Fellowship Square Surprise

The tour was very nice and the people were friendly, it was just too big and I would have been put on a waiting list for an apartment so I went with another facility.

The community was neat and clean and the staff was friendly. communication was good if I called and asked questions, but they did not proactively communicate with us. I would recommend this community to others.

Our experience was just four months but it was very good, the cleanliness of the community was excellent and the staff members are excellent. The food was outstanding, and we ate in our rooms due to the pandemic. The staff went out of their way to deliver us our meals free of charge, and just as we were moving out the dining room was starting to open back up. The activities were pretty much shut down during those four months, but once again as we were starting to move out they were slowly starting to bring them back. We shopped around at a lot of different places and we thought the value for cost here was excellent.

I will attempt to give my experience as both of my parents spent time here. I will include the good and the bad so you can make your own assessment and make a sound decision before placing your loved one here. It is a huge decision and we all want the best for our loved one. I am 21 year police officer and have had occasion to enter these type of places over my career. Some have been horrible and some have been good. Here is my assessment of this place. Fellowship Square. Both of my parents needed a care facility for different reasons. My mother had been battling dementia for 19 years before she passed away November of 2019. My father is of sound mind but was in a roll over car accident in 1966 which left him with stroke like symptoms on his left side. As he got older, he became wheelchair bound and had urinary incontinence. THE GOOD This place is touted as being a Christian run organization. Whether you're a Christian (any person of faith) or not there should be an assumption of comfort that this place is being run under Christian values which would lead one to believe they embrace what the Bible says....love, compassion, service, kindness etc. The food was decent. My father spent about 2 years here and always said the food was good. I ate there a couple of times and it was decent. I did hear a couple of people say they didnt care for the food but I only mostly heard positive from the residents there saying that the food was good. And like I said, I ate it myself and can attest that it was good. The place was pretty clean. I cannot remember going in there and really ever smelling urine. This is something that I would keep a look out for as it is an easy sign of neglect. The caregiver staff was mostly good. Most of the ladies working there are compassionate and good with the residents. There was a male caregiver who was pretty lazy and seemed to be put off whenever he had to do a little more for a resident basically not wanting to work hard or above the bare minimum. For example, My father needed a shower and had been sick so he was a little weaker during this time. They ladies asked the male care giver for assistance and he basically told them that he wasn't going to do it because his back hurt. I heard many instance like this from the caregiver staff about this male. basically that he was constantly trying to avoid any "work". My direct experience with this male was he was "short" in his communication with residents and family of residents. The dining hall wait staff was also pretty good. They always assisted with the requests I made pertaining to dietary concerns for my father. They over time, "shrunk" his portions down a little at my request. They were friendly with the residents and overall did a good job. THE BAD This is really why you are looking at this and its going to be long. The management here was HORRIBLE (I am speaking specifically of [name removed]). I know they recently got a new manager/director though. She is dishonest, lacks compassion and was unfriendly and was primarily concerned with the bottom line. My father moved in a little over a year before my mother moved in and we were private paying for my father. The cost $4995 was a month. My mom and dad were divorced and my dad had a little bit of money. They came out to a private residence and conducted an assessment of my dad and stated that they could provide for his needs. When [name removed] became the director, she dropped the number of caregivers and increased the number of residents. My dad was a little more needy due to the wheelchair. they requested a sara lift/sit to stand which i purchased and promptly brought over there. Due to the lack of an adequate numbers of caregivers, some residents are not included in activities and are left to their rooms and watching tv. This is not healthy for them and they need stimulation from people and not a tv. at almost $5000 a month, you would think they would help people get to the activities. One of the things i would always do (because I like older people) is getting to know some of them. One former resident told me that they never take my dad to activities and just leave him to fend for himself and basically would push him back into his room. So in late 2019, my dad ran out of money to private pay (remember $4995 a month) and had to go on ALTCS which is state assistance. Fellowship Square touts themselves as having 16 beds in the assisted living side which is called Oasis. Once my dad got approved for ALTCS the problems began. ALTCS basically has a contract with some facilities and the state negotiates a lower rate. The state basically takes most of the resident’s social security benefit each month leaving a stipend for toiletries and some basics for the resident to be able to purchase. So, the complaints from Fellowship started coming once my dad went on the state assistance. These complaints were usually in the form of an email and NOT official documentation. In March when Covid-19 really stated to take off, I received a certified letter from [name removed] giving a 30 notice to evict. Fortunately the state stepped in and they let him stay until Covid-19 stuff started to subside a little. I asked her if we could have a little more time because of the struggles with finding another facility as they were all going on lock down out of fear of the Covid-19. Her response was that she was unwilling. They said my dad was not able help with transfers and that it was taking 2-3 caregivers to move my dad. They also said that it took 2-3 caregivers to shower my dad. On one occasion they called me so that I could shower him. I was able to shower my dad in about 45 minutes in his room. The shower in his room was about 4 foot wide by 4 foot wide. I did this by myself in about 45 minutes which included me undressing him, showering him, and getting him dressed again. The staff at Fellowship said he had to be given a shower in the big shower in the dementia area do to it taking so many staff to shower him. Fellowship also said that he would not alert staff so they could assist him with going to the bathroom resulting in him sitting in his urine for prolonged periods of time. All of these things were just not true. Remember, I am a 21 year verteran police officer. Part of that time, I was a detective. Things just need to make sense. So on a number of occasions while visiting, my dad would tell me he had to use to bathroom, I would push the pendant he was wearing to alert staff. Staff would usually take at LEAST 20 minutes or more. This was not the caregivers staff’s fault. There are two few of them for the number of residents they have. Kind of unfair to say my dad would not alert them when it was their lack of timeliness that caused the accident. And then they used this as justification for evicting him. This happened most recently on [date removed]. It was time for my dad to be moved out and into another facility due to Fellowships insistent letters that he be moved. He asked to go to the bathroom. My brother pushed the pendant to summons staff to assist with bathroom. 20 minutes go by with my dad saying he had to use the bathroom several more times. The front desk receptionist last communicates with my brother and my brother relays to her my dad needs to go to the bathroom. She instructs my brother to push the pendant. My brother says he did like 20 minutes prior. My brother then pushes the pendant every few minutes until staff arrives. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. The one of the female staff comes in along with the lazy male caregiver. She positions his sit to stand in front of his wheelchair. I go behind my dad to help lift him up because they have been saying that he cant do it on his own. She tells me to stop because he cant get onto the lift on his own. I watch him complete the action by himself. Then again when he sits on the toilet and again when