Symphony of Centerville

We chose Symphony of Centerville because they gave me references of others who have dementia like my husband and the person I talked to was very reassuring. The administrative staff have been extremely helpful and assured me that they would be able to care for him even with difficult behaviors. They have a great doctors who has been able to adjust medications and I have seen a lot of improvement in the last couple of times that I have seen him. The nurses call and keep me informed of what is going on and I really appreciate that. I would recommend to others who are looking.

I only had my loved one in Symphony for 7 weeks. In that time, they allowed him to fall twice, self propel in a wheel chair to the point where his hands had open sores that got infected and allowed him to kick his laundry basket down the hallway to the point of large open wounds which became infected and required daily wound care. They even returned the laundry basket to me with his blood all over it!!! They refused to let me pack up my husband's belongings (although they insisted I do all the unpacking upon admission) and as a result, many items were not returned and I believe were stolen (eg. Bed linens, towels, wash clothes, shirts, personal pictures, etc) as replacement items were obviously from another patient and highly used. My husband lost weight and strength as they basically put him in a wheel chair all day (as evidenced by hugely swollen legs). The furniture I moved out, in pristine condition when moved in, had dirt and crusty food on it upon removal. The nurses continual blamed my husband for the outcomes, constantly stating "he is noncompliant", despite their claims to be memory care experts. In short, they do not live up to their mission or policies outlined upon admission. I could go on but I think the reasons I would not recommend this facility are clear. I have a lengthy journal of notes and pictures to back up my claims. Happily, he is now home for 7 weeks today, his wounds nearly healed and back to his prior weight and mobility. I now have home care aides daily and can get much more personalized care for the money spent on a facility. Surprisingly, it is easier on me as I do not have to worry so much about his care and the ability to visit him in a limited capacity. I believe Covid-19 has become an excuse for poor care at most places since they are aware that family cannot closely watch their loved ones.

Six months at Symphony eroded my hubby's fragile self esteem and increased his anxiety. I am resentful and angry at their treatment of him and of me. Despite having multiple traumatic brain injuries, my husband is able to discern when reality doesn't line up with the fiction he's being fed. His so-called “private” room was not private. Aids entered without knocking (until my complaints helped train them). A nurse came into his room one night while he was sleeping and cleaned between his toes! (And then she documented this!) My husband woke up and yelled at her to get the hell out of his room! Another time, an Alzheimer's resident climbed into his bed with him and wouldn't get out of the bed (a nurse confirmed this to me). Alzheimer's patients often wandered in and out of his room (I witnessed this.). My husband's memory problems come from traumatic brain injuries, not Alzheimer's. He cannot always articulate that things upset him. Staff repeatedly put dead hearing aids in his ears although the devices blocked what hearing he does have. I repeatedly told them to change the batteries every two days (this was in their notes). They rarely did. Hubby would later pull the hearing aids out. Workers kept putting them back in without asking if they worked (documented). My opinion is, the staff was creating an adversarial relationship with an impaired person (my husband), making him feel like a sack of potatoes. He acted out – screaming a lot when he had to wait for his (delicious) food. Then he began to fall a lot. Finally Southview Hospital admitted him for a UTI and sepsis. Did Symphony say, “We're sorry – this was bad behavior related to UTI.” No. Staff continued putting his dead hearing aids in and he kept ripping them out. (This is documented.) As he got more frustrated, they asked me what they should do. I said the obvious: “Ask him???” (Also documented.) During my first contact with Symphony, they said, “Our people have been trained to work with the dementia population.” The Ombudsman's office confirmed that other families heard a similar story. I later learned Symphony sometimes (often?) hires untrained workers. The Patients Bill of Rights (a federal document), created so the individual won't feel bullied or violated, says a patient can refuse care. Workers are then supposed to go away and come back. With good care, an aide says, “May I pull this down? Is it okay for me to wipe you?” An aide persisted and persisted in changing my husband. He protested. She “ignored” him (her words). He protested. She persisted. He hit her. She kept chatting with him and later told others she had no need for medical care. When the Director of Nursing learned the aide had been “assaulted,” Symphony brought in the police and filed a police report! Symphony refused to allow me to ask questions of this aide (who I saw at every visit) and they wouldn't show me reports, giving me few details about the event, as if hubby had arbitrarily and spontaneously assaulted this aide. The police report (public document, folks) showed, in her handwriting, he only hit her after repeated protests where she “ignored” his unwillingness and persisted. During a care conference, when I suggested the hearing aid issue may have contributed to what happened, the Executive Director strongly disagreed. He was then put on a psychotropic drug, making him barely see his own feet or string together a paragraph. But he wasn't yelling or screaming! I got him off the drug when I could. I want him human and real. When I asked the Director of Nursing to have aides speak to him more respectfully (“May I...”) or to help him brush his teeth daily, I was informed that it's difficult to get aides to do something if you're not watching them. End of discussion. Hubby was hauled off to the ER repeatedly for so-called “behaviors.” Several Southview ER professionals said Symphony had a pattern of “dumping” dementia patients on the ER for dementia behaviors because they didn't know how to deal with dementia patients. One day after I left my purse in hubby's room, a nurse brought me my wallet with keys and credit cards etc in it. An Alzheimer's resident had had it. No one ever invited me to file a police report. As an assisted living facility, Symphony is not listed at the Medicare.gov website where ratings are assigned to Medicare eligible facilities, and government officials provide reports about the treatment of this fragile population. The website for Milestone, Symphony's parent company, implies that Sunday religious services will be made available to residents. Symphony does not have any kind of religious services on Sundays. About our tab: the law says I have a right to know what I'm paying for. I tried to get an answer about charges for services after they jacked up my monthly bill by $1,200 a day after hubby “assaulted” the aide. Symphony sent me generic information about items listed, using terminology different from item names on my bill, not answering my questions. After repeated attempts at clarifying where my money had gone, I gave up.

Symphony wants docile patients. If your loved one is ultra-docile and you like them that way, you'll do okay. Six months mine there eroded my hubby's poor self esteem and increased his anxiety. My husband started out fairly docile. A nurse (who documented this in her nursing notes) came into his room at night while he was sleeping to clean between his toes! When this toe-cleaning woke him up, he only yelled at her to get the hell out of his room! An Alzheimer's resident climbed into his bed with him and wouldn't get out of the bed. My husband only told him he had to leave! Alzheimer's patients often wandered in and out of his room. His so-called “apartment” was never truly private. We had to teach aides to knock so they wouldn't come upon me lying on his bed with him (clothed) having hugs. My husband – whose memory problems come from traumatic brain injuries, not Alzheimer's – started out so docile, staff was able to put dead hearing aids in his ears and he did not complain, although the devices blocked what hearing he does have. He would later pull them out. Workers kept putting the hearing aids back in without asking if the things worked. Staff was creating an adversarial relationship with an impaired person, making him feel like a sack of potatoes. He acted out – screaming a lot when he had to wait for his (delicious) food. Then he began to fall a lot. Finally Southview Hospital admitted him for a UTI and sepsis. Did Symphony say, “We're sorry – this was bad behavior related to UTI.” No. Staff continued putting his dead hearing aids in and he kept ripping them out. As he got more frustrated, they asked me what they should. I said the obvious: “Ask him???” From the beginning I was told, “Our people have been trained to work with the dementia population. They won't have any trouble.” (I later learned they sometimes hire workers off the street.) The Patients Bill of Rights (a federal document), created so the individual won't feel bullied or violated, says a patient can refuse care. Workers are then supposed to go away and come back. With good care, an aide says, “May I pull this down? Is it okay for me to wipe you?” Hubby never knew if his caregiver would be a bully or someone who treated him like his knew his own name, so he just hated all of them – and felt hated. Then he stopped getting along with even the good ones. One aide persisted and persisted in changing him. He protested. She “ignored” him (her words). He protested. She persisted. He hit her. She kept chatting with him and later told others she had no need for medical care. But when the Director of Nursing learned she'd been “assaulted,” Symphony brought in the police and filed a police report. They tried to stop me from learning the details of what had occurred, as if hubby had arbitrarily and spontaneously assaulted this aide. The police report, which I later got, showed, in her handwriting, this occurred after he made it clear he did not want care and she “ignored” his repeated protests. During a care conference, I suggested the hearing aid issue may have contributed to what happened. The administrator roared, “His hearing aids had nothing to do with him 'punching' (the aide)!” They put him on a psychotropic drug. He could barely see his own feet or string together a paragraph, but he wasn't yelling or screaming! I got him off the drug when I could. I want him human and real. I want him to be able to think. When I asked the Director of Nursing to have aides speak to him more respectfully (“May I...”) or to help him brush his teeth daily, I was informed that it's difficult to get aides to do something if you're not watching them. End of discussion. Hubby was hauled off to the ER repeatedly for behaviors. Several Southview ER professionals said Symphony had a pattern of “dumping” dementia patients on the ER for dementia behaviors because they didn't know how to deal with dementia patients. One day after I left my purse in hubby's room, a nurse brought me my wallet – keys and credit cards etc in it. An Alzheimer's resident was found with it. No one ever asked me if I wanted to file a police report. Since Symphony is only an assisted living facility, it is not listed at the Medicare.gov website, where ratings are assigned to Medicare eligible facilities. There is no outside agency monitoring the treatment of this fragile population. The website implies that they have religious services on Sundays. Symphony does not have any kind of religious services on Sundays. About the bill: the law says I have a right to know what I'm paying for. I tried to get an answer about this after they jacked up my bill by $1,200 per month after hubby “assaulted” the aide. They sent me generic information that didn't answer my question. After repeated attempts at clarifying where my money had gone, I gave up. Symphony makes up rules on what they have to do.

The staff at this community are very nice. This community does seem to be a little understaffed. They do not currently offer a lot of activities, however they did just hire a new activities director. They are having an issue with keeping the community clean and attending to the residents. Mom likes the layout of this community and it is the right price. They do not always have a receptionist at the front desk. This is not a lock down community. I think they need to do a little better job with security.