Merrill Gardens

My mom has lived there for 6 weeks.There are many positives about Sheldon Park, but two big negatives are the mediocre food, poor dining room service and the inconsistent quality of the medical care. Some med aides are really on top of it, but others have forgotten to give her the right med or have walked into the wrong apartment and offered her someone else's med! That's a serious problem, as it could affect someone's health and/or safety.

Chose this place because of the activities they offer for memory loss patients. I find my mom a lot of times not doing the activities, she's in her room for hours. I liked the idea of the Bridges Program which is for memory loss which needs improvement.

The Residence at Glen Riddle is a good place. There are a lot of good things about it however there are some down sides. The person that is in there is outgoing and social person under regular circumstances. They put him in memory care because they felt he needed it. He is so in between categories that it is difficult. He has become slow in walking but he is mobile with his walker. He is just so really borderline. The director is wonderful at that place. She goes about and looks in on the residents. A lot of the personnel are very good too. The staff has been wonderful about working with me. I think they do a good job. Almost any time I have mentioned anything that needs correcting they are right on it.

This was one of the places we considered when we were looking for options. It was more expensive and didn't offer as many things, so the value wasn't there for us. It was newer and they have some great technology. I liked it and it was closer to us so it would have been very convenient. They didn't seem to have anything going on, we called it sleepy town.

Nice facility - studio rooms very small. Wasn't comfortable having to pay for each meal delivery each day.

We moved my 90 year old mother in law to Merrill Gardens in August 2014. It's a lovely place. Lots of activities. They do pay attention if people do not show up. The food and food service staff is excellent as is the resident handyman. Early steps of moving in were smooth and supported by staff. There appears to be problems at the management level. Whoever is on main front desk person needs to be better trained to be more helpful and informed. The fact the paid for TV service went out in August and three weeks later is still out, with continually changing timelines for restoration and no explanation for what is happening is frustrating at best. Points to a lack of foresight /organizational planning at higher levels and suggests a lack of concern for resident's experience as a prime priority. I have had family in other similar facilities in the area as well as out of state. Merrill Gardens would still be my first choice. This is clearly a bottom line focused business first and senior residence second: occasional cracks in the facade of outstanding service can be seen. I worry about the future of the place, as I have seen a constant flow of managers in all previous places we have experience with. On balance, many in house staff do go the extra mile to make sure residents are respected and treated with kindness and personal attention. It always helps to have an outside family member paying attention and keeping track of things.

This is a great place if you can afford it-however, during the first month, there was a tremendous amount of staff changes. The food was excellent when we went to look at the Bedford, but they are now on their 3rd chef and the quality of food has gone WAY down. Also, my mother was NOT given her tour of the place after she moved in, her name tag and also STILL does not have a key that works her patio door! She moved in 6/21/14! Seems a little long to wait considering the price they charge!

I stayed here a year and returned to my home. It was a good place to stay but with every year 5% rent increases it gets expensive. I wanted to get a bigger place as all I had was a single room but the prices quoted were terrible and the rooms didn't have any more sq. footage than what I had. Food was good, activities were enough, and the servers were courteous w/ housecleaning done efficiently. A good place to stay if you can afford it.

The staff at Merrill Gardens in Willow Glen are extremely helpful and cooperative. The facility is clean and well maintained. The menu in the dining room varies but is limited. The lunch and dinner menus are the same, but sandwiches, hamburger and hot dogs are always available. Some items are quite tasty and high quality, but overall the quality varies from mediocre to good. Little attention is given to the presentation of the food, which makes it less appetizing. There are activities and entertainment, but there is little to do in the evenings.

Only concern is disorganized nursing services.

Overall the staff is very focused on making the residents feel welcomed and cared for. Horoko, the fitness instructor and Charlie, the event coordinator, are both exceptional!! However, the Maintenance dept is inept as it takes forever to get ANYTHING done. Even the smallest of tasks take forever! Whoever runs it should be replaced by someone who actually knows how to run a maintenance dept.

The front desk staff is amazing and helpful with everything. The prescription management is my only concern. Communication and dispensing of medication needs to be monitored and followed up often.

My biggest issue is not having levels of care understood. I checked with [name removed] about the crushing of meds and a pureed diet. But about a week after my Mom was there the cost went up [amount removed] and meds and diet were the reason. Levels of care need to be explained and plainly defined.

Roach infested. Poor nursing staff. Poor management - manager left and staff continued. Food was poor at best and always served cold. It was ridiculously overpriced.

Location, residents comradely, Great friendly staff. I would recommend. I like it here cause it is in a good location. All staff is very nice and hard workers and helpful.

Improve the chef and menu. The menu was very limited and one dimensional. Such as for lunch, a sandwich on sandwich, bread and chips. No other choices, no alternate menu. At times, we understand there was no chef at all and just staff making sandwiches. The lack of menu variety was not good.

Touring and the staff were initially great and we were promised all kinds of things. After the lease was signed, suddenly communication dropped off with administrative staff, there have been staffing shortages, surprise bills, cleanliness declined severely, my dad's fees were increased $[removed]without notice, I've been trying for weeks to get a hold of admin without success, finally had to get the ombudsman involved. Positives: the staff in the memory care - Garden House, is amazing! They love my dad and treat him as family. They are just way understaffed. The activities director is the best! She sends me text pictures of my dad and communicates with me about my dad because I'm 3,000 miles away.

I can tell you the staff in the garden house are all caring and watchful over mom. Food is good. My biggest concern is cost vs actual care and services. They are up $[removed] since mom came on a year ago.

Everyone that works there is very polite and helpful. [name removed]the med director is fabulous. I wish they had one level of care in memory care. It has gotten quite expensive for the services provided. There are very few activities for those that can still engage!

Good facility as long as you're not a memory care resident. They don't know how to divert the patient out of memory situation. A worker actually called me at home telling me my aunt wanted to go out .They did not how to divert her .You pay for extra help for memory care level but they don't have the extra help to give the patient .She fell needed ice on her arm she kept taking it off instead of them figuring out how to keep it on The pines Director of nursing [name removed] said she wasn't compliant so they gave up . Memory care patients need that extra care