Merrill Gardens

It was a clean facility. My loved one needed memory care, and advertised that they took care of dementia patients. My loved one was there a short period of time. They did not give them showers, do laundry or did not know how to handle my loved one. They were not giving them their medication as needed and on time. I picked this place becasue it was a smaller community. It was very expensive. It was a negative experience. The staff was not accomodating.

The food was terrible. The staff was not very good. The food is not good. The cleanliness is not good. The invoices is different every month. Overall, everything needs to improve.

I have been to the Pines in Newmarket several times. Mostly, I smelled urine throughout the halls and filthy hall bathrooms. It made me gag and I had to hold my breath. Another time, I sat in on a get-together with the elders and sat next to someone with memory issues. She was a true delight and reached out to hold my hand. I looked down at her hands and noticed black dirt under her nails. I asked her what had happened to her fingernails. She said, "my bum itches, and I have to scratch ." I went to the office and reported it to the woman there. She did come and took her away. Another time I was invited to have lunch with the elders. We were told it would be free. We were served spaghetti and sauce. My plate had at least an inch of water under the spaghetti and it was served cool. For dessert, we had ice cream. The ice cream was served with freezer burn over the top. The "chef" came running out and said we had to pay $20. I said we were told it was free. He said, nope. Never again.

This is not a good place for memory care. The staff is not equipped nor inclined to enrich the lives of residents. It works for those residents who are not able to participate. It doesn't really work for those residents who are mobile. The community is also not equipped to deal with negative behaviors associated with memory care.

Unprofessional and regular hiding of complaints by tenants and Family. Food budget cut to bone. No security. Egos roam large there. Expensive and poor cleaning of rugs - steam cleaned not once in 2 yrs. Bad place to house your loved ones. General Manager never on site or on Vacation

I was moving in and at the last minute they told me I was going to have to pay an additional amount of money. My things are still there so I am going to have to go get it all. I was very disappointed with my experience with them and wish they would have been more upfront with the cost of things.

If you truly care about your loved one then PLEASE don't allow them to be a resident at the Ackery or any LeisureCare facility. I realize that it's a business and their goal is to make money but they're also dealing with human beings and they didn't treat our Dad as such. Once in memory care, he was left to sit in his chair for most of the day and all night and developed severe distortion in his neck. He now has trouble breathing, swallowing, and can't even look his loved ones in the eyes. We brought it to management's attentions several times and they assured us they would stay on top of it, provide us reports, and ensure that he was receiving physical therapy to fix the ailments that their neglect caused and we're still awaiting those reports. It was bad enough to move him and now he's in good hands at a fraction of the cost and in a facility that is easily putting the Ackerly to shame. Please do your homework and stay away from these places.

The staff seemed to try to help get things together and figured out but when we were there they were not. The food did not look to appetizing. Don't send anyone that you love to this community. I would not even let my dogs live here.

I would tell others that there is a disconnect between the general manager who wants to sell and keep people there versus the person in charge of determining care levels for individuals and that causes an issue.

Terrible food. Food service is cheap not high quality and not worth what the residents pay. Memory care food is even worse. It smells absolutely awful. High staff turnover. Consistently understaffed. I view it as a money grab rather than a caring community. The most helpful caregivers are the ones who tend to leave and are one day just gone. Not enough activities. Residents are "evaluated" by a nurse via a question based test with a view toward cold heartedly moving them into the smaller "memory care" building into small shared rooms with strangers. food service since COVID downgraded, never brought it back to what it used to be, taking advantage of residents. Memory care is a locked building, no walking paths, just a locked courtyard. So depressing. Patients wander the halls with a vacant stare ... all levels are stuck in memory care together so those who are not too badly off are shoved in with others who have no idea what is going on. Way to make your loved one downslide faster.

Don't think this is for us.

I would tell others that if you have any issues or requests, it is hard to get staff members to answer and go to help your loved one. Our loved one was unable to use his phone for 6 weeks because we could not get anyone to go fix it and we could not get in to help him since it was during covid. When they initially assessed him he did not need much care, but after 30 days they reassessed him and wanted to increase his care. I wanted to set up a meeting to discuss these changes, but that did not ever happen. They drastically increased the price without any type of agreement first. The staff members were very nice, but management does not do anything about issues that come up. Overall it was not a good experience for us.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND Merrill Gardens Tacoma.1)They DON'T HONOR POLSTs.If a resident goes down staff will start CPR until the Fire DPT comes and sees the POLST. My parents have definite wishes and want no life saving measures. How distressing for my mom if her husband had a heart attack, staff would start CPR. This is a travesty to not honor a legal document.2) the manager has little compassion for elderly.My mom has vision problems.She can't see the laundry machine to work it. the manager's, response, "I have shown your mother at least 20 times.I'm not exaggerating"3)We had to hire a private care giver.Once the staff "forgot" to put sheets on their bed, they slept on mattress pads a few days.4)Response times need to be adjusted. My mom requested a medication, 2 weeks later, NOTHING!.After a procedure my mom had to ask for pain medication at least 2 hours before she needed it due to bad response times.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you are looking for elder care LOOK SOMEPLACE ELSE

Unable to provide virtual tour. Informed me via email after I called and emailed. No further information was offered.

Our loved one has diverticulitis that needs to be on a special diet, the community has orders from the doctors stating this and they still allow her to chose from the regular food menu. For the amount of money we are spending, we were expecting better care.

I would say not to put your loved ones in this community. We were told one thing and they didn't go through with their promises. The memory care area had residents sitting in wheelchairs. The staff has a lot of turnover. They cater to the people that are able to walk. The food they served to memory care residents was horrible. They had two different chefs and kitchens.

Moved in March, now it's June and I'm looking to move out.

After observing for a long period of time, I have not noticed a vacuum cleaner being operated in any of the rooms. The room of the resident I visit is always dirty - everywhere, especially the bathroom. I have only seen the room clean once in 3 years. Evidently, no one inspects to see that the rooms are cleaned, and that the clothes are washed properly, if at all - especially on the weekends.

Toured this community with my husband. Very bright and a lot of places to do things for Mom. Loved the movie theater and the 50’s Diner. They have a bar, which when speaking to a woman who lives at Arbour Square, it caters to the Independent people more than the ones who need assistance. But, when touring saw a lot of people in wheelchairs; using walkers and motorized scooters. One was zipping around the parking lot when we first came in, almost hit him (needs to get him some glasses). The apartments in both the Independent and especially the Assisted Living were small. I don’t know how they could fit two people into a one bedroom in the Assisted Living, especially if one needed more care. Too tight of a fit. They have several 2 bedrooms, but there is a 5 person waiting list. She told us, can’t predict when they would become open. Said for us to move Mom & Dad in these small studio apartments (separate) until a 2 bedroom opened up. That’s insane my parents have been married for over 60 years and never separated. We were not happy with the lack of activities going on during a 2pm tour. It was like a nobody lives here, we saw maybe 12 elderly total, including the man on the scooter that almost ran into our car. I did see more staff, including a couple during a TikTok video shoot in an activity area (only know it was TikTok cause they kept talking about it. I would not recommend Arbour Square.

This place is way understaffed ??. I feel so sad for all the people living there. I would definitely not recommend.