Morningside Elite Management

If your loved one is able bodied with only minor dementia Poets might be okay. The quality of the care seriously declined during the past year. While a few staff members are exceptional , most of the caregivers are short term, untrained, and uncaring. I do not recommend Poet’s Walk.

The friendliness and caring are not genuine. My father was there for only 1 day and when we tried to communicate with them they would return calls until weeks later. they were always available before we moved in but when we moved out they were always busy and not available. I would not recommend this community to others.

My mom lived there several years and the service has gone downhill since Senior Lifestyles had taken over the facility. They wasted a bunch of money in redecorating while cutbacking the actual services and care while instituting unfriendly rules. When she first went to live at Morningside House, I was comfortable with the care she was getting and they handled everything. Once Senior Lifestyles took over, it seemed like I had to do all of the work. Most of the veteran staff left because of poor management and it seemed like there was a revolving door of staff. We had several facilities issues and the staff seems pretty unhappy with the current management.

My husband was a resident at Poet's Walk for 5 days in January 2019. I brought him home due to lack of good, quality care. He was left to shower unattended, his medication was given incorrectly at least twice and a Plan of Care was not established. Poet's Walk did not live up to their contractual agreement so I brought him home. I would not recommend Poet's Walk for your loved one.

My husband was a resident for 5 days in January 2019. I brought him home due to lack of care. His medications were given incorrectly more than once, he was left unattended to shower by himself and a Plan of Care was not established. Poet’s Walk did not live up to their contractual agreement so as his advocate and wife I brought him home. I would not recommend Poet’s Walk.

The environment is friendly but the staff/resident ratio seems very low; care level seems inconsistent; attitude of nursing staff is inconsistent

much older facility;1 year new ownership;making changes to procedures;a bit cramped space;Is a Memory Care type facility

much older facility;1 year new ownership;making changes to procedures;a bit cramped space;

My mom is in this community for care. The staff seems to be over worked. The staff does not return our calls when needed. The staff seems to lack communication issues. I was given the impression that they had a doctor on staff. The community is clean, I would not recommend this community at this time due to them maybe not have enough staff. The menu was appealing.

We originally loved the idea of Poet's Walk for Mom, but their sales person/representative was VERY pushy, which was the last thing we need in our situation. We will be looking elsewhere...

Looks fine from the outside. Inside it seems a little dirty and worn. This was the only facility where I smelled something bad. Staff did not seem engaged with residents. Every facility I have toured has residents sitting in the lobby, but this place had people sitting in the halls. It did not strike me as a happy place. On the plus side, there are some very nice outdoor areas, and it is close to shopping.

My father has Alzheimer's. He is often left with a messy diaper all day. Hospice leaves plenty of diapers for him, but they are used for other residents. His elbows are badly bruised from his wheelchair being carelessly shoved through doors. There's more to say but it hurts too much to keep going.

small rooms, pull cords in rooms. Pricey for what they have to offer.

Facility severely is understaffed and the staff is undertrained. Unless your family member needs minor assistance with activities of daily living, they will be subjected to lying in their own filth. Universal precautions are not used and put entire high risk population at risk for infectious disease. If your family member needs assistance with feeding, that does not occur on a regular basis (goes back to understaffing) and malnourishment is evident in some of the residents. If you brought nice clothes for your family member to wear, those will disappear in a matter of days, and you will find your love one attired in clothes that are obviously left overs from residents who no longer reside at the facility. Horrific injuries may occur, that are undocumented and lied about. Unless you plan to spend 24 hours a day at the facility, or hire a 24 hour private duty nurse, this is not a facility that can properly care for our most vulnerable loved ones

Nice facility however, the food at lunch was disgusting. I suppose the memory-care residents don't know the difference. The soup was watered down, the ham was gelatinous, the bread was half toasted and soggy. Even the lemonade was watered down. Only choice was the rubbery ham or turkey. My first visit. Maybe it wil be more palatable next time. I sure hope so. And, I did tell the staff.

They didn't give my dad a chance. They called an ambulance and sent him to an emergency room after only 2 nights. My mom had to pay a fortune and hire an aide. I watched the hired help there sitting there on their phones. Also, my mom didn't get much money back and going to emergency room for someone with dementia was terrible.

I do not recommend Poet’s Walk. I moved my husband from Poet’s Walk after 27 days of residency. Prior to moving in, my husband attended adult day care and was active for seven hours on those days. After three weeks at Poet’s Walk he was lethargic, not able to stay awake for more than an hour at a time; he was noticeably less verbal; and considerably physically weaker. He appeared disheveled and unkempt. When I tried to address the issues with the front office staff they were defensive and condescending; minimized situations, or lied to me. The Director said she was interested in talking to me after I left, but she never followed through. I have contacted the corporate office, but I have not heard from them either. Clearly, they did not care. It’s also notable that this is one of the most expensive facilities in the area.

My loved one was very upset with the quality of care, attention to medication requirements. My opinion is take it off your list as it only proves that you get what you pay for. They used unqualified people and failed to give medication as prescribed.

MH will have their doctor evaluated you loved one prior to accepting them. Of course, this is said to be in the best interest of their care (which it should be), but there is another insidious reason which takes some explaining. Part of entering MH, you have to pay a "community fee" of $[removed], it may be more now. This fee is refundable on a pro rated basis is your loved one "leaves" MH within 6 months of moving in...at least that's the duration I remember. Here's the catch: If they give you a discount on this fee, the refund clause is null and void. They do not tell you this. My mother was admitted and was given a discount on this fee. She died within weeks of admission. It seems that their doctor knew she didn't have a chance of making 6 months (more on this later) and MH decided that they wanted to bank on that, hence the "discount". Upon her demise, I was told to take all the time to move her stuff out. Of course, this is because they pro rate the refund on the final month's "rent" based on the move out date. So take all the time you want because you are paying for every day her stuff sits in MH. So they are preying on the grieving family members wanting to take time to deal with the death of their loved one knowing that it reduces their refund. Also know that there are several items that will add to your monthly bill, such as pharmacy services. My experience was that they continued the pharmacy service after my mother was removed from MH and moved to the hospital where she spend the last two weeks of her life and eventually died AND even billed for such after her death. She was receiving all the drugs she needed from the hospital and she certainly did not need any after she died. MH was aware of all of this, yet the pharmacy charges were not stopped. It took me months to claw back those charges. As for the facility, etc., my mother hated the food (said it was weird) and I even got to experience their so-called lunch...baloney and white bread, about the cheapest thing they could find. We tried to get phone service to her room and never could make that happen...something with the facility, not the phone company. And their in-house physician, Dr. [name removed], needs a few lessons on bed-side manner. The first words out of his mouth when I met him and asked about his evaluation of my mother were, "She's a mess." WTF? He then blathered on about all her issues and more or less let me know that there was no hope for her. Nice guy. The only thing good I can say is that the staff, other than Dr [name removed], was very nice. I would recommend that you avoid this facility, but in Charles County your options are very limited and there are a lot of people working the system by putting elderly in their basement and calling it assisted living. The whole experience was a nightmare

Our family was very disappointed with Chestnut Ridge. They made a mistake in our loved one's medication. And they were not very attentive to him or very aware of his condition. The cost is great, but we've learned that you get what you pay for.