Carolina Reserve of Durham

At Spring Arbor, the marketing person was very nice and attentive, they answered my questions, and I felt welcome. The facility itself was in very bad shape. It didn't smell good. The people -- their functional level -- appeared much lower to me, but when I walked in, there was like a main lobby, there were three wings that you can go off to the rooms, and off the main lobby was the dining facility. They kind of just bring all the residents to the center of this main lobby and leave them hanging there until it is time to eat, but the biggest thing was that the cleanliness of the facility was not good.

Spring Arbor was simply a nice place. It’s fairly new. We looked at the rooms; they were refurbishing them. It was a one bedroom and a kitchen. It was kind of combined. For an old person, it’s appropriate. They all seemed to be friendly and accommodating. They had different things going on there. They had a singer, and they were all sitting and listening to him. The dining facility was pretty big.

Spring Arbor of Durham is in a very good location, and convenient to major transportation arteries and attractions, the building and grounds are kept up in a reasonable fashion, and you certainly could not find a better activities coordinator than Steve. However, having lived there for three years, when it came to personal care, I had a number of concerns. Significant and continuous turnover among direct care staff, and the fact that they allow persons with criminal records to work directly with, and care for, residents (including those with some short-term memory challenges) means that jewelry, nicer clothing items, electronics, and even supplies & finer toiletries tend to disappear on a regular basis, and are never be recovered. It is so commonplace that there is little motivation to correct this problem. I finally had to seek out another facility.