Sonoma House Assisted Living

Scott Y

April 18, 2023

My wife was in Sonoma House memory care from June 2022 until mid-April 2023. I finally decided to move her to another facility as, in my opinion, the quality of her care declined significantly, especially after January 2023. Also, in December, she fell in her room and was not discovered for some time. She had hit her head on something and had lost a fair amount of blood, and had to go to the ER. The facility was not using the bed alarm that was supplied by hospice. As of the time I moved her out in April 2023, they still were not regularly using the bed alarm to my knowledge. Turnover of caregivers is a big problem at Sonoma House. Apparently the new caregivers are not given much information regarding the individual issues with the residents. At least it seemed that way with my wife. I was continually having to relate my wife's issues to new caregivers. Turnover of facility nurses was also a problem while my wife was there. The one that was assigned to my wife's house at the time I took her out was not very good, in my opinion. She did not communicate well with me or my wife's hospice nurse. This could be a problem for the families of those residents that are not able to continually monitor the care of their loved ones. One of my wife's issues was being able to feed herself adequately. Sonoma House did not seem to have any way to address this issue, so I had to provide (at my additional cost) high calorie nutritional drinks to make sure she would get enough calories. She lost about 40 pounds the first 3-4 months after going into Sonoma House. She was overweight when she went in, so fortunately this was caught before it got dangerous. I should have recognized it sooner, but Sonoma House was not very helpful in this matter. After being somewhat stable for a few months, she lost another five pound the last month she was in the facility. I did not find out about that until I decided to move her to another facility. Again, this could be a problem for families of residents that can not closely monitor the care of their loved ones. I also had issues with the office at Sonoma House. Every month I had to call in to get them to send the latest invoice to my long term care provider. I was never very satisfied with the overall cleanliness of the facility. My wife's room and bathroom would go without adequate cleaning often. The overall appearance of the common area is a bit shabby. The front door lock needed repair for some time before it broke completely one night as I was leaving. The outside area that was available to the residents was not maintained for most of the time my wife was there. My advice is to look for other alternatives. Find a facility that has separate cleaning and cooking staff, so that the caregivers can better watch the residents instead of doing other duties. Ask about how your loved one's care is communicated on a regular basis. I eventually concluded that Sonoma House was the not the right place for my wife. My responsibility - I should have done more homework before choosing Sonoma House. I now have her in a facility where I get daily updates on her condition, and I think she will do much better with the time she has left.