Overall sentiment: Reviews for MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care at Applewood are highly polarized and inconsistent. Many families and residents report excellent, compassionate individualized care provided by dedicated staff members and leadership, while an equally large and vocal group report systemic problems, safety lapses, and declining quality since management or ownership changes. The overall pattern is variability by unit, time frame, and staff on duty — with some residents experiencing a warm, engaging, and clean environment and others experiencing poor hygiene, missed medications, and unsafe conditions.
Care quality and staffing: The most recurrent theme is inconsistent care. Numerous reviews praise specific caregivers and teams — often by name — for being attentive, loving, and responsive, and some families report meaningful improvements under certain leaders (Executive Director Morgan and other named staff). At the same time, many reviews describe understaffing, high turnover, slow responses to call lights, unprofessional behavior (cellphone use, immature or unsupervised staff), and inadequate assistance with hygiene and daily routines. Memory Care receives mixed reports: several families say the Memory Care team exceeded expectations, while others describe dire staffing ratios (for example, reports of 20 residents to 2–3 staff), limited resident communication, and neglected dementia-specific needs. Several reviewers explicitly link changes in quality to an ownership/management transition (Juniper takeover) or to local management changes, with some noting that situations improved again under newer directors in specific cases.
Safety, medication and clinical issues: A significant cluster of negative reports concerns safety and clinical management. Multiple reviewers reported missed or delayed medications, incorrect medication orders, and poor medication follow-up, with at least some families reporting emergency room visits tied to care lapses. Falls and injuries are repeatedly cited — including incidents where walkers or wheelchairs were not left in reach, wheelchairs not locked, or fall response was slow. Infection-control lapses and outbreak events were also mentioned, and a few reviews describe policy violations (staff not wearing masks on night shifts) and delayed nursing presence. Some families reported no nurse on site during critical times. These clinical and safety concerns are among the most serious and most frequently mentioned negative themes.
Cleanliness, maintenance and theft/laundry problems: Reviews show a wide swing between reports of a very clean environment and more troubling accounts of poor maintenance and sanitation. Positive reports describe bright, odor-free rooms and tidy common areas; negative accounts include urine or fecal odors, stained or unsanitary carpets (including blood), prolonged leaks and wet floors from unresolved toilet issues, and dusty or poorly cleaned rooms. Problems with laundry (missing or mixed-up items) and allegations of staff theft or stolen rings were reported by several families — adding to trust and security concerns.
Dining and activities: Dining experiences are similarly mixed. Some families praise an on-staff chef, fresh food, and special feature meals, while others complain about cheap, low-quality or cold meals, menu shortages, breakfast communication failures, and slow meal service. The menu reportedly leans heavily on certain proteins (chicken), and some found value mismatches between cost and quality. Activities programming gets frequent praise (bingo, music, bridge, art, outings, dementia-aware activities), with many residents described as engaged and happy. However, other reviewers said activities were sparse, residents experienced downtime, or outings were limited due to wheelchair needs and staffing shortages.
Management, communication, and operations: Management and communication are focal points of complaint for many families: slow or absent follow-up, defensive or poor problem resolution, inconsistent enforcement of standards, and at least one review alleging misleading marketing or aggressive tours that compromised privacy. Conversely, several reviews highlight strong, supportive leadership and improvements under particular directors who established better staffing and responsiveness. Renovations and upgrades were noted (new furniture, kitchen work), but some families felt money was spent on visible improvements while frontline care suffered. Concerns about value for money recur frequently: expensive rates, additional fees (e.g., pet fees), and cases where rooms lacked expected amenities for the same price.
Patterns and overall recommendation: The reviews suggest this community can be excellent in pockets — fueled by compassionate caregivers and engaged activity staff — yet it can also fail residents in critical areas like medication management, safety oversight, and cleanliness. The most consistent red flags are medication errors, poor follow-through from management, staffing shortages in Memory Care, and maintenance/cleanliness lapses. Families considering this facility should (1) meet and vet the specific leadership and care teams who will be responsible for their loved one, (2) ask about current staffing ratios (particularly in Memory Care), (3) ask for written guarantees or policies on medication management, fall prevention, and infection control, and (4) verify which areas have been renovated and whether private-bathroom options are available at advertised price points. Positive experiences frequently mention specific staff who make the difference; negative experiences often trace back to systemic staffing or management failures rather than individual caregivers alone.
In summary: MorningStar at Applewood presents a mixed picture that ranges from outstanding, family-like care to concerning, even dangerous lapses in basic safety and operations. Pros include dedicated, compassionate staff, strong activity programming, attractive areas of the facility, and an on-site chef in some cases. Cons focus on inconsistent management, medication and safety failures, understaffing, and variable cleanliness and dining quality. Prospective residents and families should do detailed, up-to-date assessments focused on leadership stability, staffing levels (especially in Memory Care), clinical oversight, and documented incident-handling procedures before committing. If you visit, ask to speak with the current Executive Director and care leads, request recent staffing schedules and incident logs, and get any promises in writing to reduce the risk of the variability reflected in these reviews.
