The Madeline of Decatur

So the positives are that the med techs are good and our loved one eats well. The negatives are that they often use her room ad a storage unit. Soon after she got here, they had three wheelchairs stored in her room so she couldn’t get to the bathroom or her chair. She didn’t even need a wheelchair. Now they replaced her bed without coordinating with us after we left many messages and made it clear we’d take off work, arrange childcare, whatever it takes to work around their convenience. Despite this, there’s now a bed frame against the wall and a mattress in the bathroom. The mattress wasn’t ruined but now it is. The hospice company is likely the responsible party for the bed, but the Waterford could have notified us of the situation, and the Waterford was the one that was previously coordinating wheelchair storage in our mother in laws room

My neighbor, whom I've always called gramma, stayed here for several months in 2025. The facility layout has four wings, a central square, and the grounds are beautiful. There were engaging daily activities twice a day, led by either Gloria or Jill- both wonderful women! Meals were proportionate and the staff made sure that residents had access to snacks as needed. The long-term staff were amazing, but there simply weren't enough of them. I'd often observe Wagaye, Alicia, or Theresa working very hard to manage an entire wing almost by themselves, an incredibly difficult feat to do with just one loved one suffering with Alzheimer's. I couldn't imagine trying to adequately care for multiple individuals in the way the staff here does. Because my gramma had several falls here as she transitioned from ambulatory to mostly sedentary, first breaking her tailbone and later her hip, her biological relatives decided it was in her best interest to move her to a different facility where she has been for several months. In the months I sat with her there from 8am to 4pm about six days a week, I observed other residents who had fallen and broken bones. This is no fault of the team members, but rather the company's poor staffing methods. There absolutely needs to be more than one person per wing- not a floater, but at least two people consistently. With thousands of dollars being poured into the Waterford every month from every single resident, one (or one and a half if we count the floater) overworked employee per wing is both disgusting and insulting. To clarify, by thousands of dollars per month per resident, I'm saying an average of about $4,000 to $6,000 or more. There are at least 10 residents per wing. People are sending their loved ones here because they don't have the time or tools to provide appropriate care themselves. This is expensive. There need to be more staff, and the staff that are there need to be paid well. All that money is going somewhere. Pour it back into where it's supposed to go: people's loved one and the compassionate staff that care for them every day.

My family member has been at the Waterford at Decatur for almost 10 months. She has advanced Alzheimers and is now under hospice care at the facility after several falls. Ten months ago, my sister was fully ambulatory and could speak and eat on her own. She is now completely dependent on her caregivers for all daily functions. When I realized the caregiver to resident ratio at this facility had been misrepresented, I should have moved her then. However, moving a person with Alzheimers is traumatic to them given their inability to learn. And the cost of a move, especially the community fees, is unmanageable. The Waterford at Decatur is at approximately a 12:1 ratio, sometimes worse when a caregiver doesn't show or quits. Too often, caregivers are working double shifts. Though this ratio is legal, it's too dangerous when you've decided to call yourself a memory care in a building designed to separate residents into four communities. At this ratio, it's impossible for caregivers to change diapers, give showers, dress, or feed the residents they are responsible for and keep an eye on the others. The caregiver is alone in the neighborhood. This is also dangerous for the caregiver given the constant challenge of monitoring those with dementia. Believe it or not, my complaint is not the short staffing. My complaint is regarding Sonida's recent actions regarding the report filed against the Executive Director. The Executive Director verbally assaulted a resident (also known as elder abuse) and was drinking at work. She was given a short suspension by Sonida and returned to the Waterford at Decatur. I'm not sure why Sonida feels this action is enough or why they would even return her to this facility. The Executive Director sets the standard at a care community. Sonida being dismissive of these infractions sets an extremely poor example for employees and a potentially dangerous environment for residents.

After a series of serious disappointments, Waterford has finally found themselves a first rate head of nursing in Eveylyn Watkins. In her short time there so far, she has improved the level of care for residents, improved relations with the families of residents, and improved the morale of their caregivers, med techs, and activities personnel. I am most grateful. In light of some recent events, I must amend my review. Elaine Sarosi recently left a critical review of the Waterford of Decatur, in which she expressed several concerns about the quality of care, especially in her second paragraph. Within hours of that review, Elaine received a call from Sonida, Waterford’s corporate owner, from a woman named Trish, who said she was the regional corporate representative for Waterford’s area. The call was far from solicitous. There was no sign of thoughtful concern or attentive questions about addressing the issues Elaine raised. Instead, as Elaine described, it was defensive and even nasty. Trish was apparently furious over Elaine’s review. Though Elaine and her loved one have been at the facility for 10 months, Trish dismissed her concerns, declaring that Waterford at Decatur had no complaints. She then said that Elaine had no right to make unsubstantiated claims against Amanie, the Executive Director at Waterford, and that she shouldn't comment on something she didn't witness. This was in apparent reference to a recent report filed with corporate regarding Amanie’s behavior, which is apparently a matter public record. Trish then said that where Sonida chooses to place their employees was not up to Elaine, and then invited Elaine to take her loved one and leave if she was unhappy there. My spouse has been at Waterford for a little over a year and a half, so I am very familiar with the environment. I can assure you that Elaine is not alone in her concerns about the quality of care there, nor in her criticisms of the Executive Director. But if Trish’s goal was to deny any of it and silence legitimate critics, her completely unprofessional attitude only confirmed it. Families not only have the right to voice criticisms, but also a sacred responsibility when it comes to their loved ones. And for a corporate representative to scold a family member for exercising that right and responsibility is utterly unacceptable. May 1st, 2026 Evelyn Watkins, a very qualified nurse and the fifth in about a year's time, has quit. I realize that nurses, as the corporation said in response to my joy at hiring Evelyn, are hard to find. But why can't Waterford retain them? There is no public data on the average tenure of professional nurses at such facilities, but we know that turnover tends to be high across the industry in GA. AI's analysis of available data gathered from nursing home surveys, Medicaid provider reports, and CMS Payroll-Based Journal datasets estimates the average tenure of nurses at roughly 1–3 years. We've had 5 in a year. This is very troubling, and I think it raises a legitimate concern about leadership at both the local and corporate levels.