Monark Grove Madison

Imagine you are a senior who is fully cognizant and independent, and you wake up every day inexplicably in an unfamiliar place where people you don't know do the following: say you need to take a shower now and inform you that they will be staying in the room while you do so; tell you that you're wrong when you bring up a concern you have; and tell you that you can't leave this place without a doctor's order. Would you respond calmly in these situations, or would they cause you confusion, worry, indignation, and agitation? That's just a taste of what my dad's experience was like at Madison Crossings. My dad has Alzheimers and now needs a memory care facility. He also has anosognosia, which means he is unaware of having any disability whatsoever, physical or cognitive. Anosognosia poses additional challenges to caring for a person with Alzheimers because the person doesn't realize that they no longer perform ADLs independently and therefore need prompting and supervision, yet such prompts and supervision must be delivered in a covert manner in order to preserve the person's dignity and avoid offending, upsetting, or angering them. One would assume that memory care facility directors and staff would utilize strategies such as therapeutic fibs and appropriate words and demeanor with dementia patients in their care, but that is not the case with Madison Crossings. In addition to not demonstrating such strategies, their (now former) memory care director exhibited extremely unprofessional and legally questionable behavior in the following instances: she was complicit in changing my father's medications without the knowledge or consent of our family; she argued with my dad about the accuracy of a complaint he came to her with (arguing with someone with dementia is pointless and only serves to agitate the person with dementia); during a conference call with our family about Dad, she was hostile and often interrupted and spoke over us when we were talking; and she outright lied about incidents involving our dad on many occasions, especially to create an inaccurate portrayal of him. I also had concerns about many (not all) other staff members, some of whom are on staff and some who are from an outside agency. During most of our visits, we rarely saw staff engaging with residents. On one of our visits with our dad, a female resident intruded and began telling Dad to get back to work, to which Dad told her to mind her own business and leave; the conversation got a bit heated, yet three staff members who were chatting together nearby didn't intervene to distract and remove the intrusive resident. It also didn't seem like many of the staff utilized strategies such as I mentioned above to de-escalate things when a resident becomes agitated or to notice patterns of behavior and intervene proactively to circumvent agitation. Another concern we had is that even though they publish an activity calendar, we saw very few activities during our visits and those were either BINGO or coloring pages. People with Alzheimer's need cognitive, social, and physical stimulation, yet during most of our visits we saw residents sitting in front of the TV or wandering the halls if they weren't in their rooms. Don't be swayed by the newness and hype of Madison Crossings. Our dad's two months there were a nightmare for him and all of us. I could write pages about the horrific ordeal we went through, but there is a character limit.

We pulled our mother out of memory care at Monark after 4 months. At different times we found her running a temp and with edema - neither time had they treated her. Cleanliness of rooms and hygiene of residence is definitely not a priority. We also had issues with staff not following the documented care instructions - simple things like use of a bedtime adult diaper. Monark seemed to be betting that our family wouldn't be visiting Mom much and wouldn't notice their lack of care. Staff literally told us they weren't given adequate training. Someone in housekeeping also told us their instructions about laundry service was not consistent with what prospective residents were promised. It was a hard decision to leave Monark, however, change is difficult for memory care patience. Six months later, we're very happy with Mom's current facility.

This questionnaire is so hard to answer. When we moved in a few months ago, everything was absolutely perfect! But we have noticed over the past month or so, it is not as clean, there is a skeleton staff, all of the wonderful nurses, housekeeping, and caretakers that we have had aren’t there anymore. I am very concerned about activities for my mother who is in memory care. Things seem to have gone downhill fast. I used to recommend Monark Grove 100% but I have my doubts right now. I still love the care that my mother gets. I have no intentions of moving her. But it is not the same as when we moved her in a few months ago. So, if I had to answer the questionnaire from a few months ago, I would give everything 100%! Today, not so much. And I also still think there needs to be a puzzle table in memory care. And the joy rides that used to take place on Friday mornings are not happening anymore. They need to resume!

I think this would be a nice place just need a new director and a few more new people...Mrs. [name removed] really doesn't know how to talk to anyone ,she is very disrespectful and Unprofessional...I wouldn't let my pet stay in this facility

I assumed that memory care directors and staff would utilize strategies such as therapeutic fibs and appropriate words and demeanor with dementia patients in their care, but that is not the case with Madison Crossings. In addition to not demonstrating such strategies, their (now former) memory care director exhibited extremely unprofessional and legally questionable behavior in the following instances: she was complicit in changing my dad's medications without our knowledge or consent; she argued with my dad about the accuracy of a complaint he came to her with; during a conference with our family about Dad, she was hostile and often interrupted us when we were talking; and she lied about incidents involving our dad on many occasions, especially to create an inaccurate portrayal of him. It also didn't seem like many staff utilized strategies to de-escalate things when a resident becomes agitated or to notice patterns of behavior and intervene proactively to circumvent agitation.

The interaction with staff was very good. Lots of activities. The value for money is really good. A few reasons I picked this community is because, they were closer to my house, it was a brand new facilty, very clean, it is a good location, and they care for the residents very well.

The only reason I didn't give an overall rating of 5 is the facility is brand new, and there have been some growing pains getting their standard operating procedure in place, but that's to be expected. Everything was very upfront, with the exception of some details in the pricing that I wasn't made aware of until I signed the contract. But other than that, I've been pleased with everything and how upfront they were. The staff are all very friendly and seem very concerned about both my parents. And they call me whenever there's any kind of hiccup.

Although Madison Crossing isn’t open as of yet I have attended informationals about this unique property. Phoenix Senior Living is new to Madison and offers such a unique senior living experience for active seniors on the Western side of Madison County and the Eastern side of Limestone County. When I say active community they’ll have a dog park, pickle ball and bocce ball court, yoga studio, and an outdoor pool and even an indoor kids play zone and outdoor playground for when the grandchildren come to visit. For residents with dementia problems they’ll have a special unit or wing just for those residents who have completely different needs from the active independent living seniors. There is such a need in our area for more rooms with seniors with dementia as many in Madison have a waiting list. This is a completely new concept for senior living in North Alabama.

We have had nothing but "professional" and "family oriented" discussions about the "soon to be open" Madison Crossings. We are all so excited about our 90 yr old parents to move there. We feel that it is going to be safe, create new friendships that they desire and develop a community environment that they have also been missing where they currently live. I love the fact that it is all in one place, i.e. restaurant, bistro, pub, movie theater, hair salon, etc. The interior design of the apartments are just lovely and current. We would recommend to anyone who is looking for a great place for your parents or yourself to please call them and go visit.

[name removed] and [name removed] are incredible. The Madison Crossing management have gone above and beyond to ensure my father was going into the right place, at the right cost, with my peace of mind. The area is beautiful and the accommodations are first class. I was skeptical at first whether I was making a good decision, the right decision, their communication and care have put my questions to rest.