Gull Creek Senior Living Community

Experience with Memory care(4 )is better than Assisted Living(2). Some of the staff is a 10 and a few are a 3. The administration is the least friendly after you are a resident. We had medication issues and the lack of honesty is those issues. There was sometimes a lack of responsiveness to aid the wheel chair bound resident. Recently there has been a short staff situations. And there is in general a poor response to questions that I've needed answered. My mother enjoys the food because it is bland. They do a very nice job with the diversity of types of residents who are at. If you added up the fours and even a five you might not understand the 3 for overall, quality of care has been lacking and those issues have outnumbered the few good staff

Overall we have had a great experience at Gull Creek. The staff does all they can to make my family member comfortable, seen, and heard. [name removed] does an exceptional job with activities and keeping the residents involved. They have also done a complete remodel of their outside garden and sitting area and are upgrading many features throughout the community. They do everything they can to create a safe and beautiful home environment, and not an institutional setting. That is one reason why my family member and I chose Gull Creek!

I like the staff. The staff is nice and they listen and try! The staff work hard but they are understaffed and things and people get missed. Too much is expected for the amount of staff, that they have. And I don't think they are properly trained for some things expected of them. Nurses have to bring trays to residents instead of the dining staff. They have terrible food. And they are no help for food allergies.

The food is fine. The value for the money is fair. We picked this community, because of the proximity to my loved ones home, and the friendliness of the staff. I liked everything about it. I would recommend to other families.

Residents are very friendly and many are high functioning. It is easy for residents to make friends. Administration is approachable and willing to please and generally very friendly and kind. As of now there is an aid shortage. My mom likes the food some day and complains on a minimal basis. Food is hard to tell, I haven't eaten there. The facility is airy , large and lovely. The rooms are large and vey nice with many having a terrace. The price for the room and overall price I think is less than some. It's in a quiet area tucked in a residential area. The grounds are lovely and they are building a garden. The recreation director is new and great, she tries to involve all residents. There has been a turnover of administrators lately. I like them and they are very approachable and try hard to solve problems. Berlin MD is a great town! Quaint downtown, close to Ocean City, close to outlets and National and state park at Assatinque. It is where wild ponies live. It's 40-45 min to Lewes / Rehoboth Beach where I live. I wish it was closer but it's an easy ride. Hope they resolve their staffing issues , but it seems to be an issue nation wide.

Gull Creek's facility is extremely limited - it's not set up well / doesn’t flow well / is very disjointed. The Executive Director seems really good, and she personally has reached out to me multiple times to follow up. She seems very motivated. My concerns came from the facility itself. It feels like house that has awkward additions on it. I found it confusing to navigate, so I can only imagine how confusing that would be for my loved one with dementia.

This community was my second choice and it it was closer to me I would have taken her there. It was very comparable with another community that we were considering. It was just with family and visitations I just needed it to be closer.

This was a nice community. The community was too far from family.

I really liked Gull Creek. All of the places I toured were pretty equivalent, so in the end it just came down to price.

Our family had an in person tour and it was a moderate place. There was nothing wrong with it, the apartments were nice, everything was clean but if our loved one did not need memory care they probably would gone here.

We chose Gull Creek because of the genuine friendliness of the everybody that we interacted with. They just revamped most of the administrative staff members, but as far as the everyday staff, they are great. The rooms sizes are adequate for what the needs are. I would love to see them take the residents outside more for activities while the weather is still nice. Overall, I would highly recommend them to others looking.

The community has had some staffing issues and the care that they have provided was sub-par at best. No communication until we told them we were leaving and I saw the director for the first time after 90+ days. The food was inconsistent and the staffing could be rude. The corporate office did listen and was able to help fix some of the issues.

Looks like a nice community. Too far from the beach, though. On the map it looks close, but it's not. If I stay in this area (Eastern Shore of Maryland), I would want to be near the beach. I'll keep looking, but thank you for setting this up. I appreciate your coaching and assistance.

Our virtual tour experience was during covid, so it was hard to tell and get a good feel for the community. However the follow ups were great, they were more then willing to answer all of our questions. They do not take medicaid which was a big deal for us, but they are still willing to accommodate our needs and are still very helpful.

My parents moved to Gull Creek early March 2017. We visited 5 assisted living facilities before choosing Gull Creek. We used the metrics below in making our decision.The first year of their residency, Gull Creek maintained the quality and standards that had prompted our decision. Resident satisfaction Resident occupancy Staff retention Staff morale Resident family satisfaction Deficiencies/Complaints No Deficiencies Severity of Deficiencies/Complaints Reputation in the community (reviews) Unfortunately in 2018, Gardant Management took the helm and the decline of Gull Creek began. It began with a downgrade in food quality, which was repeatedly dismissed by the administrator and her superior at Gardant. Concerns voiced by residents and resident families were ignored for two years. Gull Creek's administrator made no effort to improve the food quality, opting for a token resident food committee, scheduling meetings with resident families and food providers/chefs who had no authority to implement change while ordering take-out for herself and management staff. As resident family members, residents and staff displayed their dissatisfaction with obvious cheapening food, abysmal snacks and old produce the administrator stated at a meeting she no longer wanted to discuss dietary. Meals remain awful. Many of our loved ones have medical issues that include high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, our concern regarding sodium, sugar and additives prompted over 15 requests for nutritional content. These requests were ignored. A dangerous situation is excessive staff turnover. From 2017-2020 there have been 3 Directors of Nursing, 3 Activity Directors, 3 Marketing Directors, 3 Administrators, 3 Maintenance Directors, 2 Delegating Nurses, 2 Kitchen Managers: average length in tenure 1.3 years. Currently there is a position posted for a delegating nurse. Instituted by Etros, a recently retained consulting firm specializing in underperforming/failing senior living communities, remaining staff hours have been cut. Remaining staff are overworked. Understaffing has resulted in errors in medication administration. Medications administered 2-4 hours after prescribed times, timed diabetic blood tests that are to be administerd prior to meals adminstered after meals. Cut backs in housekeeping staff to 2 employees has led to dirty apartments and erratic laundry scheduling. Gull Creek had 0 deficiencies/complaints in 2017. From [date removed], most under the tenure of Gardant and the current administrator, there have been 24 deficiencies/complaints. Redacted files indicate: errors in medication dosage- giving one resident wrong medications, not administering medications, administering wrong doses, excessive amounts of falls resulting in broken bones, head injuries and a fatal subdural hematoma. Others detail non-existent records and reports from nursing and management; involving critical information that impacts resident safety. At the last family council meeting in February, when asked if there were current deficiencies after the report of [date removed], we were told by management there was one. I was forwarded a copy by the administrator of the report dated [date removed]. However on [date removed], according to the state's records, there were seven additional write-ups for deficiencies. Below is a link to the state of MD site. [removed] Gull Creek has sadly, lost residents, staff, services, amenities and it's reputation. Recent reviews on google, yelp, facebook and sites such as a place for mom, caring.com cite poor nursing, lack of compassion, bad food and bad value. One glimmer of positivity are the employees who really care for their residents and treat them like members of their own family. And an amazing member of the management team who is competent, kind and professional. However they can't right the helm of a sinking ship.

Mom went into Gull Creek in October, 2019 and left in March 2020. There were so many issues while she was there but I will attempt to keep this review abbreviated. My main concern was the nursing staff and the less than acceptable quality of care. It started with them administering a medication to her daily for 2 months that her doctor had said should only be used as needed. Upon admission we were told she could use the pharmacy of choice for her medications. Later they changed their policy and required use of Apple Pharmscy or the prepackaged pharmacy( cant recall the name). This meant a 3 month script of one of her medications at $5 dollars with Express Scripts went to $80+ . This was just 1 med. She was on multiple meds. She experienced multiple undiagnosed urinary track infections even though we were billed for AZO test strips. I reported hallucinations to the head nurse, B..., who brushed it off as probably due to medicine. Mom began experiencing multiple falls. Instead of recommending various med evals to figure out what was going on, they took her walker away and confined her to a wheelchair with NO medical evaluation recommended. She suddenly lost her ability to walk in Feb. B... said that originally they thought she was "faking it". When I returned to town in March I took her to multiple doctors to try to determine what was going on with her. B... stated in a meeting with myself and her boss (V....) that she had arranged the appointments. Let me emphasize that never happened. I scheduled the cardiologist, the neurologist, the orthopedic and the general practioner. The only council B... gave was to say that if she continues to fall she can't stay at Gull Creek. Too much liability and they are not staffed to have a 2 person assist. Finally on the day that Mom returned from one of the doctor appointments she fell to the ground trying to get her out of the transport car. WHILE MOM WAS STILL LYING ON THE GROUND, B... came out and said, "she can't stay". Mom was still on the ground crying that her legs hurt and B... is saying she can't stay right in front of Mom. Shes going to need to go to rehab. She finally did help to get Mom in the wheelchair. Mom went to rehab where she was sent to the ER the day after admission with another undiagnosed UTI. I could go on with more examples. If you love someone please do not send them to Gull Creek. The nursing care is sub par, the food is a disgrace, and they are unethical in their business practices. I was never informed of a $4000 facility fee until the day we were moving mom in. When she started to fall I was told there would be no increase to her monthly rate because her level of care was already covered in the monthly rate. I was required to sign a new lease at the time so that her increased level of care was reflected in the lease. Again, NO increase in rent. The following month I was sent a letter stating that the rent was increasing $900 a month. Reason, they claim we were never charged for care to begin with. Really? Once Mom left I was charged additional rent, even though she was in rehab and would not be returning. I spoke with the business manager who could not give me a reason for the charge. The only response she had was, "well you signed a lease". After sending documentation of my discussion with V.... the Administrator about moms inability to return due to going into a nursing home i received a $500+ refund. I had to argue to get it. The one positive note about Moms experience there was the folks who conducted the activities. [names removed] are two wonderful and caring ladies who loved on Mom. I will forever appreciate them.

My parent currently lives at Gull Creek and has been a resident for several years. Sadly the current management company based in Chicago implemented changes that impact residents, staff retention and care. Food is very low quality, staff turnover frequency is rampant. Administration is abysmal. Recent staff hour cuts have led to poor resident care.

My parents reside in Gull Creek. The kitchen and nursing are understaffed. The meals are inedible at times. Most other times the portions are so small that the residents are still left hungry. Meals are not well balanced with little or no vegetables given. You fill out a meal plan for the week and still don’t get what you asked for. Hot dogs and hamburgers are sometimes the only thing offered for both lunch and dinner. Meals are so bad, l as the son, have to keep their appt stocked with food otherwise my parents would starve I’m sure. We’ve complained but Gull Creek doesn’t care. It’s all about money to them. Nursing is almost as bad. They often bring up the medications at wrong times or forget to bring them up at all. $6000 a month for such terrible care

My mother has lived at Gull Creek since 2017. We chose Gull Creek because of the spacious apartments, welcoming staff and excellent dining experience. There have been several management changes during this time as well as a status change from non-profit to for profit. Under current management, staff turnovers have impacted time to complete work orders for apartment repairs as well as continuity in facility operation. Upper management slow to respond. Food is poor quality. Snacks offer little variety and include single serve packaged crackers and fruit. Dining staff is extremely pleasant, friendly and kind. Floor staff are caring and patient.

Absolutely loved this facility. Hoping to work out the details for a 2 bedroom independent living placement. They have one under renovation. Not sure if it will be available for a mid February move in.