Spring Arbor of Wilmington

My dad has been at Spring Arbor for nearly a year. The care has been beyond what we could have asked for. Every day I come in and see the same faces of staff, smiling and the residents are happy. I wish we would have found this place sooner. I tell everyone I know if your loved one needs assistance, please go to Spring Arbor.

DO NOT PLACE YOUR LOVED ONE AT SPRING ARBOR - WILMINGTON. It cost almost $10,000 per month for substandard care, poor communication, & complete lack of accountability from the admin. They never apologized, accepted responsibility, resolved issues, or demonstrated compassion. My dad was at SA for over a year. We visited him every day. What we saw was extremely concerning and disturbing. The admin gave us wrong/conflicting info & failed to address our concerns, which were dismissed instead of looked into. Keeping the beds full & getting their money are more important than resident care & family trust. Communication was consistently poor, conflicting, convoluted, or nonexistent, making it impossible to understand procedures. Jaylee Baird - Facility Admin. (JB) said she would always support her employees. And she did, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. When my mom expressed concerns about communication, JB said, "It's not a communication issue. It's an understanding issue," unfairly blaming my mom rather than addressing the problems. I said effective communication is a shared responsibility & we want to resolve the issues. Our concerns were not taken seriously. They lied about things they said. They lied about my dad's behavior - in particular, an incident that occurred on the bus. I spoke with a supervisor 2x & emailed Aislin Dunstan (AD) & JB about basic hygiene concerns. No reply. No improvements. I called the Ombudsman (who was of absolutely no help). JB told him she was unaware of my concerns. (I have the email). She said she emails us regularly. False. She only initiated one email. She said 6 Care Plan Meetings. False. We only had 3. My dad's teeth were discolored, covered with food & plaque & was often unshaven. He would scratch at his scruff, say he was itchy, pick at his teeth, ask for a toothpick - behaviors showing his hygiene needs. His basic needs were not consistently met. Before SA dad was always cleanly shaven & took pride in his appearance. We often saw residents w/o any supervision for long periods of time. One fell, some tried to get out of their wheelchairs, physical/verbal aggression initiated by residents, etc. Some employees were seen sitting off to the side texting and playing games on their phones while the residents were sleeping in the common area. Shannon, from LifeSource (SA’s med provider) ordered an increase in sertraline and added ativan w/o our knowledge. We didn't know who Shannon was or that she even saw dad. It was disturbing & in direct violation of the LifeSource contract we signed. When we questioned it, we didn't get a clear explanation or justification about the Ativan. AD told us most residents take Ativan. That didn't address our questions & did not justify changes. Then Shannon discharged dad from her care without even so much as an explanation. We got a letter from Diana M., the LifeSource RNA, dated 3 weeks prior, saying she was discontinuing services and to email, if we had any questions. We sent multiple emails asking for an explanation but never received a reply. Dad returned to his PCP, who (unlike LifeSource) abides by the Hippocratic Oath, looks out for the welfare of his patients & tells us of all proposed changes. AD often sent orders to dad's physician without our knowledge, asking him to put my dad on Ativan without real justification, etc. They have no ethics or integrity. One example, at the silent auction to benefit the Alz. Assoc, I placed what should have been the final winning bid. At the end, I took a pic of the bid sheet. A few days later, Robin Ralph, an admin, told me she won the item. Employees must have placed bids after the event ended. They are unethical and they lie. We entrusted SA with dad's care. Instead, we experienced communication problems, poor basic hygiene practices, unanswered questions about important medical decisions & no accountability, compassion, or empathy from admin.

My mother moved into Spring Arbor in February. She was welcomed right away, with such good care and attention. The activities director went out of his way to get her involved. We were very pleased with the care she got from everyone there. One reason we chose Spring Arbor was the staff to resident ratio. As my mother's health started failing they took excellent care of her. Everyone is so loving and caring there. Unfortunately my mother passed, and they helped us through that. If you're looking for a smaller facility that takes good care of your relative, I recommend Spring Arbor.

After a disastrous couple of nights at The Commons at Brightmore, I went to Spring Arbor and they moved mountains to get her into Spring Arbor in just one day. Robin, the director was amazingly helpful and the monthly cost was half what it was at The Commons for exponentially better care. The staff there was wonderful...they even had a ribbon cutting ceremony with many of the residents and staff greeting her in the foyer as she arrived the first day! Mom was only a resident at Spring Arbor for about six weeks before she died, but I can't say enough about how accommodating they were and the excellent care she received in her last days. Thank you all so much!!