Watermark Retirement Communities

I caution anyone who is considering Summit to be very careful to keep a careful record of payments and charges. I paid approx $[removed]for my father and his wife to stay at Summit. Ultimately, my father never lived at Summit, and his wife moved 6 wks later to a different facility. I was due for a refund of almost $[removed]as of [date removed]. It's now [date removed], and I 've been trying to a refund for the past 7 weeks. I've called and emailed the Exec Dir and head of billing about this issue numerous times. I've been told that the refund is being processed, but there's always some reason for further delay. Summit never brought up a refund. After I brought up the issue, I was initially told that I was due less than half the actual amount. After I gave Summit a detailed account of my payments and incurred costs, Summit agreed that I was due almost $[removed]. I previously told Summit that I will file a consumer complaint, and it seems I will have to do so. I would not choose this facility ever again

My spouse left the facility after one and a half years, and is now living at home with a home caregiver 5 days/week. She is getting much better care than she ever did at the facility. We thought assisted living would provide better care, and we were wrong, at least as far as The Fountains is concerned. Overall experience: My spouse felt like she was in prison for 18 months. She became very unhappy and depressed. She is now smiling and happy again, now that she is home. Cleanliness: Sometimes there is a very bad smell in the lobby. Friendliness of staff: Some very nice staff; others quite mean and nasty. The RN in charge of the assisted living section is so domineering, unfriendly, and passive-aggressive that there is a huge turnover of staff. All the good ones leave, and the bad ones remain behind. The facility is often understaffed, resulting in inferior care for the residents. Quality of care: Inexperienced and unprofessional nurses who don't understand how to inject insulin properly, and unable to give insulin injections within 15 minutes of my spouse eating, as required by her endocrinologist, resulting often in hypoglycemia. (When we complained, The RN actually said they have no control over the kitchen. It begs the question: Why not? Pain relief was often withheld, even though the Rx said PRN. Patients often sent to ER for no reason (A doctor told me that The Vassar Medical Center in Poughkeepsie has stopped accepting many patients from The Fountains because of this.) Patients are often sent to The ER without their permission, and the facility is NEVER able to transfer the patients back to the facility, even though their brochures say that transportation is provided Every time we asked for help with transportation, we were told that they had no one to spare. Take a taxi (which would have cost over [fee removed]). Meals/Dining: (would give a 0 if I could). The food is inedible. ALWAYS. It is prepared in another location; by the time it reaches the assisted living facility it has degraded immensely. My spouse had groceries delivered every week so she could eat properly. Value for cost: (again zero, if I could). They raised our rent 5 times in the space of 18 months, almost doubling the initial amount we were paying. Totally unsustainable situation for us. Every time they raised the rent, the services decreased. The facility is owned by Watermark Retirement Communities, and their prime goal seems to be to enrich the shareholders at the expense of the residents. I asked the staff every time our rent was raised if they got a pay boost, and was told no by every one of them. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS FACILITY TO ANYONE.

I was very disappointed with the care that was provided from such a highly rated facility network. The money you pay to provide the best care for your loved one. No one took the time to comb their hair or make sure that they had their shoes on the right feet. I still cleaned his room and did his laundry. I offered help day or night If had any issues. As for activities coloring book crayons in front of the TV and staff on their phones in the corner. We had things come up missing an stuff was ruined from the carelessness. He had an episode an they wanted to kick him out. The facility is responsible for their safety. Don't let them fool you. When talking to them about the concerns an losing my dad. Was told we are not perfect. When cleaning out his room we even wanted to donate his clothes..an hour later went back his clothing was already gone. They told us that the clothes had already been donated. When all said nd done 1 person gave their condolences. My father deserved better.

They did not clean my loved ones room, laundry was just sitting for days, and they did not take the trash out. It was a very terrible experience. I paid a lot of money, and things were not getting done.

Very rude and unprofessional staff. Stay away from this facility!!

When Watermark bought the Quail Park of Oro Valley Assisted Living facility, the administration and nurses were fired (or left on their own accord), which should have been a red flag for us. Watermark overdosed my mother-in-law with insulin two days in a row which cause her blood glucose to bottom out. When they realized their mistake, they evicted my in-laws and handed the letter directly to my mother-in-law and ignored my wife's wishes to have her handle the situation. As a result of the stress, my mother-in-law developed congestive heart failure and was hospitalized for a week.. This could have been prevented if Watermark had let my wife handle the situation. My wife has Power of Attorney (POA) for her parents for all financial and medical decisions. We verified that the POA is indeed valid for all financial and medical decisions with our lawyers and state agencies and should not have been ignored. I would give zero stars if possible. Beware and stay clear!

Please stay far away, it is a horrible place. To sum it Grand’ vie is unsafe, very dirty and always short staffed. They don’t even have an RN on-site only a few LPN’s and med techs. Stay far away!

Very disappointed my husband was in his room most of the time meals were not as advertised. Very expensive for services provided. He was there for 2 weeks respite found someplace that met his needs

Let me start by saying that [name removed] and [name removed] who are the marketing employees at Elan Santa Monica are great and awesome to work with, and they will definitely answer all your questions and win you over. (Since I can't give zero stars to this facility, my one star is given entirely to [name removed] and [name removed].) The facility itself looks good from the outside, however when we viewed rooms there were dead cockroaches in two of the three rooms we viewed. Granted, they were dead, but still scattered all over. The shower never got warm and was cold whenever we tried to test it. The food was terrible. Extremely bland and even my elderly loved one said they disliked it. Now, to the important aspects of my post. I DO NOT recommend Elan in any way shape or form and I DO NOT recommend you put your loved one at this facility. We went to Elan because my family member needed memory care. We met with [name removed] and [name removed] who were wonderful and completely won us over in choosing their facility. As this was a very stressful situation for me and my family, they answered our millions of questions and addressed any concerns we had. However, we quickly came to learn that things on the front side of Elan, are perfect, and way too good to be true. Once my family member was actually at Elan, that's when things drastically changed. The care my family member received by the head "nurse" [name removed], was terrible, in that she did not provide care at all. We were told our family member would be checked on every 30 minutes around the clock and any instance that happened would be reported to us immediately, such as any falls, behavior issues. Anything. And we were adamant that we wanted to know what was happening as this was our loved one and this was a very difficult decision for us. Not only did we have family visiting the center daily, we called to check on our loved one at least 3 times a day to see how things were going. Every time we called or asked in person, we got the same answer, "Oh they're doing great! We love them! Nothing bad to report." Come to find out a week later that they were kicking my family member out of their facility for "bad behavior" such as walking around too much and going into other people rooms, and incontinence issues. This was absolutely ridiculous! For around $6000 a month, they were NOT doing their job of keeping an eye on my loved one or providing the care they promised. We later came to find out that they only checked on our family member about every two hours, if that, and they had fallen multiple times and we were never told. Unfortunately, my loved ones ankle started to swell up and we later found out they had almost broken a bone at Elan and no one there knew what had happened. The "nurse" [name removed] had horrible things to say about our family member's behavior, but when we asked why we weren't told about things as they were happening she couldn't give us a straight answer and eventually stopped answering or returning calls. I don't believe she ever actually worked directly with my loved one. She manages the techs and aids at the facility but never interacts with the residents herself. The director of the facility is just as bad. She stated Elan would give us $500 back and another $1000 since they kicked him out and couldn't provide adequate care on their part. We received the $500 however we NEVER received the other portion. She stopped returning our calls after we tried multiple times to reach her. They ended up pocketing thousands of our dollars after having our family member for barely over a week. Obviously they care more about money then their residents. Overall, Elan seems great in the beginning, but the care your loved one will receive once there is terrible. They don't keep to their word, the head nurse really only manages people, and the overall director has horrible customer service skills. And if that's how the director is, then to me that's a reflection of how the place is as a whole. Again, I DO NOT recommend this facility and instead they exceedingly disappointing us. (I do however recommend [name removed] located in [location removed] if you're looking for a facility that truly cares about your loved one and keeps their word. Look them up as they truly deserve your business.)

This place is divided: it’s the director and her friends in supervisor positions vs the residents and the employees who love the residents and try to protect the residents but are not part of the director’s group. Stay away from their

They use the cheapest laundry soap. Clothes and items always missing. The place smells. If an employee is nasty if it’s one of management friends they get away with it. It’s like being in high school

This is the worst place I have ever seen. Cover ups and sweeping things under the rug. Find somewhere else if you care about your loved one. Glad we are out of there.

The hallways smell like pee, the places need all new updates. The workers are always on there phone or no where to be found. Its not work the money the food quality is on the low side of the scale. Every time I come in my parent doesn’t look presentable like they just throw something on her.

Overpriced and underdelivers on all promised 'services'. My Mother was a resident for over two years, with a degenerative condition that the staff was unable and unwilling to help alleviate because of the 'difficulty' of her situation. Like many residents we continued to have a full time daily person to help her with her needs. The added expense pushed her overall care cost to over $100K per year. She was never able to utilize their car service in a timely fashion for medical appointments, as residents in better health dominate that service for their personal pleasure. Staff turnover was huge, more than 50% of the staff departed in the first 18 months, three 'executive directors' and multiple business managers during her stay there. Final injustice after she passed, they sent her to collections for extra rental days after we had removed her belongings from her apartment. Thanks for adding that to our list of things to deal with in our time of grieving. Heartless and indifferent to the passing of your loved one.

I started my tour at 11am, yet I did not see residents and staff interacting in any activities. The building had a bad odor.

The grounds are gorgeous. It's WAY out in the country so best for someone who likes living that lifestyle. If only the rest of the property was as nice as what mother nature provided. We did the complete tour of the facilities and one thing I will note is this place is very old and run down. The cottages they showed us had chipped and peeling paint on the outside brick. Not just a little bit, the entire sides of buildings were peeled off. Just pressure wash the brick and be done with it. Stop painting it. The interior layouts all differ but the kitchens are so outdated (like from the 1960s), have a salmon colored or odd mustard colored formica countertops, linoleum floors, outdated appliances. This could be a beautiful community if Watermark would invest in updating the places when they are no longer occupied. Instead they offer "specials" to try to fill the out of date places without having to renovate. Upgrade your kitchens with granite, put in engineered hardwood floors instead of pergo or linoleum. It is ridiculous to have carpeting in a retirement home where seniors are prone to using canes and walkers or have drink or food spills. Carpet is not maintenance free. Some of the cottages had an air conditioner in one room and no where else. The gym is more of a personal gym setup. Just one of each type of equipment. There is no sauna, pool or any type of water aerobics available. The photos on the website make the dining room and the cafe look a lot better than they do in real life. The dining room has zero ambiance, it truly looks like a nursing home dining room. The little cafe isn't the quaint little country market it appears in the photo, it looks more like a truck stop cafe/7-Eleven. It is also a good 20 miles to the nearest hospital in Poughkeepsie. The sales/marketing staff from what I could tell consists of one person - Ruthie. Once you do the initial visit, she is incredibly difficult to get in touch with by phone or email and even though she says, "send me any questions", she doesn't respond. She doesn't see the rundown places as an issue because, as she will proudly tell you, she lives in a large trailer with formica countertops and linoleum floors.

Unfortunately we had a fairly negative experience at Rockland Place. My mom broke her femur and nothing was done about it for a good while. They can definitely improve. It is scary quiet. What I fear is that there was no good real help up where mom was, and there was no way for us to know that until what happened to mom. Had we known beforehand, we would have gone somewhere else. They need to do a lot more understanding of how important it is to keep these people socialized. Their help on the weekends especially was very weak.

gave low rating for not able to meet demands. did not meet moms needs, only needed a 7 day stay, facility only accepts 3 weeks or more for repite. dont understand, why facilities think that caregivers need 3 or more weeks break. huge mistake on thier part. Mr. Rasmussen was upfront about it, appreciated that, did not waste my time or his on this matter.

The staff were very nice. We were half way through our tour and they had to get the wheelchair from my wife and put her in a transporter. We were touring the facility and all of the residents were just sitting around and there were not staff. Based on our tour I would not recommend them.

Not Good.Facility has had 3 new owners since new construction was completed.Management has been a revolving door and have lost count of the the staff turnover.New director was only bright spot however their new health director was overly aggressive and would be the last person that you would want in caring for your loved one.