MorningStar Senior Living

MorningStar of Parker should not do Memory Care. Prohibited from entering her room during Pandemic, when I finally got in I discovered trash and dirty clothes, food ground into the carpet, gnats swarming dead plants, the Samsung logo bouncing across her TV screen, standing water in her bathroom, and three prescription medications. Repeatedly, I’ve left messages for staff that were not returned and went to a “care conference” for which the care coordinator didn’t show up. One employee called me after my mother fell because she was trying to talk her out of her delusions – she asked me to talk her out of them. Signs were hung around the room for my visually impaired mother to read and decipher. Staff doesn’t understand dementia and its progression, focusing more on rent increases and rules than care and compassion for vulnerable people. I’ve learned “Memory Care” is a grey area for regulation. Please do not put someone who is at risk in Memory Care at MorningStar of Parker.

My mother lived at MorningStar for nearly two years. While the honeymoon period was pleasant, as each week and month passed, it became evident that MorningStar's staff does not provide the care and attention elders require — especially for residents with memory impairment. Despite numerous attempts to problem-solve and reason with management at all levels (from low to high), it became clear — the entire MorningStar administration is unfit to manage and comprehend compassion. Bottom line, MorningStar sells real estate, not elder care.

So disappointed in the disconnect between the marketing staff, management, and intake as to what services they provide. We clearly laid out my mom's situation, were strung along, plied with wine, fresh baked bread, and a song and dance. When it came down to intake, the intake nurse knew nothing about dialysis (we would take her out for that and told them we didn't expect a facility to provide that service). She spent literally 30 seconds reviewing my mom's file and said they could not accommodate her. End of discussion. Never talked to or met my mom. Which in hindsight is probably a good thing we didn't put her through that ridiculous trial. Don't waste your time.

Sadly, the food at MorningStar Boulder is horrible! My mother has been residing at Morningstar Boulder since May of 2019. Mom truly enjoys living there - she loves her apartment, the activities, and appreciates the attentive and caring staff. All provide 5-stars services. Why the 1-star review? The FOOD IS HAS BECOME HORRIBLE during the past few months. Perhaps this 1-star review will encourage the change MorningStar needs for their reputation, and above all, help the elderly and memory-impaired residents who have fallen victim to loveless food decisions. Of course, I've addressed my concerns (my sister has, too) to [name removed] (ED) and the new-ish Chef [name removed]— at least 5-6 times. While both [name removed] and the chef are attentive, good listeners, and somewhat agreeable, the food quality has not changed at all. The Problems: FIRST: The food quality is well below average. The amount of fried food, overcooked vegetables, and freezer-to-oven menu offerings all lack proper nutrition and thoughtfulness. SECOND: Food is OFTEN (usually) served cold due to poor food delivery management. Food should is supposed to be served HOT to avoid foodborne illness. THIRD: At times, meals are carelessly plated. Examples: a) sandwich served with runny coleslaw on the same plate. In turn, a sandwich drenched in coleslaw juice is what's served. b) Hard-as-hockey-puck steak or chicken. This breaks my heart, as many of the residents have dexterity issues (due to arthritis) — these are the elders who can barely hold a fork and knife. FOURTH: It saddens me to witness the elderly, and memory-impaired residents complain about their meals. Food is supposed to be an enjoyable experience — but not at MorningStar. I've sat through many meals witnessing these weak and defenseless people served crummy food. Honestly, I do not take pleasure in writing this review because the caretakers, activity coordinators, reception, cleaning staff, and nurse staff are all wonderful. Again — all provide 5-stars services. I welcome people with loved-ones who reside at MorningStar to contact me to share their experiences and thoughts.

Poor care I really don't know what to write. I just know I would not put anyone in Morningstar.

Watch out. Their medical nursing notes do not reflect what really happens to your loved one. We requested the nursing note an all records of our loved one. What we found was unbelievable. There was lots of no diverse reaction to medication, yet the person had major reactions to it an nothing was written. We are talking restrain medication. One time it said the family wanted the person to have a wheelchair for comfort. No!! That was not the case the person had to have a wheelchair and the family was told what type to buy. There was nothing in the notes expect blaming family for weight gain yet if you looked at the notes it was their food. The family member they blamed had the least weight gain when she came. They also once in the notes said family was upset because they couldn't get into the unit. That was more important than writing about the person health and well-being. In all my years I have never seen such nursing notes. You would have thought nothing was wrong with the person an all was fine. Beware ask for things. You have the right to every piece of paper they have on your loved one. You have the right to know. We wished we had requested these notes every month.

Today I got to leave a place I had grown to dislike. I had a family member in Morningstar. I had ask the family to move her but no one wants to move a Alzheimer's patient they just get more mixed up. But Morningstar ask us to leave saying they could not care for her any more because she got to heavy and could not walk. Which they blamed on family but if they had look at there own weight charts and studied them. They would have seen the family they blamed it on had the least weight gain and the weight gain started with a new medicine which the nurse charted as no side effects. I left for 3 month. The months I was at Morningstar I walked her to the 3rd floor and back to her unit twice a day. 2 weeks after I left they said they could not walk her and needed a lift. The day I got back she walked for me. The truth is they never did care enough to have her walk it took work. I walk her twice a day, I feed her twice a day. Every time I left for a break she went down hill from lack of care. I'm 68 years old I could walk her what does it say for Morningstar. We paid the $6200.00 a month. What we got was they put her to bed got her up. Changed her when wet or dirty. Did her laundry and clean her room. Other than that she sat in a chair. They couldn't even comb her hair nice for 2 years I ask finely the last week they did it sort of but better then they had. They told me once to trust them with her care. Every time we did it went down hill. There care was leaving her sit all day in a chair. They want Alzheimer's who can walk, feed themselves and don't require much care. They will drug you if you are the lest bit upset. Alzheimer's isn't what they want they want Dementia patients old sweet people who lose their memory. Not Alzheimer's! Early onset Alzheimer have Behavioral/Personality changes that Morningstar answer is chemical restraint at least that was their answer to our family member. I write this because big is not better. Big is just costly. My mother was in a small home in AZ for 4 years the care was wonderful. The aid to patient was wonderful 3 people on to 10. The place we have now put her in is much the same. Look for small don't look for big places to care for your love ones because the bottom line is money. We pay $2,000 less now. At my mothers it was $3,000 less. The Memory Unit alone makes $900,000. 00 a year. That number is off 5,000 a month x 12 months x 15 patients. If we used 8 patients for Morningstar like the small homes Morningstar would make 480,000.00. Morningstar has more can have 20 and some pay like us more than $5,000. These small places only bring in $288,000.00 a year. That's on $3,000 x 12 months x 8 patients because they are not always full an they also have levels we are at the highest Level $4,000. You would think Morningstar could hire more help, pay better but the bottom line is profit!!!

Very costly. Poor food. Poor care. I really can only say the CN try, if Morningstar was less interested in making money they would pay better. Help would stay if valued. If Morningstar would stop building they have 23 building with more being build. Do the math.Each Memory Care has 15 people one unit brings in 15 X 5,000 a month X 12 Months. $900,000.00 a year. That's just Memory Care then Assisted living at 20 people at 3500 to 4,000 a month. 20 people X 3,500 X 12 Months that another $840,000.00. Then you have Independent Living $2,200 to 3,500 month. Now take 20 more people X $2,200.X 12 Months another $528,000. So now put all 3 level together one building brings in about $2,268,000.00 that's the low side. .Sink in they pay aids $11.00 so they value their help no.. I realize small places can't pay a lot out with maybe 20 in a home at 4,000 with cost and over head but we are not talking about a small place. I have seen better care in homes of 10 than in this place. I have watch the good aid come and go value. When help is value then Families are happier because care is better. I wished my family member had, had better care some of those CN where just plan useless because of the useless one the good ones get burnout. I've seen a lot come an go about every 3 months a new group of people it's hard on families because the help doesn't know you family member.

I'm shocked it doesn't have one star all together. Administrative staff doesn't care and doesn't listen to families. The food is bad even though they have supposedly top chefs get thier certification of where they got their top chef schooling what restaurants did they cook for? I understand they've got a new director I hope she or he listens better and cleans the place out of all the other administrators including the head of nursing she never smiles and looks like she hates her job.

Horrendous experience. We moved our mother out of the Boulder MorningStar after three months. They lied about pricing, overcharged us, and the executive director is incompetent. This is nothing compared to the substandard care our mother received, including emergency call buttons that went unanswered for twenty minutes at a time—once I had to use my cell phone and call the reception desk and tell them my mom had hit her emergency pendant and wall button and no one was coming after 22 minutes!!, bathing our mom with filthy washcloths, not ensuring our mother went to meals, and not following doctor’s instructions, even after my husband who’s a surgeon explained the danger to them of not following instructions. It was beyond stressful every night wondering if our mom was okay there. They were so understaffed—and knew it. The caregivers were nice, but so over worked; they would always apologize to us and tell us to beg the administration to hire more people. Other residents told our mom they were unhappy there as well. Incredible for a place that charges thousands of dollars a month and calls itself a place that serves God and respects seniors. We feel violated and I feel a moral obligation to post this review wherever I can.

The memory care facility has no cameras in the common areas to prove what is going on. To big for the staffing. They only want the easy cases. Had a horrible experience. Think twice on this facility.

The nursing staff at MorningStar tries to do a great job. However management seems unwilling or unable to correct serious deficiencies at the community. The quality of the food is absurd. The residents continually complain but the quality just gets worse. They advertise an "Executive Chef" experience, which is a complete lie. They are consistently short staffed and simply do not provide a service commensurate with what they collect in rent and fees. The weekly laundry and cleaning service is consistently running days late. I would not recommend this community under any circumstance. If you were to seriously consider this community, I would personally ask numerous residents what they think, especially about the food before moving yourself or loved one here.

This one we were not too impressed with. It seems more of a nursing home than an assisted living. They don't allow residents to even have a microwave unless they are approved.

If you want to battle all the time to get what your family needs. Morning Star is the place.

My Dad was in the memory care ward a little over a year before he passed. One would think with the monthly rent they charge, care would rank accordingly. WRONG. In one year, 3 directors and a high rate of turnovers for caregivers and other staff. The good ones were overworked and underpaid which left the residents in the care of those who really didn't give a damn. Little attention to vanity and cleanliness of the rooms, clothes and linens. Also, poor tracking of residents as far as showers and meals. Overall terrible experience and had it not been for the fact that it would have created more confusion for my father than he already had, I would have moved him from there in a heartbeat. Beautiful facility from the outside into the lobby though.

Things did not go well at Atria Park. We were there for less than a week and they gave us a 30 day notice that we had to leave because my husband was too combative. I would like to say that he is now at Jack's Place which is a small group home with a homey feeling. It is a wonderful place with a flexible staff and they understand how to deal with Alzheimer's patients. It is a wonderful place and thankfully things worked out in the end.

My loved one first moved here when it was still called the "Bonaventure" and it was a terrible experience. We were paying so much money for 1/10th of the services we get at another place. They charge money for "extra care" that the resident can do on their own. They even charged for picking up the trash. Also, there were all kinds of sicknesses that came through here. There were items stolen from her room that they didn't seem to care about, and it just did not seem to be a good fit at all. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

The administrators were good at getting the paperwork done. After that the staff from housekeeping to aides to the service members it was very dark and not friendly. I would not recommend the community.

I would want others to know when looking into Morning Star of Boulder that our loved one was not given a shower for 23 days and I was never notified. She was sent to the hospital with a severe UTI and entered sepsis because of a simple UTI that was noticed too late when I was out of town. She contracted 5 UTI’s in the span of 5 months a year after the hospital incident. The executive director has no integrity and forced families to push their loved ones back to memory care through manipulation, pressure and lies to families (7 families in 6 weeks) in order to fulfill a directive to push assisted living in a more independent direction. This facility changed every single management position, both in memory care and assisted living, 3-4 times in a matter of 2.5 years. Since the building’s very opening, they have exhibited a consistent failure of management and executive/regional directorship. Morning Star puts money into its hotel-like, luxury feel and spacious apartments. They are selling real estate and not care. They use this to impress families, but you would never believe what goes on here beneath the veneer. Over the years we were here, they were frequently understaffed, putting pressure on caregivers who were fired if they spoke up. Good members of middle management struggled to do their job in a responsible fashion, but the current executive director put them under unreasonable pressure and in dubious binds, trying to please corporate. For one year, a good executive director was hired, who did a great job and listened to families and was making the facility better. However she was pushed out by corporate and left because they were focused on sales and business and would not allow her to serve the needs of her particular community. The current executive director cares more about her numbers and career than the residents. I heard multiple horror stories from other families and discovered broken state regulations and know they did not train staff properly. For example, they had illegal hoyers at some point in time. On multiple occasions I discovered only 2-3 staff members on the overnight shift for the entire building of over 100 residents. If your loved one does not encounter health issues or problems, you would never know these things. But when faced with real problems, there is serious incompetency, neglect, and abuse of power. Not just for us, but for many other families I knew there over the years. Due to these issues, after almost 3 years, we decided to leave in the fall of 2019. We found a 100% better community. Look around, talk to other families, do not be fooled by their sales pitches.

Please do not consider this facility if your love ones cannot assist in taking care of themselves. If they need assistance in feeding themselves, bathing, putting clothes on or off, we discovered that most of the staff was not caring enough to reassure the family that they could/would keep our Mom safe or comfortable. The night shift was terrible; they were rude, condescending, and dismissive; and they were not held accountable when issues were brought to the attention of the managers. The managers were dismissive when we brought issues to their attention, and did not follow their own directives in notifying the family of falls or other medical issues. Their initial presentation to family to consider their facility was wonderful; but please don't believe that they can deliver. We are devastated that we considered and decided on this facility.