Merrill Gardens

It was a clean facility. My loved one needed memory care, and advertised that they took care of dementia patients. My loved one was there a short period of time. They did not give them showers, do laundry or did not know how to handle my loved one. They were not giving them their medication as needed and on time. I picked this place becasue it was a smaller community. It was very expensive. It was a negative experience. The staff was not accomodating.

The food was terrible. The staff was not very good. The food is not good. The cleanliness is not good. The invoices is different every month. Overall, everything needs to improve.

I have been to the Pines in Newmarket several times. Mostly, I smelled urine throughout the halls and filthy hall bathrooms. It made me gag and I had to hold my breath. Another time, I sat in on a get-together with the elders and sat next to someone with memory issues. She was a true delight and reached out to hold my hand. I looked down at her hands and noticed black dirt under her nails. I asked her what had happened to her fingernails. She said, "my bum itches, and I have to scratch ." I went to the office and reported it to the woman there. She did come and took her away. Another time I was invited to have lunch with the elders. We were told it would be free. We were served spaghetti and sauce. My plate had at least an inch of water under the spaghetti and it was served cool. For dessert, we had ice cream. The ice cream was served with freezer burn over the top. The "chef" came running out and said we had to pay $20. I said we were told it was free. He said, nope. Never again.

This is not a good place for memory care. The staff is not equipped nor inclined to enrich the lives of residents. It works for those residents who are not able to participate. It doesn't really work for those residents who are mobile. The community is also not equipped to deal with negative behaviors associated with memory care.

Unprofessional and regular hiding of complaints by tenants and Family. Food budget cut to bone. No security. Egos roam large there. Expensive and poor cleaning of rugs - steam cleaned not once in 2 yrs. Bad place to house your loved ones. General Manager never on site or on Vacation

If you truly care about your loved one then PLEASE don't allow them to be a resident at the Ackery or any LeisureCare facility. I realize that it's a business and their goal is to make money but they're also dealing with human beings and they didn't treat our Dad as such. Once in memory care, he was left to sit in his chair for most of the day and all night and developed severe distortion in his neck. He now has trouble breathing, swallowing, and can't even look his loved ones in the eyes. We brought it to management's attentions several times and they assured us they would stay on top of it, provide us reports, and ensure that he was receiving physical therapy to fix the ailments that their neglect caused and we're still awaiting those reports. It was bad enough to move him and now he's in good hands at a fraction of the cost and in a facility that is easily putting the Ackerly to shame. Please do your homework and stay away from these places.

The staff seemed to try to help get things together and figured out but when we were there they were not. The food did not look to appetizing. Don't send anyone that you love to this community. I would not even let my dogs live here.

I would tell others that there is a disconnect between the general manager who wants to sell and keep people there versus the person in charge of determining care levels for individuals and that causes an issue.

Don't think this is for us.

I would tell others that if you have any issues or requests, it is hard to get staff members to answer and go to help your loved one. Our loved one was unable to use his phone for 6 weeks because we could not get anyone to go fix it and we could not get in to help him since it was during covid. When they initially assessed him he did not need much care, but after 30 days they reassessed him and wanted to increase his care. I wanted to set up a meeting to discuss these changes, but that did not ever happen. They drastically increased the price without any type of agreement first. The staff members were very nice, but management does not do anything about issues that come up. Overall it was not a good experience for us.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND Merrill Gardens Tacoma.1)They DON'T HONOR POLSTs.If a resident goes down staff will start CPR until the Fire DPT comes and sees the POLST. My parents have definite wishes and want no life saving measures. How distressing for my mom if her husband had a heart attack, staff would start CPR. This is a travesty to not honor a legal document.2) the manager has little compassion for elderly.My mom has vision problems.She can't see the laundry machine to work it. the manager's, response, "I have shown your mother at least 20 times.I'm not exaggerating"3)We had to hire a private care giver.Once the staff "forgot" to put sheets on their bed, they slept on mattress pads a few days.4)Response times need to be adjusted. My mom requested a medication, 2 weeks later, NOTHING!.After a procedure my mom had to ask for pain medication at least 2 hours before she needed it due to bad response times.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you are looking for elder care LOOK SOMEPLACE ELSE

Our loved one has diverticulitis that needs to be on a special diet, the community has orders from the doctors stating this and they still allow her to chose from the regular food menu. For the amount of money we are spending, we were expecting better care.

I would say not to put your loved ones in this community. We were told one thing and they didn't go through with their promises. The memory care area had residents sitting in wheelchairs. The staff has a lot of turnover. They cater to the people that are able to walk. The food they served to memory care residents was horrible. They had two different chefs and kitchens.

Moved in March, now it's June and I'm looking to move out.

After observing for a long period of time, I have not noticed a vacuum cleaner being operated in any of the rooms. The room of the resident I visit is always dirty - everywhere, especially the bathroom. I have only seen the room clean once in 3 years. Evidently, no one inspects to see that the rooms are cleaned, and that the clothes are washed properly, if at all - especially on the weekends.

Toured this community with my husband. Very bright and a lot of places to do things for Mom. Loved the movie theater and the 50’s Diner. They have a bar, which when speaking to a woman who lives at Arbour Square, it caters to the Independent people more than the ones who need assistance. But, when touring saw a lot of people in wheelchairs; using walkers and motorized scooters. One was zipping around the parking lot when we first came in, almost hit him (needs to get him some glasses). The apartments in both the Independent and especially the Assisted Living were small. I don’t know how they could fit two people into a one bedroom in the Assisted Living, especially if one needed more care. Too tight of a fit. They have several 2 bedrooms, but there is a 5 person waiting list. She told us, can’t predict when they would become open. Said for us to move Mom & Dad in these small studio apartments (separate) until a 2 bedroom opened up. That’s insane my parents have been married for over 60 years and never separated. We were not happy with the lack of activities going on during a 2pm tour. It was like a nobody lives here, we saw maybe 12 elderly total, including the man on the scooter that almost ran into our car. I did see more staff, including a couple during a TikTok video shoot in an activity area (only know it was TikTok cause they kept talking about it. I would not recommend Arbour Square.

no studio option - out of consideration

Furnishings are old and tired especially carpeting, worn out. Friendly staff Price is fair, FOOD IS A DISGRACE TO OUR ELDERLY CITIZENS!! We supply our mother with food to nourish her body’s.

Do not move your parents here. If you do love your cared one do not move them here. Don’t get fooled by the nice smile and the friendly staff. They will fill you up with lies for example that you will meet a chef to accommodate your loved ones needs. Like diabetes and more and that the caregivers are professional and caring they will even walk you straight to the Caregiver office in their first floor. My mother has been left for days sitting into feces because the company this facility has personally recommend is (love apparent) fails to provide care because they just wanted my mother to move here and than charge ridiculous amount when at the time of closing the deal With sales representative they set a price for care including care, if you need a caregiver bring your own! Or keep your family as far away as far as you Can . If you make a complain to the lady who is in charge of the caregivers ([name removed]) she would not even look at you, or try to fix the problems All she do is sit in her office and ignore you until you walk away . The sales representative acts like a boss and she’s the one that calls the shots and when you ask her about all the promises she made, she responded am sorry honey am just a sales representative. I tried telling the manger [name removed] and he just had the audacity to laugh on my face and say he has no control of third party company. First of they talk wonders and personally take pride in the excellent care that my mother would get. Once you have sign that you are moving in they forget about you! even bringing a meal to my sick mother is a bother. I have seen people moving in and leave after a couple months I always wonder why now that i see my mom more often I am aware of the conspiracy this people have moving people have sign so They can get a commission and the more people come and go the fuller their pockets get. If anyone has information how can I reach higher management please share am looking for a better place where there are people that actually are professionals and caring for your family members.

My mother lived at Burien Merrill Gardens for about 9 months before she passed away in January. While the common areas and rooms are very nice and new, I found many things to be average or disappointing. The meals were average. The activities were average. The staff – other than a couple people – were disappointing (unfriendly, over-worked, aloof at times). Most disappointing, however, was the handling of my mother’s death. We did not receive any card, note, or call to express sympathy (such a simple gesture which would have meant much). We were not told they had my mother’s wedding ring for 1 week (meanwhile our funeral director was frantically trying to track it down!). And, most upsetting was that on the last day we were moving her things out of her unit (which had been paid until the end of the month), we arrived to find the new residents name on her door AND the new residents welcome package (with coupons, food, and other goodies) sitting on top of my mother’s bed! This was insensitivity at its worst! I wrote to the Burien MG and the MG Corporate Office in an attempt to find out why the handling was so horrible (and to suggest a kinder way of dealing with this situation – given they had had at least 4 deaths in a week and will surely have more to come!), but I never received a return call or letter. This tells me that it is just about the dollars – not the residents or the families. I would recommend looking into other retirement communities before Merrill Gardens.