Spectrum Retirement

My mom was there for about 3 years. While the facility itself is beautiful and well maintained, over that time, rent went up and service and food diminished. We found the food to generally be unhealthy options and not well prepared. Sadly, there are almost no options for outside food delivery in Anthem unless you are into eating pizza, burgers and Chinese. When they stopped doing check-ins and discontinued the emergency button service for independent living, it made live very difficult for us. Housekeeping in the common areas is good, but we did not find that most of the housekeepers did satisfactory work in the unit. There aren't many good options in the North part of Phoenix, but we would look more closely at alternatives before selecting this place today, knowing what we now know.

The staff can be hit or miss depending on shift. There are some staff that have the heart to deal with with dementia patients and know how to talk to patients and get results, others who don't seem to care. I think management tries to train them.

I ordered yogurt then changed my mind to get fruit, they gave me fruit and took the y yogurt back. You are only allowed so much food then you can't have anymore. Don't go there

Staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. If in your price bracket great...we moved in and led to believe Grandma could stay there....but Medicare changed up on us

Was told there would be an introduction for resident, there was none. Room and cloths weren't cleaned. Medication wasn't given. Was told there would be a refund, there wasn't. Left room better than found.

The staff is very nice actually. The food is pretty bad- consistently bad and when you are older- this is one of the only things they have to look forward to. Almost immediately after we moved our mom in, they increased rent and then decreased care (reduced staff in evenings, no longer have the ambulance button, etc). You just get the sense that as they reduce the services they aren't replacing anything with niceties for the folks living there

I can only speak on the Memory Care Unit. The food didn't seem all that healthy. With brochures showing various nutritious meals it seemed many of the meals were deep fried. I was there on several occasions for lunch or dinner. With memory care having a much slower pace, there were many times when employees seemingly had nothing to do and were on their phones a lot. The communication was not all that great. For example; if you have to throw anything away for whatever reason, the family/caregiver needs to know. This could be soiled clothing , shoes and /or bedding..I would advise anyone looking at the Gardens to tour the place during lunch or dinner.

They weren't doing all they were charging us for. Plus lately they keep changing the person in charge.

I want to love this place - great location - great rooms. The staffing isn't great. Mom even broke her hip and the staff didn't know where the ambulance took her. Next morning we got a call that mom was missing (not in her room). No follow-up after her break. Would love staff that want to care for seniors, know their names, check on their well being. There did not seem to be the personal touch. If you need assistance or extra care, not really the place for your person.

The staff are not available. Don't respond, too busy to ask any questions. They need to have more veggies on the menu and offer more activities for the residents.

[name removed] was helpful at first. I was given several places near me. I had not asked for Enclave Anthem for my Aunt, due to the cost. Somehow, a referral was sent there. My parents live there. My Aunt decided to choose Enclave Anthem. I was not able to get a $[fee removed] referral fee from Enclave, because they had received the referral from place for mom. [name removed] said she would look into why the referral was sent there and if I could get a part of your fee because I never asked to have enclave Anthem contacted. Never heard back after I followed up. Not the best experience.

Overall happy but also some significant challenges such as high staff turnover, inconsistent service and some issues with response time to emergency response system.

The food service there is very, very slow. I do not think this facility is a good fit for anyone who is under 70.

The price is competitive for the quality of the location. Living quarters and amenities. The community engagement, amenities and ability to go to stores is good. The management is very dysfunctional with high turnover. They are changing prices with minimal notification to the residents. The kitchen has had high turnover and the meals are below average to average.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, but they do appear understaffed. I feel the weakest link is the person that coordinates the care. facility is very nice. for the higher level of care I think more attention needs to be given and to help them socialize instead of just wheeling to an activity. they also need to take a different approach in getting residents that have dementia or something similar to get them to engage more in activities verses staying in their room

Overall experience - 3. While we were only there for a few weeks, the staff should have done more to help acclimate my mom or encourage her to adjust while she was there, especially in the beginning. We were paying for the highest level of care and even with that I still felt like I needed private caregivers to come in or I had to be there. This was because many of the caregivers, while friendly and skilled, spoke very limited English, which made it hard for my mom to communicate with them since she was hard of hearing. Usually, we could write on a whiteboard as an effective method of communication but 95% of the caregivers could not write in English so there was no truly effective way to communicate with my mom. Combine that with her memory issues and it was not a great experience for my mom. I also think it was a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering for the price. I believe that the marketing person, who I liked very much, and who really sold us on the community set my expectations too high. The longer we were there the more we made some relationships with the staff and we learned how to work around the limitations of care. As we adjusted I was able to appreciate the services that were provided a bit more and the efforts of the staff who were really good. Like anywhere there are some really good people and some not so great ones. I think that the basic needs care level was good but that the emotional, mental, and psychological care was a lot less than we expected from a place that claims to specialize in memory care. 2. Cleanliness - 4. Overall, things were kept quite clean. Sometimes the common area bathrooms were not kept as clean as I would have hoped but overall I was happy with the cleanliness of the place. 3. Friendliness - 4. Most of the caregivers and other staff were very friendly. There were a few that were not so that is why I am giving it a 4 instead of a 5. 4. Quality of Care - 3. I give it an overall 3 because I am evaluating it for basic needs care and emotional well-being care. The quality of care for basic needs was good. Getting my mom ready for bed, medication dispensed, etc. was usually sufficient and I would probably give it a 4 if the caregivers were able to communicate better with my mom. Their limited English combined with my mom’s hearing loss and memory issues made it confusing and scary because she had a hard time understanding what they wanted her to do. Also, we had a private caregiver there every weekday from 8am-12pm to shower my mom and get her dressed because Cedar Lake would only give her two showers per week, which was not enough for someone with some incontinence. Since we had the private caregiver during the week we asked to be put on the weekend shower schedule in the mornings and that did not always happen. Without the private caregiver there I have no idea how my mom would have managed to be honest. The emotional, mental, and psychological care was more like a 1-2. I just felt like my mom, especially with her hearing loss and memory loss, did not have her needs met in this area. 5. Staff - 4 As I mentioned above some of the staff were EXCELLENT and most of them were at least friendly and did their jobs effectively. Overall, the staff was great. I would probably have given this item a 5 if it wasn’t for their inability to communicate with my mom due to their limited English skills and her hearing loss. The last few days while my mom was dying I was there nearly around the clock and the staff was very caring and compassionate towards me. I was alone during this time and the staff and nurses that I interacted with all deserve a 10 for their efforts to make sure both me and my mom were well taken care of those last few days. 6. Food - 2. I was told by the marketing person that the residents in memory care would get a menu with pictures of food from which to choose at each meal - chef prepared, healthy balanced meals etc. etc. That was NOT the case. Instead, they had NO choice at all and instead got a weird mish-mash of whatever was left over from the assisted living side. Most of it didn’t make sense. It was like you could have turkey and mashed potatoes along with lasagna, and then a piece of cake on each plate or spaghetti, jello, mac & cheese, and a roast beef sandwich, again, all on the same plate. It was really odd and none of it seemed very healthy. The residents were also given the choice of two sodas or lemonade to drink. No water??? My mom doesn’t like soda and wanted water for most of her meals but that was considered an unusual request. My mom also liked to drink hot tea but that was only available in the morning and at no other meal even when she asked for it they would tell her she could only have it in the morning. 7. Activities - 2. I would have given this a 1 except for the Activities Director for the assisted living side, [name removed] , who really tried his best to do things with the memory care residents when he had time. The marketing director during her sales pitch made it sound like the memory care residents had a very active and vibrant activity schedule that kept their minds engaged. They did not. There was a daily and monthly schedule posted that sounded fabulous but it was almost never followed. We may have been there during a transition time between an activities director leaving and another starting but I was simply flabbergasted that most of the time the residents were sitting on couches or around the TV while the caregivers were on their phones. There were very limited activities while we were there. I was extremely disappointed by this and felt very misled. Most of the activities that actually took place my mom did not partake in because she could not hear what was being said and no one made any effort to help her. Her hearing loss was well known by the staff when we came to the community and we were assured that extra measures would be taken to ensure she could participate. That did not happen. 8. Value for the money - 3. I guess depending the specific care needs of the resident this might be a great place for some. For my mom, it was definitely not a great fit and just before she passed away I was seriously considering moving her into my house instead of staying at Cedar Lake. Again, I appreciated that they took care of her basic needs and there were many staff that I liked and appreciated, but overall I felt like it wasn’t worth the money. I believe that the marketing person set my expectations too high… a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering for the price. Many people I have talked to felt the same about different memory care communities where their parents lived so maybe this one was better than most but to me, it felt like it was a lot of money to spend for the care she received.

Lots of room for improvement. We have complained a lot. Things have gotten a little better but not too much. Big turnover of staff. They might not pay very good? You have to visit often to make sure your loved one is being taken care of well. We visit 3-4 times a week.

We live in one of the cottages and for what it costs more amenities should be available. Things such as meals and cleaning for example .

Our experience at this facility started off on a good note. We placed my MIL in the memory care unit in 2021. There were several management and staff turnovers over her time there. We figured this was normal given the tough work environment. Fast forward to November 2024. After falling from her bed (not facility's fault), my MIL was admitted to the hospital due to some concerns. The hospital team informed us that she had a serious UTI, yeast growing in between her folds, and cellulitis in her left leg. She was also very weak to the point the hospital staff were very concerned. Since UTI's and yeast growing is a result of poor hygiene, we opted to not return my MIL to Mason AL&MC and had moved all of her stuff before she was discharged from the hospital. Even with her out for several days, we found her room at Mason AL&MC in poor condition. There was a urine soaked depends hanging on her dresser handle. The room reeked of urine. We wish we had gotten out of there sooner than we did.

I would not recommend Creve Coeur at this time. Management changed in 2023 and they were not as responsive to my dads needs. We liked the accessibility, size of the room, in room washer/dryer, and the staff seemed friendly and professional. Also, the residents seemed to be treated well