Serene Gardens

We were there a total of 19 days before dad "fell" out of his bed. He never received a call button. And the evening staff was not polite. If you can take care of yourself it's not bad. But for someone who needs assistance it's not good.

[name removed] does not return any calls from myself or my wife concerning my mother in laws status on the waiting list for memory care!! They claim that the A&D waiver program is acceptable for partial payment with the remainder coming from her income and told is she was at the top of the waiting list..next in line over a year ago but since then they will not return our calls.very unprofessional!!

They were no help to her whatsoever ever. I was there 2-3 times a day just to make sure she was ok and getting fluids after I took her to emergency for being impacted after she had been there for three weeks. I asked them to give her bone broth and water I left in her refrigerator and nothing was ever touched. After the first visit to emergency she was back to emergency in 5 days so that's when I removed her from there.

Just walk in and look around for yourself. Look at the residents, look at their hair, and clothing, go during meal time. Please do your due diligence and inspect this place before you place your loved one here. It takes forever to get buzzed inside after 5 pm. The management ([name removed]) and staff do not care about the residents. Medicine is rarely given on time or prescriptions filled on time. They ran out of meds several times and informed us that we would have to go get more due to the pharmacy being closed on the weekend. They leave meds in the admins or nurse's office and are not locked up in the med rooms. They gaslight residents and family members. Call buttons go unanswered for hours. When staff is questioned, they always have the same answer: "Sorry, the call buttons are down again." This is unacceptable for anyone who needs assistance. Showers are not given by the staff as scheduled. The staff lies and says the residents "refused" the shower or did not give a shower

My loved one has dementia. They have no business taking on that level of need because no one was willing to take the time to know or care for her needs. She is not capable of asking for help. No one was concerned enough to find out what she needed. When I asked them to give her fluids all day NO ONE bothered. I left bone broth and water in the refrigerator in her room and asked them to have her drink them. When I would go in (2 times every day) nothing had been moved from the refrigerator. When I would ask why no one knew anything.

Don't go there! I was so disappointed with this place. Both my parents have passed and I have so much guilt about choosing Avalon. Absolutely horrible experience.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. I would like to start with is the building is absolutely horrible, there’s mold growing in the building specifically in room #4 that was being used as a storage room, the carpet is disgusting, there’s one resident who’s flooded her room MULTIPLE times and it has leaked into the hallways and they have yet to replace it. There is 2 laundry rooms with 2 washers and dryers each but they both only have 1 washer and dryer in each there’s been countless times we’ve requested for them to be fixed and nothing happens. Management is too worried about making the building look decent but that’s like putting lipstick on a dumpster. The beginning of this year the heat went out and was out for almost a month, in the summer time the air doesn’t work so everyone’s miserable and it’s hard to work. When it rains too hard the dining room floods like the building is sinking in the back, the residents pay so much money to live there and the care is half [profanity removed]

They tack on charges that not legitimate.

My loved one was previously a resident at Brookdale Battle Creek. The overall experience was terrible. The cleanliness and friendliness is not good. The staff and quality of care are not good, either. Animals in the zoo are treated more humane than the residents at the Brookdale Battle Creek facility. I would never recommend this facility to others.

We had a negative experience with Brookdale. After 6 months of being there they found bedbugs in her room. They tried to blame it on my mother in law. The food was not good. Cold oatmeal in the morning. Plus much more. When we moved her out my daughter the POA emailed the director of the faculty multiple times telling them to send her a final bill. The months later they threatened to place late fees on the final bill. My daughter had proof of the emails. And she also verbally had asked for the final bill. It's been paid and we haven't heard anything from them since. We have moved her to another facility and that has been wonderful.

My mom was in Serene Gardens for several months after she left rehab due to a broken hip. During her stay there she had 2 incidents resulting from improper transfers. The first resulted in a broken ankle and after that they refused to get her out of bed. She was essentially bed ridden for 5 months even though doctors gave her clearance to put weight on the leg. I can only speculate that they were concerned about their ability to provide proper care. The other incident resulted in a disclocated knee which required full knee replacement surgery. After 5 months laying in bed she is weak and the staff did not properly transfer her to a wheelchair when we requested to have her get out of bed. Unfortunately the care is subpar and the staff's ability to own up to their mistakes is very unsettling. The staff are friendly but may not be equipped to handle someone that needs extensive assistance. The place is new and looks great.

They were not equipped to care for someone who was partially paralyzed. Nor aware of the need to give him the timely setup for his breathing treatment and then turning off the machine when it was finished. I was so disappointed. !! Quality was horrible. Not enough staff. Call light would not be answered. On his first night, he told me people don't answer the light. We waited 45 minutes. I then found people on the other side of the building. They said that they thought the light was just left on from earlier. So they ignored it. Meals were ok. Activities does not apply. He couldn't participate. Care was totally insufficient.

Don't bother.. The women that run the place are awful!!! They never watched my loved one, who was in the hospital more times than she was there.

I am not impressed by the 'pretty exterior' of this assisted living facility. The exterior facade does not mask the 'ugliness' of the inner dynamics controlled by the owner/operator. It is sad that vulnerable adults are controlled by this place. I hope the state of Michigan does a thorough investigation of this facility and how it operates.

We do know it was during covid and it was before the employment situation with any care givers got to critical shortages. There were some decent employees, 3 out of the 4 receptionist were very helpful, but once was cold and not helpful. Some of the care staff were top notch people, but the director of nursing was not. We could visit them inside a complete glass box only, we did not have access to our loved ones apartment. House keeping did not change our loved ones beds for 2 months. Not confident in their care at all.

Don't go here if you want good care for your loved one or if you want them to eat anything decent or healthy. The relationship between management and the staff was very poor. The manager just couldn't get along with his staff, so the staff wouldn't come in to work. Basically it was like a strike. The food was terrible. It was all from a food service, with nothing homemade, and no fruits or vegetables. They would run out of food sometimes. It was just a terrible value and experience. The one positive is the activities director seemed like a wonderful person. Activities were just starting to pick back up after Covid restrictions. And she seemed like she was trying to keep it together for the whole building.

The manager at this Saginaw location is terrible. She put her finger in my face and yelled at me. She is condescending and has anger issues. There has been a lot of staff turnover since she started. The dementia house needs updating. Care staff is very friendly and wonderful.

I had a bad experience with them. I paid seven months in advance for a deal and she died one week later and they did not refund any of my money which was $[fee removed] so I do not like that facility.

It was my plan when moving my mother into this beautifully bedecked home for the infirm (Pineview Cottage) that one day I would write a glowing review about the care she received. However today, that thought couldn’t be further from the truth. I won’t pretend for a moment that my mother was the easiest patient, but she did suffer from Alzheimer’s coupled with complications from a stroke. The owner, Hilde Bonesteel, claims to have expertise in Alzheimer care but she and her under trained staff were baffled as to how to care for my mother. It wasn’t until mother was actively dying and was under the care of Hospice of Northern Michigan in Pineview Cottage that she received competent, caring and companionate care. Because Pineview Cottage touts itself as assisted living, the licensing isn’t as stringent as it is in “nursing homes”. Believe me when I say that there are plenty of hours in a day when the only care being given is by a CENA or comparable. Take the time to look up the infractions Pineview Cottage has been cited for by the State of Michigan. Unless your loved one is a fully functioning elder with the ability to express him or herself Pineview Cottage should not be a consideration. They are too ill equipped to care for those who can not participate in the caring of themselves.

Very high turnover, poor care, lack of respect to family members. Lack of accountable when concerns or issues arise. Many caretekers have "attitude" problems and really run the place. Residents do not like it but afraid to tell the Management. I would not recommend at all even with the New Management.