Overall sentiment in the reviews is highly polarized: many reviewers describe The Preserve at Woodland Hills as a beautiful, modern community with compassionate caregivers and excellent amenities, while an overlapping set of reviewers report serious care, safety, management, and operational failures. Positive accounts emphasize the facility's physical appeal, a warm culture among certain frontline employees, and strong experiences during admissions and day-to-day living. Negative accounts repeatedly call out systemic problems — most notably high staff turnover, inconsistent care, medication mistakes, hygiene and neglect issues, and unresponsive leadership.
Facilities and amenities: A frequent positive theme is the new, well-maintained building, open airy common spaces, single-story layout, gardens/courtyard, and high-end fitness and activity spaces. Many reviewers praised the home-like bedrooms, social areas, and overall cleanliness and pleasant smell of the community. For families looking for attractive physical surroundings and robust amenity offerings, these elements are consistently highlighted as strengths.
Staff and caregiving: Reviews paint a mixed picture of staff quality. Numerous reviewers identify specific caregivers and managers who are compassionate, professional, and go above and beyond (names commonly mentioned include Frances, Julie, Michael, Trevin, Gloria, Angel, Chef Jimmy, and Susan). These staff are credited with giving residents individualized attention, running engaging activities, and easing the transition for new residents. Conversely, many reports point to high turnover, understaffing, overworked employees, and weekend coverage gaps. That instability appears to correlate with care lapses in some cases: missed assistance, residents forgotten, and inconsistent follow-through on care plans.
Care quality and safety: This is the area with the most severe divergence. Positive reviews describe attentive care, hospice support, and good dementia expertise in some units. Negative reviews describe medication errors (including med-tech mistakes and reports of meds being administered without permission), failure to follow medication schedules, untreated wounds and even allegations of maggots in wounds, persistent urine odors in rooms, and rooms left in disarray. Several reviews explicitly state they would not recommend the community for higher levels of care or memory care due to these safety concerns. There are also multiple mentions of high regulatory violations and examples suggesting inadequate clinical oversight.
Dining and activities: Opinions on dining and activities are split. Many reviewers praise the food and name a chef as delivering excellent meals (Chef Jimmy is singled out), along with positive communal meals, family gatherings, and diverse holiday programming. Others report unappetizing food, meals served late, food safety concerns (expired food, reports of food poisoning), and a limited or inconsistent activities program. Some families mention a Montessori-based memory-care approach and engaging classes, while others say the Montessori method is not truly implemented and activities are thin or irregular.
Management, communication, and operations: Management and leadership receive some strong positive remarks — responsive marketing and concierge staff, approachable new leadership, and directors who are hands-on. However, a large number of reviews criticize upper management as unresponsive, focused on occupancy rather than care, and dismissive of family concerns. Recurrent operational complaints include supplies locked away or unavailable (gloves, wipes, diapers), cost-cutting practices, unpaid vendor bills, billing errors, disorganization, unpaid invoices, late fees, and vendor payment delays. Several reviewers report ignored family councils, unreturned messages, and empty promises. These operational and communication failures appear to amplify concerns about clinical care and resident safety.
Patterns and overall impression: The strongest pattern is inconsistency — excellent experiences coexist with troubling reports. Many of the positive attributes (building, amenities, several exemplary staff) are tangible and repeatedly praised; many negative themes (turnover, management unresponsiveness, medication and hygiene issues) are likewise recurring and often serious. This polarization suggests variability across time, shifts, leadership tenures, or specific units within the community. Families considering this community should weigh the clearly superior physical environment and the presence of standout caregivers against documented risks of inconsistent staffing, management issues, and safety lapses.
Practical takeaways for families: If you are considering The Preserve at Woodland Hills, visit multiple times across different days and shifts, meet clinical leadership and named staff, ask for recent inspection reports and violation history, request written policies on medication administration and wound care, inquire about staffing ratios and weekend coverage, and verify how supplies and emergency protocols are managed. Ask for references from current families in the same care level (assisted living vs. memory care) and clarify billing, vendor payment practices, and how family concerns are escalated and resolved. The community offers many real strengths, but the review set indicates risk areas that merit careful, documented vetting before committing to a placement.
