Sequoia Senior Living

I recently moved my elderly mother into Ponte Palmero. We love the location in the foothills and the apartment is beautifully detailed with granite counters, high ceilings, and lots of room and windows. Every unit comes with a one-car garage which some people use as an additional room or for storage. (Makes the "downsizing" a little easier.) The staff is very friendly and the food servers are very efficient and friendly. The food is only okay except for the omelets (excellent!) and mimosas at Sunday brunch. (We may be biased because the food at her previous retirement community was consistently excellent.) However, it is wonderful that the kitchen is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. because my mother likes to sleep in. Our main complaint with this company is with the assisted care service and billing. They bill on a "point" system and I have never seen a more confusing and opaque billing system in my life. They bill in advance of providing the services and we've been told they can't itemize the services we're being charged for. My mother moved in mid-month and they tried to charge us for a full 31 days of service and for bathing assistance even for the time when no one came or called my mother to let her know or apologize. We originally asked for pet care (cleaning the cat box once daily) but when it didn't seem to be done well or regularly and we found we were being charged $273/month, we cancelled that. If my mother can't handle that chore we'll buy a sophisticated self-cleaning litter box that will pay for itself in less than 2 months. In summary, we like the facility and the staff very much but prefer getting the necessary in-home assistance through an outside company.

My mother lives at this facility and the food is horrible. She calls it "the poison center". The dinners are especially bad. Meat is compressed, breaded and presented as chicken Parmesan. All meats are greasy, vegetables are not fresh, etc. The maintenance of the place is kept up to bring in more people but their basic nutritional care is being ignored. I suppose they feel that their members are dying anyway so why give them healthy food at the end of their lives? We are currently looking for a more suitable place for my mother. We should not have to shop and cook for her to get quality food when she is paying for that service as part of the monthly fee. If you care about the nutrition and happiness of your loved ones, do not bring them here. My mother has written numerous letters and made suggestions all to no avail.

We were sadly disappointed with the intake process--very unprofessional and included only a verbal interview with ONE family member. No standardized evaluation was every done by anyone at the facility, nor did a medical professional at the facility lay eyes on the resident. It was all questionnaire based. Hence, the questionnaire offered options about ambulation--does resident use a walker (no), does resident use a wheelchair (no). We were not able to share that she'd had side by side support for walking. So she had a fall within the first week. During one visit, our mom could not be located for a few minutes, only to find that she'd been left in her room seated in her wheelchair without the wheels locked. While the activities were engaging and very energetic, they seemed highly inappropriate for the advanced dementia patients--way too overstimulating and confusing.

I saw patients in this place and was told many negative things by the residents. One resident said that housekeeping was never there'd, and I believe her once I saw the filthy toilet that wasn't cleaned week after week although she was charged for it. The carpeting had severe stains that she was told would be cleaned or replaced. For 8 months that carpeting remained disgusting like the bathroom toilet with nothing cleaned whatsoever. One client needed max assist with bathing and dressing, I found her in the same filthy dress every time I visited, apparently she was sleeping in these clothes as well. I reported this problem stating she needed dressing every morning and evening, the administration agreed but never did anything about it. The whole place was disgusting, dirty and the residents all appeared [Removed]. The residents I saw monthly were all loosing weight complaining about the food, when they did get their meals the food was grossly lacking in nutrition, volume and presentation I wouldn't give it to my dog!

Please do yourself a favor, and skip this place. My sister and I put our mother here and we have regretted it. We were billed for services they never did. They charged us so much money in fees for things they never did. They would walk into my mom's apartment and ask her if she needs help dressing - when she said no, they left. We got charged for it. They billed and billed us for all kinds of things. My mom has Altzheimers and is very functional but is in denial about her limitations. She would say no to any kind of help. She would fall, and would lay there for hours. She laid in her own urine. She was rushed to the hospital and their cleaning service never came in and cleaned it up. Blood, urine - still there when we brought mom back from the hospital. Staff is friendly, but they often ar seen talking amongst themselves. Don't get me started with the pendant - pushed it an no one came. Finally the Med distribution lady came and that was 30 minutes later. My mom has fallen and pushed the pendant like we trained her to, and no one came. Ponte is not safe for elderly people in their assisted living. Saw her doctor and his staff said they constantly hear bad things about Ponte. Ran into one of their staff offsite, and she said the place is a hell [Removed]. There is massive turn over and they treat their employees poorly. The food is horrible. Beyond bad. My mom went to visit one of the resident sin memory care - and the food they serve is disgusting. Cold, and very small portions. I went over to visit the resident in the lighthouse and I saw the same thing. We were told it was the same food. It's not. One chicken finger and some old frozen green beans - disgusting. i am happy to answer any questions you have, I will tell you what we have experienced and you judge for yourself. The facility is nice, spacious apartment was a selling point. But this is not a place for anyone who needs ANY amount of assistance or care. Go somewhere else. If you love your loved ones, scrutinize the bills, examine the food, do surprise visits, and see the lack of cleaning the cleaning staff does. This facility has issues much bigger than what they can handle. Management is making money off families not taking the time to monitor the services provided. Your loved ones definitely deserve better.

If I could give this place no stars I would. My mother lived here in the memory care section for about a year. I came in every day to see her and though the staff was nice to me, they overlooked many things. There was definitely not enough staff for the amount of residents. The woman in charge, Leah never really poked her head out of her office which I found to be a little insensitive that someone in charge of care of my mother didn't even know her. The food was often cold and inedible, the meat red and hard to cut. If you wanted something specific, you simply couldn't get it. The kitchen didn't seem to see the memory care residents as people. Don't even get me started on the safety hazards. Since the staff was busy running around like chickens with their heads cut off, they didn't witness many things I got to see and could have prevented dozens of falls and ER trips. For the quality of care, they sure nickle and dimed you for care costs. I paid for things that were regularly not done to my mother such as brushed teeth or cleaned dentures. At the end of my mothers life, I greatly appreciated the staff, but the management and conditions in the facility drove me to wishing I had made a better choice.