Wow. Where to begin. This is long, so grab yourself your favorite beverage and settle in. And maybe a pillow. You may need a nap.
My mom was the longest current resident at Cedar Ridge Alzheimer’s Specialty Care until she was transferred to Hospice Austin's Christopher House on December 21, 2022 (thank GOD). It was fine when we moved her in February 2017. Then the director left and there were several staff changes, and things started to go downhill - unless I asked for a meeting with the director.Things would get better momentarily, then eventually slip back until I had to call a meeting again. Then...the pandemic. I couldn't visit her for 2.5 years, and my heart breaks knowing I couldn't witness the treatment (or lack thereof) she was receiving.
I continued to receive "No participation recorded" emails daily through December 27th, and two weeks after her passing, received another email from a vendor saying I'd need to fill out a new "service agreement for my loved one at Cedar Ridge". I emailed them three times asking for them to turn off notifications with zero response. All of this over Christmas and New Year's when I was trying to plan her services, handle her cremation, notify her friends, etc. Oh, and deal with my grief. And still work and handle my life. That was fun. #onlychild
After receiving no response, I found contact info for someone in upper management for Sinceri (parent company) on LinkedIn and Facebook - messaged her on both, and she gave me info for the regional director. Here’s the email I sent to Corrie van Rensburg, the director of Cedar Ridge, on December 26th (regional director Summer Hammerle copied):
"I wanted to let you know my mom passed peacefully at Christopher House at 2:46am on 12/24/22. She was surrounded by people who treated her with gentleness, kindness, and gave her the most graceful transition I could have asked for.
I’m writing because I’m honestly astonished at the things you said to me when I chose to move her. I have been my mother’s advocate since she was diagnosed in 2013, and her sole advocate since my dad passed in 2015. The level of decline in her care at Cedar Ridge was more disappointing than I even realized at the time it was happening - but you don’t know what you don’t know. The fact that I was an hour away and not able to be there every day to check on her and the care she was receiving breaks my heart & will haunt me for the rest of my life.
As you and I discussed, she was left in bed in a sweatshirt, a diaper, and her pants around her thighs so it “would be easier” (your words) for her caregiver to change her before getting her back into her wheelchair. And the time she (or someone) spilled an entire glass of water or tea in her lap and left her sitting in wet pants for who knows how long because she “wasn’t her resident that day” (also your words) is despicable.
When I got the email (not the letter) of the rate increase - which gave no notification of what the increase would be - and we talked about that, we talked about the level of care she was not receiving. When I told you hospice was the one providing much of the care, you literally said to me, “Well, hospice doesn’t actually do anything.” Hospice Austin has done more than Cedar Ridge has done for her actual care and communication with me in the 5 years she’s been there - unless I called a meeting with you. All of this is disturbing to me. Perhaps it’s different in the senior living community world, but in Texas real estate law, you must give a tenant a minimum of a 60-day written notice if you raise someone’s rate by over 5%. We got less than a 30-day notice.
The last day I was at Cedar Ridge, my mother was in obvious distress & pain. I thank God Shelly was available to come over, assess her, and get her into Christopher House. Her eyes were so crusty they were nearly glued shut. When she opened them, the whites of her eyes were blood red. That’s the “improved” level of care you claim she was being given after your “talk” with the staff? It’s disgusting.
When you called me the morning after we transferred her and you said, “What happened!?” and I told you she needed 24/7 care, you told me it was unkind to move her from “the place she was comfortable and the caregivers she knows!” She hasn’t known me for years. How dare you suggest I wasn’t doing the best for my mom. I have always been her advocate. And I thank her friend Judith (who was a Hospice Austin nurse for 17 years) for her advice & advocacy as well (including everyone at Hospice Austin). What is unkind is you suggesting I wasn’t doing the absolute best and kindest thing for my mom.
I’m grateful my mom passed at a place surrounded by kindness & love - which she was not receiving at Cedar Ridge these last few months."
I received a call the following day from Linda Storrie, the marketing director (not Corrie, not the regional director). She’s the only one who offered me condolences. I asked for a donation to Hospice Austin’s Christopher House from Sinceri in my mother’s name. She made a personal donation. While appreciated, Sinceri still needs to step up.
On January 5th, they withdrew roughly $3500 from my mother’s bank account. I sent this email to Linda:
“Good afternoon, Linda,
Today I received a pending charge from Cedar Ridge for $3554.83 - presumably a prorated amount for December. It will likely bounce, because I paid for my mother’s cremation and death certificates from that account. Given that it’s been over two weeks and I continue to get emails from your vendors, I’d like this fee waived. I would prefer to make that a donation to Christopher House.
If this is not a decision you can make, please let me know who I should direct this to.
Thank you.”
This is the reply I received from Linda:
“Hi Elle,
Thank you for reaching out to let us know. This decision is not in my lane so I am including Corrie and Summer who can help us with that.
Thank you,
Linda Storrie
Regional Director of Sales & Marketing”
My response:
“Thanks, Linda. I’m prepared to go higher, or I can get my attorney involved - but the mistreatment over the last couple of months (that I was actually able to witness), and certainly the last two weeks, is negligent and unforgivable.
I’m asking politely. But it will not end that way.”
After receiving NO response from Summer or Corrie, I reached out to Sarah Boone (the first person in management I contacted) and asked for contact info for someone above Summer and Corrie. She gave me contact info for April Young. I emailed April and said I’d like to discuss my experience with Corrie and Cedar Ridge. She emailed back & we scheduled a call for Tuesday, January 10th. I was ultra-prepared for our call, and I’m pretty sure she was not expecting it. Here are my call notes I made beforehand:
“Hi April,
First I’d like you to know that I’m recording this call. I’m here with my husband Brent.
Before we dive in, I’d like to know what your objectives for this conversation are, and I’m happy to share mine as well. You can go first or I can.
I’ve got five bullet points, and I’d like to ask that you let me go through all five without responding, and then we can discuss them one by one. Fair?
I’d like to know what your policies and procedures are - assuming you have some - for when a resident moves out and/or dies to turn off notifications from Sagely and notify your vendors so other families don’t receive the same trauma I did. And why those policies were not followed by Cedar Ridge and I continued to receive communications from both more than two weeks after my mother died, despite repeated requests to discontinue notifications. And why did I have to go on LinkedIn and Facebook to find contact information to speak to someone higher up than Corrie van Rensburg?
I’d like to know why anyone at Cedar Ridge thought it was acceptable to leave my mother in bed with a diaper on and her pants around her thighs, why anyone thought it was acceptable to leave her in soaking wet pants because “she wasn’t her resident that day”, and why on earth no one thought to call me - or anyone, for that matter - the day I happened to visit, & my mother was in clear pain & distress, and her eyes were so crusty they were nearly glued shut - and when she was able to open one, the whites of her eyes were blood red. She was transferred to Christopher House that same evening, which should be an indication of her condition and the neglect and lack of care she was receiving at Cedar Ridge.
I’d like the December fee to be waived as a result of the neglect and lack of care.
I’d like a formal apology in writing from Sinceri and Corrie van Rensberg at Cedar Ridge.
And I’d like a donation to Hospice Austin’s Christopher House by Sinceri in my mother Carol Klein’s name. We can discuss the amount later. “
The only thing she said was that, due to my email, they had changed the way they notify vendors (no specifics given). She said she’d have to defer to Summer and Corrie for the rest. She asked when would be a good time for Summer to call me. I said Thursday, January 12th at 2pm.
Brent & I waited until 2:15pm on Thursday for Summer’s call. Then I called & left April a voicemail, and I found the President/CEO Chris Belford’s contact info on LinkedIn and emailed them this:
“In unsurprising fashion, Summer has not responded to any of my emails, nor did she call me today at 2pm. At this point, I’d like to speak to someone in upper management who can make financial decisions.
Chris, if you’re still the President & CEO of Sinceri, I’d like to speak with you specifically. Please call me at 512-689-6877.
Ignoring this will most certainly not make it go away.”
April called me shortly thereafter and said she’d gotten the December fee waived and refunded. I asked for a donation in my mother’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association (she said they would not donate to Hospice Austin - that they “usually donate to the Alzheimer’s Association”, which sounded pretty vague).
Instead of a call, I received the following email from Chris Belford:
“Ms. Garrison,
I am so sorry Summer did not make your meeting time, and I have no explanation for why she did miss her opportunity to hear from you. It certainly isn’t our objective not to listen to the concerns of family members. I can only apologize for the missed opportunity for one of our managers to reach out to you to hear your concerns and hopefully find some resolution.
I did learn from April, who stated that the two of you did connect, which I am happy to hear.
Please accept my apology for this unfortunate opportunity to listen and learn from your experience.”
Still no condolences for the passing of my mom. Here is my response:
“Thank you. April and I did connect, and I’ll tell you exactly what I told her. I was in restaurant management for 16 years, real estate management for 5, and now I just manage my small team. I’ve written more training manuals than I can count. There is a serious disconnect within your company. What I experienced should have been addressed long before it was (two weeks after my mom’s death I was still receiving vendor emails), and I certainly shouldn’t have had to go to LinkedIn and Facebook to find contact info for someone in upper management - outside of the “contact” button on your website. While I appreciated the call from Linda Storrie - and her personal donation to Christopher House - she could not address the things Corrie van Rensburg said, or the treatment my mother received in her final months there. And those were only the ones I witnessed. My heart breaks to think of what was happening in the 2.5 years I couldn’t visit because of the pandemic.
Your CRM needs a one-click button to turn off notifications and vendor emails when someone moves or dies, and someone - anyone - needs to be in charge of and responsible for that. What I endured should not have to be experienced by any family - especially while trying to plan my mother’s services over Christmas and New Year’s. The families in Sinceri’s care deserve so much better.
I am donating the returned December fee to Hospice Austin’s Christopher House. I asked April for Sinceri to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association in my mother Carol Klein’s name. I’d like to know when this happens, and how much you donate. I feel like it should be $6165, which is what you wanted to raise her rate to. Your company is not a non-profit. I feel sure you can find a way to allocate those funds. Maybe take it out of Corrie van Rensburg’s salary.
Warm regards,
~ Elle”
No response from Mr. Belford.
On January 13th, TWENTY DAYS after my mom died, and twenty-three days after she was sent to Christopher House from Cedar Ridge, I received the following email from Summer Hammerle:
“Ms. Garrison,
Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in my response. I will not share excuses or explanations unless you request them. Suffice it to say, I truly do value and care about the individual needs each of our residents and their family members and had I read your emails when you sent them, I would have responded the same day.
Regarding my missed appointment with you yesterday, that was a separate circumstance entirely and Ms. Young felt it best to contact you herself when she learned we had not connected at our appointment time.
In response to your concerns, Corrie and Linda discussed with me the conversations they had with you and the emails that were exchanged. My failure was not reading them timely myself and misinterpreting that the communication you had with the two of them had been satisfactory. For this, I do hope you know, I am truly sorry.
I will try to convey through this email what I had hoped to convey to you over the phone yesterday.
Your mother was a beloved resident at Cedar Ridge and she was the epitome of what we think of when we envision our Sinceri mission. It is clear that your last experiences with us did not come across that way to you; however, I hope you can have some peace knowing this was the case in the hearts of our Cedar Ridge staff.
I believe there were some unfortunate misunderstandings that may of occurred at the end of your mother’s stay at Cedar Ridge. I hope you will accept my apology for any such misunderstandings. I have spoken with Corrie about this at length and I am sure you must know her heart and the great care at Cedar Ridge, or you would not have entrusted her care to the team there for so many years. There was absolutely no intention to cause you to feel offended. I believe that, understandably, emotions were heightened with everyone and often times in situations such as this, we struggle to say things as clearly as we intend to and we also struggle to hear things as we normally would. With that said, I am confident Corrie never intended to say anything that would make the situation harder for you and she only wanted the outcome that was best for your mother.
Based on your request, the January prorated rent will be removed for the account and the funds should be available in her account now, based on the banking information we have available to us. You stated your plan is to donate those funds to Christopher House, and I believe that is a lovely gesture! We will be happy to celebrate your mother’s life with them, as they receive and put those donations to a valiant purpose.
I am available to talk to you later today or this weekend if you still wish to do so. You may reach me at 469-525-8283.
Please accept my condolences for the loss of your mother. She will be forever remembered and cherished at Cedar Ridge and I hope knowing this will bring you some closure.
With my deepest sympathy,
Summer Hammerle”
So…she - the Regional Director - just didn’t bother to read my emails. Neat. And her email to me? Gas-lighting at its finest. She (and everyone else) got this response from me:
“Summer,
Thank you for responding - three weeks after my mother’s death. And thank you to Linda, who is the only one who expressed her condolences the day after I sent my email to Corrie. My mother was there for five years - to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars - I got one condolence only after I brought up the disappointing and disgusting lack of care my mother received in her final months and days. And then platitudes from the rest of you only when I continued to raise my voice.
Regarding your comment of “heightened emotions”, let me assure you that every word I have said in every email has been intentional (including this one). They have been written, deleted, and written again. The fact that it’s taken three weeks to get a resolution, during which I’ve been trying to plan my mother’s cremation and services, shows me that something in your company is broken. I’m available mid-March for you, Chris, if you need a consultation on how to fix that, because it doesn’t seem like any of you have a clue. Families are suffering because of that. I’m certain I’m not the only one.
At this point, Summer, you and I don’t need to have a chat. I have absolutely no desire to speak to you. I’m not sure if you’re just negligent or someone who avoids conflict, but I’m over it. Nothing you all have done will bring me “closure". If you want to pay my therapy bill, I’m happy to send it.
Stay tuned. I can assure you all that this isn’t over.
Warmest of regards,
~ Elle”
And that’s currently where we stand. No response from anyone, and still no apology or condolences from Corrie van Rensburg.
Sinceri - ironic company name, don’t you think?
