In my first breath, I would beg you with every ounce of strength I have not to put your loved one…read moreat Spring Creek. But in the next breath I would suggest that you not put your loved one at any retirement/assisted living facility.
I worked at Spring Creek first in a lower position, and then in a higher position, and I loved the residents and the staff, but the company who owns and runs Spring Creek (Bonaventure) is purely, and I truly mean 100% about money, and nothing else. I can't speak personally for other comparable places, but my understanding from speaking to others in the industry is that they are all the same. So the things I'm about to tell you can probably be said for any other place such as this.
I'm going to make this a lot briefer than I could, because I don't want to tip off to Bonaventure who I am, lest they come after me with their deep pockets and lawyers, but I'll say this:
There is high turnover for a reason. They deliberately understaff and underpay so they can use the fact that the staff is in upheaval as an excuse to the residents about why they are not getting the service and treatment they expect and are paying for. And they are paying a LOT. $2500 per month is a good average, but I knew of residents paying over $4000 and even over $6000 for couples PER MONTH to live there. And for that they are getting a tiny room/apartment, an undertrained and underpaid staff who is verbally abused by the upper management, and who are working under impossibly unrealistic expectations. In my time at Spring Creek, the Dining Service Manager was constantly in tears over the residents yelling at them, but it wasn't their fault. They work with such a severely limited budget and guidelines on what they can serve, and staff to serve it in a timely manner, there is no way they can improve on the situation.
Despite Bonaventure being out of state, they keep people hands-on in the building, and there is no decision so small that they don't oversee it. In response to any complaints by the residents, they speak flowery words, make excuses for why things aren't up to par, and rely on the seniors' faulty memories not to recall that it has always been like this.
The two pluses I will give are these: it is a nice building, and has a feel to it like a cruise ship. But that is how they suck you in. Also, MOST (I can't speak for all) of the more "menial" employees really do care. BELIEVE ME - they would not suffer through the conditions they are under and treatment they must endure by this company were it not for their big hearts. But their big hearts are not enough to untie their hands and allow them to actually help people. Bonaventure doesn't want to help anybody, but only pad their own fat wallets.
I gave Spring Creek 2 stars just for these 2 pluses I've described, but it was a very painful and difficult thing to do.
I truly believe it is your responsibility to care for your loved ones. You can find a loving person or people to come to your home for what you're paying Bonaventure, if you can't do it yourself. And if you really can't deal with your parent or grandparent in your own home, you can find a small Adult Family Home to place them in that gives much more personal care than these retirement/assisted living homes can ever do.
The only other thing I will say, and it's not a plus or minus, per se, but just to add to my experience... Bonaventure relies on the faulty memories of seniors for a reason... because most of them DO, in fact, have faulty memories. In my time there, a lot of residents really did seem happy, so you should be warned that even if your loved one is saying everything is fine there, that doesn't mean that it is. And you should not let them saying that it is ease your conscience about leaving them there. My own loved one hates to be a bother, so rarely says what's troubling them, if they happen to remember it at all. But I know because I am involved. Be involved. Be aware. Beware.
