Five Star Senior Living

We chose to find other accommodations due to safety concerns at The Laurels and The Haven in Highland Creek.

It left a horrible impression on us, and we are glad dad will be cared for elsewhere. We were happy with everything for about a year. Then out of nowhere they discharged my dad and left us scrambling for care. And upon review I believe what they were accusing him of was a direct result of them not having adequate policy and procedures.

My low scores are based on more than one occasion of my loved one needing assistance in the evenings. One time they had an UTI and needed someone to bring them a catheter from the bathroom to their bed, so they could self catheterize. They would not do this. I had to leave work to come and hand them a catheter

I would not want to live there or would I recommend it. The food should be prepared correctly and have the apartments ready when promised.

Dining Room service is TERRIBLE! Rarely get everything I order. I just have lunches there, and I not gotten what I ordered for the last 5 days in a row. Today, no one even took my order. They just brought me something.

The place is clean and most of the staff is kind and friendly. There seems to lack of communication between management and staff. When things go awry, management will point fingers and make excuses instead of stepping up quickly and making corrections. The food is terrible and the people that own this place or make the meals should be required to eat the slop that they serve the residents. Food is always cold. Meat so tough that you can’t saw through it. Kidney beans on a hoagie sandwich. Everyone complains and the food gets worse everyday. The food is inedible. This place also cleans up bad reviews so only the 5 star reviews are posted online.

Not a very good experience, cleanliness just ok,very good, They didn't do any care, food was terrible, couldn't really get involved with activities,cost was not a value for us we couldn't use the facility like the swimming pool or exercise equipment because they didn't have a lift to get my wife in the pool or whirlpool bath because of no lift . I think we were paying to much for what we could use!!!!!!

I'd say to check other places. Especially if family or friend isn't able to check on your loved one at least five days a week to make sure he or she is being showered, cleaned, that the bathroom is cleaned, that there's toilet paper in the bathroom, and that hygiene, such as shaving, and feet inspection is being taken care of. There are a couple of really good and caring people there. But the rest I have seen numerous times sitting on their phones or just having a I don't give a care attitude.

With the overall experience and the cleanliness - It seems like I was constantly addressing problems. The monthly fee included cleaning her room. I think she went almost four months where they had a housekeeping person quit before they hired someone. Housekeeping in that time period was intermittent. Many times I did the cleaning and took out her garbage because no one came to do it. I complained but it seemed all complaints fell on deaf ears. Administrators were NOT friendly to me. I think they're learned early on that I was going to hold them accountable so they preferred not to be friendly. [name removed]person that took care of the monthly bills rarely got them right. I had to go through her bill carefully each month to make sure there were no errors. When my mom passed.....she was in hospice home. I called to let them know and the [name removed]answered the phone and said she was sorry to hear that. I never received a call from the director or any other person there.....except for her 2 nurses. I found that very unprofessional. It told me that they really do not care about their residents. I paid an extra [fee removed] a month for mom to have help dressing and bathing. RARELY did she get help dressing and after I complained enough she finally had help when bathing. Any time I questioned them about that I was told ..oh I didn't know she was supposed to have help with that. That was a [name removed] problem. That should have been in her chart to be done on a daily basis. In their defense mom may have refused that at times. I think meals were ok...they were better when she got there then when she left due to some changes they made. Mom would describe the activities as "boring". Again that may have just been her. I did not feel it was worth the value. Except for the two nurses that she occasionally needed the rest of the staff seemed to do as little as they could get away with.....that was how I saw it. That may be different for someone who needed a lot of care. Mom was very self sufficient. I did not like Five Star as you can gather. I expected much more than Mom got for the money we were paying. In all honesty I may have felt the same way no matter where she was.....I'm sure there's no perfect place for loved ones.

Before we moved to the Laurels, I asked very specific questions of how care is provided as my mom had a stroke and is paralyzed on one side. She is incontinent and needs help bathing, dressing and transferring. I was assured when her call bell was pressed, she would wait no longer than 15 minutes for someone to come to her assistance. We moved her in on [date removed] and in those few months, the quality of care has proven to be very bad. Today I filed a complaint with the state. There are times she waits over an hour for someone to come, once three hours. My father has had to walk the halls looking for a staff member to assist on dozens of occasions. I have personally met with the Ex Director and Head of Nursing and addressed this issue and no action is ever taken. At this point they are not answering my emails and treating my father with a very hostile attitude. I’m just shocked that this place is run this way. There is a complete lack of leadership. Many residents agree.

I would not recommend Home Place.

My loved one was previously a resident at Gateway Villas and Gateway Gardens and it was not a good experience for us. My loved one was not being helped/changed out of his disposable underwear often enough and was becoming quite chapped. Myself and Hospice both asked Gateway to have someone check him at least every 2-3 hours, but they said that they didn't have the (enough) staff to do that. Although it was a lovely facility, decorated beautifully and very clean, I feel like my loved one rapidly went down hill there. I moved him to a different facility.

I think I fall into the category of thinking that most of these facilities are over-priced. They get you in and very soon begin charging for things that weren't necessarily talked about in the beginning. My loved one moved in at about $3400 per month and now pays about $4700, in just a year's time. I wouldn't recommend Morningside of Vestavia Hills. But take into account that I think the whole industry is out of whack, unregulated, and too focused on the owners and stockholders.

Food is mediocre. No nutritional value at all. High on carbs and sugars. Low on taste. Transportation is limited to 3 days per week (M-W-F) with limited hours 9am-11am. Good luck getting a hair appointment within those hours. There is a on-site salon but it’s only open a couple days each week. Management more concerned about marketing events than making activities available for residents. There is an undisclosed annual increase to rent, 2024 being 11 percent and expect even higher for 2025. Recommend to use the money you’d spend here on in-home care for your loved one. Light housekeeping.

If I could give 0 for care I would. Went every week and she would be covered in new bruises and scrapes. She had black eyes and the last straw was when I found her on the floor in her room dressed only in a shirt lying in a pool of urine. No depends or slacks in sight and she must have trying to get to the bathroom. As I was coming down the hall I could hear her crying for help. Two aids were sitting less than 30 feet away! Just keep a close eye on everything. Going once a week was not enough but it was almost 2 hours one way. No excuse though, how I wish I would have went more. They informed me since I didn't give 30 days notice I would be charged another month $5,000. I showed them all the pictures of her injuries and they backed down right quick! I should have contacted an attorney but hated to drag it all out.

My loved one is a resident at Stratford Court of Palm Harbor. Everyone was super nice during the exploring and visits prior to signing the contract. Now, they don't answer emails, don't have a process to check in case my mother does not go to breakfast or dinner for several days. The price went up by over 12%. I may not recommend it to others.

I would not recommend this facility to other families. There are some nice employees there, but overall the staff is evasive and unproductive. We have had an ongoing problem with the staff since Mom moved in. She has a special care need that hasn't been taken care of for almost a year now and her hygiene has dropped significantly. My family and I have raised this issue with management no less than 10 times and nothing is ever done about it. After the 6th or 7th time of us bringing this to their attention, they found the issue: they weren't charging us enough for that "level" of care, even though at move-in we were assured that the need was a blip on the radar and didn't change mom's level of care needs. They then lied and said it did require an increase in care and even with that increase months ago they still have not provided the care. The head of nursing, [name removed], is vindictive and shoots me daggers every time she sees me there. So, my family and I are paying a ton of money and still are required to perform mom's care. The food is okay. Not great. Not horrible. But it's consistent. Communication with the family is almost nonexistent. Some staff are very nice. Others, I wouldn't hire them to take out the trash. Housekeeping was a mess for 6 months, where we were paying for laundry service and they weren't doing it. We got that corrected, thankfully. The move-in was relatively simple. But we were promised a level of care that doesn't exist.

My mom was briefly a resident at Home Place of Burlington and overall our experience with this facility was poor. They were trying to put her in the hospital for 3 days for a psych evaluation against my wishes. We pulled her out and brought her home. They wanted me to hire a 24-hour caretaker. So on top of paying them [amount removed] a month, they wanted us to pay a bunch more money for someone to take care of her. What's the [amount removed] for? Food and a room?

My comments pertain to assited living: The food is awful, and not improving, despite monthly meeting with residents who raise food/dining issues. Menu substitutes are made without notice; I'm concerned with the lack of fresh fruit and other healthy choices. I realize that food can be expensive, but better health is best achieved through healthy food selection. Most aides are committed to providing good care, but there is too high of a ratio of residents to aides. When a resident requires extra attention (for example: after a hospital stay or surgery), no extra help is given to the aide assigned to that resident, which leaves them scrambling to provide additional attention. Most problems could be solved by the owners through increased pay to attract better workers (especially in the kitchen) and additional staff to relieve overworked aides.

My loved one moved out. The memory care unit is full, and they put people who who should be in the memory care unit in the regular rooms. There were physical altercations in the dining room on more than one occasion between staff and residents. We had repeated issues with access to get into the building after 7:45 PM.