Valle Verde

I have lived at Valle Verde for a little over a year. What I love about it is the quality of people who live here… Intelligent, interested and interesting. The care and commitment of the staff is wonderful and the one story casitas with patios are sized to suit every need. Pets are allowed and there is even a dog park for them to run free. I haven’t needed the health care of assisted living but know it is highly rated by health professionals around town. If you ever need physical therapy or extended help after a hospital stay, check out Valle Verde. You don’t have to buy in to use the services here.

The negative reviews of Valle Verde make me wonder if we’re talking about the same place. My parents lived at Valle Verde in an independent duplex for 14 years. During that time they not only enjoyed the beautiful campus setting but, of more importance, a very enriched daily life filled with many friendships, fulfilling activities, and caring staff. And they enjoyed the feeling of security Valle Verde’s program of graduated care gave them as they entered their 90s. Family would visit from far and wide. We were always warmly welcomed in the dining room and served by the most friendly servers you can imagine, whether our group was four or a dozen. We held numerous special family events in one of their community rooms or at The Grill and enjoyed staying in their classy B & B. We were always treated with utmost respect and the staff bent over backward to meet our needs.
Was everything perfect all the time? Of course not! Sure there was noise during construction. Sure there were times of human error. But as a daughter living at a distance, what I especially appreciated about the Valle Verde staff was that I could count on them to approach solving any problem the way I would — with a focus on the quality of their relationships with my parents. When my mother was widowed, her dementia made it necessary for her to move into Valle Verde’s memory care facility. The deeply kind, wise and caring program managers and daily caregivers always kept in close contact with our family to learn how to maximize our mother’s comfort and contentment. They worked so hard to do this, especially in the last six months of her life when she was grieving and confused. They helped her remember there was still goodness and connection to have in life. Her last days were spent in the skilled nursing clinic. There she received the same gracious and excellent care we were used to from Valle Verde. Our wishes for those last days were heard, adjustments to their routines were made, and we got to experience a time of deep peace as we said goodbye.

My mom has been a patient/​resident in the Valle Verde Health Center (aka Skilled Nursing) for the past three months. At first we thought she would receive stimulation and therapy to recover from an unruptured brain aneurysm stent procedure but Valle Verde. s priority has been to have my mom’s Medicare coverage stopped and either pay cash (11,000.00 a month) or forced to move to another more affordable skilled nursing home. It would appear that Valle Verde is looking for private pay rather than Medicare patients. Weekly, Valle Verde sends a notice to Medicare advising that my mom has plateaued and they don’t believe she requires skilled nursing any longer. My mom can’t feed herself, can’t bathe herself, she is blind and she is not lucid much of the day. Without therapy and skilled nursing she will not thrive. Apparently Valle Verde is all about the profit and nothing about the patient. That says a million words about the parent company, American Baptist Homes Of The West (ABHOW)
If you were serious about the welfare of patients Melissa, you would know that there is actually no requirement of rehabilitation potential. There must be a need for skilled nursing to maintain or improve the patient’s condition. Valle Verde has put my mother, a human life/​soul in a very dangerous state. I would not wish what you have done to her on my worst enemy. How do you people sleep at night? You have no problem hurting elderly and disabled people? ABHOW is Christian? Really? If the example of Christianity is how ABHOW and Valle Verde operate then I want nothing to do with that religion.

My review is presented on the health care center. After visiting my 95 year old Aunt there each month over the past 3.5 years I find that there is no accountability at this place for their errors, omissions and poor judgement. I have a long list of complaints that have only been addressed in part by a previous Administrator who is no longer there. Little to no turnover of the nursing staff but a constant turnover in administration. There is very little oversight, quality review or quality control. No one ever takes responsibility for their actions at Valle Verde. It’s sort of like listening to a Jockey tell the trainer of a race horse who finishes 4^th on a 1 – 9 shot what he didn’t do wrong. In other words they come up with every excuse under the sun as to what went wrong but never take any blame. Also, it appears this facility caters to the high end residents who bought into one of their homes. The health care center seems to be an afterthought and thus it is at the bottom of their priority list.

Response to Anon M.‘s posting of 4÷18÷15:
My husband and I moved to Valle Verde approximately 8 months ago, so I am unable to comment on «what was» as «Anon M» has described. However, I can certainly comment on «what is» which for the most part is nothing like the negative comments of this previous poster. Fortunately we do agree that Valle Verde is «a pleasant residential like neighborhood, all single story without the institutional feel of other retirement communities.» But that is where our agreement ends. I admit I was not excited about moving to any retirement home and referred to the process as «moving to the home» (pretty derogatory). However in our several months at Valle Verde, we feel we have moved to «our home» — and it has been one of the best decisions we have made. There is a real sense of community here, thanks in no small part because of the new Valle Verde team (which includes our new Executive Director, Melissa Honig and the Director of Sales and Marketing, Kathy Yuill). All are very knowledgeable and have gone out of their way to listen to the residents and prospective residents – and quickly respond to any questions or concerns they might have. One example: there are approximately 40 «resident dogs» at Valle Verde. A group of us have been meeting with Melissa Honig the past few months to explore the possibility of creating a fenced dog park on our campus. She has gone out of her way to make this a reality; We are all very hopeful that the brand new «Valle Verde Dog Park» will be completed within the next year. Re: the concern about WiFi, the entire campus will be connected this year. I admit parking is still a problem. The maintenance team is working on how to solve this; it may require some compromise from all of us. Re: repair of equipment «not being repaired for months», I can only cite the example we had with one of our appliances – one call to Maintenance and they took care of it immediately. Re: the lack of signage throughout Valle Verde – I don’t think the poster is aware of the time it takes to get this permitting through the city. Valle Verde submitted signs for approval months ago; it is now just a waiting process. Re: «elder abuse» — this came out of nowhere. I have friends in both the Valle Verde assisted living and long term nursing facilities; the team has been professional, respectful and caring. I am sad that for whatever reasons, «Anon M.» is so negative about Valle Verde. I don’t think his negative comments represent the great majority of us who are living at Valle Verde now.

I am amazed at the negative reviews here. My parents came to Valle Verde and moved into a two bedroom duplex unit. It was was perfect for them, and a delight for us as their family to join them for special occasions in the dining room (including gourmet food!). All of us (children and grandchildren) have very fond memories of those times. After many years, my dad (because of his dementia) needed to go to the specialty unit Quail Lodge where he currently resides. All of the staff there have been fantastic and the monthly family dinners are a great way for us to share time with him. My mother eventually moved to assisted living and died in the Valle Verde hospital. Her care was exemplary (a special note of gratitude to the incredibly kind and sensitive nurses and caregivers who helped her leave this earth). Yes, there is construction but it is a fleeting nuisance. Sadly, it seems that only the disgruntled tend to write reviews. I want to counter that with my many years of very positive experience at Valle Verde.

I unfortunately have to agree with the other reviews. Valle Verde once was the sought after retirement facility but seems to have become a «money mill», signing seniors with a hefty «price of admission» charging monthly fees, and then not delivering on the services that satisfy us all as human beings. My mom’s feelings are that management is simply putting off her concerns until she dies. They they will simply sell her spot to someone else. They have absorbed all of the open space that used to be there with additional units which has taken away much of the original beauty of the place. Beware that they have added to their census with the new construction and NOT added staffing and facilities to handle the additional residents.

My father moved into this place 12 years ago. Costs steadily rose although he was on a fixed income. He died mid-​March. My siblings and I came to get his belongings. My brother and I asked if we could eat in the main dining room, since he had already paid for his food for the whole month of March. They looked at us as if we were crazy and said, «no». While we tried to move his stuff out and settle things, the office was less than helpful. This place is all about the money they are generating, not about their residents. They were constantly pressuring my father into go to the third stage of care because they could get $ 7,000.00 a month. Other reviewers have mentioned the construction. That is not the issue. The issue is the lack of compassion for the people who live there and the fact that money is most important to them.

Valle Verde is struggling to retain character, care and competence. What was once a lovely community has been gutted by construction, cost containment and carelessness. My father literally spend ALL of his life savings to move to Valle Verde only to find himself lost in a community that functions for long time residents but does not welcome newcomers.
The nursing/​rehab facility is a nightmare. The nursing staff is insufficient and doctors are unavailable. There is little collaboration with family members and only spotty concern for those being treated.

Many residents are currently unhappy. They feel the parent organization is non-​responsive to residents’ needs. Right now there is major construction disrupting everyone’s quality of life. Seniors give their life savings to live here only to have construction in their back yards and the loss of the rural atmosphere they paid for. Parent Org. in No. Cal. remains non responsive. Just talk to the residents, before considering this place, I would advise.