KIVA OF PALATKA

My father has lived at Kiva for years on and off. I have visited him at the facility many, many times. I have met all of the staff, and most of the long term residents. I can tell you from deep experience, bringing your family member here as a solution for assisted living is a very poor choice. I wouldn’t recommend Kiva to anyone. While they are under new management, the new management is debatably worse than the last. I have witnessed countless problems here. One example out of many, is their washing machine broke, and a new one didn’t get ordered for almost three weeks. Every resident didn’t have their clothes washed, and they piled up on the floor. My father’s room is never clean. As being in a wheelchair with half of his body in paralysis, he cannot clean much at all. Constantly, I’ve witnessed his trash piling up, (which they say gets taken out every day) dirty clothes, a horrible bathroom, and stained carpets. He switched rooms recently, and someone left a bloody handprint on a windowsill next to his bed. A bloody handprint. It stayed there for OVER two months until I asked someone what the heck is going on. No one took the initiative to clean it. It could have been feces, who knows. Many residents have severe dementia, consistently entering people’s rooms and stealing their belongings. This is a DAILY OCCURRENCE. Money, clothes, food, mail, you name it. My father has lost countless articles of clothing, food, money, even his phone. It’s ridiculous. The cleaning is minimal. Everywhere in this building reeks of urine and feces. The hallways, common areas, etc. The sitting areas are constantly dirty with the crumbs from the previous residents meal still on the table. Ive witnessed urine filled clothes sitting outside for weeks. What looked like a resident peed themselves, and they put the clothes outside or something. The communication is poor. Don’t expect the phone to be answered ever. The food is atrocious. REALLY BAD. On multiple occasions, I’ve seen them serve tomato soup and one piece of bread. Dinner has been grilled cheese, yet the bread isn’t toasted, it’s cheese on plain bread. There’s no nutrition here at all. I’ve seen the employees cleaning dishes with rags, dipping it into a full sink of murky dark water, then wiping down plates. Just about every meal I’ve see here is small and lacking variety. Mostly canned and frozen items. Residents I’ve met are hungry, complaining about the food. It’s a horrible feeling knowing your family is hungry all day, and nothing is fresh. Breakfast might be a bowl of instant oatmeal and maybe a fruit. Kiva is unfortunately victim to the many problems in assisted living today: underpaid employees, lack of appreciation for said employees, and owners/managers not taking accountability and responsibility. I’ve witnessed employees not being paid for close to a month before MULTIPLE times. My own father has loaned money to help. You can feel the palpable negative energy the moment you pull into the parking lot, and when you enter the room. While the employees do what they can with what little staff they have, I give them some credit, it is still a train wreck here. There is no excuse for my fathers room never being cleaned, being denied basic necessities, having employees talk down to him, and not keeping his room up to a decent living condition. His complains seem to fall on deaf ears. To also wrap this up, after I sternly approached the director/manager why his room smells and there’s STILL a bloody handprint from the previous resident, they cleaned his room better than I’ve seen in years. Years. It actually didn’t smell like urine for the first time (he has bladder issues). I do not recommend Kiva for your ailing family member, as Kiva has shown time and time again that your family’s safety, health, nutrition, and well being are not taken seriously here. The ONLY redeeming quality, is a few employees who try. It is not an easy job, thank you. Also, the owner 100% told the employees to leave reviews. Notice the singular timing of all the reviews.

I don't normally take the time to leave reviews. Associate Courtney goes above and beyond. Answered all my questions and I left knowing my people were in good hands.

within the last few months this place has made some significant changes, they have revamped the way they run their facility for the better of their residents and id recommend their care to anyone!

After a sad and bad experience at Kiva in palatka,I must comment.Went there to provide hair services. Left today because of the roaches in the beauty shop. Told miss peaches and her response was everybody has roaches.Found her unprofessional and so involved on her phone she wouldn't address the problem.Very sad for the residents!

I have a family member here and the staff take such good care of my family member. The staff care so much about the residents and definitely go above and beyond to ensure they’re safe and well cared for.