Bonaventure of Salem

Shirley

I toured Bonaventure of Salem, but I didn't like it. It was like a four-story building, and the rooms felt like living in a hotel. They're off of the hallway. There are spaces for things that I like to do, such as art, but they are almost non-existent. They had an area for doing puzzles and several meeting rooms. They had the usual common areas, including a cafeteria area for dining. It was in a large space, but it was kind of sectioned off, not with walls, but maybe half walls, so that people were doing different things in them. Everyone there seemed happy.

Emily

My mother has been living here for almost 3 years. The common areas are nice looking but the assisted living dining room is COLD 10 months out of the year and dark. She really likes her apartment with large windows and high ceilings making it feel more like a home than institution and when she moved in they painted with paint she provided and did a good job making feel like her own place. However most of the caregivers and some of the mangers do not treat the assisted living patients with respect. For example, entering residents locked rooms at all times of day or NIGHT (like after Mom was asleep in bed) without knocking. Which can be very frighting when you need a walker to a get around and you don't know why they are or who they are. Also management does not take criticism or suggestions very well. Sometimes they have a problem following through with promises made and they don't always communicate well with residents. There is a new executive director Kelly does seem to have promise and really seems to care and doesn't seem to need a gold star for doing her job. Alicia the receptionist should be in charge of the world she is amazing and follows through every single time. As the daughter of a resident one of my biggest complaints is that communication is terrible! There is no voice mail to leave messages, no email or texting and people at the desk and offices go home around 6pm so if you need to get a hold of someone there forget it. It's impossible. The doors are locked after 7pm so if you need to see your parent late at night and they can't come down to let you in it's extremly difficult to get in. There is no door bell or anyway to get in without gettting lucky and having a caregiver or someone walking by. One time I need to drop something off for the medtech and I was in the doorway with two other people trying to drop things off and we had to wait at least 10 minutes before we could get in. Many residents have concerns about how balanced the menus are and have brought it up at many food meetings. They do not offer gluten free bread or hamburger buns which I find suprising concidering how many places do offer them now. So if you want a gluten free meal you only about 3 choices which gets old fast. Housekeeping is adequate but for a long time if they were sick or gone on vacation no rooms were cleaned or sheets changed sometimes for as long as 3 weeks. Even though housekeeping is one of the things you pay for. And it didn't seem to accur to those in charge to have someone fill in unless it was brought to their attention. And only those who complained got their rooms cleaned which isn't right. Training does seem to be an issue or maybe caregivers are not taught to think for example... There was a resident whose wife was in memory care and sometimes she would brought to the assisted living dining for lunch to eat with her husband. No one every told him she was there and they would just roll her in her wheelchair with her back to the room and leave and he would not know she was even there and no one would stay with her to make sure she was okay or even if she eat anything. You can just leave someone alone in a room when they have Dementia ! I've seen clipboards left in the hallway with the chair scales with everyone's weight on it.

Doug

We toured Bonaventure of Salem. The property was not that attractive. It was kind of remote from things. You look out the windows, and you see the major highway very close. The interior of the place felt classy, which appealed to us. The hallways were wide, so that two people with walkers could easily meet and pass through. They were very well lit, too. It felt extra welcoming. They even allowed the residents to decorate their entrance door. The first time we were there, we were a party of four, plus the guy who took us around. They arranged a lunch for us in their private dining room. The meal was very impressive. The private butler who was serving us, not only was very prompt, but he was like, "Yes, sir. I can get that for you." It felt very welcoming and like a royal treatment, which was an important thing. I would highly recommend that others do that, too. The rooms were larger than what I expected. The ones we saw were not furnished, but they instantly gave the impression of having plenty of elbow room. You didn't feel crowded or crunched at all in any way. Some of them had washer/dryer hookups, too. It was very impressive. From the moment you came in the front door, it felt classy, clean, and well cared for. We also saw the menus for the three meals, and there were lots of varieties. Their meals seem to be very healthy in terms of content.

IreBelle

If you need very little to no assistance and are okay with elementary school quality food then this place is the place for you. For my mother however, it was a terrible experience. They are cheap as hell so the food quality is terrible and they pay no attention to diabetic needs. They constantly run understaffed to reduce cost while paying their employees terribly low wages for the work and responsibilities they have. They’ll try to blame this on covid and not being able to find employees but this went on well before all that started so it’s bs. My mom was left on the toilet waiting for assistance for 30-60 minutes or longer on probably upwards of 40-50 times in the 2 years she was there because of understaffing. There are many more problems beyond this but the last one I’ll mention is that she also had her insulin and needle tips stolen from her room. This is a terrible place for people that need actual assisted living.

Lynn

The Bonaventure of Salem is my mother-in-law's favorite; she really liked it. It was very nice. In my opinion, it's overpriced for what they provide, but it was nice. The only other thing I did not appreciate was the person who gave us our tour. She was very nice and kind, but she left us in a little family room area to look over the brochure, and she left us to go take a smoking break. We were sitting there for about 15 minutes all by ourselves so she could go take a smoking break, and I was like, "This is a little tacky." What they had to offer was a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom apartment. It looked like each room was available. They are repainting and kind of upgrading each room, which was nice. The rooms were very well kept, the maintenance was topnotch, and it looked nice. Everything was clean, which was great. They used to have activities like beading groups, but with COVID it is difficult. I did not see an activity center; I hardly saw anything. All we saw was the entry, the dining room, and the apartments.

Brian

My mother is at Bonaventure Senior Living - Salem. She has a one-bedroom apartment, a large bedroom, a large bathroom and a small living room kitchen combination. I have had no bad interaction with the staff at all. I don't have bad experiences with them. They have an on-site beauty parlor and she does go up there and get her hair done every week. She goes down to the dining room to eat her meals. They have several different activities going on there. The independent living part has a theater, a library, an exercise room, game rooms, and two bars. I've eaten there twice, and it's adequate. They have one meal that's cafeteria style but you have other options if you want. The food is geared toward elderly people who may have medical issues, so to me it's rather bland. The main reason I chose it was it's a very nice building. It's also close to where she used to live and she has several friends there that were elderly. I thought it was more convenient for them to go by and visit her rather than have them to drive across town or so.