What levels of care does this community offer?

Leonard Florence Center for Living offers assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing.

Are there photos of this home?

There are 2 photos of Leonard Florence Center for Living on Mirador.

What is Leonard Florence Center for Living's address?

The full address for this community is 165 Captains Row, Chelsea, MA, 02150.

Does this community offer respite care?

Yes, Leonard Florence Center for Living offers respite care. Respite care in assisted living communities provides temporary, short-term relief for primary caregivers by offering professional care for their loved ones. It allows individuals to stay in an assisted living community for a limited time, giving caregivers a break while ensuring residents receive necessary support and assistance with daily activities.

Leonard Florence Center for Living

Overall sentiment in the reviews is highly mixed, with a strong polarization between reviewers who describe the Leonard Florence Center for Living as outstanding and those who report serious care failures. A substantial portion of reviews praise the facility’s staff, therapy services, food, and environment; many other reviews recount worrying instances of neglect, poor communication, and safety lapses. The pattern is one of high highs and low lows rather than uniform performance.

Care quality and staff: The most frequent positive theme is the presence of compassionate, dedicated caregivers and a highly regarded rehab team. Multiple reviewers singled out physical and occupational therapy as “amazing” and credited therapists with helping residents regain independence. Long-tenured staff and watchful caregiving were highlighted as strengths; several reviews named individual staff members (for example, Joyce, Ina Hoffman, and kitchen staff Gisely and Mark) for going above and beyond. Conversely, a number of reviews describe understaffing, temporary or untrained personnel, rude supervisors, and unresponsive calls for assistance. Serious problems reported include stage 4 pressure ulcers (bedsores), lack of air mattresses, missed medications or overmedication at night, neglect of basic hygiene (unclean hair, nails, inadequate bathing), and in extreme cases residents dying shortly after admission. These conflicting reports point to inconsistency in staffing levels, training, and supervision across shifts or units.

Facilities and environment: Reviewers frequently praised the building itself — described as bright, beautiful, hotel-like, and homey — with small floors (around 10 residents) and private rooms in some areas. The layout (kitchen and dining located on resident floors) and welcoming common areas were positively noted, as were cleanliness and a pleasant, landscaped urban setting with harbor views from certain units. A few reviewers mentioned missing amenities such as a swimming pool, but overall the physical plant is seen as an asset.

Dining and activities: Dining receives strong positive mention from many reviews: freshly prepared meals, hot and cold service, fresh pastries, ample portions, and engaged kitchen staff who prepare appealing food. Multiple reviewers referenced social elements around meals and activities — communal TV watching, Super Bowl snacks, live musical entertainment, and welcoming gathering areas — contributing to a home-like atmosphere. A minority of reviews, however, found the food inedible, indicating variability in kitchen performance or individual expectations.

Management, admissions, and communication: Several reviewers reported exemplary responsiveness from admissions and senior leadership who personally visited and secured beds, maintained contact during stays, and coordinated hospice when needed. These positive management interactions contributed to trust and satisfaction. On the other hand, there are repeated concerns about management responsiveness in the face of problems — reviewers called for retraining, staff replacement, or criticized unhelpful supervisors and directors. Communication lapses with families, slow response to call bells, language barriers, and inconsistent information were recurrent negative themes.

Safety and sanitation concerns: While many reviews emphasize cleanliness, a subset raises alarmingly specific safety and sanitation incidents: an injectable left in a common area, blood in an elevator, feces/urine upon discharge, and other unsafe conditions. These reports, combined with allegations of neglect and serious wounds, are among the most consequential negative claims and contribute heavily to distrust among some reviewers.

Patterns and takeaway: The dominant pattern is variability. Many families report transformational, compassionate care, excellent rehabilitation, and a comfortable, attractive setting with great dining and attentive staff. Simultaneously, a nontrivial number of reviewers report neglect, safety lapses, poor communication, and rude or unresponsive staff. This suggests that experiences may depend heavily on specific units, shifts, individual caregivers, or recent staffing changes.

If evaluating Leonard Florence Center for Living, potential residents and families should consider both the consistently praised strengths (strong rehab programs, attractive facility, engaged kitchen, and many dedicated long-term staff) and the documented concerns (reports of neglect, inconsistent staffing/communication, and isolated serious safety incidents). It would be prudent to ask the facility about current staffing ratios, staff turnover, supervision and training practices, recent incident reports, infection-control and pressure-ulcer prevention protocols, and how they handle family communication and language access. Visiting multiple units, speaking with therapy staff, dining during a mealtime, and asking for references from recent families could help assess whether the experience is likely to be one of the positive accounts or one of the problematic reports reflected in these reviews.

Leonard Florence Center for Living sits at 165 Captains Row in Chelsea, Massachusetts, overlooking the Island End River and the Mass General Chelsea Healthcare Center, and you know, the whole place is kind of different from most places because the building's six stories tall, filled with open kitchens, fireplace living rooms, and great big floor-to-ceiling windows in every room, so sometimes you get views of the harbor or even just good daylight, and they try to make it look and feel like a regular home, even though there are ten condo-style "homes" on those six floors, each about 7,000 square feet, and the focus is really on residential care for folks with needs ranging from regular assisted living to much more specialized things like ALS, MS, ventilator care, and memory support, which a lot of places don't cover and, honestly, the staff does pay a good deal of attention to each person living there. Now, a part that stands out, you might want to know, is they've got this thing called the Florence & Chafetz Home for Specialized Care and the Stein Family Center for Well-Being, with the latter being known as the first Green House® ventilator program in the country and really being set up for people with long-term ventilator care needs, including those with ALS or MS, and that's actually what makes it so internationally recognized because nobody else can take care of as many ALS residents, and the technology is honestly ahead of the curve, like state-of-the-art portable ventilators and things that let people move around independently, since they've put in eye gaze and head movement sensors so a person can turn on lights, control their TV, call elevators, and open doors with just their eyes or a tilt of the head, which helps people who might have very little movement left, and, you know, there's always a nurse on staff part-time and other specially trained folks who handle everything from speech and physical therapy - which they do right in-house - to medication reminders, emergency care, and end of life care, too.

People living here get private rooms with their own bathrooms, and those rooms have appliances like little kitchenettes if someone feels up to making a cup of tea or a snack, while communal dining is available if you'd rather, plus they've even got room service, so you don't have to go down if you're not feeling well, which does make things easier for folks who can't move around easily, and all the rooms are kept tidy with regular housekeeping, laundry, and linen service. The place also serves kosher meals for those who want or need them, and the whole Center is part of the Chelsea Jewish Lifecare community, so there's a real focus on Jewish care, but people of all backgrounds seem welcome, and you see staff speaking English, and they offer dietary and nutritional guidance for all kinds of needs. The Center has a garden outside, and they run a pet-friendly policy, so you might see a dog or cat now and then, and for recreation, you've got games, hobbies, field trips, fishing, skydiving, sailing, or outings to Red Sox, Celtics or Patriots games, plus the annual ALS & MS Walk for Living that pulls in residents, families, staff, and neighbors, which helps people stay connected and feeling part of a group - especially for those who might feel isolated elsewhere.

You'll also find short-term rehab services, long-term care, and special areas for memory support, and the Fight the Flu Campaign, Sepsis Smart, and Falls Prevention programs help keep people as safe as possible, alongside in-house beautician services, religious services, and a bunch of culture change ideas to make the place more comfortable, so while it never feels perfect, it does feel like a place where someone tries to cover all the important details of daily living. Insurance is accepted for payment, and they offer support with transitions so when someone has to move from another setting, the process isn't as hard as it sometimes is. There's a lot happening, from adult day programs to specially designed ALS or MS units in collaboration with people who really understand both the building and the care side, so while nothing's ever perfect, they do manage a wide range of care options for seniors and adults with chronic needs, using technology, skilled care, and a homelike approach, right there in the heart of Chelsea.

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