Highmark Senior Living

They do a great job overall at Edencrest at Riverwoods. It's a clean, well kept, nice looking community, and they take great care of their residents. The staff are all very friendly, and have been very helpful every step of the way, answering all of our questions. My only complaint is that they could do a bit better in terms of providing activities, but I understand that since they are a newer community they may not have the population for a full activities program yet.

The cleanliness of the community seems pretty clean, but sometimes our loved one has complained about the smell of cigarettes in the air. Most of the staff members have been friendly, but when we were going over the pricing for the care services we felt they were being a little pushy and urgent to get us to sign off on the care our loved one needed. The value for cost was a sticker shock.

We chose this facility for our loved one with advanced dementia because it has a setting away from traffic, parking lots and the city, all of which caused our love one to be agitated and looking for a car/way out. We are very pleased with the security of the unit which has freed us from the worry that our loved one could wander away. The administrative staff is extremely friendly and helpful. This unit is organized "old style", meaning the apartments are spread down a long hall, with the dining/recreation areas spread down the hallway rather than the newer central activity area with the apartments surrounding them. This does isolate the tenants more--there is no direct visualization of the rooms/tenants from any one vantage point. It is challenging to operate a unit for individuals with varying degrees of dementia. We have had to address issues with our loved one not eating--often they will inform about mealtime, he will say he does not want to go, and thus he does not eat. We have requested he receive a tray in his room when this happens, but we continue to find instances where this part of his "care plan" is not adhered to. It seems to depend a great deal on which staff members are working. Some are amazing and unfortunately some are not so. We also have issues where they do not seem able to get him to take his medicine on a regular basis. Again, it seems to depend on the day and his level of engagement/trust with the respective attendant. The food we have seen served is OK, it is certainly not what we would eat at home--corn dogs, fish sticks, tater tots, a variety of sandwiches. When we attend meals with our loved one he states the food is OK. We have been there when they serve snacks and cookies in the afternoon, and the tenants seem to enjoy that a lot. It is also a challenge to keep the apartment clean and clothing organized. Since it is assisted living, deep cleaning is not provided along with the room rate. This has left us to have to come over periodically and provide that service. Since our loved one struggles with incontinence, it is often hard to keep the apartment as clean as we would like if we don't visit daily. The facility does the laundry, but often does not put it away. We also find other people's clothing in our loved one's room. They told us we did not have to label his things, but we are glad we did, as it seems to keep his clothing where it belongs. We are also responsible for maintaining supplies for the bathroom and other necessities, which can be challenging since we don't live in town. While it is great that the facility allows pets, the barking has annoyed our loved one. Prior to being in a facility our loved one had about 6 hours a day of private care in the home. Since the staff was focused just on him, he was happier and had more social interaction. They ate meals with him. Currently he frequently comments he is bored and seems sad. Since he does not want to play games or attend exercise classes he doesn't socialize. He has never been a "group" type person, just had a few very close relationships. This is the second facility we have had our loved one in--it is amazingly better than the first. We will keep working with the facility and staff to ensure our loved one is adequately cared for and happy.

This community felt more like a hotel setting than the homey setting we were looking for. The people were nice and the community looked clean.

She has only been there a short time and we are still having some adjustment issues. My Mom has escaped once. They are improving the latch door and working on improvements there. They need more staffing I think, especially in the evenings and on weekends.

This was a very hard decision to make but after getting through the hard part of finally making the decision my dad seems to be doing better. I think it is due to less stress of trying to cover up his memory loss and now he is more relaxed.

Our mother has been in residence less than a month. Eden crest is a small facility -- 50 spaces. But the number of aides seems to be very low. Our mother is in the Closer Care unit and is supposed to be checked on every hour. Don't believe that is happening because of lack of staff. Our mother takes meds in the morning and in the evening; twice the staff has switched the morning meds for the evening ones and once my sister found that some meds were missing all together. On our first visit there was no one at the front desk; I had to wander about the facility until I found a worker in the kitchen. Not a great way to greet new residents. The aides there are hard working and very kind but they could use more help. This facility just hired a community relations manager. I would have preferred they hire more hands on deck.

The care my mother receives is professional and timely for medical and physical needs. Memory care staff is friendly and helpful. However, more staff training is needed in the memory unity. My frustration is with lack of communication and mail processing. Tuscany has had a lot of staff turnover in its upper staff positions and its phone system seems to have been overhauled so my contacts are confusing. As my mother’s dementia worsens staff is challenged to get her to comply with hygiene care and other tasks. The IMORTANT thing is mom’s care and safety which I have NO issues with. I’ve learned that some things you have to let go of and not make it an issue. The facility it’s self is clean, home like atmosphere and beautiful. Not sure why these facilities leave out this information in their brochures but this location is NOT Medicaid approved so please take that into consideration when making decisions. Overall I’m pleased with most, more importantly mom is safe, clean and content.

Edencrest was nice, but the views not as good and seemed to me that it needed updating.

Staffing shortages and delay in services. Exceptional facilities. Competitive rate.

We are having a little bit of an issue with the meals and dining service - first off the quality of the meals are just really bad and second off they strongly push for everyone to come down to the common area where they serve the good for every meal, if you do not want to go down there but still want a meal they charge you a stiff delivery fee. However they do seem to have a lot of different activities going on like bingo, entertainment after lunch and people come in to sing songs

The caregivers here do a great job and always help us when we have questions, activities are great. But the management part could be a lot better every time I call the manager is never available to take my call or when I come in to talk he has left the building for the day, seems like I just get the run around and the assistant manager seems very nice but I over heard her talking to a couple other staff members and she is pretty rude to talk about some of the other residents! But the facility is beautiful and the food is great and they have a great view!!

Like the open dining concept. Rooms feel a bit small and dark. Beautiful setting outside

My mother was recently switched from the memory care side to the assisted living portion of the community. She seems to have adjusted well to the assisted living side. The community look great, they do a good job with the cleaning. She is trying some of the activities they offer. The care staff is good, they are caring for her very well. The administration needs some improvements. The meals are fair. Overall she is in good hands and I would recommend it.

One thing I do like about them is that they do treat my dad with respect, which is very important. That said, there are definitely some things they can improve on. My dad's sheets have not been changed since he has been there (two months now). Mom has eaten dinner up there with him a couple times and the food has been cold. There is not much activity - just listening to music or doing puzzles. Dad says there is nothing for guys there.

My grandfather resides here and has had bad experiences that are not just an inconveience, but [removed]. They mess up his medicines constantly, the nurse is exceptionally rude at EVERYONE in my family, the staff literally laughs at my grandfather when he is having problems. (We have seen it firsthand). A Vetran does not deserve the type of treatment he receives. (NO one does). Multiple complaints have been made about the nurse, but it has not changed. In fact, they are promoting her to manager soon.

We were sold because of the song and dance the salesman gave us. He pranced the activity director in who went on and on about her wonderful activity program. This has been the biggest disappointment ever! Very sad activity program. He was a true salesman and got us on the song and dance. On a happy note nursing had been great and food pretty good.

Things started out good but they started to decline quite rapidly. They had huge turnover. Some of the meals were absolutely gross some were not designed for elderly people in walkers.

My mom loves the wooded views and it is beautiful! She has made some good friends here but I am so disappointed in the poor management. Management is always gone. Very poor communication. My mom said they are used to it and if they need something they ask the housekeeper to get it done. This really is unsettling to think the housekeepers is who they have to depend on.

Food is mainly deep fried and lots of carbs. Not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Menu is not diabetic friendly. Menu offerings should be expanded. Evening night staff is unsatisfactory. Residents cannot communicate with many of them. Often they are chatting with each other, on their cell phones and ignoring residents. Residents who need wheelchair assistance off and sit in the dining room for an hour or more waiting for an aid to come and get them back into their rooms. Residents push their call buttons over and over and over. Again waiting for help. On the weekends, there is no one at the front desk. So people and visitors coming to visit. Others are stuck. Trying to figure out what to do and where to go. Often times when friends and family try to call the front desk. No one answers the phone for hours on end during the week. Communication overall is awful at Edencrest in Johnston Aides need to have their cell phones taken away during working hours. Aides need serious training on building relationships with residents through kindness, respectful communication and compassion. Perhaps they need incentives to meet and exceed goals of engagement and resident care and support. Currently, residents are not getting the assistance that they are paying for each month. I think the problem lies at the top management at Jaybird Senior Living facilities. I think the facility directors want to make changes but hands are tied by upper management and proper budget isn't provided to make improvements. The activity director is really abrasive and not very creative in coming up with activities that really engage people. Her activity room is a disorganized disaster zone. It always looks like a tornado went through it. She should be replaced with someone who really loves the job. [name removed] just doesn't have what it takes to put smiles on residents faces. Activities and her attitude is so ho-hum. She can sometimes be disrespectful. To make sure long days include ever changing activities that attracts and encourages people to try new things.