It has been fifteen months since our mother became a resident. As an aging woman, she has had…read moreexpected changes in her condition. Each of these changes has been met with compassion and great care. We remain impressed by the care staff and the administration. Jennifer Brett, Director of Health Services, has been outstanding. She has assembled a wonderful team of caregivers whom we have grown to love and trust. Their jobs are very challenging, yet each day they approached our family member with respect, treating her as if she was their own family member. Trusting Jennifer and partnering with her and her staff was a choice and a practice we were happy to commit to. We truly cannot thank Jennifer enough for always treating Mom as an individual and for working so diligently to meet her changing needs. Jennifer Brett is an excellent nurse and an even better human being. We came in with realistic, but high, expectations. Thank you Merrill Gardens for meeting or exceeding our expectations and for educating us when needed along the way. Having realistic expectations is a recommendation I would make to other families. Assisted living and memory care are not "nursing homes" and if your family member needs advanced levels of care, you will need to supplement what is offered by law in assisted living or move them to a skilled care/"nursing home" level of care. Families who mistakenly expect their parents not to decline as they age, be it fast or slowly, end up frustrated and blaming the wrong people. Family members do need to be present and involved no matter where their loved one resides. All senior living communities operate under laws and guidelines which dictate what they can and cannot do for their residents. We have found Merrill Gardens to do the absolute best for our family member and to have an open dialogue with us when we had questions or needed more information. They were forthcoming with information and never misled us. We were involved and observant. We will be forever grateful to Jennifer Brett and everyone at Merrill Gardens.

I recently had a parent live at Merrill Gardens for a few years, then move out. I probably learned…read morethe most about the community as I was searching for a better Assisted Living location. If you or your loved one want to age in place somewhere and worry that you may need true assisted living one day, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere. If you're looking for independent living with the thought of moving out later, Merrill Gardens may be for you. The point where you or your loved one may phase out of Merrill Gardens is when you need physical help for anything (like standing up). The health services director made it clear that "one-on-one" physical services cannot be provided in any level of assisted living there. She admitted that Merrill was keeping the assisted living points artificially low for my parent, which prevented our family from knowing the full scale of the true needs. If you have a parent considering Merrill Gardens, I strongly suggest that you visit weekly to monitor what is going on. We experienced a hesitation from the medical staff to involve the family. The health services director responded to only about 50% of our emails/calls. When we notified her that we were concerned about disabilities our parent displayed on our visits, she often said they had seen that already. But they didn't act on it or notify the family. The outside services that Merrill partners with are terrible as well.

Franke At Seaside in Mount Pleasant is a great location for assisted living and much more. The…read morestaff here is very friendly and caring to make sure that you have everything that you need. Great experience every time I have visited here.

From the owner: Located in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Franke at Seaside is a continuing care community. It provides…read moreon-site assisted care, memory care and skilled nursing care. The center offers a variety of amenities, including patio homes and apartments, a formal dining room with smaller dining areas, a living room and library and the bistro area and a resident wellness center. Its wellness center includes a full-size indoor pool complete with residents locker area, exercise equipment and workout stations. It offers specialized programs for individual suffering from Alzheimer's disease and related memory disorders. It provides various recreational activities for the residents who enjoy walks on the beach, movie and music entertainment shows, golf games and shopping trips. In addition, Franke at Seaside s assisted living program provides 24-hour security and personal care assistants.

My mother in law has been waiting since October 2025 for her ice maker to be replaced. She followed…read moreup several times. Maintenance then told her that they would replace the entire refrigerator. She is still waiting. . . Please help!!!

Critically short staffed!!! Only 2 housekeepers for the entire facility! My friends room was dirty…read moreand the toilet was clogged. Staff was notified, but after 2 1/2 hours when no one came I plunged it myself.

Somerby is a wonderful active living retirement community! My in-laws had excellent care while…read moreliving there about nine years ago. They started out in assisted living and after my father-in-law passed away my mother-in-law was moved to the memory care floor as she had dementia. I cannot say enough good things about their caregivers and Somerby itself. They provided her with lots of love and gave us so much support when it was time to walk her home to heaven. Fast forward 9 years and my own mother now resides in assisted living at Somerby. The nurses and staff are providing her with the same excellent quality of care that my in-laws had. Somerby is very clean and updated and the staff is so kind! My mother has dementia and is provided with lots of activities and events to keep her mind stimulated which she loves! They really work hard to get them out of their rooms and involved with other residents which I feel is so important. Thank you Somerby staff and nurses for taking such great care of my mom!

Terrible evil place. They are not clean, they openly admit to sitting residents at dirty tables and…read morethen do an internal investigation where they consider themselves clear while directly ignoring any evidence proving there are health concerns present. Ombudsman contacted. Update: they've continued to try and pressure me into silence but I think they should really consider the fact this is a one party consent state and wiretapping is legal as such because I was involved and both parties made statements knowing I was recording. Yall are really pushing it here.

Amazing place to work at staff is amazing and so I so grateful to work with them. Assisted living…read morecome check us out for your family!

My husband and I moved into Senior Independent Living at South Bay in Mt Pleasant in mid April of…read more2026. We had traveled abroad for 7 &1/2 months prior to our move. While we had waited for our desired two bedroom/two bathroom apartment for 13 months, we are so happy to be settled in such a friendly community with the excellent leadership of Mr Sean Davis ( accessible on a daily basis) and a skilled and personable staff who provide comfort to all the residents here. Our move was planned with the support of highly competent administrative staff Alexa and Emily while we were living in Edinburgh, Scotland. Nothing that we requested of them was ever any problem as we attempted the required paperwork from Edinburgh! With the 5 hour time difference even scheduling a cell call discussion was easy and productive with their total access and cooperation. That set the stage for an easy move into our lovely apartment where a beautiful and tasty basket of goodies including fruit, cheese, and candies as well as red wine with South Bay wine glasses awaited our arrival! Emily had made an attractive and amusing artsy door sign to welcome us and to inform our neighbors of our arrival. We were finally no longer "homeless" with furniture in storage! South Bay has exceeded our expectations even though we had completed our due diligence earlier in 2025 knowing it was the best place for us at this stage of our lives. Everything is so well maintained. It's truly resort living with all the activities available. We cannot praise the dining experiences enough! Chef Pam and Patrick insist on delicious meals with variety perfectly served by lovely and highly skilled staff like Amir, Nandi, Lucky, Taliyah, and Ryan. The mixologist Isley is superb with her special cocktails in The Pub and acquired knowledge of wines to include interesting wine tastings. Transportation specialists Bryan and Andy deliver us comfortably and safely to our destinations with no hesitation and interesting conversations. Lastly, but certainly most helpful is Debbie our "guiding light" concierge who assists with everything and certainly has all the answers to our many questions as newcomers! Robert and I love our new home at South Bay where everyone is helpful, kind, and respectful-residents and staff. We are having fun and enjoying life! We feel younger than our ages and blessed to have this "little piece of Heaven" at South Bay! Charlene G and Robert K Stuart MD

I am a resident of SouthBay and love it. There are so many wonderful people, both residents and…read morestaff. I am on my 5th year and yes, my rent has gone up, but not $2000 a month. My rent is still below the market rate. Arlene forgot to tell you in her review of South Bay that when she had damage to her apartment, South Bay put her up in a nearby hotel until the damage was repaired and she could move back into her apartment. Retirement living is at it's best in South Bay. So many activities, good dining, and interesting programs to stimulate the mind. Of all the moves during my 80+ years, moving to South Bay is the best!

I wouldn't want anyone else in Charleston taking care of my family when I can't…read more Responsive, caring and quality. Thank you Home Instead

Care managers or lead caregivers were hardly around, when they were it was a brief hows it going…read more Wouldn't actually look at environment or needs. Many of my clients didn't like their Lead caregivers. Unprofessional drama and leads/managers were always talking badly about clients. Several times, office staff spoke rudely and actually yelled at me.. I have been a professional CNA/PCT for years. Many of the families expressed to me how unhappy they were with HI's willingness to work with them. I was very embarrassed to be professionally involved as a caregiver. Neglected clients (moldy fridges, dirty dentures & prosthetics, sent caregivers with 0 experience and training) they also never updated their care plans, so walking into a new home I often was surprised about their mental/physical condition, & lack of care instructions. Bad bad bad.

Atria Mount Pleasant is a wonderful retirement community that has caring professionals and much…read moremore. The facility is beautiful and has a lot to offer for amenities. I have been impressed every time that I have been here.

When the time came to find a place for my mother who suffers from dementia, and requires constant…read morecare, our initial impression of Atria Mount Pleasant was very positive. They were a new facility promising the best of care and services. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. During my mother's time at Atria, staff turnover was high and constant. We saw over 6 Memory Care directors in 2 years. It was a revolving door of staff which resulted in zero consistency of care. Atria management explained the lack of consistency that new employees were "still getting up to speed". Consistency and familiar faces are extremely important to dementia sufferers. Due to the constant staff turnover Life Guidance was consistently understaffed in all roles. Whenever I visited residents seemed bored and were relegated to the TV room to spend hours watching TV. Atria management will tell you that the care and safety of the residents is their prime concern and that there is always a nurse on call and accessible. We found this to be inaccurate at best and a lie at worst. During the month before moving my mother to another facility, 4 residents had falls that were "unwitnessed by staff". My mother was one of those unwitnessed falls. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance, however, we were not notified by Atria. It was a text message welcoming her to the hospital that let us know that something was wrong. Atria's excuse was that the head of nursing Erica, had another emergency and it was an oversight. Erica had told several people I was on her list to call, but she never reached out. During our initial discussions with Atria, we were told there was always nursing available. This proved to be untrue. Simple monitoring of vital signs when a resident isn't feeling well or not acting like themselves doesn't happen. If there was truly a nurse on the premises, taking vitals would be simple, easy, and possibly life-saving. We finally hired private care in the last few weeks Mom was at Atria. Atria's immediate reaction was to stop any care they were responsible for and hand it off to the people we hired - even though our express purpose for additional care was to monitor her oxygen levels and ensure she wasn't falling. I came in several times to find that the private care I was paying for were being given jobs by Atria staff assisting other residents. As it should be, memory care is locked to prevent residents from wandering away. On one occasion as were leaving, Erica, who turned out to be the head of nursing, was letting us out and told us to be careful not to let the resident behind us out because she was combative and would hit us. This seems like private information that shouldn't have been shared with us and struck me as less than compassionate nor professional. The type of behavior and lack of communication exhibited by Erica was not unique. There had been several nurses prior who were equally as lacking. Some staff were great but the majority were too busy on their phones to give the residents what they needed. If you can't handle the patients correctly then you shouldn't be working there Housekeeping and maintenance are poor at best. Requests for things to be fixed go untouched for months. The floor in the non-carpeted areas like the dining and activity rooms are sticky. Laundry was a whole other disaster. Clothes were destroyed regularly by the inept handling of it all. Despite all clothing being labeled, nicer or newer clothing disappeared and my mother was often given clothes that didn't belong to her, nor fit her properly. All we kept hearing was that the system was being improved, but it never happened. There is a stunning lack of dignity shown to memory care residents. Days went without showers or basic hygiene. Items such as toothpaste and deodorant are locked up in the resident's rooms for no rhyme or reason. Personal hygiene items that were easily accessed were often taken when needed for other residents without any replacements or reimbursements made. Mementos, jewelry, sentimental items, photo albums - nothing was safe. Once missing we were told it was probably in another resident's room, but zero effort to retrieve these items was made and none were recovered. We witnessed and were told by other residents' families that as soon as your loved one becomes "difficult" Atria will tell you it's time to either bring in private help or leave. We found this to be true. As soon as my mother required oxygen for comfort, we were told she would be better cared for elsewhere. My mother's room was being thoroughly cleaned before we had finished moving the final items out. It hadn't been that well cleaned throughout her 2-year residency. If Atria had been able to deliver what they promised my mother may still be a resident. Lip service, false promises, and poor care are what we got. Shame on Atria and its management team my mother deserved MUCH better. Keep your loved ones far away

The Shem Creek Memory Care program is very poor. They use Agency nurses constantly and they're not…read moretrained to care for demented patients. They say they use a Program that groups residents...never happens. Those that talk are sat with those that don't communicate. They use cloth seats on chairs that are soiled with Who knows what.... The caregivers put everyone in fronof TV ALL day if possible and sit and talk...who knows who checks on those in their rooms. The nurse, Natalie, is very good. But she's one person. They rarely will answer phone. Place smells like urine...rooms seem never clean and smell. Don't wash soiled dirty and wet clothes daily. They leave dirty depends in trash all the time rather than bag and remove. Don't make sure your LO was their hands...come on isn't that basic hygiene. The cushion I posted had urine all over it and the "caregiver" covered with fresh pad to "hide" it. I found when I got there. And the Director of facility , he seems to not really care if there's a problem. They have a huge trash can at entrance which is gross...he basically said too bad. SouthBay thrives on Independent Living...the Memory care is just to get you to the Independent Living part. Families have to help,provide activities...how ridiculous With what you pay. They don't provide what they preach. Don't place your LO here. Gave it a 2 because we have little options in Mount Pleasant...but I found a great one thank the Lord!

From the owner: Shem Creek Health Center, located on the twenty-four-acre campus of South Bay at Mt. Pleasant,…read moreoffers a full range of health care services to meet the needs of the individual. Offering in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing care, the staff of Shem Creek provides services for not only the residents of South Bay but also the surrounding Mount Pleasant area. Shem Creek Health Center, in affiliation with MUSC Health, will accelerate your return to your previous quality of life...or provide the quality of supportive care that you deserve.