South Hill Village, Assisted Living & Memory Care

I visit South Hill village frequently and every time I'm there the environment feels warm and welcoming. The residents are engaged. The staff is friendly and the building is always clean and comfortable. You can tell the team really cares about the people who live there. It's one of those places where you feel positive energy as soon as you walk in.

After having a bad experience with one of their competitors, I moved my mom into S. Hill Village’s Memory Care unit. The difference (after 2 ½ years) has been night and day. Whereas the first place only wanted to accommodate ‘easy’ cases (my mom, who had/has advanced Dementia, was mildly challenging), SHV took in my mom, and has never complained to me about mom’s behavior the way Touchmark did. When any sort of issue comes up, the Memory Care Manager (Jasmina) simply talks to me about it, and together we come up with a solution, which to date, has always been reasonable and mutually beneficial. When it comes to Memory Care (specifically), the manager (of the unit) makes all the difference. Jasmina is a reasonable, compassionate person who genuinely cares about the residents, and their well-being. Having been a Care-Giver herself (once upon a time), she is very hands on, often helping out with the residents personally, when she could just as easily direct one of the staff to attend to the task. Importantly, she is as flexible as she can be, which really helps mitigate my (the loved one’s) anxiety level; sometimes there are no ‘perfect solutions’, but Jasmina addresses challenges with respect, compassion and empathy.

South Hill Village management is horrible. All they care about is the money they can receive from their residents. Watch out for their non refundable fee they quote to just belong to their community. It is a scam. I have heard them quote anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 while pretending to do you a favor saying, "that they will help you out by taking it off your monthly rent but don't tell anybody because your family will be the only family receiving this great deal". There is no genuine care shown towards the residents at all. They are extremely understaffed. There is no acting nurse. The is no acting director of the whole property. The food program is not eatable. The same menu just keeps revolving week after week after week. The place is dirty with no basic cleaning of the floors, laundry rooms and bathrooms. South Hill's corporate office has no clue how the property is even ran. Their best effort is to just send in bodies and platoon most positions. My dad was there many years and towards the end they treated him very poorly. Save your families time, money and hardships and go to a much better facility like the Gallery just down the street. Thank you for looking.

My loved one has resided in a total of 3 long-term care facilities (for dementia) since 2017 and resided in assisted living at this facility for 4.5 years (prior, during, and after the Covid health emergency). Long-term care staffing was a challenge before the Covid pandemic, drastically worsened during the pandemic, and has not yet recovered. Staff turn-over is high and vacancies persist at all company-run long-term care facilities. The vast majority of the SHV staff are kind and caring, but there are care delivery shortfalls. I would rate the care delivered as average, at best, throughout the 4.5 years. The good: nurse manager, Dee Herta RN, is utterly fantastic and trustworthy. The dietary staff track and report residents who don’t show up for a meal. All but the newer dietary staff know the residents by name and preferences. Laundry services return the clothes and bedding to the correct resident 99.5% of the time. This facility does NOT have a theft problem. The bad: SHV communication has always been abysmal. I routinely hit a road block when I needed to speak with someone in authority. The receptionist always states that the individual is “in a meeting”. Most of management does not respond to emails or voice mails. The receptionists promise to deliver a message, but no one calls back. I always had to place repeated calls to get traction. Housekeeping services were skimpy or deferred when staffing was low. In March 2023, I was in the room, out of the line of sight, when a housekeeper opened the door and asked my loved one if they wanted the room cleaned. My loved one responded, “What ever you think is best” and the housekeeper said she would return next week and clean. I stepped into the hallway and asked her to clean the room. As she was working, she said that a housekeepers had called off and she had double the number of rooms to clean. I am a retired physician and the resident’s POA. I was appalled to discover that care staff were aware of and repeatedly failed to report functional and health declines to me (recurrent nausea and diarrhea; declines in the resident's ability to perform activities of daily living). The resident's memory prevented accurate self-assessment when queried. In late February 2023, staff noted that the resident vomited in the dining room during lunch and had not felt well the day prior. This was not reported to me with no explanation as to why. Staff checked in a few hours later and the resident reported feeling weak. The resident’s blood pressure was taken once and was low normal. Staffed called an ambulance and sent the resident to the hospital without communicating any of this to me until AFTER the ambulance had departed their facility. This was not a life-threatening emergency. Several care staff subsequently advise me that the facility policy is to transport before calling family (to avoid delays caused by family protests). Following this event, my loved one demonstrated an accelerated decline in memory and self-care with increased confusion and the need for greater assistance. I met with nursing management and we increased the level of supportive care. But this care was not delivered. A couple of days after this change, I arrived early and sat in the room with my loved one for hours of quiet observation. The resident received no assistance with hygiene or getting dressed and was not prompted to go to the dining room for lunch. This is when I decided to move the resident to memory care at another facility. (And, the care at that facility was also average, at best.) Do your due diligence before selecting any care facility. All marketing directors are skilled at promotion. Call the long-term care ombudsman and ask about the concerns raised the residents' loved ones. Seek out family members during peak visiting hours and speak with as many as possible. Sit quietly in the common areas and watch the interaction between staff and residents. My loved one received the most attentive, compassionate care (by far) in a superb adult family home.

South Hill Village Memory Care provided a caring and safe environment for my mother. Mom lived there for about 4 1/2 years. She passed away last month. Caregivers were conscientious, patient, and compassionate, even when the symptoms of dementia made their job very hard. The medical team provided expertise, custom care, and went the extra mile. Throughout her time there we felt confident that her needs were being met. The communication with us was forthright, timely, and greatly appreciated. We recommend other families looking for a new place for their loved ones to call home consider South Hill Village Memory Care on Hailee Lane in Spokane, WA.