Charter Senior Living of Madison

We are Powerbackrehab and provide therapy services at Charter Senior Living of Madison. We work together with the staff here to provide the best care for our residents to assist them in maximizing their independence and mobility. There are so many positive words to say about the staff at Charter Senior Living of Madison. The staff are caring, responsive to the needs and work with us to help them meet their goals related to therapy. We feel very lucky to be able to provide our therapy services here at Charter Senior Living of Madison

The staff at Charter Senior Living of Madison has done a great job responding to questions and concerns in a timely fashion. Having open two way communication where both sides keep each other informed is a significant improvement from when the facility was managed by Cedarhurst. We feel the family member staying there is well taken care of.

Several years ago it was so much better. Abundant staff, good & tasty meals served as outlined on the daily menus for all meals, adequate medical staff, front desk staff, responsive maintenance workers, and a fully occupied facility with members filling in nearly all the apartments. Today it is a MUCH different story in nearly every single category. It is SO sad to see the negative changes. I feel our original staff members must know something we don't know, as most of them have left from the Meadowmere days.

In November of 2021, my mom moved into what was once Meadowmere Assisted Living, which had great reviews, consistent and caring staff, and regular services. In January of 2022, Cedarhurst purchased Meadowmere and that's when the place drastically changed. When we signed on the dotted line, we were greeted with a variety of empty promises: a menu offering of a variety of meal options - based on the resident’s liking, rides to doctor’s appointments on designated days, opportunities to get out and about to local stores, movie theaters, etc.. As of February 2022, the ride services were dropped. Between a non-operational bus and no budget for a driver, all opportunities for rides were gone, which left us holding the bag. It certainly looks welcoming to have that bus parked in the front stall, but we haven’t seen it move in over a year. Additionally, the food options and availability went downhill as well - to the point that my mother only went down for an average of a meal or two per week - out of the three daily meals that she was paying a lot of money for. Frequently, what was served was not on the menu. Twice, her dinner companions bit into undercooked, pink chicken or uncovered a large plastic piece in their mashed potatoes. Also, residents were charged $5 per meal to take food back to their rooms, which is ridiculous when they already pay a pretty penny for the food. In my mother’s short tenure there, the facility has gone through more than three nurses (The last one only lasted one month and we never even met her.) and the same number of dieticians, in addition to other help, leaving us to question, what if my mother actually had an emergency? Would she have received the help she needed? In fact, every time either my husband or I visited, we saw various staff members sitting at the front desk glued to their phones, either talking with friends or surfing the web - so much so, they were too busy to even acknowledge us. There were several times we left the building after the sun went down only to enter a pitch black parking lot. The first time this happened, I alerted the director immediately, thinking that something was wrong, and I didn’t want there to be a liability should someone slip and/or fall in the unlit parking lot. But after several more instances, we discovered was a regular occurrence. We were also promised an attentive maintenance crew who would take care of any needs that should arise. Not so much. My mom was frequently told, "It's not my job." We were also told that if my mom could privately pay for a minimum of three years, eventually, the community would accept state assistance should she run out of money. (This was an attractive selling point because assisted living is expensive.) Well, in November of 2022, Cedarhurst cut its contract with the state, which forced about half the community to move with a very short notice. Some of my mother's friends, who were well into their 80s and 90s, were panicked and forced to find new accommodations just before Christmas (see news article in Wisconsin State Journal). I could continue with a list of complaints, but it would only be futile. I’m just saddened that this is the kind of services you provide at the rate you do. Residents pay a lot of money to live there and it’s a shame that you feel you can take advantage of our elderly population this way. I only wish I could rescue others like I did my mom. Do not be fooled... Cedarhurst is NOT Meadowmere.