2.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

4.0

Friendliness

2.0

Value for Cost

1.0

Care Services

1.0

Activities

1.0

Staff

2.0

Meals & Dining

1.0

Inconsistent Care

Appearances and profit come first at Holbrook. Caregiving is an afterthought. 10% rent increases have happened every year since 2021 yet care and services have not improved. Once you've paid the steep entrance fee and your loved ones move in, my experience as a family member has been that e-mails go unanswered. Phone calls go unreturned. Voicemail boxes are full. The key word here is inconsistency: sometimes things go smoothly; a lot of other times they don't. Consistency is important for many seniors, my father especially, and this place is anything but consistent. Assisted living has gone without its own dedicated director for months and months at a time. There ARE some good folks working here. Memory care has better caregivers and retention seems higher there than in assisted living. But the good folks here are up against a corporate structure and culture that is more dedicated to empty rhetoric and profit making than their professed mission.

Response from The Holbrook of Decatur

January 16, 2025

Dear Mark B, Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback. We value your input and the opportunity to address your concerns as we continually strive to improve our services. We’re proud to confirm that our Assisted Living Director has been a dedicated and consistent member of our team for over 2 years, significantly contributing to the quality of care we provide. Caregiving is our top priority, and we strive to maintain a balance between providing excellent care while ensuring the financial sustainability of our community. While we understand that rent increases can be challenging, they are necessary to keep pace with rising costs, that we all are experiencing as a Nation, and maintaining the quality of our services. We apologize if you feel care has been overlooked and welcome a conversation to address any specific concerns. Additionally, we’re taking steps to enhance communication with families, ensuring emails, calls, and voicemails are handled promptly. We're sorry to hear that you feel care has been an afterthought, and we'd like to discuss this further with you to address any specific concerns. Consistency is vital for our residents, and we are actively working to improve this across all areas of service. We deeply appreciate your recognition of our dedicated staff, particularly in Memory Care, and their commitment to our mission of inspiring the ones we serve. We would be grateful for the chance to discuss your feedback further. Our mission to inspire the ones we serve is at the heart of everything we do. Please contact our General Manager to schedule a meeting where we can work together to enhance the care and services we provide. Thank you again for your honest feedback. Your insights help us grow and better serve our residents and their families.

2.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

1.0

Value for Cost

2.0

Activities

5.0

Staff

4.0

Meals & Dining

4.0

Great but rude manager and rent increases signficiantly every year!

My parents have loved the activities and other residents at the Holbrook, and the building is clean and beautiful, however, the new manager is very unpleasant and rude to the residents (I've heard from many). They have also raised my parent's rent significantly every year while they pay their staff poorly. I've gotten to know some of the staff and most are making just above minimum wage.

2.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

3.0

Value for Cost

1.0

Care Services

1.0

Activities

4.0

Staff

2.0

Meals & Dining

2.0

Don’t judge the book by it’s cover

We were impressed during our tour here. The lobby is gorgeous, gym and pool lovely, apartment nice size, and services offered seemed excellent. We were fooled by all this. Immediately after move-in we learned how poorly managed this place is. Their assisted living team does not offer much assistance, including when you push the help button. They will charge you for ADLs but only provide assistance once or twice a week when they feel like it. Most terrifying is the people handing out medication aren’t knowledgeable about what they are administering leading to a near fatal medication error. The General Manager was not apologetic or even concerned as we were to learn of the medication error. They just fired the individual, but ignored the systemic issue. The dining room staff do not pay attention to dietary restrictions (low carb, low salt, etc). We raised our concerns several times with Holbrook upper management to no avail. They only care about $, not their residents.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Care Services

4.0

Activities

3.0

Staff

5.0

Meals & Dining

4.0

Would recommend. Caring staff. Good community for a loved one.

It's expensive, but I feel like my dad is in a safe place and well cared for. The Holbrook has great staff who care a lot about the residents. It's a good community to be a part of.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

I toured this community and it was excellent. The staff is excellent. I got more information/education on this whole process here than I did anywhere else. They were so wonderful and helpful. Ultimately, I feel like this community is a better fit for more active and independent residents with no advanced needs. My loved one isn't on that level and I don't think this would have been the best fit for her. But I would recommend it as an option for those who are.

3.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

4.0

Value for Cost

3.0

Care Services

2.0

Activities

1.0

Staff

3.0

Meals & Dining

2.0

Falls short of being everything for everyone

Independent Living, Assisted Care Living, and Memory Care are separated by floors (5 & 4, 3 & 2, and 1 respectively). The activities schedule for assisted care includes "self-directed" activities. Assisted care can be divided into mobility challenged, Alzheimer's, and ADL challenged residents. "Self-directed" activities makes little sense for assisted care living. More group outings that build community is needed. The staff that does the "assisting" hasn't been charged to excel over other facilities: they do as much as they have to. The facility is beautiful, but on a busy street. I could be the Club Med for seniors, but they have a ways to go to make it the Club Med for assisted care living and memory care (i.e. limited freedom) residents. I haven't had the food, but I am told it is okay. They are short staffed in the dining areas. (Name withheld to avoid possible retaliation towards resident).

4.0 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

4.0

Care Services

5.0

Activities

3.0

Staff

5.0

Meals & Dining

4.0

Good place for loved ones

It is a beautiful facility, you can tell a lot of money has been put into it. It is fairly new and in good shape. The care givers are very friendly, but we do wish there was a few more activities. However we do understand they still have covid restrictions.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

4.0

Staff

4.5

Meals & Dining

4.5

Better Than Home

COVID has cut down on activities that they are able to offer. There are a lot of activities still available via Zoom. The staff seems to very good to work with. The food is good and the dining room is open. We still try to social distance from other the residents. There is a bar called the Maverick that is opened on the afternoon on the weekend.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

5.0

Care Services

5.0

Activities

5.0

The Holbrook review

You get what you pay for at this community when it comes to the overall value, and we did not use the care services they provided. Some activities they had were socialization activities that involved happy hour in the afternoons, they would celebrate birthdays with monthly parties. They have a theater that is available to the residents. They also have physical therapy services which is certainly very useful, this community also had a transportation services for when the residents needed to go somewhere, like the grocery store of the pharmacy. My mom really liked the location, it was very close to her home, and we were very pleased with the quick responsiveness from the staff, they were very accommodating to my mom, the communication was great. The food was excellent as well, it was more of a restaurant atmosphere instead of a cafeteria atmosphere.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Verified Review

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

5.0

Care Services

5.0

Activities

5.0

Good Food Great Amenities

The food at The Holbrook is really good, even my picky family members enjoy eating there. Staff has really been great within just a few days of moving in the staff was all greeting him by name. We were happy to find quite a few men at The Holbrook which has been great for my dad who is a widower to find a peer group. He is looking to be able to get back out in the courtyard with his buddies. They have a salt water pool and a lot of other great amenities that my dad is looking forward to using.

4.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

4.0

Friendliness

4.0

Value for Cost

4.0

Beautiful and new. Large, spacious living and common areas. Nice meal options with restaurants onsite. Only 5 residents out of 33 so far in the Enriched Living area. Downside would be they don'[t specialize in Memory Care-they also have Independent and Assisted Living.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

5.0

We ended up being 1 1/2 late for our appointment as we got lost with the GPS malfunctioning in two devices. The receptionist was understanding and was able to assign another person for a tour as the Community Relations Director was doing another tour. The building is new and very attractive, the rooms are spacious and well thought out.There is underground parking with valet service. Everyone we met was very friendly, staff and residents alike. This place has it all. We were very impressed.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Cleanliness

5.0

Friendliness

5.0

Value for Cost

5.0

I thoroughly enjoyed my tour with [name removed], the staff was so welcoming and nice, [name removed] answered my questions and was most accommodating. I ate a wonderful nutritious lunch I got to meet many residents. I Love this place and made a deposit on a 1BR with great incentives.