medical technician

caregiver

cook

housekeeper

care coordinator

Avista-Senior-Living

For a company that has the motto of "Where kindness counts" they completely fail at being kind, especially to one another. In my experience at this facility there has been significant interpersonal drama, gossip, and petty behavior exhibited by the staff that make this place unbearable leading to constant turnover for staff at this location. 

In my time working here there have been certain staff members who contribute to the overall negative attitude within this building and bring others down rather than build them up, in turn destroying the chance at being a functional team. It has been an "us vs them" mindset instilled into the staff as most of the current staff are a group that came from another facility and all know each other. 

The management show preference toward certain staff members and if you speak up against the aggressions of one of those staff members you're as good as gone. They will find a way to get rid of you and make you quit so they don't have to fire you while others face no punishment. The lack of professionalism is astounding. The pay is higher here than other places in the valley currently, but it is not worth working with the current staff. They do provide free meals to the carestaff while on shift at meal times and is usually decent. 

The job itself is not hard and this is a relatively easy building in regards to the care to be provided and responsibilities of the med tech/caregiver. It is just the other staff members that make this place unbearable. 

Our community recently transitioned to become a part of the Avista Senior Living company. With any major changes always comes feelings of apprehension and fear of the unknown. However, the Avista home office team was involved and supportive every step of the way, and several of them spent many hours inside our community, working alongside us. The members of the home office team took the time to get to know each associate, and goes so far as to take notes and remember what you tell them. What I really value about Avista is that the company promotes a strong, positive, inclusive work environment for everyone. The company values each individual and celebrates their strengths, and they emphasize development and mentorship to help associates grow in their career and follow their aspirations. The Avista Prescott community has a lot of longevity (5 years, 10 years, 15 years) amongst their associates, which speaks volumes in an industry with high burnout and turnover rates. I believe Avista is a wonderful company to work for, and I would highly recommend the Avista Prescott community. 

Spring gardens is a great place to work if you don’t want to work 5 days a week. They offer 12 hour shifts. It’s definitely a lot of drama with CNAs, and management doesn’t do anything about any drama. It’s great if you’re a mom and you have kids because you can work 3 days a week and get your full time hours. A lot of the CNAs are in school and are able to have more time to study and go to school. I believe some of the night shifters have time to study through the night. Some of the cons about this job is that they don’t pay competitive wages, the communication is terrible especially with the nurse and the executive director. The nurse is always gone or nowhere to be found, and the executive director tries to be a therapist and “fix problems” but it usually doesn’t work or she doesn’t follow up on anything. They have a few other girls in higher positions that schedule people, and they are nothing but drama. Unfortunately it’s not as professional as I would like it to be like in other facilities I’ve worked at but it’s a flexible job that works with my schedule. As long as you try and stay out of the drama as much as possible (which is hard) it’s not too bad. 

This job was one of the worst facilities I have ever worked at in my life. They were constantly short-staffed. Management did not care about helping. The director of the facility would not take care of employee complaints/needs. He would pushed them aside and or not handle them at all. 
The RCC and Lead did not care about helping other employees, oftentimes you are alone when working with one of the two. They did not care about employee health. If you did not benefit them in the way that they wanted, they would drive you out by cutting hours or giving unnecessary write ups. 
 There was no work life balance here. Your schedule is never set and you never knew if you were going to have enough hours or if you were gonna get your hours cut. There was huge lack of training when it came to the RCC and Lead. 
Residents were neglected from having constant understaffing. This was never taken care of oftentimes the CNAs would get blamed for "not doing enough". You would be lucky if you even got a 10 minute break. 
It looks like a very nice place, but when working there, it's not. I would never recommend somebody to come work at this facility.

So I started and my first day was pretty okay I started to like the company. Then on my second day I was alone with no help but a med tech. I ended up breaking plates and stressing out because I felt like I had so much work on my plate. I felt like I was drowning and there was no help. Then on my third day I asked if I could leave early and I had gotten permission to leave early so I left. Then I was running late and I told them I was running late because I lost my keys. They told me it was okay just make it when I can. So I got there and I showed up. Well surprise I was alone again with just a med tech so I had to call the other caregiver from the other cottages to come help because this company never trained me like they said they would. I had my grandmas funeral on a Friday. They gave it to me off and they put it as I called off. When they didn’t even put me on the schedule. I then had to get tested for covid the next day and they were trying to force me to come in and just wear full PPE. When I was heading to go get a COVID test. OVERALL WORST COMPANY TO WORK FOR.

Absolutely no advancement opportunities. Lateral career changes are possible but promotions and raises are impossible. If raises are offered, they are laughable. 
No bonuses EVER.
EVERYONE must work holidays except management and the family members of management are exempt from that policy. 
Myself and many other staff are constantly on edge because management is hypercritical. Criticism is good within reason, but when it gets to the point that you do not feel safe when management is around because  it is guaranteed that they will criticize you it creates a hostile environment. 
When praise is given, it feels extremely superficial because of excessive criticism.
Employees do not get grace if they cannot arrive for a shift. Neglect is understandable, but employees have literally been fired when they were not able to show up because of medical emergencies, no matter how good their communication was. 


I will break down why I had a horrible experience here:

Work culture: TOXIC! the environment is something that will be toxic to say the least. Everyone has been at their job duties about a year. That should tell you something. Big turnaround because of the toxic work environment. Coworkers who talk about coworkers, management talk about coworkers. The list is extensive.

Management: Lacks professionalism, no onsite RN, bit of a runaround place, no communication (except when you are needing to be talked to) no real structure. The blind leading the blind. Will try to pit you against co workers. ETC.

Equipment: some equipment does not work and when I mean equipment, equipment to safely do your job, there is lack of support so that already puts you at risk for work injury. 

They don't follow their own policies and procedures unless they want to write you up. I loved my license enough to not work here to put it in jeopardy. 



What is the best part of working at the company?
When hired they say they are like a family. I guess they are a dysfunctional family where you can’t even express your concerns as the Care Director barely answers phone calls or text messages. She claims to care but there were several situations that were brought to her attention about residents that didn’t get any help for weeks. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At that time not enough staff of duty. 16 residents to 1 caregiver. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Chaos and back biting. Many people are very two faced there.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Tough. Not many people are held accountable for not doing their job. Then other caregivers have to over compensate and if they can’t get everything done then they are in trouble. There is definitely favoritism there. Makes for a hostile work environment.

A typical  day started  with a stand up meeting where various  inappropriate  jokes and stories  were told,  and  director  who runs the property  complaining  about most employees  who worked for her, and how she would like to fire them all.  I learned  at this company  to listen  to what was being  told  to me and decipher  whether  I was being  told  the  truth  or  not .   After a short time it became  rather  obvious  and easy.   Management  here under staffs the property  almost  every day,  and treats them poorly .  Retaliation from the director of the downtown  property  is a common occurrence for employees  who work there .  The property  I worked at was old and needed constant  repair, the problem  the  director  who did not want things repaired.  Blame and deny  is the name of the game that lady plays.  The only thing that was enjoyable  was to help  the residents  most of whom are nice people.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I worked in the kitchen. The best part of working there was my Boss and my kitchen team. Boss was understanding, great listener and provider( if I needed anything work-wise) and a great leader. Team was very cohesive and team oriented. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When other departments got involved in our setting, they tended to cause more stress. Their communication  tended to be rude and rigid. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In the kitchen, it was a good environment, and HR was great. Those were the two areas that I had experienced most with. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Kitchen responsibilities. Cooking and cleaning. Checking  inventory and making sure meals were accurate and served on time.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Medical technician 54 salaries reported	$19.43 per hour
Caregiver 30 salaries reported	$18.42 per hour
Cook 34 salaries reported	$19.63 per hour
Housekeeper 16 salaries reported	$15.85 per hour
Care coordinator 8 salaries reported	$23.31 per hour

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