Sonida Senior Living

While the staff is friendly and helpful, the facility seems to be understaffed at times-making for long waits on call for assistance. Increases on monthly charges have been frequent, and seem high, The kitchen staff seem to be making an effort to improve. Housekeeping makes an effort to keep up, but again, staffing seems to be an issue. I think they all try to provide quality care.

Very corporate. [name removed], the director, is abrasive and somewhat pushy. Excellent outings and field trips. [name removed], the driver, is wonderful, and truly cares about the residents. The apartments are quite spacious. The gas fireplace and deck are very nice touches you don't find elsewhere. Laundry in each unit is nice too. Facility could use more signage, as the layout is somewhat confusing. Main entrance is not locked or monitored during the weekends, which is a little concerning.

They are a bit understaffed and residents have to wait for a long time to be served meals and be attended. They are a little poor on activities and outings. But The place is clean and pleasant-looking and the staff is really caring, especially the nurses.

I liked the friendly and supportive staff. After hours emergency response time could definitely have been better. Some of the support staff could have been more gentle with my mom.

We moved my sister out of there [date removed]. The staff turns over constantly, some of the services we were promised do not exist, food service, unless it was the meal of the day was extremely slow and most important, my sister fell twice recently and no one came to her aid despite the "emergency pendant". The staff was nice and did the best they could but many only stayed a few weeks or a few months. Something is wrong at the top.

Initially, things were good. Friendly staff, concern for his overall wellbeing. Then, there was a new director who made significant changes. Staff turnover was terrible. It got to the point that we stopped learning their names since they never seemed to last more than a week. We were there quite frequently and interacted with many residents. They often complained that the food was seldom what was listed on the menu. If you asked for an alternative meal option you often would just not be fed. They didn't even ensure every resident was fed which is a legal requirement. One aide actually said residents have a full kitchen in their apartment so they should be able to feed themselves. Residents also complained that there were zero activities for residents in assisted living. They listed activities on the independent living side with no way for assisted living residents to get there. When we realized Dad needed more care, we spoke to a nurse to get her opinion. She said it wasn't worth increasing the level of care because there wasn't enough staff to help so he wouldn't get what we were paying for. Dad ended up have a mental episode from lack of medical attention which forced us to change facilities. In the end, his new facility costs more but is far, far superior.

Everyone seems to enjoy each other from faculty to residences. As far as improving, their maintenance is terrible! We moved them in in February and we are still waiting for a simple door knob to be fixed. It is unable to be locked or latched.

While the people there are very nice for the most part, I can't say we're receiving everything that was promised nor are we getting great value for money. The food is terrible. My mom has been there for over a year now and the promise has been we're working on it. Nothing has improved. The portions are stingy, the food is often cold when served, and it's tasteless. They print a menu but are often served something entirely different. Housekeeping is another huge issue. For the longest time, my mom's cleaner only came sporadically. After complaining, she started getting someone a bit more regularly. The quality of the housekeeping is mediocre at best. My mom does seem to enjoy some of the activities, though they are somewhat limited. The apartment size and layout was the best we found in the area. But, the things she needs the most--meal prep and housekeeping--and that we were told are included in the cost are missing altogether or poor at best. Again, many of the people are nice but the amenities just aren't there.

Also, frequent staff changes, especially among the care givers. Suppose to be 2 care givers per cottage, often just one. Phone calls frequently not returned. Some id the staff unfriendly. After, I moved my husband there within one week the main nurse was gone, the marketing lady was gone, the main administrator was replaced. Physical therapy took forever to get started . Now it's hit or miss. This facility has room for improvement, especially returning phone calls and some employees need to improve their social skills

This is all based on my mom's opinion as she has complained a lot about the food and turn over of administration and employees. They currently don't have a full time nurse, so there's been issues with medicine, etc. They also have had problems with the elevators for over a year now, so it's an ongoing problem. I don't want to score low as I don't have any comparison, yet feel there are problems in all of these type of AL facilities as unfortunately, it's the sign of the times.

My dad moved in to the Waterford at Creekside in early February. I toured several places and picked the Waterford because they have those cottages and courtyards. The first weeks were terrible with him not getting the things I brought for him and I suspect they were not giving him his meds the first week either. After numerous calls and visits things are going well now. However, I don’t think they let them go out in the courtyard very often. People in the office don’t return calls. I even called to let them know the automatic payments set up on the site are not coming out and no call back. Two months rent for my dad that they haven’t gotten and still can’t return a call.

There is no doubt that the staff is friendly. Nonetheless, in terms of the food the administration needs to improve how the kitchen is managed. They have a printed daily menu, but it's not what is served. In addition, they need more employees to provide transportation to doctor's appointments to the residents. They also had problems with the wi-fi.

My husband was there 3 months & passed away. I can't be to positive. They need to improve on the food and individual care/assistance.

From speaking with my sister, it sounds like they made some promises that were not kept, such as housekeeping and maintenance. Also, it sounds like the meals were not always of high quality. It was things like that that led to my sister wishing to return home.

The staff is friendly and go out of their way to interact with residents. They seem to be working on the nursing care. I like the new staff and they are more responsive. The apartments are spacious. The food is mediocre. It's in a convenient location.

Waterstone is a beautiful facility with a lot of potential. During our time there, they were still refining their processes and routines. The aides and staff were kind, attentive, and eager to help, though additional training in memory care would have been beneficial. The facility itself was well-maintained, offering a clean and welcoming environment, along with good food and engaging activities. One challenge we encountered was the required use of a specific pharmacy, which added an unexpected cost of $[removed] per month. Before Waterstone, all of my mother’s prescriptions were fully covered by Medicare at no cost to her. Additionally, the pharmacy’s limited hours—Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM—meant that prescriptions called in after hours might not be filled until Monday evening. Since Waterstone requires all medications to go through their pharmacy system, this occasionally caused delays

Be sure you are personally oriented and that you sign off on your own safety. I repeat. Take nothing for granted. The staff can only work with the tools they are given. They manage to please us all. [name removed], [name removed], [name removed], [name removed], [name removed], [name removed]and even [name removed] make this place fun. I will miss them and my neighbors

Overall experience - 3. While we were only there for a few weeks, the staff should have done more to help acclimate my mom or encourage her to adjust while she was there, especially in the beginning. We were paying for the highest level of care and even with that I still felt like I needed private caregivers to come in or I had to be there. This was because many of the caregivers, while friendly and skilled, spoke very limited English, which made it hard for my mom to communicate with them since she was hard of hearing. Usually, we could write on a whiteboard as an effective method of communication but 95% of the caregivers could not write in English so there was no truly effective way to communicate with my mom. Combine that with her memory issues and it was not a great experience for my mom. I also think it was a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering for the price. I believe that the marketing person, who I liked very much, and who really sold us on the community set my expectations too high. The longer we were there the more we made some relationships with the staff and we learned how to work around the limitations of care. As we adjusted I was able to appreciate the services that were provided a bit more and the efforts of the staff who were really good. Like anywhere there are some really good people and some not so great ones. I think that the basic needs care level was good but that the emotional, mental, and psychological care was a lot less than we expected from a place that claims to specialize in memory care. 2. Cleanliness - 4. Overall, things were kept quite clean. Sometimes the common area bathrooms were not kept as clean as I would have hoped but overall I was happy with the cleanliness of the place. 3. Friendliness - 4. Most of the caregivers and other staff were very friendly. There were a few that were not so that is why I am giving it a 4 instead of a 5. 4. Quality of Care - 3. I give it an overall 3 because I am evaluating it for basic needs care and emotional well-being care. The quality of care for basic needs was good. Getting my mom ready for bed, medication dispensed, etc. was usually sufficient and I would probably give it a 4 if the caregivers were able to communicate better with my mom. Their limited English combined with my mom’s hearing loss and memory issues made it confusing and scary because she had a hard time understanding what they wanted her to do. Also, we had a private caregiver there every weekday from 8am-12pm to shower my mom and get her dressed because Cedar Lake would only give her two showers per week, which was not enough for someone with some incontinence. Since we had the private caregiver during the week we asked to be put on the weekend shower schedule in the mornings and that did not always happen. Without the private caregiver there I have no idea how my mom would have managed to be honest. The emotional, mental, and psychological care was more like a 1-2. I just felt like my mom, especially with her hearing loss and memory loss, did not have her needs met in this area. 5. Staff - 4 As I mentioned above some of the staff were EXCELLENT and most of them were at least friendly and did their jobs effectively. Overall, the staff was great. I would probably have given this item a 5 if it wasn’t for their inability to communicate with my mom due to their limited English skills and her hearing loss. The last few days while my mom was dying I was there nearly around the clock and the staff was very caring and compassionate towards me. I was alone during this time and the staff and nurses that I interacted with all deserve a 10 for their efforts to make sure both me and my mom were well taken care of those last few days. 6. Food - 2. I was told by the marketing person that the residents in memory care would get a menu with pictures of food from which to choose at each meal - chef prepared, healthy balanced meals etc. etc. That was NOT the case. Instead, they had NO choice at all and instead got a weird mish-mash of whatever was left over from the assisted living side. Most of it didn’t make sense. It was like you could have turkey and mashed potatoes along with lasagna, and then a piece of cake on each plate or spaghetti, jello, mac & cheese, and a roast beef sandwich, again, all on the same plate. It was really odd and none of it seemed very healthy. The residents were also given the choice of two sodas or lemonade to drink. No water??? My mom doesn’t like soda and wanted water for most of her meals but that was considered an unusual request. My mom also liked to drink hot tea but that was only available in the morning and at no other meal even when she asked for it they would tell her she could only have it in the morning. 7. Activities - 2. I would have given this a 1 except for the Activities Director for the assisted living side, [name removed] , who really tried his best to do things with the memory care residents when he had time. The marketing director during her sales pitch made it sound like the memory care residents had a very active and vibrant activity schedule that kept their minds engaged. They did not. There was a daily and monthly schedule posted that sounded fabulous but it was almost never followed. We may have been there during a transition time between an activities director leaving and another starting but I was simply flabbergasted that most of the time the residents were sitting on couches or around the TV while the caregivers were on their phones. There were very limited activities while we were there. I was extremely disappointed by this and felt very misled. Most of the activities that actually took place my mom did not partake in because she could not hear what was being said and no one made any effort to help her. Her hearing loss was well known by the staff when we came to the community and we were assured that extra measures would be taken to ensure she could participate. That did not happen. 8. Value for the money - 3. I guess depending the specific care needs of the resident this might be a great place for some. For my mom, it was definitely not a great fit and just before she passed away I was seriously considering moving her into my house instead of staying at Cedar Lake. Again, I appreciated that they took care of her basic needs and there were many staff that I liked and appreciated, but overall I felt like it wasn’t worth the money. I believe that the marketing person set my expectations too high… a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering for the price. Many people I have talked to felt the same about different memory care communities where their parents lived so maybe this one was better than most but to me, it felt like it was a lot of money to spend for the care she received.

I can't imagine what my mom would go through if we changed facilities- that's why she stays. But for [fee removed] totally not worth it. Honestly at the moment, I'm not sure I would recommend this community- probably not

I would recommend Middleton Crossing to others. I met with [name removed] while I was at [community removed]. I liked [name removed] and I liked the price as compared to another community I heard from.