TerraBella Sugarloaf

After 7 years at the site, they shut down memory care, and sent my mother out the door, along with many others. It was difficult finding her a new facility. Let me be clear, this was a corporate decision. The local management was wonderful. Could not have been more helpful.

My mother entered Discovery Village/now Terra Bella, October of 2020. In the throws of Covid. We did all our research online and by phone. Terra Bella did an amazing job of getting her settled, in spite of these circumstances! Mom quickly felt at home. There have been a few management changes since then. They have continued to improve in each progression. When mom entered Discovery Village, she came in under Assisted Living level of care. She eventually progressed into their Memory Care area. Every step of her experience of Aging in Place was wonderful and she received exceptional care. Mom passed this past week, still in Terra Bella Memory Care with the assistance of Hospice. We would choose Terra Bella, Sugarloaf 100% all over again.

If you are thinking of placing your loved one in the memory care unit at Terra Bella on Satellite Boulevard, you should know a few important pieces of information. Positives: 1. It is a newer facility 2. It is cleaner than a lot of places in this area – it rarely has the nasty fecal smell many memory care units have 3. The food is pretty good in terms of variety and portions 4. The staff usually makes adjustments asked for by the doctor or family when they are being monitored 5. Many times I visited they had residents sitting at a communal table doing activities…bouncing balloons, coloring, playing word games, etc. This is a big plus when compared to some other places that simply push them to the nurses station and leaves them there all day. Negatives: 1. It is often understaffed – I have gone more than once and called out for assistance and no one was there monitoring the residents. One time I found workers in a back hallway on their phones. 2. Although company policy (and legal requirement) is if a resident is injured they have to immediately notify the primary responsible relative, make a digital entry in their online system, and write up the incident in the binder they keep at the nurses station desk, they do not always do that. Unfortunately there were several times this did not happen and I only found out my mom was injured when either myself or a visiting medical caregiver saw the injuries. I had to contact corporate, notify state agencies, and even had to call the police once to get them to tell me the truth about what had happened. 3. They do not always tell you the truth about your loved one’s status. My mother had a cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) that left her unresponsive. They did not notice until the afternoon and then told me she was “sleepy” and as a precaution needed to go to the hospital. The truth was she had a massive stroke/cerebral hemorrhage earlier in the day (per the neurologist) that took her life 4 days later. I will never know the truth about when she had her stroke and when they found her non-responsive, but I do know she wasn’t just “sleepy”. The bottom line is if you place your loved one there YOU MUST: • Monitor their care by visiting at different hours of the day and different days of the week • Advocate for them and make sure the staff understands you expect their needs to be met in a timely manner • Ask questions when something doesn’t seem right and verify the answers you get across multiple workers. If more people reported substandard care at facilities like Terra Bella they would be forced to improve the quality of their care. As the saying goes…you have to inspect what you expect.

What a wonderful event and an awesome community. The ED Kevin, wellness director Angela and their staff are amazing. They really care about the employees and their residents. Kim Knowles is a great fit to be the welcoming face of Terrabella.