Discovery Village at Melbourne

I moved my Mom into Sonata about six months ago and it's been one of the best experiences ever. From the sales department, to nursing to the food, everything has been top notch. It's like being on a cruise every day, always good food, always activities going on and friendly faces in every corner.

A nice place to live but doesn't fulfill all of their promises. One of the selling points was offering the residents rides to doctors appointments, something our relative needs frequently. This was untrue. They have one driver who works 2 days a week and rides must be scheduled well in advance, not possible for most appointments. So we're paying for rides and we have to drive her ourselves. Staff is friendly to the residents but very high turnover is upsetting to some. Food goes through cycles, sometimes good sometimes not good depedning on who the current staff is. Nice building, nice residents, nice staff, activities, needs better management team to keep things as promised and on an even keel.

My Mom and I had a hard time choosing a community since there are so many around the Melbourne area. After touring several communities, we picked Sonata and we're glad we did! From our first tour to move in day, everyone was so helpful and provided guidance every step of the way. Mom has the nicest caregivers and they are there to meet all of her needs. The food is fantastic and Chef Sal comes out into the dining room to talk to all the residents and you know the ladies love it! There is a wide variety of activities, events and outings and Mom is always busy. She's made many new friends and seems to have a new sense of purpose these days!

I’m living at The Harmony at Sonata. I’ve had a recent surgery, and I am being taken care of very well here. After coming out of the hospital, I need to be around people that know me and I know them, and I feel very comfortable here. Everything is wonderful; I have no complaints whatsoever. The staff is very nice and very caring. They check on you frequently and follow-up on any complaints you have. There are 3 sections. There’s The Viva which is unassisted, there’s The Harmony which is assisted, and then they have another one for people with memory problems and Alzheimer's. They keep you busy; they play horseshoes. They have writer’s corners; I just finished a poem for them. Every time you’ll eat, you have 2 things you could eat and they have a third menu which is hotdogs, hamburgers, and ham sandwich. I’m very happy where I am.

I just put my mom in Sonata. The facility is very nice, and the people are really friendly. The staff is good; most of them are attentive. There’s one girl in particular that I really like. She takes good care of my mom. Mom has only fallen once since she has been at Sonata and she has been there for almost 2 months, so that’s a very good thing. They seem to be very cognizant that she is a fall risk, and they try to avoid the fall.

My mom did find a place down here. She chose the Sonata. So she went up back to Nebraska, and she is selling her house and planning to move down in a couple of months. What she liked best about it was they have many activities; they do many things with the residents. It's very nice, the people were all nice, and she said that she felt at home there. It is very homey and very nice, it smells good, the people were all very friendly, and they assured my mother that the other residents there would welcome her with open arms. They've all been through what she is going through, and they will help her out a lot. They do a lot of outings, a lot of trips, Bridge, and water aerobics. They do have a heated pool.

I placed my mom in Sonata after dealing with the inner battle of no longer being able to safely care for her. I was so surprised when I did my walk through of the facility. My mom has been living there for one year. She tells me that if she could not be at home there is no place else she would rather be. The staff is so attentive and helpful. I can never get my mom on the phone because she is always out engaging in one of the many activities there. She goes shopping once a week with the staff and other residents. We have joined her for a few meals, all of which were really good, some boarding on great. There is a large selection of a variety of foods with every meal. While there, my mom had required emergency medical treatment, she pushed her pendant button and nurses and other attendants were there immediately. I love my mom, and if this place was not the best around, she wouldn't be there.

The building is beautiful, to bad the staff is terrible. I very much dislike the way staff handles complaints, overall management is sneaky, and this is nothing more than a business to them as they put the needs of their profits ahead of that of their residents

There are three levels of care at Sonata at Melbourne. They have independent, assisted and memory. The staff is very good. They have different sizes of rooms for whatever you need and can afford. I chose this place because they happened to have the smallest because I don't need that much space. The dining room is very nice. I like it. I think the food is very good too. They have all kinds of activities, i.e., exercises, games, and outings.

I recently toured this community, and the woman clearly forgot about my tour time. The woman at the front desk, was totally frazzled. She made 2 calls and had no answers for where our tour guide was. Eventually we were greeted by a woman that acted as though she was doing us a favor. No apology. Rude. She was inappropriately dressed for a woman of her size and stature. It was embarrassing as she shuffled along on our tour. She did not introduce us to any staff. when we visited other facilities, most staff was friendly. Not here. Choose Sonata or be on your way, was the general feeling we got. A little too snooty for our taste. Sonata may want to work on their hospitality. We had heard such good things about this place, only to be sorely disappointed with this outcome. Gorgeous building, rude staff. My dad would never move here.

At Sonata at Melbourne, the rooms are extremely well done. The dining room is beautiful and very attractive. Food is excellent, too.

My fTher was a resident on the Memory care unit. He was living there to be with his wife who,had severe memory loss. The facilities were beautiful. My father lived there for two years. We discovered that for 5 months, he was being overcharged by $500.00 per. On th for services that were not rendered. The staff turnover is constant. Not one person is there that was there 2 years ago. A nurse was sitting T a table working a puzzle with her back tothe room. Be careful what you sign because what is being told to you is not the same thing you are signing. My father got back some of his. Money but not all of it. I was never given a reasonable explanation as to why Sonata would not repay him all of his overcharges. His care was good, but there are other things to consider in addition to care.

It was very nice and new facility. The rooms were nice and brand new. However, they didn't have the kind of facility and the kind of care that my aunt needed at that time.

My mother was one of the original residents. The physical plant is very nice. The staff, for the most par,t is very good. There has been an EXTREME turnover of staff and not for the better. The food service started out being very good but went on a downward spiral. There are definitely issues with the quality of the food. New management, I felt, was rude and not accommodating to complaints about some services. The nursing staff is constantly changing with no consistency. I stopped them from giving my Mom medication because of inconsistency in administration. Took my mother out because I did not feel that they had their act together especially in the Assisted Living side. My mother was in the Independent Living community and I decided to go to another facility when she needed Assisted Living. No bodies patrolling the halls in the Indpendent Living side resulting in more than a few people who fell having to lie on the floor for hours until someone heard their cries for help. When my mother was there, there were no posted signs about emergency exits in rooms and I did not ever see an emergency drill take place for the residents on the upper floors. Scary. The physical plant is wonderful but check out the services and turnover of staff before you choose this place.

Sonata is excellent; it's fairly new and well kept. My aunt was a little turned off because there was nothing close by. It was a little bit isolated and she liked to walk.

Sonata is new and a very nice facility. I could not have been treated better. It was very clean, very attractive, and very comfortable.