Overall sentiment in the reviews is mixed but leans toward positive impressions of the facility's atmosphere and many frontline staff, combined with recurring and significant concerns about consistency of care and certain operational practices. Many reviewers praise Homestead Assisted Living & Memory Care of Augusta for having caring, attentive employees who engage personally with residents and create a home-like environment. The facility’s smaller size, well-kept grounds, terrace/green space, and private studio or one-bedroom apartment options are repeatedly mentioned as positive attributes. On-site amenities—three meals a day (with several reviewers specifically saying the food is good or improved), a beauty salon/nail shop, on-site store, podiatrist/PA visits, pastoral services, and periodic activities—also contribute to families feeling their loved ones have comfort and meaningful daily structure.
Care quality and memory-care services produce a split picture. Several reviews emphasize trained memory-care staff, secure dementia units, and a smooth transition process from assisted living to memory care; some families report reduced resident anxiety and improved cognition after transfer. At the same time, there are serious and specific complaints about memory-care operations from multiple reviewers: lack of housekeeping in memory care (families reporting they had to clean and vacuum), soiled or saturated briefs/pads left in place, staff not following regulations, and allegations that personal-care tasks fell to family members. Some reviewers explicitly said the memory care level was not acceptable and cited poor documentation and inadequate shift notes.
Staffing and management are recurrent themes with both praise and criticism. Many reviewers call the staff wonderful, patient, and kind, and they single out managers/directors who communicated well and assisted with transitions (including positively during the pandemic). Conversely, other reviewers report high staff turnover, understaffing, unhelpful or cold behavior from particular employees, dishonesty or broken promises from management (including alleged failure to find placements, leaving a resident in hospital, and denial of refunds). These disparities suggest variability in individual staff performance and in administrative responsiveness; prospective families may see very different experiences depending on timing and staff on duty.
Safety, clinical oversight, and reliance on outside providers are notable operational considerations. The facility does not have an on-site nursing home and depends on outside home health and hospice providers for clinical needs. Some reviewers explicitly warned about poor medication/safety management and cited severe outcomes (including a reviewer who reported a relative’s death and attributed it to lapses in care). Those comments stand in contrast to other families’ impressions of good clinical attentiveness (e.g., nurse consultations and PA visits) and create a mixed but cautionary safety profile.
Practical and logistical issues appear repeatedly: phone jacks are reportedly located far from residents, and the phone system’s placement has hindered family communication. One review mentioned a broken walker not disclosed to family. Accessibility concerns were noted for the upstairs floor. Activity programming is described as present but limited—there are events that families enjoyed (Easter was singled out), but other reviewers wished for more frequent or varied activities. Cleanliness reports are mixed: while many describe a very clean facility and well-kept rooms, multiple reviewers reported spots that needed better cleaning and asked for a more consistent housekeeping crew.
Price and value perceptions vary. Several reviewers said the facility is affordable or good value and praised improvements in food and service; one reviewer described it as expensive and not suitable for their needs. This variation likely reflects differences in individual expectations and levels of care required.
Taken together, the reviews suggest Homestead of Augusta offers a warm, small, and amenity-rich environment with many caring staff members and useful services for assisted living residents. However, there are repeated, specific warnings about inconsistency—especially in memory care—regarding housekeeping, personal-care routines, medication/safety management, staffing stability, and management transparency. For families considering this community, recommended due diligence includes: asking detailed, written questions about memory-care housekeeping and personal-care protocols; clarifying how medication administration, documentation, and clinical oversight are handled (and who provides those services); inquiring about staff-to-resident ratios and turnover; checking how communication (phones and shift notes) is managed; touring the memory-care unit and upstairs apartments for accessibility, and requesting references from current families who have residents in memory care. These steps will help weigh the facility’s many strengths (staff warmth, small-home atmosphere, meals and amenities) against the reported operational and safety concerns that some reviewers experienced.
