Lamplight of Sarasota - Sarasota, FL

After our tour, the director came out and talked to us about our experience in terms of the walk around. She was very welcoming, and to me, that should be the whole focus of her job. For the director to come and visit and talk to people shows that they really care. We didn't choose because of a chance comment that I heard about Emeritus as a corporation. Despite that, they were our third choice. I believe that it is the people in the buildings, rather than the corporation as a whole, that make the experience.

I'm not real happy. The personal spaces need some work on the cleaning. They don't respond thereis nobody around hardly at all. If I needed someone I had to walk down long lengthy hallways to find someone. Even though I labled the clothes and bedding, yet somehow or another none of it managed to get to the appropriate room. Just going around and saying it's dinnertime is not good enough for a lot of these people. They didn't pay any attention to his health, they are supposed to alert us to what's going on and there was none of that. He didn't want to participate in activities so I can't really comment on that. I tried the food, the assisted living food was more paletable than the skilled. In the skilled facility it was totally obnoxious. The assisted living is acceptable but the skilled is terrible. I chose it because it was VA approved and could accommodate the type of room we were looking for. If you use their furniture they charge you for usage of it after 30 days. He couldn't make it to the dining room and nobody would come and get him or bring him food. The skilled area was terrible it was filthy.

It was lovely. It was a little more luxurious. It was a little more expensive, and a little out of our price range.

The friendliness of the staff, and really everyone there, is outstanding. Steve, the event coordinator, is really good. My aunt is living there, and since she's been there she has actually improved. She is doing very well, and I have seen marked improvement in her memory. She goes and plays almost every game that they do. She loves the anagrams and the word games that they play, and she does a lot of puzzles.

The community is an older community built around 1986. It has been remodeled and updated to be more modern. Their staff is friendly and helpful. We are very happy with them so far and would recommend them to anyone.

Driving towards the building you can tell it is not well kept up. Depressing mold on the red tile roof. The receptionist was abrupt with me when I told her I didn't have an appointment; when she got over her dismay she told me she would find someone to assist me as soon as possible. The GM eventually came out and gave me a tour. I mentioned that all I wanted to see at this time was the 1-bedroom unit. He said they didn't have any 'real' 1 BR units, only 2 adjoining units with the door between them removed - cost for that 'unit' was twice the single unit cost. Commuinity fee is $1,000 unless you take the the 1 bedroom - then you had to pay $5,000. He showed me the entire facility before showing me the room. To make it worse, the furniture in the lobby was so sticky that my arm literally had to be peeled away (like leaning on a counter and finding it sticky). Cloth upholstered furnture should not be sticky. I recommend you send it up the line that this community is NOT offering a one BR unit and that the place is disgusting and smelly (like a badly kept nursing home.) None of the attendants greeted me, the GM was dressed in a short sleeve shirt with the tail out.

I helped my friend move into the community. He is 93 years old. The community was really nice at first but the fibbed to us. Once they had our money everything changed. The community then told a couple of days in that he will have to move out in 2 weeks due to not having the proper doctor notes. Had to pay $5,000.00 to move. Then they charged $2,500.00 fee for breaking the contract and not staying and they also charged him a $3,500.00 fee for not giving a 30 day notice even though he didn’t even stay for more than 2 week. On top of all the fee one day when walking down the hall an air vent fell out of the roof and almost hit him.