Transitions LifeCare was an amazing facility. The staff, from start to finish, were genuine and…read morecared for my husband and all family and friends they came into contact with wonderfully. They listened to me and respected all of my wishes for my husband's care. They spent time with our family and listened to our stories. They were very quick to respond to all of the calls I made for nursing care. They kept my husband comfortable and free of pain in his last days. The nurses explained everything that would happen to my husband as his time drew near. It was really a comfort to my three teenage kids. When my husband passed they explained how they would prepare his body and gave us all the time and space we all needed. The room they provided to our family was large, clean, and well stocked with chairs, pillows and blankets. The social worker, chaplain, and nurses checked on us periodically to address any needs that may have arisen. We made the best decision by choosing Transitions LifeCare.

What I've come to understand about hospice orgs is that they seem to attract nurses who may be…read moreburned out from other jobs. This results in transactional care, checking off boxes to comply with Medicare but a lack of genuine compassion for the patient. (hospice enrollment recommendations below) Hospice affords more normal hours than working at a hospital. However, the trade off is probably that the nurses may have to drive 100 miles a day all over the county to serve patients. It's a crap shoot when it comes to the nurse case manager (weekly nurse) you get based on when you enroll in hospice care. And it's a crap shoot for the nurses too, who gets assigned to them. (see #4 below) Transitions was recommended to me by someone I trusted. I didn't know what I didn't know but my initial instinct during the first transaction with the intake nurse seemed off to me. She didn't listen, was not paying attention to what I said (about my Mom's care needs) and not educating us on how we should be looking at the whole hospice experience, especially medication management. We lasted a month and a half before I went to another company. The whole point of hospice is having continuity of care. The nurse case manager kept scheduling other nurses to come in her place which consequently caused us to have to orient a new nurse almost every week. Recommendations for Hospice Enrollment and Ongoing Management 1) Trust your instincts if your first interactions with the hospice org aren't stellar. Unless your family member is very close to death you probably have time to interview another company. 2) How medication is administration is explained and distributed (by mail or pharmacy pick up) is critical. 3) Understand that the first several intake people who call or visit may not be the regular providers you will be seeing. They have to check boxes for Medicare so they may only be marginally helpful. 4) The Clinical Manager who manages schedules and nurse performance is THE most critical role in the process. This person MUST be a great problem-solver, compassionate, caring, understanding and a good listener. Spend time up front describing your loved one's personality, likes and dislikes to hopefully get the best match possible nurse case manager (weekly nurse). 5) Once you get through the initial process, if you don't like the hospice care you're getting it's fairly easy to transition to another company (assuming you have POA for your loved one). 6) Make sure your POA and Healthcare POA are updated. If you had documents drafted years ago, they may not be specific enough for today's requirements. 7) If you have a life alert system you can give the hospice company number to the life alert system company so 9-1-1 won't get called in an emergency. 8) LPN's have more authority with medications than RN's but Medicare requires RN's to visit at least once every other week. 9) Hospice nurses understand that the closer to the end of life someone is, the less interested in eating they will be. Also, people at the end of life will sleep more. So keep track of eating and sleeping because the nurses will be most interested in that in addition to pain management. 10) Document changes in health in advance of nurse visits even if it's jotting small notes on a calendar because over time all the days blend together.

My mother-in-law stayed at Spring Arbor, Raleigh NC from 2012 to 2014. Now, my mother is in the…read moreplace that my wife's mother was as far as mentally when we decided to place her mother here. My mother has Alzheimer's disease and we want to transport her from her home in Southern Pines to where we live here in Raleigh. I immediately thought of Spring Arbor as the place for her to go. My mother-in-law got such great treatment and loving care and that's what I want my mother to receive. It's hard enough making that hard decision to place her in a facility. I just want her to go to a place that I know will care for her the same way that I would.

The staff at spring arbor--particularly those in the memory care unit--are some of the nicest, most…read morecompassionate people I have met. My family had experience with three different facilities and the care, concern, and communication that I saw from spring arbor staff was top notch. The facilities are clean and the staff is incredibly professional. My grandmother recently passed and the staff went to extraordinary measures to provide her comfort and showed such generosity of time and spirit to my family in a very difficult time. Truly, they made our experience as positive and low stress as it possibly could have been--I am so thankful my family was able to entrust my grandmother to their care.

My visit to Magnolia Glen was great. My mother lives there and I enjoy going to visit her…read more Thank you for taking care of my mom! Meri Sherson

I visited to do a Catholic Communion service. The residents who participated seemed to be grateful…read moreto be there and told me there was always help when they needed it. The areas I was in appeared clean and safe and well maintained. i would consider Magnolia Glen for my own future needs.

My mom is in memory care at TerraBella Northridge, she has been there nearly 2 years now. The…read morestaff is amazing; very caring, nurturing and loving. Mom is happy with the food, activities, crafts and medical care she receives there. I could not say enough about the staff, there is little turnover so there is stability and consistency.

My wife was admitted to TerraBella North Ridge about 6 weeks ago to the memory care unit and needed…read morehelp for all the daily living catagories. I had reviewed 3 other facilities and took my time in evaluating each as I was not pushed to make a quick decision. I made a number of inquiries to them as I learned more about Long Term Care and determining what was important for the care of my wife. The sales group was very helpful and getting information that I requested and provided information they anticipated that I might need in planning. After about 4 weeks, I decided that TerraBella North Ridge was the facility that met my budget and care concerns. Lot of paperwork to be completed but that went pretty smooth. I made a number of trips to visit my wife at different times to see how the memory care unit was being run. The care staff were impressive in how they care for the residents. They are outgoing and helpful in the care of the residents. The memory care unit has residents with various needs and they work to meet them. I was not aware that TerraBella has PAs that can take over the role of Primary Care Provider so the residents do not have to go out which would have been a problem for me. There are also long term pharmacies that can provide the needed medications that packaged to TerraBella requirements. I continued to learn other things the care group does such as some hair trimming and trimming finger nails. I checked on the dining offerings and the food served was good. They have food that is prepared in different ways that the resident may need. I have been impressed with TerraBella in providing all the needed care that my wife needs. I would recommend that you setup an appointment to see the facility and talk with with staff there if you are looking for assisted living or memory care.

Mom has been living at BH Assisted Living on Falls Church Rd for 3 1/2 years. This review is…read moreunsolicited. I'm just filled with gratitude for their caring and their competence over the years. Mom's dementia and physical needs have grown, but their care has only risen to meet her needs. I trust them completely. If I have had any requests, they have happily complied. "Word to the wise" ; Its a huge thing to have no regrets about where you placed your parents.

What a lovely place this is !!! I am speaking from the experience of my moms placement into their…read moreassisted living facility. First of all the facility itself couldn't be more beautiful. The grounds are spotless and the outdoor space for the residents is inviting an accessible. There are always activities and at least a weekly outing. The aides and nursing staff are friendly and helpful. My mom has not been here long but everyone on staff has been more than accommodating to her needs. The food is delicious. We live close by and are excited to take this new journey with the staff of the Reserve. If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

I moved here because of the friendliness of the people -- residents and staff. That continues to be…read morethe norm. Covid was handled beautifully with masking required and meal delivery to apartments. Unfortunately, things haven't bounced back as much as hoped, impacted by short staffing and staff turnover. During the time of lowest staffing, menus and meal preparation went downhill; however, things are improving significantly. Staffing situations have also caused maintenance and housekeeping to be below par, but the light at this particular tunnel is beginning to be visible. Parking remains abysmal for residents. Improvements have been promised for months but nothing has changed. There are many opportunities for activities, movies, special dining events, vaccinations, and others. I will remain a happy member of the Reserve community.

Great things happening at Atria Oakridge! Jessica Meredith and her team are doing a FANTASTIC job!…read moreNot only do Jess and her team truly care about the the resident's health and safety, they care about each resident's happiness, and experience living at Atria. Where will you see the before-mentioned great things? The dining room experience, working with residents' requests and concerns, more opportunities to socially interact and get out into the community. Thank you Atria Oakridge!!!

We moved my mom to Atria Oakridge in September 2016. She could no longer live by herself and while…read moreshe didn't want to leave her home state and her church family and friends she knew she needed to be closer to us. For the first couple of months Mom really missed her church and her friends from home (and still does) but the friendliness of the Atria staff and the other residents soon won her over! She was very impressed with how quickly everyone learned and greeted her by name and being very social loves all the activities that the Atria provides on a daily basis. Some of her favorite activities are when Cathy takes her and the other residents to Trader Joes and when Refuge Church comes in and does a monthly hymn sing! If you ever visit the Atria, Mom would be to first to show you her apartment with screened in porch and would tell you exactly what her favorite meals are as well as dessert- cappuccino crunch ice cream! Joyce and all the staff are to be commended for making such a welcoming, caring place for seniors to live! We feel blessed to have Mom near by in such a nice, safe place!

This is a small care home located in the MacGregor Downs neighborhood. A maximum of 6 residents…read moreare cared for. My mother was here for a very short period of time. She was admitted on Sept 11, 2023. The facility is clean and there are several caregivers who are qualified to work with the elderly and those with dementia. Most of the caregivers are NOT. If a facility encourages you to use their "in house" physician, you should NOT !! We gladly signed up for both Physician and (we were highly encouraged to sign up for) psychiatric care. My 95 year old mother had NEVER had any psychiatric issues. We found out that these professionals worked for the owner and not for us. Since the staff did not want to spend any time actually caring for mom, they tagged her as a "dementia problem" and started to medicate her. She was so over medicated that she could barely speak or hold her head up. After a few weeks, she was unable to feed herself. We pleaded with the owner to stop the meds. My mom was NOT able to clear them from her system and we knew that they were building up day after day after day. They had her in diapers (she was NOT in diapers when she was admitted). It was like nothing you could ever imagine !! Finally, the drugs became too much and mom complained of chest pain. Even though she was a Hospice patient, we called EMS (we knew this was out of the ordinary for her). After arriving at the ER, the Dr's could all agree that she was suffering from the effects of "polypharmacy". "Too many meds onboard". They had caused her respiration to be so depressed that she had just begun to develop aspiration pneumonia. It took a week in the hospital for her to detox. As soon as she was admitted to the hospital, the owner EVICTED her !! Said she was a threat to the other residents. This was a 95 year old who they had tethered to oxygen. Both rotator cuffs are torn and she cannot raise her arms. She evicted us with NO NOTICE !!!!! So wrong --------- Our Hospice team can agree with us that mom was in no way a threat to anyone. Upon eviction, she threated us with a trespass order if we were to step foot back into the house to pack up mom's belongings. She was afraid we would share with the other residents what had happened. And to top things off, Tara shorted us $2459.96 on the refund owed. She evicted mom on Nov 4. We had just paid $9800 for the month. You do the math. Refund sent was $6033.20. You CANNOT threaten someone with trespass and then CHARGE them to pack up and send their stuff. I have sent my report to NCDHHS. Multiple resident's rights were violated. DO NOT by any means, place your loved one in any facility that this lady runs. She actually has another house on the other side of Cary. We are awaiting the NCDHHS report. I doubt anything will be done but at least we have made other aware of our experience. Just another note - once mom was discharged from the hospital, she was her old sweet self. NO more drugs. She was no longer incontinent. She was eating and feeding herself. Our Hospice team can collaborate this.

Prior to my mom moving into The Retreat care home we were told by the owner that they would work…read morewith her to help make her legs stronger, so that she could stand and transfer better. This sounded like a great place for my mom and I was very hopeful that it would be. Yet, sadly, it was the complete opposite. The first issue started around the second week my mom was in The Retreat. We were told that my mother had such bad anxiety she would need to be medicated or she would be forced to leave the home. We were very hesitant to medicate my 95 year old mother who has never needed anxiety meds or even received an anxiety diagnosis. The owner strongly recommended we use their house doctor and house psychiatrist. I feel the house physicians work more for the owner and not so much for your loved one. However, it was decided she needed a sleeping medication, risperidone around the clock and as needed for anxiety and lorazepam as needed for anxiety . Shortly after starting the meds my mother became more and more sedated. It got to the point where she was sleeping through meals and was so weak she couldn't pick up her water bottle or silverware to feed herself. We kept asking if the medications could be reduced but the owner of the facility kept saying "her dementia is getting worse" and they refused to decrease them. We never believed that her dementia was getting worse and knew it was from all the psych medications they insisted she needed. Another one of my issues was that the owner's main method of communication was through email. She did not like texting or communicating directly with us. Her emails would be LONG and most of the information was simply not true. She would also copy upwards of 14 people on these emails, most of whom had never even worked with my mother. I think it is likely she used this as a form of intimidation. After several weeks of my mother taking the new medications, she required oxygen.This came as a shock to me, as my mother has never needed oxygen before, and this need seemed to arise from the new medications. On my mother's last day at the house, she complained of chest pain. EMS was called and she was transported to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital we were told by their doctors that just because my mom had good renal function elderly patients should not take those medications, The physician further explained that those medications are on the BEERS list, a list of medications that are notoriously difficult for elderly patients to metabolize. They caused her to have such respiratory depression that she couldn't inflate her lungs fully thus causing fluid in her lungs and aspiration pneumonia. We were told some facilities use the medications as a chemical restraint. All psych meds were discontinued in the hospital.After several long days her body cleared the meds and she returned to her normal state. Our Hospice team can attest that she returned to her normal state once all medications were discontinued. The owner evicted my mom while she was still in the hospital saying she was a threat to the other residents. To this day, I think that is comical, as mom was in a wheelchair and highly sedated while at the facility. This didn't matter too much to me, because after knowing that the medications they insisted she needed caused my mothers stay at the hospital, I knew I could never put my mother under their care again. Upon telling us my mother was evicted, she also told us we could not pack up her belongings. She stated we would be trespassing and if we showed up at the house she would file a restraining order against us. I think she was afraid we would speak with other residents or their families and tell them what happened. She charged us $500 to pack up all my mom's belongings, which again was forced since we were not allowed back at the house. Knowing what I do now, I would never recommend the Retreat to anyone. It was such a bad experience for my mom and for our entire family.