they should be prepared to wait upwards of 45 minutes on average. There are no outings as promised - weekly lunches/shopping. Supposedly not enough staff to do that. It’s been 1/2 a year and not once has it happened but my loved one’s rate got raised $[removed] a month. they can’t meet the services that they promise - outings, someone to take you to the bathroom and the way they thank you for hanging in there is raising your rent by $[removed]! I would not choose this facility if I had a chance to do it again. I would also not use A place for Mom because they should be more schooled in the places that they are showing you and placing you. When you place people with no feedback in a facility like this it makes you look really bad.