nursing assistant

dietary aide

server

licensed practical nurse

home health aide

Acts Retirement-Life Communities

I mistakenly believed that if I shared concerns and and issues with managment and administrators that they would be addresed.  Unfortunately this was not the case, I witnessed and documented some serious incidents and shared this with management and administration, but after doing so, I was placed under close scrutiny and criticized daily on my job performance. Including being told that 
my performnce could lead to termination.  The issues I shared with them were essentialy ignored and not acknowledged.
What was really pathetic about the whole situation was I was told "I care too much"  Well isn't that a kick in the head?!  Fairhaven is a healthcare facilitity.Resident care and the residents right to dignity are listed as core values?
Hmmm...I guess they filled their quota on caring and responsible employees.  I was one too many?  Let's see if you can understand their evalaution and fair treatment of employees who CARE, SHOW UP, DO THEIR JOB, AND STAY LATE TO FINISH WORK, FOLLOW WORK PLACE POLICIES (NOT USING CELL PHONE OR WORK COMPUTERS FOR PERSONAL USE) SHOWING AN ACTUAL CONCERN FOR RESIDENTS AND STAFF
NOT SLEEPING ON THE JOB OR HIDING FROM WORK ASSIGNMENTS. MAKING SELF AVAILABLE FOR WORK MEETINGS ON DAYS OFF ASSIST IN COVERING SHIFTS.
They fire them. Yep can't have those types of employees around !!  God knows it is bad for morale and cultivating a culture of community!

Disappointed and let down beyond words...I would strongly recommend perspective employees and anyone thinking of admitting their family member to interview the staff and management before applying for any position with Fairhaven, EMA  It's not all sunshine and roses like they are trying to sell in their heartwarming commercials.

The Renaissance section of this place is poorly run.  Not enough staff to cover the different types of care the residence need.  NO lifts for residence who need help getting into/out of beds or wheelchairs. The CNA's must use muscle power to lift and move those residents.  One section of the care facility has only two CNA's who must bath residents, dress residents, serve meals, feed some of the residents, keep disruptive residents from bothering/aggrevating other residents, entertain residents, keep residents from wondering out of the unit, and potty some of the residents; Meal times are the worst. The individual's in charge of the Renaissance section of the Terraces have no idea what it takes to take care of these residence  They have NO medical degree of any type. They are not doctors, nurses or former CNA's.  They are bussines management.  They know nothing of proper scheduling to cover the needs of the residences.  All they care about is the all mighty budget.  Some CNA's are scheduled to work with less than 8 hours of sleep between shifts and some of those shifts are doubles.  Residents are moving out because of the lack of staff, high costs, and poor food quality.  Most meat is coming out rare or over cooked.  In the assisted living area of the Renaissance there is there is either two med tech's and one CNA, or one med tech and two CNA's to cover between 44 to 50 residents on three different floors all at the same time.  This includes  serving two different meal services at breakfast, lunch and dinner; as well as passing medication and answering pages from residents who are not eating at that given time.

For those of you who are about to embark on working for this company, good luck. This company is full of clicks and will only support management. They do not follow OSHA safety regulations and if you file a complaint, they will fire you. Be prepared to keep your head down and your mouth shut. You will not be paid a fair wage and the job description states that you must do what ever your supervisor says. As a worker for 2+ years, I did more than what I was hired for and responsibilities  were added on to my workload daily. The turn over rate is high and the current Executive Director and Administrator will cover each others backs and are quick to discipline any subordinate that gives any pushback or questions their ways. Their mission statement is "loving kindness" yet, I was mentally and verbally abused on a regular basis and when I asked for help from my ED and even from corporate Acts, I was ignored. If you must take this job, make it a stepping stone until you can find something better. This is not a company who will support your growth or your wellbeing. Give it some time and you will see the corruption and lies that take place within the management of Acts Retirement Life Communities. 98% of the residents are wonderful, kind and loving. However, if you come in contact with an abusive resident, you must not do anything. You can try to complain to management, but management including human resources and even the regional vice president will not take any measures to correct the abusive behavior of the resident and will ultimately make your work environment so poor that you quit or get fired. I strongly suggest that if you do not have to work for this company, don't. If you need a job and you must take it, take the job, but keep looking for another job. You will quickly see this is NOT a loving nor kind company.

A typical day of being a cook is pure monotony sprinkled with frustration. The supervisors and managers expect that you already know how to do everything. When you are given a task, they tell you to do it and then they don't bother checking in on you or making sure that you're doing the task correctly.

I have learned a decent bit of culinary knowledge; mind you, most of this knowledge has been learned from fellow line cooks, not my managers or supervisors.

Management is terrible. My boss is apathetic toward the workplace and is vocal about his disdain for his employees. If you want him to do something, you need to shoehorn it in until he finally has enough of it and does what you ask. 

The workplace culture is unprofessional. Lot's of derogatory language coming from cooks, servers, and higher ups. Lots of lazing around and overall a loser atmosphere.

The hardest part of my job is coming in, reading what needs to be done, and then having to figure it out on my own. It's hard having to cook something from scratch that you've never cooked before, with little to no instructions (the recipes Acts provides are not helpful). The residents are also a chore too, since many of them think it's okay to yell and degrade the employees. 

The most enjoyable part of my job are my coworkers. The servers and line cooks help me out a ton and bring laughter when I need it. I also really enjoy being able to eat a free lunch everyday. 

I worked here for over a year before a final straw forced me to quit reluctantly. I was explicit promised a raise so I would go full time, only for it to drag out from August 2022 to January 2023 before I was moved to full time with no mention, paperwork, or offer of any compensation. It was deceptive and rude. I was already being paid almost 3 dollars lower than my residing county’s minimum wage and there was no acknowledgement of that in terms of cost of living and inflation. I loved my residents so much and serving has taught me countless valuable lessons, but something about the stinginess of Buckingham’s Choice was not worth it. Most of the time we were short staffed in both the kitchen and the dining room. Management refused to cap any kind of reservation number, so a regular weeknight entailed from 4:30-6:30 an average of 85+ residents between as little as 4 servers. We did buffet only for many months until a new director decided we would go full service with a barely passable number of servers. Lots of regular protocol was changed to extreme detail, making the work absolutely grueling in a dining room with a broken air condition system. At first, meals would take over an HOUR before they were ready to be run due to under-preparedness. Poor planning was abundant. One dessert for a holiday dinner means we will 100% run out before 5:45. I was very invested in this job but there are better opportunities out there for anyone looking to serve, especially in such an important and intimate setting as a retirement home. 

This company does not value their employees or residents at all.  They claim to promote teamwork and a healthy work/home balance, but there is no teamwork and you do not get to be home too often.  Most facilities in the area require you to work every other holiday, Fairhaven does not do this if you are regularly scheduled for a day that a holiday lands on you work that holiday so you could very well end up working every holiday there is.  You don't get double pay on holidays, and there is no weekend shift differential compared to other facilities in the area. You also don't get breaks and you only get paid for 7.5 hours. Like any facility there are aides that will help, and aides that won't, but when lifting residents by hoyer or sit-to-stand it is required for their to be 2 people present, many aides do not like to help their coworkers.  This facility claims to be a no-lift facility over 35 pounds, and if a resident falls on the floor, you are to use a hoyer, but the nurse would rather just pick heavy residents up off the floor himself instead of using the lift which is safest for both him and the resident.  They claim to care about resident safety, but that is completely untrue when they have nurses like that, and they are severely understaffed.  Residents hardly ever get showered here, and I have never seen a nurse do a skin care assessment.  If you bring any issues up to management they ignore you completely and never investigate, they blatantly do not care.  

This is just some of the issues I've seen while working here.

I worked PT in Activities in Assisted Living. I enjoyed going to work every day bc the residents, my supervisor and the nursing staff made me feel like I was making a difference. A few months after I began COVID started. I am immunocompromized and was scared, poorly compensated, but still went to work everyday mainly bc the residents were on lockdown stuck in their rooms ALL day for WEEKS and I was one of very few who took time to chat with them or got things they needed & just basically tried to make their lives a bit more pleasant given the circumstances..... Jump to over 1yr later and I was terminated bc I refused the COVID-19 Vaccine. I put my already compromised health & my 2 young children's health at risk every day I went to work before the vaccine, performed MANY duties outside my job description but was kicked to the curb as soon as there was a vaccine.  I am disappointed the way ACTS handled COVID-19.  There was rarely any nursing supervision through COVID while I was there. The assisted living neighborhood, OBT, was basically on our own, no nursing leadership and blame was placed on Nurses & CNAs just doing what they thought was best bc there was no Nursing supervisor present for months!!! The residents mentally & physically declined SO much during COVID, sadly, broke my heart. The politics of ACTS is not what it seems don't be fooled but the residents & most staff are really wonderful & caring people. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The residents are the only good part about working at Buckingham's Choice. Management is unsupportive and lacks effective communication in being strong leaders. The corporate leadership seems unwilling to raise salaries to the standard that other businesses in the area are. You will be hired and stuck at an abysmally low salary, that only increases by 2% annually. Raises are very rarely given out, and when they are it isn't significant in any way. Overtime is expected, but you will not be thanked for it, more likely you will be told to watch your hours better, even though you aren't the one that makes your schedule. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You will constantly be walking on eggshells, waiting for someone to come up with a rule or job you weren't told about, and then get blamed when it isn't followed or something doesn't get done. The constant misogyny also makes you feel like trash. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They will preach loving kindness to you as the motto of ACTS, but no one is looking out for you. I was also afraid of any retaliation if I were to go to HR about any of my concerns. I was eventually bullied into leaving by management that was condescending and disrespectful.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I followed all of my assigned tasks and felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure someone wasn't trying to catch me breaking some imagined rule, or protocol that I wasn't aware of.

I have been with The Terraces since they opened and could not imagine a better place to work. I wake up every morning excited to go to work and spend time with the residents and other staff members. Our Executive Director has fostered a working environment base on values such as; integrity, communication, accountability, respect and service. I truly believe all of our employees uphold these values and the ones who do not, do not stay with the company very long. This isn't just a "Job" we are caring for people and their health. Not everyone is cut out for it and that is okay. However, trust me when I say this company will provide you with every opportunity to learn, grow and succeed if you truly want it. Every company has its struggles at times but The Terraces upper management recognizes them, discusses them with the residents and staff. There are not too many Executive Directors out there who will work on a holiday, take off his suit jacket and vacuum the carpet after someone left crumbs in a common area. Everywhere else I have worked they would have simply called housekeeping or would not have been working at all since it was a paid holiday. This is a great example of how we are all one team here at The Terraces at Bonita Springs, no matter what position you are on the ladder.

Start the day with a walk thru checking in with staff and dining venues. Then check emails and attend to ADMIN responsibilities.  
Made myself present in the kitchen and front of the house during meal service.
All other duties included department meetings, training, marketing events, etc.

I learned how to implement safety protocols on a new level. The work culture as stated in their company mission - Love and Kindness. No matter what kind of day you are having are those around you, be kind. 

The hardest part of the job are challenging, was my location and the challenge of public transportation for staff.  I was amazed at how far some staff how to travel and  the number of different buses and transfers they had to take to make it to work.
Enjoyable parts of my job. Providing service and culinary experiences to our community. 


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Nursing assistant 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Dietary aide 7 salaries reported	$14.00 per hour
Server 1 salary reported	$14.80 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 1 salary reported	$31.00 per hour
Home health aide 2 salaries reported	$13.75 per hour

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