Sona Senior Living

Autumn Leaves of Vernon Hills is a very safe an secure place for my mother. They have a good alarm system. The medical care system that they have is very good as well. Overall things are clean, but the lunch room needs to be better organized. The residents are often waiting half an hour or so for their food. Overall we are pleased, but there are a couple of things that could improve.

Affordable.... staff needs supervision. Cleanliness and communication inconsistent. Top management lack of follow-up. Food is good. Events good when they had them. Not sure how best to word it but they could do better.... its such a. Nice facility. Needs leadership. However in the scheme of places overall it's a little above average..but could be a lot better.

My greatest advice is family make a habit of visiting twice a week. Doesn't have to be the same person, but it's important....... my mother was a nurse at Aultman and I donated over 1000 hours to volunteer ing and had responsibilities that are not entrusted today for volunteering. The truth is family visits are essential to build rapport and subconsciously give visitors' loved ones better attention and care!!!! Don't tell me that isn't true!!!! I have talked to other clients loved ones and they agree that they spent too much waiting in the dining room. But while waiting for dining the staff is straightening beds, folding clothes , cleaning messes in private rooms. I wish they had one more staff on each shift, but the current staff work hard and treat the clients with respect and affection.

At the time, it suited our needs. We needed a place to move our loved one out of his house. It was fine until Covid hit. It then became very, very restrictive. He was pretty much locked down, with no visitors, and food was brought to the rooms. I know it’s what we all had to do. But I was happy to move him to another community where he could have a little more freeing of an experience. Covid aside, Canton Regency's staff was great, and the facility was beautiful.

Excellent care for mild dementia, staff is not attentive to each patient’s needs as they progress.

Shenandoah is going through new management.I did not know that my loved one would be one of the first residents to move in after this transition. The transition between then and now is like night and day.They have completely replaced the staff and that has caused some concerns. Although, they seem to be hiring better candidates, he was not attended to because of lack of staff. I have called them and held meetings with them to express my concerns. They seem to be taking my suggestions into consideration and things are getting better. The facility itself is the most beautiful I have visited and I've visited several.It's very clean and I would move there based on that.They seem to be headed in the right direction now and I hope things gradually move more in the right direction.

A little shabby and no different "levels of activity for different levels of ability." No caretakers visible.

Regency meets basic needs, food is pretty good but not much fresh stuff like salads (FRESH, not out of a can). Only one security person on at night, noone at desk; rooms are spacious, clean, new carpet, and they pay for move-in. Fire security system goes off odd times and scares people to death, no generator for power outages. Many people who live here would never be considered independent outside of here. Some on oxygen, (see generator note), many on walkers, some wheelchairs. Nice that they take pets. Activities are good during week, not much on weekends or holidays. People are friendly but don't socialize that much. Monthly meetings for resident concerns. They say they will take care of issues, but don't always. Doors open all day, no sign-in or out, noone pays much attention to who is coming and going. Truly independence! Make sure thats what the person wants or needs.

My grandmother lives here in independent living so I thought I would take a tour. I stepped in human feces on the way from independent living, to the assisted side. UGH! The secure care units are nice; but only studios. Every area we went to (independent, assisted and secured) smelled like pee. the head nurse for the secure area was VERY gentle and kind; however I just don't feel the connection to providing an active lifestyle within the secured section.

At first everything was an overall star, but right now it is about a 2. We are just isolated at times due to the pandemic so the activities are still limited and the meals are just terrible. However the people that work here are absolutely wonderful and the community is very very clean. I wouldn't recommend at the moment, but definitely check back.

My father had been in Assisted Living here for five years and recently, it got so bad that we had to move him, despite how difficult it is to change at age 90. First, there has been a lot of employee turnover. Management got rid of the terrific head nurse which had been there a long time and had a real personal feel for all the residence. The nurse who had been there longest quit then. The head nurse now is a woman who spends a lot of time talking about all [removed]. When families come to consult, she puts her shoes up on the desk in their faces. The long-standing receptionist left when she was required to answer the phone by saying, "How can I make your day?" and some man provided a lewd suggestion. (Employees are still required to answer the phone this way and are written up if they are caught not including it in their greeting.) The Activities Director, who was one of the best and one of the hardest workers is currently on disability leave. She started a choir that performed at least twice a year and had well-planned activities. The choir is gone, and on a recent outing, the residents arrived to find that the director hadn’t checked and the place was closed. Previously, there were two executive directors, but one of them has been disappeared. Now nearly everything seems to be determined by one person, the current executive director. Her degree is in business from a propriety college, and yet, [removed]among others. For example, we had my father in the care of the Gerontology Department of the Cleveland Clinic, which asked the Regency to take my dad off Alzheimer's medication because after three months of testing, it was determined he did not have Alzheimer's. Their doctor doubled the medication, and the nurse informed me they did not have to take orders from the Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic said they had never had a residence refuse to co-operate with them before, but they instructed us in how to get a local doctor to give the orders, which we did. My dad did much better off medication that had nothing to do with his health. The Clinic advised us repeatedly to find another place for my father, and by the time he left, there were at least two rooms empty in every hall. It used to always be full or nearly full capacity. Whereas at the Regency, nearly everyone was in a wheelchair and they kept trying to get my dad on a walker and to keep him from walking outside when his doctors had suggested he walk every day. Now he has 42 acres of nature paths to walk and lots of activities. And he is paying $1000 less a month. I would note that the lowest level staff who did all the real work in cooking, cleaning, and assisting residents were all very sweet to my father and generally cheerful and kind which the nursing staff and administrators by and large were not. Management is the problem here. Since we left, we received a letter telling us that bills are going up 10% immediately in the middle of the year, which suggests financial problems to us. And communication problems. Apparently, they forgot we aren't even on their team any more.

We really liked it at the beginning but after awhile the care was horrible, until they sent my mom out, and would not take her back. I expected a much higher level of memory care.

Do not put your family member here! My mother prepaid for a 2 week respite. They offered service options. And assured that whenever she rang her call bell, the response time would be less than 10 minutes. We opted for a CNA to check on her every 2 hours, 24 hours a day. She’s 95. First weekend, all activities were canceled! Nothing Saturday or Sunday. Tenants were expected to sit in their rooms with nothing to do. Then for 3 nights my mother rang her call bell for assistance and no one came for over 45 minutes by which time she had pressed her medical alert medallion because she was trapped in her room in a soiled bed. We were told only one CNA was on duty in assisted-living all night, she did not check on my mother every two hours and she that was too busy to answer the call bell. We hired someone to sit with her for the next two nights at an additional cost of $[removed]a night. We took her home three days early. She wasn’t safe. Now they’re keeping her money for those 3 days!Go elsewhere

They can only handle those who are placid. If anyone gets antsy or needs extra help they either send them to the hospital and tell the hospital they can't comeback or make you hire personal caregivers because they are "so busy". She needed to be checked to see if she had an UTI. The nurses didn't do it. After 4 days, I complained so the Marketing Director took care of it. They let her get out of the building. She made it to the Fire Department and they brought her back.

They were not honest and upfront when we signed up and there was an extra maintenance charge we found out about the day we moved in. I would tell others to do your research and ask about that maintenance fee. We were made many promises that were not kept. I think their communication with families should have been a lot better than it was.

Disappointed: [name removed] wasn't there, but was off in [removed] One of the office helpers showed us around. It was difficult getting there (lot of back country roads, poorly marked roads). Took the 'packet' but not interested in this place.

The Memory Care is a joke - it's a glorified daycare center! There is no skilled training required, turn over on staff is very high, they expect the residents in the memory unit to push a button when they need help...umm if you have memory problems you will not remember to push a button for help. The closets are horrible (doors do not open all the way, there is no 'track' in the closet to easily move the clothes around, instead there are one inch wire framed spaces), the sinks in the bathrooms are not wheelchair accessible, the counter in the bathroom is not even accessible by the staff! There is no response to our concerns or complaints. The price continues to go up as they make upgrades to the facility. They need to upgrade the level of care!!! Moving my mom out after a year of horrible experiences.

Please don’t bring your family here. The place is completely understaffed and not safe.

The care staff that are there obviously care and are trying their best with what little they have. We never see the new building Director she does Not listen and there are minimal care staff on site to care for the other residents. I have to come daily to provide care for my mom. There is no manager support as there are only 3 managers on staff currently with no nursing director. On a positive note activities are great but the activity director quit. This is not worth the high dollar amount we pay each month. It is a good thing there are so many new facilities opening so I can find a new place. It is sad that these changes have caused such a terrible effect and the facility is no longer what I was promised.