Sonida Senior Living

We put our parents in The Amberleigh's Assisted Living facility in March of 2017 and it was a nightmare. The management over promised and under delivered. We were told it was a place where our parents could "age in place" because Amberleigh could provide multiple levels of care (up to 7) until a resident needed constant one-on-one care, a special diet (ie. pureed food), a feeding port, 2 person assist, or an IV. When my father left the facility because of an injury and my mother was alone and needed an upgrade of assistance (but not anywhere near the high levels listed above), Amberleigh was unable to deliver. In fact, when questioned, the assistant director said they were licensed to provide that care but it had not been implemented and they were not obligated to provide it! Not only that, they were constantly under staffed and at times my mother had to wait for over an hour for someone answer the call bell for assistance. She could've been helpless on the floor and they wouldn't have known because at times no one even came to check in to see why she rang the call bell. After our sister stayed with Mom to give her the help Amberleigh was not providing, they put constant pressure on us and threatened to call the police to remove my sister because she had surpassed their maximum visitor time. The possibility of a state inspection seemed to be of greater concern to them than trying to help their residents. Actually, it was only after my parents moved in that we found out about the limitations on extension cords and even my mom's lift chair! So we had to hustle to get that straightened out (not to mention the move-in day debacle about their meds!) Finally we were able to move Mom out and back home. I'm sure they were happy to be rid of us and the feeling was mutual. There were some excellent employees who seemed to care and try to help but overall I would not recommend this facility at all.

We moved Mom to Amberleigh three years ago and it has been downhill since then. They have been cutting corners everywhere. The food has been less than acceptable and now they are offering only one choice per evening. So much for dietary needs. They supposedly clean the apartments but do not do a very good job. The Director of the facility can win an Academy Award for acting. She is all about her and truly does not care about the residents. I would not consider it for my worst enemy.

The nurse [name removed] is horrible. If you have her for a nurse you better take your love one out. They are safer outside of the building. Lazy director. Uncaring administer which was no help and had [language removed]. Beautiful building. But uncaring people. Always short staffed..

I had my mom in the new memory care unit. Let me start with the positive: the place is bright and not “hospital like” and the food was great. She was there 9 months. First off, we told them all along that we would be converting to Medicaid and no one bothered to mention that they do not take Medicaid. Granted maybe we did not directly ask (honestly I thought we did but cant remember) but they should have warned us. Secondly, they have a very high turn over of aides on this unit. The ones that did stay called off a lot so the unit was short staffed 80% of the time. At one point we had to hire our own because had been to the ED 5 times because of moms falls and we were feed up. Many of the aides were on there phones constantly. They are supposedly trained in how to deal with Alzheimer’s patients but you would never know as they were loud and too quick with them. There also is a huge lack of communication. All we heard was “I don’t know” when we asked questions about mom. Nurse to nurse and aide to nurse handoff communication did not happen. If you are still reading this review I will say that this was a brand new unit for the Wellington but that is no excuse for how this unit was run. We heard a lot of “we are working on it” when we had concerns also. There were some good aides and nurses over the nine months also but most left because it was not a well run unit. Our having to move our mom was a blessing in disguise.

My experience with the staff at The Wellington at Southport has been unacceptable and unprofessional. Three (3) unreturned phone calls from the director, three (3) unreturned calls from admissions office. I informed the receptionist I would be calling the corporate office if I did not receive a call back. 15 minutes later I finally got a call from the director. Explanation was an untruth. I would/will never recommend this facility to anyone and I am more than happy that our mother will not be living there.

This place is horrible!! My mom had lived there for over 4 years and it was fine until it was purchased by the new owners! The food is terrible. They falsely accused my mom of going into others' rooms and we were told to move her out immediately! We felt rushed to move her out but did so in a week. We found another facility that is not appropriate for her but are stuck with it until we find a place better suited for her needs. In between moving her and a few items and a day before cleaning out her room we discovered over $3000.00 worth of jewelry stolen!! The administration at Carpenter's Creek violated mom's rights to 45 days of written notice before being told to leave. Florida Statute 429.28. I am filing a police report for her stolen jewelry and plan to take them to small claims court for reimbursement payment for her stolen jewelry, as well as, the duress this matter has caused my mother.

My father in law has been there a little over a year. Staff turn over is high. Food quality is very poor. Yesterday's potato soup tasted like instant potatoes and so salty it was inedible.

I am very disappointed with the lack of care my family member is receiving. We were promised things that they haven't done! They never have enough employees. When i'm there its usually one person assigned to the entire first floor so if you need something your going to wait a very long time!! Which means NEVER have an emergency! ! The food sometimes comes and is never correct. The bath that they give they might as well not give it because i have to redo it when i stop by , there's always still an odor!They hardly ever come in to check on my family member when im there. This place is only for people that can do EVERYTHING for themselves. If their health starts to decline which usually is what happens they will definitely be in trouble in that horrible facility!

My great Uncle was placed in this facility and within a couple of months stay there, the family was disgusted. Oh yeah, very nice staff at first but watch out changes real fast. Meals, YUK...food below standards in prison system. Activity director, weird and did not make sure ALL were included in activities. No medical staff that we ever seen there, if any issues arose. Aides, now you see them, now you don't, in and out fast, red flag folks...So to sum it up, really do your homework, alot of cash milked in to these so called "homey" homes for the old, but probably safer living in the hood.

They can't keep nursing staff because the DON (Director of Nursing) who is only a LPN is full of herself. She's rude and hateful. She drinks and partys and rumor has it, she had a bottle of liquor in her office. [Removed]. Her name is [Removed]. She needs to go. She's ruining the place and Waterford keeps her cause they want the cheapest labor they can get. If nursing makes a mistake on passing out meds they blame the resident, if they lose laundry (which constantly happens) that's the residents fault too. If the resident is ill and food is delivered to their room, it's cold. One thing after another. The nursing staff never takes any blame. It's always the residents fault. The place is a hot mess. I wouldn't put a "hated" family member in there. They get away with having a director of nursing being only an LPN because it's private pay. You don't even have to be certified to be a nurse aid there. And they're NOT certified. So desperate for help they hire on the spot. Then the new employee gets a dose of the D.O.N. and they quit. It's a revolving door. They place is full of ROTTENESS! Employees are quitting like no tomorrow. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE. AT ALL. The place is super expensive and you will NOT get what you're? paying for. There are many other places to choose from. Please make sure your loved one goes into a facility that the nursing staff will take the blame when it's their fault and still give the proper care. Believe me, I know. I'm still considering suing them. And probably will.

I would never recommend this place to anyone. They did more harm to my father then good. They had told us in order to have my dad move in he would have to go to a psych-ward to get evaluated for a coupled days and I wish I never listened to them. My dad fell and hurt his head while he was in there and the emotional trauma of putting him in there really scared him. There was no need for him to do that, the community he is in now never did such a thing. It was an absolute nightmare working with these people and I would never recommend it to anyone.

Elevators. They are too often out of service. One of them (the larger one utilized by EMS) has been out of service for nearly 2 months. The "out of order sign" says they are waiting for parts". That's unbelievable.

Not a good place. Service is very bad. Place is under staffed. They promise care that is never given. They do not follow thru with what they say and it is very stressful on the people. It takes and hour or more to be served meals. Baths are not given when promised. Medicine is not given on time. These people are old and should not have to tell the staff how to do there jobs that is what they are paid for knowing how to take care of people.

This place used to be amazing. The staff is the problem now. The turnover rate here is ridiculous. My mother told me that only two kitchen staff remain from when she moved into the gardens five years ago. Went to address this problem with [Removed] English along with a few other questions i had and was basically verbally abused. She was outright rude and unaccommodating to our request. I asked to speak to her boss and was told she was the boss and any complaint I had could be addressed to her. I was actually worried for my moms well being if we left her there after this interaction with [Removed] and immediately moved my mother to a better, and less rude community. Used to be a top of the line place to bring anyone who wanted to retire but not anymore. Too many problems with management.

Do not come here. This place has gone downhill in the past 6 months. There has been a revolving door on the main nurse position and nearly every caregiver. The food is NOT geared to seniors; the food is salty, spicy, cold, and burned. The cooks are NOT experienced in dealing with seniors. They have made missteps on giving drugs and do not clean the dining facility (tablecoths, etc have food on them). Look elsewhere for now. This place is going downhill.

This community did absolutely horrible taking care of my loved ones. There was never a nurse available at the facility nor was there anyone ever there to distribute the residents medications to them. I cant put into words the lack of care my parents received at Wellington, I would never recommend this place to anyone looking for additional care for there loved ones.

My mother has lived here nine years as an independent. Once she needed assisted living care two weeks ago I have seen enough to move her immediately! Disrespectful and rude. It's terrible how they were speaking to her. No dietitian, food is terrible! Keep looking, don't put a loved one here?

No activities. Gem City is a joke they do not care about the safety of the resident or the family members. The food was good and it looks nice from the outside but please do your homework. I would not recommend this facility. I hope this will help others in the future. We learned the hard way.

On day 1, I called to let this community know we were moving in. When I got there the staff didn't know we were suppose to move-in! It was a rough beginning but now things are good. The staff seem nice and the place seems to okay and clean. My mom get lunch here and she likes the food. I guess I would recommend this place.

Be advised this is a Type A facility. Your loved one must be able to evacuate alone in 13 minutes or less and if they can't, Waterford will kick them out. Save the trouble and find a Type B facility instead. You can search the state database of the Dept of Aging and Disabled for different facilities and the state complaints against them. Wish I'd known that beforehand, would have saved us all a lot of trouble, time, and money.