Morningside Elite Management

We needed to find a place quickly and Sunrise was available and willing to help us with the fast turn around of paperwork. The down side is that they do not have a lot of secure walking area for the dementia patients so this may not be permanent. My dad loves to walk.

Our family had an in person tour and we were just really disappointed and underwhelmed. It looked like a converted Days Inn, and the day we toured it was over 100 degrees and they just had the residents sitting out in their wheelchairs. It was just not a good first impression.

The care and administration is where it falls apart. The doctor at the community has absolutely no bedside manners. There is no transparency at all, they would benefit sharing with the families who is in charge or who and in charge of what. When our loved one was at the hospital they did not think to stop the auto-refill of their prescriptions so after they had passed we now have to track down with the pills went and deal with the insurance and it has been a nightmare. They could of temporarily suspended the medication refill while our loved one was away at the hospital. It just seems like there is some deception going on there. The food was terrible and very disappointing - it was weird basic cheap quality that was average at best.

we've made the decision to move my loved one out of Morningside House. they are now in need of memory care, and Morningside does offer it. however, I'm not too happy with their staffing retention and lack of staff. I made several calls and sent several emails (over the course of 3 months) asking for my loved one to be reassessed. they did not respond to nor act on this request until another family member visited the community and sat in the office; practically demanding assistance. there was also a time when my loved one pressed their alert button and no one ever showed up to see what they needed. they could have been in serious trouble, so that is obviously very concerning. I do think that the problems I had were tied into their staffing issues, but it's still not okay.

I think it eroded substantially during Covid. Pre-Covid, I complained about cleanliness, and they seemed to be responsive. But then with Covid I couldn't go in for about a year. So I can't speak on the current conditions. Having moved my loved one out, the new place is much more economical and seems to provide better care. When we moved him out of Morningside House of Laurel, they gave us a big backlog of medications and creams that had never been administered. Most of them had expired, and the total value of the non-administered items was in the thousands. They have really severe nursing problems. During the time he lived there, they had three different executive directors and nurses, and none of them were able to resolve the nursing concerns. Before Covid, it was fine because I could go in every day and monitor things. But during Covid, I was very concerned about the care he was receiving.

We used them for a respite stay, about a year ago. The food was good here, but the staff wasn't as good. They lost her partial plate. I wasn't very happy with them. There were issues after our respite stay, there were some billing issues, that took almost a year to get resolved. I had a hard time getting a hold of someone. They had a change in management, so those issues should be dealt with now, but I didn't have a great experience.

The food leaves a lot to be desired. The dining room manager is surly and has an excuse for everything. It doesn't appear that the resident's ideas are listened to. Good stuff like coconut shrimp. donuts, pastries, etc have all but disappeared from the menu. There used to be someone cleaning the common area and hallways daily, but that has disappeared. Concierges are very friendly. Used to bring snacks to room, now residents have to make their way down to the first floor for them. No way to get coffee or hot tea except at mealtimes. Inquiries about conditions are usually met with disbelief or the assumption that the resident is old and doesn't know what they are talking about. Needs to have surprise visits and for the bigwigs to eat the slop they serve the residents. Things would improve for sure.

I would tell others looking into Morningside House of Ellicott City to sit in an-out-of-way spot and watch, listen for several hours on different times and different days.

All I know from her is that it was too expensive, too many rules, the food was terrible. She said they never had enough and it was paltry options . Sad options either the $ they had spent to be there. Overall. She liked the staff but not the institution itself

There are activities for those that are interested but there is little or nothing done to encourage those who are hesitant. Also, communication with family needs improvement. Looks nice though and is in a nice location

Recently moved my mom in and it was complete chaos. No one really helping us because the health department was in checking everything so we got pushed to the wayside. My mother has never been showered and she has been there almost 2 weeks. I had to come and shower her because they did not have her on the schedule. I also know that my mother cannot have certain things to eat and I specified that and they still gave it to her anyway. She also fell because she could not find her walker and they moved her commode into the bathroom without my permission, not happy with how things are turning out, possibly thinking of other facilities.

Moved a loved one in and have seen a steady decline in the care. Significant staff turnover. The sofa in memory care is unbearable to sit in due to urine smell. They covered with a moving blanket. The food has also been pretty bad. Would recommend looking at other facilities.

The pros the food is great, it’s very clean, the new nursing director, and the way the residents look out for each other is truly heart warming. The cons: upper management never returns calls/emails, the amount of agency they use, their medication is now stored in their bathrooms with no real security. I was able to pull the medication cabinet open last time I was there and thank gosh the aide on had a key to close it. I could continue on but I will end it with if you looking to place your parents do your research and don’t go off how nice it appears.

Loved the staff - everything you could hope for. Mom had no complaints and neither did we a month AFTER mom passed on 1/9/23 when we received the bill... We visited mom that evening after her death and took everything out of the room except her clothes and unopened personal care items which, when we asked the staff if we could donate to anyone there in need, were told that we could. NO CONTACT UNTIL 3 WEEKS AFTER SHE PASSED. Then, on 1/30 when we received a call asking about the clothes still in the room, we advised that we asked to donate those to anyone in need and were told that we could. Bill time comes around at the beginning of February and we were charged over $XXXX [amount removed] for the time for the room after mom passed while her clothes that we ASKED IF WE COULD DONATE AND WERE TOLD WE COULD. When I called and explained what happened, I was basically told in a professional way that "they don't do that" and that we needed to pay $XX [amount removed] for every day the room wasn't cleared out.

I previously gave a bad review but I am going to change it for now because the new management needs more time to straighten the problems out..Hopefully! If all goes well I will update again with a better review. And sorry for not giving them a chance.

The initial visits were nothing short of spectacular. The Administrator and Staff were wonderful and we thought this would be a perfect place for our loved one who could no longer be cared for at home. Unfortunately, Memory Care. Second day not allowed to use the walker, saw first handed rough treatment when being changed in bathroom, etc. In the main area (not in the assisted living) the temperatures were set extremely low air conditioning all residents had light clothing on and most were freezing. Sheets in room had urine on it but bed was made. Of course, pneumonia. Was there under a month more than half the time in the Hospital. There were so many things wrong with this place and they were extremely understaffed. The Administrator at the time tried to be helpful and a few of the Staff were very good but our loved one lived a nightmare. Ask the opinion of anyone who works at nursing home locally. My intention was to relocate my loved one but unfortunately she passed.

I visited Poet's Walk and was generally impressed with their program. When I visited I thought I was ready to move my wife from another facility. So, I put down a $[removed] non-refundable deposit to hold a room for 30 days. After about a week I decided I really needed more time to determine whether I actually needed to move my wife. I contacted the Exec Dir and the salesman and told them I thought it only right that I release the room for them to rent to someone else. My hope was that they would reconsider returning my deposit since it was to their benefit that I released the hold on the room 3 weeks early. No such luck. They held to the non-refundable policy.. Since this experience, I have visited 3 other facilities which were either similar or superior in their programming. All were well under the $[removed] per month at Poet's Walk and all were very low pressure. I have heard from 3 other sources that Sales at Poet's Walk tends to be high pressure, That was my experience, as well.

This community was not the best, they forgot that we were coming it just was unprofessional to me and did not feel like the place we wanted for our loved one.

This community was not community orientated and felt more like a hospital with medical carts in the hallways. There also was a high sales pitch which was uncomfortable to me. The community was also older and could have used some updates.

So upon moving mom out the mail issues have been a nightmare. They don't have individual mail boxes for residents so because sunrise sorts all mail in house you cant forward mail through the post office if you move out. major pain. they also only speak to POA about any medical issues. This does not work, so if they hospitalize a resident and cant reach the POA they will not tell any other of the residents immediate family what happened, or that the resident is not in the building. The Dr is an issue when they plan to put all memory issue on a self until the get the "know" the resident, mean while the resident ends up spending more time in rehab for breaks due to falling than in Sunrise over a 6month period. Listening to all that know the resident especially the ones who spend the most time with health care even if they are not the POA is extremely important and not done at Sunrise.