Senior Lifestyle - Main

I toured on three separate occasions. If you are looking for independent living then this is a good option within the city of Atlanta. The assisted living is another story: Your loved one will be banished to the assisted living floors. The sales staff will show you all the great amenities of the building, but fail to mention that assisted living residents don't really have the use of these amenities without the help of a family member. Depressing best describes the assisted living floors and because this is a for profit corporation the staffs hands are tied to think for themselves or the residents. We took this off the list after realizing that the sales staff point blank lied about residents true options.

The Breakers was designed for senior independent living - emphasis on INDEPENDENT. Over time, more residents needed a higher level of care, so management brought in an outside company, Custom Home Care, Inc., to provide optional assisted living-style services under the “Catered Living” banner. These services are available to all residents, but the 4th and 5th floors are designated “Catered Living” floors. Both floors are staffed with “concierges” and there is a small dining room on 4. The Breakers does NOT have a skilled nursing facility. My mother was a resident at The Breakers for several years. In the beginning, this residence was appropriate for her needs. But she gradually progressed from living independently to requiring a live-in caregiver 24/7. And as her health declined, so did the quality of “Catered Living” services she received at The Breakers. The building and grounds appear clean and well maintained; public areas were refurbished in early 2014 and apartments are spacious and bright, with great views. Facilities, activities and events are above-average. Having medical offices, a beauty parlor, and other services in the building is a big plus. In the dining room, my mother experienced varying food quality and abysmally slow service. Four elevators are inadequate for a building where a growing percentage of residents uses walkers or wheelchairs; waits at peak times averaged 10-15 minutes and longer when one of the elevators happened to be out of service. The building hired exterminators to tackle bedbug infestations which migrated through apartments and common areas. Residents and/or responsible parties should review monthly rent Statements VERY carefully. I found erroneous fees for supplementary services on nearly every one of my mother’s bills. Having to dispute overcharges month after month was a drain on my time and patience. As my mother’s needs increased, communication with The Breakers’ staff became more problematic. Important memos circulated among residents were not copied to family members living outside of The Breakers. Response to voice mail and email was often slow-to-none. Front desk concierges and maintenance personnel were often visibly stressed out and occasionally rude. Ultimately, though, it was extreme dissatisfaction with the “Catered Living” services that caused me to relocate my mother (see my review of Custom Home Care, Inc. elsewhere on this site).

My mom has only been there a month so it may be too soon to tell, but so far here are my thoughts. I don't really understand their system. We put her there on doctors orders. Very expensive, and has only gone up. They charge more to help my mom find her way around. What assisted living means to them and what we thought we were getting are not the same.

Was not a fit for our family member. I feel the evaluation was not correct and needed a higher level of care which they were able to provide. Should have never been accepted at the level at entry.

The Renaissance may be a satisfactory, or even a good place for someone wanting independent living. I would not recommend it for someone needing assisted living services. My parents didn't get what they needed there. It only got worse with the change in management. From my family's perspective, instead of redecoration,, the new company's money would have been better spent for better trained, better paid care staff. I downgraded cleanliness because my parents' room was supposed to have daily housekeeping, but it was always very dusty. Additionally, I don't think the carpet was ever cleaned in my parents' room. Some staff was "friendlier" than others. The food is pretty good: no complaint there. Location is very good. Bottom line? We were disappointed with the Renaissance.

When she went there, she didn't need skilled nursing, she does now, it was a good thing until a few months later. They were very nice and she enjoyed her stay there. They don't check on them they only check on them once in a while. I feel as if sometimes they are understaffed. I was there and I would pull the cord and no one would come, a few other times she would go for the door and they would have to come running. A lot of the people were very nice. I think they need to be a little more involved with them. It's a pretty place, it was a big room. There are times when I've seen other residents in her room and they would sit there for hours, nobody knew where they were.

It;s not working out, they're going to let her out of the lease because my moms just so miserable there. It's not the breakers, shes just concerned about the money, she doesn't think she fits in with the other residents, she has dinner by herself in the living room, she doesn't like the mass, they go on a lot of the same trips, I could just go on and on. They were very nice about letting her out of her lease, they had given me 30 days and she didn't say anything until after those 30 days but I thought they were flexible and they said they didn't want her to be in a place where she wasn't happy and I'm sure it wasn't good for their morale either.

My mother does not like The Devonshire. There are a lot of things I'm not happy with. I've had different responses from different people as far as friendliness goes. It's reasonably inexpensive. It's hard to tell about the care services because my mother is very resistant to having people do things for her. They're very a la carte which iI think is good. She doesn't want to participate in any of the activities but I think they have a lot. She may go to church services but I don't know. I was led to believe that even though my mother was mad about having to move to assisted living she would make friends and end up liking it and that didn't happen at all for me. Things have gone from bad to worse. I called and talked to them about my mother not being happy there and mad at me for it and I thought they were kind of insensitive about that. We might take her out and if we do she's not going to another assisted living. Overall it's not been a good experience.

The staff in memory care was locked in a room behind the door in office and having a grand old time . The patients were asking for help for long periods of time . 1 was slumped over in her chair crying. I over hears 1 of the workers complaining and saying she is asked to do a job that is not hers. She wasn't doing anything else the whole time I was there except she was loud and useless. All the patients sat a the table waiting for food for 15 minutes before they were served. It didn't seem like any of the workers cared about anything and they all walked past crying patients and didn't even make an effort to do anything while they were at work . I visited for over 5 hours mind you. I'm not sure why these workers were even in the office, but I was uncomfortable with this visit and watching some of the patients suffering without help. The activity nurse was extra nice and helpful to the patients. Her name was [name removed] . Even the cleaning crew were lazy and didn't want to be at work.

Staff and administrators need to improve greatly. When I took my mother out of there in December her clothing was and body were do filthy we had to discard her clothing and bring her home and vigorously scrub her body. For [price removed] dollars a month this was totally non acceptable. She has improved greatly since we removed her. She feels like she has gotten her dignity back and I find that upsetting that she had lost it at that facility.

Staff is great, food is rather really good or really bad, rooms are good size. Problem is cost in 14 months , price has gone up $[removed] per month. We are actually looking for another place.

There is high turnover with the caretakers. But everybody who has worked with my mom has been amazing. Absolutely would recommend! This is a great place! It is clean, the workers are kind and attentive to the residents. Food is great too

There are too many people, and not enough elevators. This creates significant tension in the building.

Billing and admissions were a nightmare. Very disorganized. Then I was forced to pay for several days after my Mom passing away .

When I signed up for my father last year the only reason why I like that place was there were certain people that were running the place. Now [name removed] not there she was the best in the world made that place nice and there's [name removed] she was high up and took care of everything she's no longer there is the activity director all of a sudden she disappears I'm quite the investigator that looks at things and something isn't right. Why are the good people that I met and signed up for, are no longer working there? Then there is activity on Monday supposed to be that day never happened this time what's going on? The people in there clients pay big bucks and I want to know why they never get to go outside it's like why don't they get fresh air. I have a lot of concerns and I think my opinion matters and so should yours. I hope they're not changing things because all the people that were in there last year were fantastic people that made that place what it is.

It wasn't a good situation as it was during the time the business was sold. The owners didn't pay bills, the facility had the irrigation water turned off due to not paying the bill, the food became horrible due to money, staff was quitting, the staff that.

At times the staff seemed unsure of what how to handle situations. For a client like my loved one I was surprised at the hesitation. For me ,I was lucky to have my aunt on hospice at that time while she was there. . And was happy to have that extra layer of experience from Hospice nurses , aids clergy. The Sheridan was beautiful and new and shiny. For clients needing more attention I was disappointed. Keep your shiny newness . Give me confident staff. Nursing staff had it in them to want to do better. For some reason I had the feeling they were unsure. So improvement on that unit. May start with administration. The Sheridan is good for assisted living. Not for difficult clients with advanced dementia .

the administrator did the best she could with uncaring/attitude aid staff. the building was cleaned but I had to scrub Mom's toilet several times. kitchen was good; 75% of the aid staff were not great. although we were told Mother would be totally assisted with toileting and bathing, only two staff aids we're willing to care for her. assigned seating was not necessarily a good thing; food was okay. she barely joined in activities; the staff seemed to do a good job. they should charge more and hire better aid staff

Ways to improve: Hire more staff, spend more time training staff. Better meal presentation and support for those that cannot get to dining room. Room meals dropped of in Styrofoam boxes. Better visibility of nursing staff. The facility is better suited to those needing only a little assistance.

The description of Addison is not true They have a van, but do not take the residence out. They say they have a chef. He’s not a chef. He’s a cook. The food is terrible. Good occasionally. Many times, my mom went to bed hungry, or would eat pb & j in her room. They kept saying it would get better. After 8 months, it didn’t. The management got an attitude when we would mention the food. We went with the Addison, and paid the extra money because of the things they advertise. . You do not get what you pay for.