MorningStar Senior Living

MorningStar at Golden Ridge is poorly managed, but we have a great casita with an attached garage and the food is mostly good. The employees are stretched thin and over worked, but they mostly get the job done.

The Care Givers are wonderful. Security is an issue which has been improving. Nutrition is beginning to improve. Flavor is frequently lacking.

We toured MorningStar at Mountain Shadows during our search for a Memory Care facility for our loved one. The apartments at this facility were nice. Although, as a stranger to them, they didn't seem very helpful or warm towards us. We decided to keep searching.

I toured MorningStar Senior Living of Sparks during my search for an Independent Living facility for my loved one. I didn't like it as much because it had a large hotel feel to it that didn't seem personalized. Also, while I was waiting for my tour to begin, I watched how the front desk employees interacted with the residents and I wasn't impressed. Many of the residents were ignored when they were waiting to ask questions.

My Mother is not receiving the daily care that she requires even though it's not complicated. She also is eating food that is frozen and inadequate considering what we are paying. This is not expectable and is endangering her wellbeing and safety.

I am currently a resident at MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Santa Fe. This facility seemed good to me at first sight, however now I know different and I would not recommend this facility to others. The food here is awful. The staff are too few. The cost of this facility is too high for the value received for the resident. Overall, my experience has been okay but again I would not recommend this facility to others.

Staff members are very kind and engaging with residents and family at MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care at Arrowhead. However, the turnover of employees is concerning. Family and residents get very happy and comfortable with a staff member, then she leaves. The move in process was smooth and good. The cleanliness of the main family room area is very good. Housekeeping of my parents' room is not very good. There is a different cleaning staff every time and they just do basic surface cleaning. I always bring a bag of supplies and clean the toilet, bathroom and floors. Their laundry basket is always full. They often only have one bath towel available. Responsiveness of responsible staff has been poor. Initially, the food was not good quality and my parents were not eating. A few weeks later, the food improved and my parents were very happy. The staff said that a new chef began. I'm happy to see improvement in the food quality. It would be incredible if family can receive a weekly menu and document recommended changes. I've tried a couple times with the menu printed at the front desk and making notations, X's on foods my parents will not eat and then ask staff to provide the document with notations to the cooking staff. It worked twice with requested changes, but that was it. I'm guessing it was confusing for the cooking staff to see the handwritten notations all over their weekly menu. An emailed menu, with change recommendations, might be cleaner and easier for the cooking staff to understand. Activities in Memory Care are very sparse. The residents need to be physically engaged and invited to participate in different activities. Back to routines, musician on Thursdays at certain time, movie Wednesday with old Elvis movies, etc. Routine exercise and fitness is a big favorite, but also very sparse. If someone does not personally go and tell my parents they are invited to join, they will not, due to lack of understanding. The gentleman that did physical therapy with group chair exercises came in and gathered some residents to begin. My mom got very excited and the gentleman said he was sorry, but they did not take my parent's health insurance so he could not work with them. Unbelievable. We pay a high monthly rate for my parents' care. I understand that we moved in during a change of executive staff. I am still hopeful for improvements with structure and consistency.

My biggest concerns center around the cleanliness of the common areas & bedrooms & bathrooms (truly disgusting) and feeling that they are probably understaffed. Most of the staff are very friendly and helpful and nice. Hygiene and cleanliness of the residents can be inconsistent. Family needs to keep an eye on this and possibly follow up with administration if the resident isn't being kept clean. Further evidence that they are probably understaffed.

Staff was very nice. I was not impressed by the medical staff. In the six months my mother was there, there was a lot of turnover. If you or your loved one is self sufficient everything will be fine. If they're at all frail, you might consider a different venue.

They need to improve on the staff training, and following through with patient care.

We were so excited about Bear Creek being the best place for my dad but a few weeks into his stay, his care went downhill. Those who we came in contact with were wonderful. When my mom visited once a week, SHE would have to help my dad get shaved, showered, hair combed, figure out which towels, clothes were clean or dirty. Never ate with him so don't really know. We were told when we signed paperwork that residents were always busy. NOPE! They only had one activities director out 3 positions. That activities director rarely did anything with residents. DEFINITELY not worth the outrageous cost. We moved my dad from Bear Creek after only 2 months

The promise is not living up to the reality. There is consistent staffing issues. I had greater expectations, considering that my loved one is in memory care. The atmosphere and people are nice but they don't offer the quality of care that I need. They need consistent staff who are more well trained, to provide the level of care that my loved one needs.

It was a beautiful facility. They kept mom clean and cared for. Nice activities. Trouble with medication administration though. HUGE issue.

We really like that the staff take the residents out to the main area with the other assisted living residents to listen to the live music and even participate in the bingo and arts and crafts if they are able to. However with the constant staff changes and shift changes we feel at times it could be chaotic with trying to keep all the staff on the same page. We do think with the onboarding process they could get all the paperwork together better since it all can be so overwhelming and confusing

This was a beautiful and newer community. They wanted to place our loved one in memory care immediately and the family didn't fell that this is what our loved one would need. The off campus activities were limited to the number of spaces available in the van.

They don't help the residents, to get out, and be social. They should encourage people to do more. Overall, it is a wonderful facility.

Not a good fit for my loved one.

We've only had a couple of issues. They have been struggling with my loved one refusing to bathe, to the point that it's just not getting done. Also, she was put on a new medication that she refused. And on top of the refusal, they only told us about it after the fact. And they had some record keeping issues around the new medication. But they're really good at coming around in the morning and at night to hand out medications on a timely basis. That and other aspects of her care have been good. The staff are really good and really caring. They will stop whatever they're doing if you need help. My loved one is very independent and stubborn, and I understand the difficulties they face with that. They have a lot of activities going on on a daily basis, and they post them all over so people can see what's going on. All in all, it really is a wonderful place.

We chose MorningStar because they had space available at the time we were looking and as I evaluated them they seemed to be the best that we looked at. It seems the independent living here is really good, but assisted living does not get the full service that they should. The staff are all very friendly. It is a good place but I think that it could use some improvements.

This community only had rooms that were next to fire dept or next to busy street and would have been to noisy for what was paid. The tour guide also did not know much about the community.