The Opal Senior Living

I wasn't very impressed with my experience with this community. When I first called to set up my tour, the lady that I spoke with informed me she wasn't going to be there, but someone would help me. When I arrived on time for my tour, nobody was ready to give me the tour. Once someone finally became available, the tour was decent. I didn't feel this would be the community for me.

The director of excitement is what keeps us there. Without [Removed] there would be no Grace!!! The great staff i.e. CNAs and HHa are now scheduled off more than they work. How long will they be able to keep them? A number of residents are way down...like it was when the state came in last summer and shut them down. The residents are the ones that suffer when numbers are down. They have a marketing guy but really he's in the building too much to really be selling Grace. So once again the so-called chef-inspired meals are white bread hoagies with chips for dinner. No nutritional balance for seniors! Where the fruit Salads etc. Every meal needs vegetables for fiber etc. Not one person in the meal prep is a chef. Cooks yes!\There an executive director but she is never there and very out of touch with residents and families and I have observed her with the staff she seems to be mad all the time. A micromanager who doesn't know her job. Bring back [Removed]!! I see that the staff is struggling to met the residents needs due to the lack of hours and support . The Med Director is great. Smiles and accommodates everyone and is another reason we stay. She knows her stuff. We pay a pretty penny and to be honest the level of care, food are way down. Have been for 4 months. All summer. Thank goodness for [Removed] you keeps everyone busy and engaged!! It used to be a 4 star...not anymore!! Lets hope they get it together or 5 of us are going to move and then there will be only 12 on the assisted living side

We toured this community. We did not like the atmosphere. It was not clean and needed a lot of improvements in the cleaning. The community was dark and we wanted to the community that was more cheerful for environments. We would not recommend this community. We did not see a menu of if activities are offered.

I would rate the overall experience as. 1. I have no info on meals. Place was very clean and working staff was OK. The manager was horrible. We moved my sister after 2 months.

My aunt, whom I am POA for has lived at the Pavillion for almost 8 years now. I DO NOT recommend this place. In the last few years it seems they cannot keep a director more than six months. Phone calls are never returned. Note that I live in Venice and can visit when I wish and I have been hard pressed to find anyone in charge any weekday that I went there. I must say however that the CNA's and aides are caring but they can only do what they can with an individual owner that seems to care little. They had a major mold problem about a year ago, that has so called been fixed. The last year or so the elevator does not work. They are continually having to reset it. This is an extremely old building with 3 floors. Most of the residents are on walkers or even some in wheelchairs. Imagine these people trying to make it down a stairwell in a fire. I even spoke with the Fire Chief of Venice, he said there was nothing he could do because the building has sprinklers.

The LPN that provides health assessments is terrible she spends a brief 10 minutes asking questions like: Do they know the date, can they memorize 3 words and repeat them after 10 minutes? ,etc. She makes a decision on their need for memory care after this brief encounter. If your loved one doesn't pass, nobody tells you, they just pretend like your going to come back and sign a lease and then they have their memory care unit call you the next day. Brookdale puts people in memory care if they don't know the date. That is a great financial decision for them, but not the best decision for the person. I had 2 other facilities recommend my loved one for assisted living, not memory care. The rooms are small, but cute. One complete hallway smelled like a dirty catbox due to one of the residents. That was really the only thing I found bothersome, other than being completely wronged and not communicated with.

Our family had a terrible experience related to safety, cleanliness, and overall care. My husband was able to get out of facility twice. Housekeeping was negligible was odor of urine throughout! The care an services provided were grossly misrepresented from the start. For starters, he was able to get out twice. Once due to gate left open and unattended. The director actually saw him walking outside in front of facility headed to Royal Parkway. On another occasion, he was brought back to Belvedere by a nice couple who saw him walking on Royal PKW and knew something was wrong. It could have ended badly. Food portions were small and cold. I was told he would be assisted eating. Only one of the aides did that. She worked nights and I can't remember name. I took food myself almost every day and left snacks. Prominent smell of urine throughout facility causing feet to stick to floor. The toilet in the commons areas was beyond nasty with excrement and urine. I was told he would have some type of physical activity. That did not happen. One of us (children or myself) were there every day at different times. I realize he had Alzheimer's and might not be able to do group activities, but was told he would get 1 on 1 stimulation during the week. Difficult to get information. I was told I could call and check on him. Seldom did anyone answer...especially at night. It was equally difficult to reach director or nurse for information. One nurse spoke very little English. We were in process of locating another facility when a UTI sent him to [name removed] and thankfully a spot opened at [community name removed] where he received quality care. Interestingly, [community name removed] cost comparison with Belvedere was negligible. Very short staff. 1 person on duty at night. It was a nightmare experience. I don't understand how it has remained open.

My father lived at Belvedere for 9 months in their Memory Care facility. I would not recommend placing a loved on at Belvedere as we had too many issues with the level of care provided. Hopefully my review will help other families with their search. In spring of 2022, Belvedere Commons was purchased by Opal, prior to that it was owned by Grace Mgmt. After Opal's purchase, they cut nursing hours without formally notifying the residents and their families in writing and many of the staff and nurses have left. The management makes promises but does not follow through. My father fell during the middle of the night and no aide was given to him. He had a cut on his head and they didn't call 911 or have him sent out for evaluation. They didn't notify me. I had to take him to the ER the next morning when I arrived and found blood on his head and on the floor. No one contacted me.. There are many issues at Belvedere and the management team isn't transparent with the families.

The community seemed to be dark and cramped. The staff was unimpressive.

The community were ok. My loved one didn't care for the food. They didn't have a lot of activities for my loved one. I would recommend you don't put your loved one here. The communication with the staff wasn't that good for the family. There was one nurse who would contact us. I would like to see the communication and listening to the residents more.

Someone owns the building and another company “manages” it. The place is filthy, windows broken, toilets and sinks don’t work, vanities are falling apart and moldy. Plumbing is an ongoing issue. They promise residents they are going to fix something but then it’s like pulling teeth. They are totally uncommunicative with the family! As for Covid one day I could come in and the next day I couldn’t; [name removed] yelled about not being allowed in with no mask even!!! By the end of the conversation she invited me into the building!!! That’s the kind of inconsistencies that go on and make it hard for the residents. All of them seem depressed. The food is pretty awful. Most of It doesn’t taste like anything. My family member also does not get enough food to eat and is way too skinny and this has been addressed several times but they can’t seem to understand that he needs more meat and vegetable and not just more carbs!

I was told that either [name removed] or [name removed] would be available. When I got there [name removed] had no idea I was coming nor did she have any of the info to give me pricing. She tried to call [name removed] but didn't get an answer. First impressions are disappointing since they couldn't communicate amongst themselves that I was coming.

Receptionist told [name removed] we were there for our appointment set up through "A Place For Mom," but we never saw him. He never left his office to say hello to us or tell us that they were not aware of our appointment, despite the fact that we were standing right outside his office and the door was open. [Name removed] told us we weren't expected, but offered to take us on the tour. The first apartment she showed us was in the middle of being cleaned out following a resident leaving for whatever reason. It still had a few pieces of furniture in it, but was clearly in need of cleaning. When I asked her what size this apartment was, she didn't know. The second apartment she showed us was empty and cleaner. However, she didn't know the size of the second apartment either. Since the prices are based on the size of the apartment, and there are several one-bedroom options with varying prices, she was not helpful in that regard. When I asked if there was an apartment we could see that was furnished, she turned us over to [name removed], who seemed to have more interaction with the patients. She was a bit more helpful with the size of the apartments, but it still wasn't clearcut. The courtyard area looked rather neglected, but she said the residents prefer to sit out front in the rocking chairs and don't really use the courtyard seating area. [Name removed] took us to several more apartments, and we ended up doing an inordinate amount of walking considering the layout of the facility. They were not at all prepared for our visit, and we left with a negative feeling about the whole place. It felt, looked and smelled more like a nursing home than an assisted living facility. One resident voluntarily told us the place was "fabulous." Based on our visit, my mom and I don't agree with her. As soon as we walked out the front door, my mom said, "I don't like this place at all and don't want to be here." I don't want her there either.

This place is understaffed and the limited staff they do have seem lazy and clueless.

Did not like this facility. Very messy. Smelled. Overpriced for the accommodations.

Two separate buildings for assisted living and memory care - no integration of residents at all. One attendant was wheeling a resident to lunch, she got distracted by our conversation with the manager and just walked away from him in the hall without a word. In memory care, an aide walked up behind a resident in a wheelchair, grabbed her by the shoulder and wheeled her somewhere else without saying a word - the resident was understandbly startled, but there was no engagement or apology. No thanks, I could not see my mother there.

We did not have a good experience with Sterling House of Fort Myers. For the brief time my loved one was here I don't think her room ever got cleaned. They also seemed understaffed, the ratio of residents to aides was way too high. The staff were very slow to respond to the in-room call buttons as well. On top of all of this they were also one of the more expensive places we looked into. I cannot recommend them.

place is to small.

The only good thing that I can say is that the staff is very nice. The place is filthy, and I mean filthy, even after they told us the room would be clean before my friend moved in. With Covid, you can’t see the places before hand so you’re just sort of stuck with what you get. Luckily their contract only requires a 30 to 45 day notice, depending on who you talk to or which part of the contract you read. The contract pages are all out of whack so it’s really hard to find things in the contract. All they have to do is fix the page numbering! Is that really so hard!?! I wouldn’t leave my dog there it’s so nasty!!! Don’t listen to the sales person!!! She will promise you the moon, tell you there’s new owners who have really cleaned up everything, etc. Just go look at the entrance to the building and that will tell you everything you need to know! I told them that it needed to be cleaned and pressure washed and they said oh yes, we’re going to do that. That was a week or more ago and nothings been done. My friend on his first night, talk to other residents and they also complained about the filth and much more!!! I am sure if you love the person you’re trying to place, that you can do better than this!!!!!! They say all the negative reviews are from when the place was called The Summit ... if that’s true, The Summ should’ve been condemned as this place is well on its way to being just that!!!!

My father passed away on a Monday. His svc. was on Thurs. The following Monday, only one week to the day that he died, Belvedere already called me wanting to know where their check was. He had been in the hospital for several days before dying, and died in the hospital. His belonging were in the room for only three days into the new month, but they were sure concerned about those three days. Just for the record, I had already mailed the check on Sat., but they didn't give the check a chance to arrive before calling me. How disrespectful!