Sunrise of Mercer Island

Sunrise of Mercer Island is like a big, warm hug. You can feel the compassion that the staff has for the residents as soon as you walk into the building, and the care provided is second to none. I take great comfort knowing that those who live here are well taken care of and happy within their home.

we toured Sunrise of Mercer Island and received an overall good impression. we chose another community because it outperformed Sunrise in all above categories. our loved one also knew someone at the other community, which always makes things easier.

They had a really thoughtful and full welcoming and transition approach. They really took the time to understand what my mom needed, and they have tweaked things along the way based on what she needs. The facility is great as well. It's clean and meets her needs. There are a variety of activities and places for Mom to do things or hang out and be social. One unique feature that we were looking for and found at Sunrise Mercer Island is a secured assisted living facility. So Mom, at an early stage of dementia, still has the freedoms of assisted living and gets to interact with people who are not on the level of needing memory care. Yet the facility is still locked, which gave us peace of mind because she has some wandering behaviors. Since she is still super communicative, being able to interact with others who are not at an advanced stage of dementia has been very helpful to her.

A pretty location and nice building but their nursing staff needs to be overhauled. Our parent was very close to being diagnosed with sepsis (life threatening/rapid death) while in their care from an undiagnosed UTI. Come on people you know the signs of an UTI (or at least you should). There are other options on Mercer now. We moved our parent out of this facility.

memory care rooms were very small, no closet space at all

This seemed like a lovely community and the staff seemed attentive. Recently, however there was an incident that I must report in order to warn of my worry for the safety at Sunrise. A friend of mine, who has been here for a few months, was recently attacked and hit by another patient. He could not defend himself because he is in a wheel chair. The man who hit my friend is remaining in the facility and so my friend is having to leave. I am very disappointed and would not recommend this facility.

Most pleasant place. The staff is always kind. The RN is so patient and smart. The residents are calm and happy. Always smells nice and filled with love and compassion.

An incredible community with the most lovable and caring staff. We are so glad we found this place, they are truly a blessing.

This place is so far my first choice. The size, the bridge from assisted to memory care and personal caregiver attention are all strong. It's got more of a home feeling. The only negative is the size of the studio available--very very small

We are writing this review so that others looking for assisted living facilities for their patents can have the following information. It is our opinion that this facility is not what it once was…. Our parent went from an extremely healthy, mobile individual to a person who could not hold their head up and could not walk a few steps and therefore was in a wheelchair in a matter of weeks. It turns out this was completely unnecessary and could have been avoided. It turns out that Sunrise Mercer Island had been crushing extended release beta blockers twice a day for over 30 days when those beta blocker pills were CLEARLY labeled DO NOT CRUSH. Note: By crushing extended release drugs the patient is receiving a large amount of that drug right away instead of the drug being evenly distributed in their body over the next 12 hours. We feel there is a direct correlation between our parent’s rapid decline and the mishandling of this prescription medication. After the new Executive Director said to us that she was very sorry for what has happened to our parent, she said "By the way we will also need to increase your parent's care cost." Another example of this facility not being what It used to be....Upon visiting our parent and seeing that our parent looked 20 pounds heavier than they did four days earlier and our parent was mumbling and unable to speak clearly, I went into the nurses office and said that there is something very wrong with our parent. I asked, "Is this what happens when they are about to die?" The response I got from the nursing staff was “It’s in God’s hands we cannot know when it is their time” I said I know that .... but something is very wrong with our parent. The next response was “They looked fine this morning and after all they are in the 90’s” Unwilling to just wait and see what happens (as Sunrise was willing to do) I called the doctor and the doctor said to bring our parent in right away. I did so and the doctor diagnosed our parent with a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Our parent's doctor told us that ... if we had not called and gotten our parent in right away, the UTI could have turned into sepsis (btw death happens rapidly with sepsis). When I returned from the doctor and told the Sunrise nursing staff "it is not that our parent is in their 90's, it is an urinary tract infection (uti)." The Sunrise Mercer Island nurses looked at one another and said "oh another one" It is our opinion that the UTI was caused by the Sunrise care staff not giving our parent a shower for over 2 weeks. We were UNAWARE of this (we were led to believe showers were given 2 times a week and if the resident declined the shower then family would surely be notified). We feel these were completely unnecessary and traumatic experiences for our parent and we feel that others should be made aware of these situations. These are our experiences and our opinions of Sunrise Mercer Island. Reviewed February 2018

It was a nice tour and we were stuck between them and another place. It is a big facility for the residents. She would of had a little apartment. It is more of a community living. We were looking for more care and felt that it would not have been the best fit. I would absolutely recommend them to family and friends.

This facility is a mess right now. My mother has lived there for more than 4 years, and their care has continued to get worse each year, while the price continues to rise faster than inflation. The facility is run somewhat like a hotel. What this means is that the building *looks* nice. The food is good, and the cosmetic details are well-attended. This gives the impression of a properly-managed assisted living facility. Unfortunately, the aspect that makes the largest difference to seniors with dementia is the actual care, and in this area, they are failing badly. The facility is properly staffed. They'll advertise their staff-to-resident ratio, which is indeed good. What they won't tell you is that in their memory care area, caregivers are given tasks (kitchen/laundry) that are often delegated to non-caregiver staff at other facilities, reducing the time caregivers have to provide actual care. The reason for the extra duties is that the memory care area is physically isolated (3rd floor, secured, one slow elevator). What this also has meant is minimal attention from management. The facility's executive director has an office on the first floor. She rarely ventures up to the memory care area, and when she does, it's to attend to flowers/decorations/other purely cosmetic details that the residents are completely unaware of. The caregivers operate with virtually no supervision. There is essentially no coaching or hands-on training done by the better staff members, or "leads". Anytime I pass instructions to a staff member regarding my mother, I need to personally repeat those instructions to all the other staff who work with mom. After dinnertime, I'll routinely arrive at the facility to find a living room full of residents, with all staff playing on their smartphones, ignoring the residents. The protocol is to check residents for "changing" every 2 hours, but that just isn't followed. They're in the bad habit of opening windows to mask the smell of incontinent residents. They do this even during the dead of winter, with residents just a couple feet away from open windows. Anyone familiar with senior care knows how easily they get cold, especially once they're wheelchair-bound and become inactive. In my time there, I've had to do everything from explaining how to sit Mom in a chair to avoid ruining her posture, to how to avoid putting too much lotion on her face so it doesn't get in her eyes, causing her to tear up, to how to properly change my mother's incontinence products. I've literally had to talk with the caregivers' manager about staff not understanding that they need to wipe residents "front to back". This problem wasn't only occurring with male staff members; it was female staff, too. Other staff members I've needed to coach through putting on Mom's diaper so it wouldn't fall off. These are all things you'd expect proficiency in from someone you hired as an hourly babysitter. Worse yet, I've had a continual struggle getting the facility to respect medical instructions given regarding my mother (note: I'm the next-of-kin, only child, full DPOA & healthcare proxy documentation). My mother has a pre-existing seizure disorder, for which there is no medical remedy. She's been to the hospital before, but has always returned to normal by the time she even gets there. At one point in the past, she picked up an infection in the hospital she didn't have when she went there. I've instructed the facility not to call paramedics for seizures, and instead call me. They haven't stuck to any set protocol. When paramedics are called, I'm never allowed to speak with them directly (e.g. because they call me too late). The staff continues to be ignorant of my mom's condition, despite me doing everything from explaining the history to their nurses, to even providing a smartphone video showing what mom looks like during a (past) seizure. Yet, when the EMTs arrive, the staff are unable, or not articulate enough to communicate adequately with EMTs, who are left in the dark about Mom's normal state. The facility has repeatedly taken down or moved my doctor-signed POLST form that I put on Mom's door explaining that she does not want to be hospitalized for seizures. I've also had problems in the past, both with the facility wanting to give Mom a medication that I told them not to give her, and in another case, taking her off an existing medication, consulting with her doctor directly, and not me. Needless to say, I had previously told them that I want to be in the loop for all such decisions. Their nurses have time and time again gotten in the way of providing Mom good care, rather than helping improve her care. When it came time to get Mom a wheelchair, the facility nurses dragged their feet at every step, requiring me to push them during every transfer of information between them, and the doctor or physical therapist that shows up at the facility to see residents. They simply got in the way. It took 7 weeks to process the wheelchair application, while Mom was in an unstable state, at risk for a fall at any time. This was *not* a delay on the part of Medicare (CMS). I saw the forms. What Medicare asked for in documentation was very basic. During last summer, the facility found bedbugs in multiple rooms on Mom's floor. The management kept the finding quiet (from family members), until it became clear that what was happening with my mother (red spots on her skin) was likely bedbugs, and we needed to exterminate. 2 or 3 months, my mom was bitten on almost a daily basis. Totally unnecessary, the facility just wanted to avoid the appearance of a big problem. At another time last summer, another resident (with a physical problem limiting her mobility) fell in the hallway. I arrived to have lunch with my mom, and found the resident lying in an awkward position in the hallway. I asked staff if they knew, and they said they were aware, but the resident had declined help. While that sometimes happens, I went over to the resident, who was crying and repeatedly calling for help. I asked if she wanted some water, she said yes, and I brought her some. She immediately calmed down. I loosened the brace that she wears on her lower leg, which was digging into her calf in what looked like a painful way. I had to go attend to my own mother, and after a few minutes, the fallen resident again began to call out for assistance. The staff continued to leave her there alone for another half-hour. They didn't even lift her up onto a chair, or some other way to ensure she wasn't twisted up on the floor with her weight pressing on only one arm. A couple years ago, a complaint brought to the attention of the management resulted in a closed-door meeting between myself and nearly all "managers" at the facility (despite me only requesting a meeting with the director and head nurse). At the meeting, the director either suffered a serious lapse of memory, or lied to me outright about her handling of the latest seizure. After I threatened to file a complaint with DSHS, and make public my complaints (like this) the company's representative from corporate HQ contacted me to tell me they had filed a complaint about *me* "disrupting" their facility. I have little doubt that this review will bring similar retaliation, but at some point, I have to try to keep other families from the same fate, and perhaps spur the facility to re-evaluate the way they do business. This is a systemic problem that doesn't go away with family silence.

The caregivers are really good and i am impressed and feel welcome.However,i have had encounters with a member of the management which left me with questions more than answers.She seemed to know nothing yet she was incharge of the care provision.Disapointed!

The staff is wonderful! They take excellent care of my mother and I am very happy with her care . I do not agree that everything is covered in the cost of the room, though- which is extremely expensive. You pay a cable bill, which to me is just silly- for the cost at thevery least throw in the cable ! Then the cost of care is adjusted as your parent gets more needy- also you pay a daily med fee. It's all in the monthly total, but it will go up unless your parent gets less dependent. Sunrise is friendly, loving, clean and caring. You get what you pay for - the staff take time w / the residents, too. I looked at a LOT of places. My mom 's happy and so am I :) Choose a place carefully.

A bit pricey at over 6000 per month. On the other hand, everything is covered with that fee, and I really liked the feel of the place.