Avista Sun City West Memory Care

Melanie

Melanie's Review Part 1 of 2 for cottage B ONLY: I prayed long & hard before typing this review. Originally, I was going to leave 1 star but after speaking to the new executive director Angie back in May, I decided to do 2 stars. The purpose of my review is NOT to bash them entirely but instead to share my experience for those of you looking for your loved ones. I don't want you to go through what I went through, and I shared all these details with Angie because they occurred before she was hired. Jason, the executive director before Angie, never returned phone calls or emails! The interim executive director Kristy (before Angie) didn't return msgs either. I believe that the staff members really care about the residents & were very nice; however, they are severely ill equipped. Starting with the positives first: I absolutely LOVED that the front door locked. That gave me peace that my mom could not just walk out. John (the chef) was great. He served pretty healthy food which I was very thankful for. The hardest working staff member was Aurica! She worked so hard & did not have enough help during our 2.5 month experience there before my mom passed away on Easter. Their communication internally royally sucked & they have the most uneducated, unprofessional & frustrating phone system known to man!!! When my mom could no longer answer her personal phone, I had to start calling the home to go through staff to talk to her on the phone. 3/4 of the time no one answered. The other 1/4 of the time they would answer but it would be the wrong cottage & they told me to hang up & call back so a diff cottage could answer until I got cottage B. Most of the time when I called back no one answered. No, I'm not kidding, this is their phone system. If it weren't for Kendra answering her cell phone, texting me & facilitating video calls, I would've gone crazy & pulled my mom out. My mom paid for extra whole food nutrition (which I provided the staff with) and they never gave it to her even though the doctor provided the order for it. Melissa claimed they were cutting up the gummies & giving them to her but that's quite impossible when I got all 8 bags back when she passed. Melissa, the health coordinator, approached me in March with the idea of having my mom do a psych eval because she started talking about God was going to take her home & how she was seeing/dreaming about my father who passed from covid. I said absolutely NOT. Just because she clearly wasn't a believer doesn't mean you send a Christian woman to a psych eval. Guess what?! My mom passed away 20-30 days later!!!!!!! I also have an acquaintance who was not happy with level of services provided to their family member, but I can't provide more without revealing their identity & they don't want to be identified. After notifying staff who was preparing to serve lunch, I watched a resident walk around & sit down in at least 1 chair for 1 hour with urine-soaked pants. It wasn't until after the resident ate lunch did the staff clean up the resident. This was extremely upsetting to me & grossed me out because my kids went with to visit my mom. If your family member has medical problems like diabetes, depression, or anxiety on top of the memory issues/Alzheimer's then I DO NOT recommend Avista at all. They only test blood sugar twice a day, morning & bedtime. Google won't let me finish my review so See Melanie's Review 2 of 2 under Linda's name for the rest of this.

Linda Evins

Melanie's Review 2 of 2: For part 1 of 2 look above under the name Melanie. Thank you! Their hospice care was not ideal either. I asked to be notified when they believed the time was closest & they did not do that. I know that the time cannot always be known but I would've liked it if they paid more attention to that. They did not monitor heart rate or anything medical (which is the standard), we provided that equipment for ourselves. She passed away at 7:45am & they did not call me & I don't believe they checked her hourly like they were supposed to. When a hospice patient stops eating, I really feel they should be checked more than just once an hour. They DID keep her comfortable which is the only thing that ultimately matters. Once she was comfortable, we were able to start the goodbye process. The staff was never that busy during any of my visits!! I wish I had been able to bring her home for hospice care, she would've been monitored more closely! I'm praying for all other families that Angie can get this place in better shape since she has a lot of experience in nursing!! They need more caring staff as they are shorthanded. Please read this review & watch for signs that they've not addressed these things! My mom fell a couple of times too & I took a picture of a bruise she had on the very top left side of her head which I thought was kind of suspicious/concerning. I found it while brushing her hair. Good luck to you all and if you choose Avista I hope you make sure they correct everything I've told you about. I'm not saying they weren't nice because they were. They even let me present to the families about whole food nutrition and using tower gardens and I would present for them anytime in the future but that's nothing in comparison to proper resident care and adequate staffing. God Bless! - Melanie

Tiesha Bankhead

I work at this facility and say YES to anyone looking to move there loved ones here..The staff is great and I just love our residents. Here at Avista we care alot.

Haley Olvey

When looking to learn more about quality memory care, my family was blessed to have Kendra assist and educate us on our options. We are so thankful for time they put into those looking into memory care for their loved ones.