The reviews for Hearthside Senior Living present a split picture: many reviewers praise the facility, staff and activities, while a significant portion report serious care and operational problems. Positive comments frequently emphasize a clean, modern facility with an attractive dining area, friendly and welcoming staff, strong leadership (including specific praise for the Executive Director), and a lively activities program. Several reviewers say apartments are clean and spacious, that room cleaning and trash removal are handled routinely, and that residents appear content. Multiple notes describe dining staff as accommodating resident preferences and an all-inclusive pricing structure that may cover laundry, transportation, food and additional help. Some reviews specifically mention a 24/7 nursing presence and regular physician visits, and others highlight active community life (bingo, group games, bus trips, church services, bible study) and good communication such as daily Facebook updates.
However, a distinct subset of reviews raises serious concerns about core caregiving and safety. These reviewers describe chronic understaffing (including an account of a single aide covering an entire building), minimal assistance, medication errors or medications not being administered, and emergency pendants not functioning — with at least one reported fall. Several comments describe a revolving door of aides and nurses, which reviewers link to inconsistent or poor-quality care and a lack of reliable nursing presence. There are multiple reports of negative dining outcomes (described as "horrible food," restrictive diets, and associated weight loss), which conflict with other reviewers' positive dining experiences. Additional operational complaints include high cost, extra charges for nurse medication dispensing that were not honored, billing confusion or errors, and at least one report of corporate intervention being requested to resolve issues.
Facilities and comfort appear to be another mixed area. Many reviewers call the building brand-new, clean and well-organized with a lovely dining area and snack bar; yet others report practical problems such as small rooms and temperature control issues — notably residents without air conditioning during extreme heat. Occupancy was described as low by some reviewers (about half full), which can be interpreted variously as a sign of availability or an indicator of retention/quality problems depending on context. Staffing perspectives also conflict: while some reviews commend professional and caring staff and leadership, others describe high turnover and inconsistent care, suggesting variability either over time or across units/shifts.
Management and billing appear polarizing: leadership and the Executive Director receive high marks in numerous reviews, with several reviewers explicitly recommending the community and trusting staff with loved ones. Conversely, billing errors, additional unexpected charges, and reported failures in contractual services (for example paying extra for medication dispensing that then did not occur) prompted at least one family to escalate to corporate. These contradictory reports indicate that administrative reliability may be uneven or that experiences differ by individual account.
Overall sentiment is strongly mixed. The most frequent and consequential positive themes are cleanliness, an attractive new facility, friendly staff, active programming, and examples of attentive leadership. The most consequential negative themes — understaffing, medication errors, pendant/fall incidents, inconsistent nursing coverage, serious food/diet problems, billing issues, and AC/comfort failures — are safety- and health-related and therefore weight heavily in assessing overall quality. The pattern suggests that while many residents and families have positive experiences, there are recurring and significant complaints that prospective residents and family members should investigate.
If you are evaluating Hearthside Senior Living, ask specific, documented questions about current staffing levels and turnover rates (nurse-to-resident and aide-to-resident ratios by shift), medication administration protocols and error tracking, pendant/response-system testing and fall history, dining menus and diet monitoring (including weight-change policies), HVAC/temperature control reliability, and billing transparency. Tour the community multiple times (including evenings and weekends), speak to current residents and families about recent experiences, and request written policies on staffing, medication administration, incident reporting, and how additional charges are applied. Given the sharply mixed reviews, pooling multiple sources of information and verifying recent performance will give the most accurate picture of current care quality and operational reliability.
