Staff is courteous with a few who are exceptional care givers, but overall, the health care is terrible in assisted living — understaffed, undertrained aides result in services much less than advertised. For example, often takes 20,30, 40 minutes for a response to the emergency pendant call button. There does not seem to be any escalation procedure in place when an emergency occurs to assure there’s a response. Medications are not always administered; it was rumored that wrong medications have been given Over the past 18 months, services have deteriorated and management seems unconcerned with improving the situation. The Director responsible for Assisted Living is often MIA and not on-site. Surveys were conducted routinely for resident feedback. We haven’t seen a survey in months. The CEO of Covenant Living visited this facility a year ago and promised that the situation would be remedied. It has deteriorated. It’s a travesty for their advertised faith based care. By the way, the food is not very good either. Quite a bit of fried food, mostly canned or frozen vegetables, never fresh meat or seafood, and little respect for individual dietary restrictions. It’s definitely not “farm to fork” dining in assisted living. Management would say everything is fine, but stop and think about that statement for a minute. The residents in assisted living are often unaware, unwilling, or unable to recognize and articulate a problem. Their mental or physical conditions prevent it. So seniors in assisted living are devalued and taken advantage of, rather than treated with the dignity that they deserve, the life they have earned, and the services that were advertised, and paid for.

Have you had positive experiences at Covenant Village of the Great Lakes? – Yes! I have had positive comments on the writing of two books. The last one, I co-authored with my son, Rocky Nichols: Memories Are Life’s Highway and Souvenirs, Stories and Perspective. Comment from residents, family, and many more who have read the books have been very gratifying. The last couple of months have been filled with several concerts and Christmas programs. They were part of our “Life Connections,” a monthly list of activities for us to enjoy. We then can write about our adventures in our “Life Stories” group for others to enjoy. (I am currently and resident in Independent Living)

Covenant Village was very nice. We like everything about it. It was very neat, clean, pleasant, and very well-kept. They have a big park area where you can enjoy the outdoors in the summertime. The rooms were good. The people were very responsive. They gave us an opportunity to talk with some of the residents there. The tour guide knew the residents. She would say hello to them and then they would say a few words to us. That was a very nice part of the tour.

my parents moved to the independent living facility 10 years ago and it was a good experience for the first years as long as they needed no extra care. Any time one of them had a surgery or needed to be in skilled nursing it was awful. We had to watch everything especially the medications. The communication was terrible and when I started checking into things I found that they had messed up my dads medications, even missing insulin doses which is the least complicated care he needed. The times my mom needed to be there were just different bad experiences. After they had to move into assisted living it became a nightmare in a room built for one person that absolutely did not accommodate both of them. The food has been terrible, they pay no attention to a healthy diet whatsoever....mainly tasteless cheap carbs and sweets that absolutely do not belong in a diabetic diet and are not good for anyone. The temperature in the room is hard to keep comfortable, the tv signal is not HD, and the wifi is weak. We feel like my mom is trapped there because she paid up front for the security of all the care for the rest of her life and she doesn't really want to move. If we ask for a problem to be addressed we are always told they will look into it and nothing ever changes. What began as a good experience has consistently deteriorated and our family would not recommend Covenant to anyone.

Covenant Village of the Great Lakes was fabulous and alive. People were doing things for other people since it is spiritually based. I have my application in there. Everything has been very good. We have had several meals there, like a four-course dinner that was delicious and appealing. There are all kinds of activities and a pool, a hot tub, a woodworking shop, arts studio, arts and crafts room, thrift store, and a library. There were many things to do.

My mother-in-law was at Covenant Village of the Great Lakes for rehab, and it was fine. It's a very large, very nice, and beautiful facility. As far as rehab, her care was great. She probably was in the best health that she was in for years.

I thought Covenant Village of the Great Lakes was beautiful but very expensive. I couldn’t afford it. It was a very nice place with different kinds of apartments. They had all kinds of activities, too. The staff was very nice, the dining area was beautiful, and the food was delicious. It was a good experience.

Covenant Village of the Great Lakes was a little bit too expensive for me. The people were nice, and they had a lot of activities going on. The rooms were quite spacious. They were nice. I have eaten there, and the meals were very good. If you can afford it, it could be a nice place to stay.

Covenant Village of the Great Lakes was nice and clean, but it reminded me of living in a dorm. It was cheery, but it didn't strike me. When you walk in, they have the dining room tables, and there are four to six people at a table. It was nice talking to the staff.

I have had several relatives here. Only one received adequate care and she was in assisted living. I was very involved with a friend in both assisted living and "skilled" nursing. Saw little skill, poor care, and many errors made. When another relative was here she had to call her sister to have her sister call the desk and tell them she needed to go to the bathroom because no one answered her light. Another friend just went to the bathroom alone because no help came fast enough.

My grandmother lives at Covenant Village. Her main home is in the Independent area of living. Then, unfortunately, before Christmas 2011 she had a stroke and is in the rehab/skilled nursing area of Covenant. We have been very happy with Covenant Village. Everyone is very pleasant. My family feels that Grandma is in very good hands.