Spectrum Retirement

Mountain Park Senior Living is a relatively new community, only 18 months old, so they have had a few growing pains. Overall, I would say they do a very good job of providing a wonderful environment for independent senior living. I have no experience with their Assisted Living or Memory Care units, so will not address those areas except as they impact the independent living residents. Mountain Park provides beautiful and functional common areas and comfortable apartments for their residents. They offer a wide-range of activities to engage residents. Many of these are simply groups of residents with common interests coming together, such as card groups, craft groups, book clubs. Others like movie nights, monthly mystery bus tours, day long trips to area attractions are organized by the activities, or fun department. Each resident has "lifeline" cord in their personal bathroom and one to wear. Within a 10 mile radius, they provide transportation for doctor appointments, church, grocery, drug and department stores on a scheduled basis. Special arrangements can also be made for personal errands within that 10 mile radius. There are a few issues to note when considering Mountain Park. If you are looking at an apartment on the second or third floor, please know that the elevator on the independent living side of the building has been out of service multiple times in the past few months, over entire weekends more than once. There is only one other elevator, located on the assisted living wing, meaning it is used extensively. This often causes long waits or people struggling with stairs that should be on the elevator! The most contentious issue seems to be the dining room, where residents have expressed many concerns from portion size to selection. Some selection issues are due to personal taste, others to medical issues affected by available choice, others to simple nutrition concerns. For example, a recent meal choice included sides of corn, pasta salad, potatoes, all starches, with no green vegetables available. I have personally been there when there were simply no entrees, except a salad were available for two people at my table. everything on the menu was either fried or loaded with sugars and/or sodium. One of the other concerns I have heard voiced more than once is they run out of items before service hours are half over, and often are out of them for several days. I was there once when they ran out of two of their "standard" salad dressings. I was told by a resident that they had been out of them for at least three days by then. My loved one says the quality of the food served is dependent on who is cooking. One comment I have heard from several residents is that they wish the woman, Linda, who runs the bistro had the supplies to make daily salads with fresh greens. They believe she is excellent and attempts to accommodate individual tastes, but has very limited resources to work with. Overall, I would say they do a good job and provide a fairly safe, friendly environment. They simply need to clear up the elevator and dining room issues to be an excellent facility.

My mom spent about 18 months at Dougherty Ferry Assisted Living. The activities director was stellar, and mom and her husband liked their apartment, but I found that in several areas the services failed. The apartment was to be vacuumed once a week, but at some point we realized mom's husband had been using a thing to pee in on the far side of the bed, and it had a leak in it. There was a lake of urine on his side of the bed that had been there for weeks and if anyone had tried to vacuum over there they would have noticed. Mom constantly had bladder infections, as no one insisted on helping her use the bathroom. We were never able to reach the staff nurse, to inquire about mom's health, which was very frustrating. She finally ended up at the hospital, and they refused to let her return to DF, saying she was not receiving sufficient care.

Lack of medical care and follow up from staff. Emergency situation was handled so poorly and unprofessionally. I do not recommend this facility.

Food is horrible. Can't find a decent chef or workers for cafeteria. At least one director a year. Not cool. Big company owns this place. They are there for the money for sure! Pay cafeteria folks more and hire a decent chef, Please!!

My family has been there almost one full year. We were disappointed to have a very heavy increase in fees in less than six months. It was as if they got you in the door at this great price and then jacked the rates. They have many empty rooms and I believe the reason why is that "corporate" last summer started charging $[removed] a month to anyone living in assisted living whether they require assistance or not. That additional fee was tagged onto our high increase in rent. We thought about moving also but have not. Regarding staffing, it was a rough start with some not so kind people, fortunately they've moved on or were fired. They are currently understaffed, but working on hiring new people. Currently, there are several very kind caregivers but I worry that they'll burn out quickly if they cannot fill the staffing positions. Regarding the food, the food is tasteful and they have a nice variety on the menu. One thing we don't care for is the delivery fee of [removed] per person per meal per day and the $[removed] pick up your meal and take back to your room per person charge , especially with the high rent we are paying. Due to my mother's dietary needs, she is unable to eat in the dining room. That is why they eat in their room, and these fees add up monthly. My family does not partake in the activities, but they seem to be well attended. Regarding room size, we were very fortunate to get a rare double sized room, which has been a blessing for our family. The building is kept very clean. The decor is very nice. The in-house physical therapy and occupational therapy is wonderful. The in-house salon for hair and nails is great. Overall, my family is happy there. I feel my family is safe there and taken care of as I live out of town

The facility is nice but they continue to struggle to maintain staff. From the top, the Director [name removed] is new. He just started 1 week ago. The sales staff has continually rotated out. They have had 4 people handling sales since then. The kitchen staff continues to rotate out resulting in mediocre food. The facility is very nice but they can't keep staff for very long at all. Had I known what I know now, I would not have moved my sister there.

They keep raising the monthly rent but have failed to provide services that are in the contract. For example; Their van was involved in an accident. It's been months. They only have a car now that takes four people. If you are not fast enough to sign up, you don't get to go to the store or Walgreens. Uber is the better choice if the resident can manage it. The contract states late night snacks available. Minor thing but it was in the paperwork. This has never been true for Independent Living...occasionally a few apples or bananas but not in the evening. Six residents have moved out because of recent chaos. We know three residents personally. They now have no one at the front desk in the evenings. This was really upsetting when the fire alarm went off because of a laundry room fire. They lock doors and it's a waiting game to get back in after 7pm. Someone has to come from the Memory Care Unit. There is no chair out front to wait in. We drag one from the one area but they put it back every time although several residents request that they have a waiting bench installed. It took weeks to get lightbulbs changed in the kitchen. It's too high without a ladder. Mom needed a table lamp to function because only one lightbulb out of four was working. We've dealt with an invasion of fire ants, the yard people (one guy in particular ), blowing excessive amounts of dirt onto the patio, and an oily rag fire in the laundry room... following that we had oil in a washing machine that made it inoperable. We also went weeks without cleaning staff because they had some people quit. I cleaned for my mom. My mom has been there two years. She'd like to move but is not good at adapting to change at 90. Still debating the situation. I believe there is a new director. Hoping for better management. We do like the staff that interacts with myself and my mom. The front desk people are fabulous .They try but lack the ability to actually get things done.

Ten years ago when our mother entered Mountain Park, it was one of the best assisted living communities in the area. It has slowly gone down hill and now has serious problems. Many issues with new staff that are overlooked by current management.

Clean, friendly, big problems with food and servers. #3.5 rating overall. Friendliness of the residents. The food service definitely needs improvement.

liked most -- wide open and bright. they need to improve their ratio of help to residents, know more about Alzheimer's and how to work with patients that have it, and the quality of care, ability to diagnosed health issues and act quickly on them

People who work there are friendly and get to know residents. There has been a lot of turnover with upper people and it seems like communication about the changes is not good. Also, there are many times that service in the restaurant is VERY slow and the servers seem to have a really hard time keeping up and making sure the residents order and get their food (especially the desserts)

Sometimes they are lacking in communication. I would recommend them.

Dining facility is constantly understaffed and runs out of food on a regular basis. Often times the meal portions are very small to make it last. The meals should be consistent every day and the kitchen management staff revamped.

Palmilla is a clean, open, modern facility but they only had two apartments available and neither one met my needs. In particular, if you’re looking for an assisted living apartment for a loved one and yourself, both need to qualify for assistance. This requirement was a game killer for me. Additionally, Palmilla’s west side city location makes for an excessive commute from our current east side home.

A bit concerned that the hot water was not working. Apartments felt too small. No oven. Nice and friendly staff. I liked the dining area. No in unit washer/dryer. Parking was fine. Views not very good from the unit that I saw. Sounds like a newly remodeled two bedroom will be available soon. Wondering about the price.

Rating would be higher if not for Exec Director turnover and vacancies in janitorial staff. We would recommend to others.

Price and it was relatively new, is why I picked them. I would still recommend. But, food is mediocre, food portions are small, and they're always out of something on the menu. Most people are nice but some are not.

Cleanliness is a five out of five and friendliness is a five out of five and the staff is a fibe out of five and the meals are a four out of five and activities are a five out of five and the value for cost is n/a

For assisted living and independent residents it is a great option. The down side is the greater the level of care a resident requires the harder it is for that level of care.

Since being here, services have diminished. Front desk no longer manned 24 hours, doctor visit transportation hours have been decreased and only four residents can be served in a day Having only two days a week where service is offered is difficult for scheduling. No longer month special dinners, no longer prime rib on Saturdays, no transportation to Sunday church services. For those who consider lunch time their main meal the choices are very poor. With few exceptions it is salad or sandwich. Originally the dinner main course was offered. Preparation is not consistent . Some days a dish is fine and the next time the same one is horrible. Examples -- soup at times flavorless. pizza burned and still served. baked potato obviously a couple of days old, grilled sandwich not buttered on the grill side, lettuce wilted , Salad served on same hot plate as main dish thus being wilted. Other than for activities, communication is not the greatest. Housekeeping is minimal.