Overall sentiment about Cedarhurst Senior Living of Tesson Heights is strongly mixed, with a clear split between families who praise the community, staff, activities, and value, and those who report serious care, safety, and cleanliness failures. Many reviewers emphasize a warm, family-like atmosphere, an active activity program, convenient location, and affordable pricing. Simultaneously, a significant number of summaries describe lapses in clinical care, sanitation, maintenance, and management responsiveness that materially affect residents' health and safety.
Care quality and clinical safety are the most polarized themes. Positive reports describe attentive nursing managers, excellent therapists, timely care, and staff who go the extra mile, producing improved quality of life for residents. Conversely, numerous reviews recount medication errors, missed or late medications, ignored call buttons, failure to bathe or feed residents, development of bedsores, UTIs, dehydration, weight loss, and multiple falls. Several reviewers explicitly characterize these as neglect, citing examples such as unlicensed medication administration, med cart cleanliness issues, and seven documented falls for one resident. These issues frequently coincide with reports of short staffing, high caregiver turnover, and reliance on med techs or minimal personnel to cover basic care tasks.
Staffing, staff behavior, and management practices are recurring, complex themes. On the positive side, many accounts single out specific caregivers and management personnel (sales leads, nurses, front desk) as compassionate, professional, and helpful — these staff members are credited with easing transitions, assisting with paperwork, and enhancing residents' lives. However, other reviews report inconsistent staffing, frequent turnover, rude or dismissive leadership (including some negative descriptions of the director or DON), and administrative communication breakdowns. Several reviews note that early strong caregiving degraded over time as experienced staff left and replacements were inconsistent. Allegations of inappropriate behavior, such as staff bringing toddlers or sick children to work, entering rooms without permission, filming residents for social media, or gossiping, raise concerns about boundaries, privacy, and infection control.
Cleanliness, housekeeping, and environmental maintenance show a split between well-kept common spaces and sometimes neglected private apartments. Many reviewers praise public area cleanliness, pleasant smells, renovated common rooms, and tidy grounds. In contrast, other reviewers report poor housekeeping in rooms (infrequent cleaning, trash pickup delays, unclean bathrooms), odor of urine in hallways, and vermin sightings including roaches on med carts and in apartments. Maintenance complaints also include rooms delivered unfinished on move-in day (missing toilets, incomplete flooring), broken outlets, extension cords creating hazards, air conditioning failures, and a beauty salon in poor condition — all contributing to safety and comfort concerns.
Dining and food service receives similarly mixed feedback. Several families describe excellent food, varied menus, a nice dining room, friendly dining staff, and features like breakfast-all-day. Others report poor meal quality (cold plates, overcooked/tough meat), understaffed dining rooms leading to missed or late meal delivery, additional charges for meals or services, and occasional hygiene lapses in food handling. The dining experience is frequently tied to staffing levels: when dining staff are short, service and food temperature suffer, while staffed shifts receive praise.
Activities, social life, and amenities are consistently strong positives. Most reviews highlight an active calendar — bingo, crafts, exercise classes, theatre, outings to restaurants and casinos, music programs, and transportation — and many residents are reported to be engaged and happy. Facilities such as the library, computers, theater room, movie area, and social spaces receive favorable mentions, as do therapy services and outpatient medical visits for some. Renovations and updated units are appreciated by families who cite fresh paint, new carpet, and remodeled common areas.
Financial and contractual concerns appear repeatedly. Many reviewers comment that Cedarhurst offers good value compared with alternatives, with competitive pricing and the benefit of on-site services. At the same time, there are complaints about extra fees, upselling of services, nonrefundable move-in policies, and a sense by some families that management prioritizes revenue over resident care. Issues with billing transparency, such as additional meal charges or med alert fees, generate frustration.
Accessibility and building design are secondary but notable themes. Several families report narrow hallways, small elevators, and layouts that are not scooter- or walker-friendly; others note ample space and apartment layouts that are well-suited to residents. This suggests variability across the building and units where some suites are remodeled and accessible while other parts of the facility remain dated and less accommodating.
Patterns and recommendations from the aggregated reviews: there is clear evidence that the resident experience depends heavily on staff continuity and management oversight. Where staffing is stable and managers engage directly with residents and families, outcomes reported are very positive (strong activities, good therapy, clean public spaces). Where staffing is thin, turnover high, or leaders are perceived as dismissive, families report safety incidents, neglect, and poor sanitation. Prospective families should weigh the positive aspects (active community, location, value, engaging staff) against documented negative patterns (medication and hygiene failures, housekeeping inconsistencies, maintenance hazards, and occasional problematic management behavior). If considering Cedarhurst Tesson Heights, ask targeted questions about current staffing levels, med administration protocols, recent inspection reports, room-specific cleanliness practices, pest control measures, explicit contract terms (refunds and extra fees), accessibility modifications, and recent changes in leadership or care teams. Visiting during multiple times of day (including evenings and weekends), speaking with current families, and requesting written responses on safety and staffing metrics will help corroborate whether the positive experiences are representative and whether the safety and sanitation concerns have been addressed.
