St Dominic Village, a Senior Care Community — Local services in Houston

My grandmother was a resident at Saint Dominic village for about six months from August 2017 until March 2018. We chose this facility due to its highly Catholic sensibilities. Our grandmother is very Catholic and she loved the church on campus as well as the near daily religious activities available. Her accommodations were nice and she said she also really enjoyed the food which was a plus. The roster of activities that they had was also very interesting.

It was challenging for us to find an assisted living facility because our grandmother does not speak any English, only Spanish. We were assured throughout the application process that this would not be an issue. Unfortunately, it proved to be an issue from day one when the head nurse informed us upon move-in that she would not be able to take care of our grandmother despite everything that was told to us during the application process. We managed to come to understanding that day and moved her in. They do you have one nurse who speaks good Spanish and she was a huge help to us throughout the process. We did experience some issues from time to time with the language barrier including the facility not allowing our grandmother to go on some off-campus trips as they said they cannot communicate with her. Wish they had been honest about this upfront.

Where we became completely disillusioned with the facility was when our grandmother's dementia and paranoia flared up early this year. She sometimes suffers from paranoia and believes that others are speaking negatively about her when this is not the case. She became very defensive and even lashed out at one resident, which we were promptly informed about. None of my family thinks that this is acceptable and we began to work with her psychiatrist to find a medication regimen that would help her with these feelings. Before we had the chance to do much more or even meet with Saint Dominic for a family meeting which they had requested and we had agreed to they called my brother-in-law one morning and asked us to please pick her up by noon! As you can imagine, this was a very distressing phone call to receive! They then informed us that she would need to immediately leave as they considered her a threat to the community. While I do not condone anger or violence in anyway, our grandmother is 4'9" and weighs about 100 pounds … So I'm sure she wasn't going to injure anyone!

I have since spoken with the department of aging and disability services and we are filing a formal complaint. I believe their attempt to kick her out is illegal and against the contract that we signed up. The next week was incredibly stressful to say the least as we were forced to provide a person to care for her during every waking hour even thought we were already paying the facility to care for her. We have since moved her out to another facility that is much more understanding of elders with dementia and paranoia. St Dominic told us point blank that they do not deal with these issues.

So bottom line would be, if your elderly loved one has any sort of dementia, paranoia, or Alzheimer's Saint Dominic is absolutely not a place you would want to send them as they have no patience or understanding here. Very disappointing for a facility that claims to "Care for our elders with the...

St. Dominic Village failed my family—both in care and in principle.

My mother-in-law was fully assessed and accepted for assisted-living placement. Only seven days after she moved in, we were told the community could not meet her care needs and were given three days to relocate her. We complied and then requested at least a partial refund of the one-time $2000 community fee, given her short stay. We assumed that a mission-driven, faith-based organization would do the right thing but what followed was a disappointing pattern of broken promises that left us shocked and deeply disturbed by their complete and uttler lack of professionalism, courtesy and ethics.

Initial assurance: On the day of move out, i met with Executive Director John Connolly who agreed a refund was reasonable but said he needed final confirmation from another staff member.

Repeated follow-ups: Multiple calls from me yielded the same assurance—he “just needed corroboration” from an unnamed party. He would say he would get back to me but then never did. This went on for over a month.

And then the one time John Connolly called back, I missed it. I immediately returned the call but it was futile, they all went unanswered. I listened to my voicemail and here he was, Mr. Connolly leaving a cowardly message where he completely reversed course, citing the contract’s “non-refundable” clause and closing the door on any refund. My calls back to him requesting a conversation to discuss went unanswered with the exception of a text i received from him stating he understood why I might feel that a voicemail might seem inadequate.

I'm non-plussed, shocked, disappointed. This is a Catholic Senior Community. In stark contrast, every other senior-care community we contacted after leaving St Dominic has a proportionate refund policy when they determine they cannot serve a resident. Those facilities aren’t faith-based—just ethical.

Directors at several other senior-living communities were appalled when they learned of our ordeal with St. Dominic Village and have pledged to share our story widely to warn others about signing any contract with St Dominic without consulting their own attorney first.

Let me just say, a mission statement that speaks of compassionate elder care rings hollow when one cites "contractual obligations" that override fairness and accountability. Prospective families should know that St Dominic Village exploits seniors for financial gain.

I urge St. Dominic Village to rethink its rigid stance and adopt the industry-standard practice of refunding the one-time community fee when a resident’s stay is under 90 days. If St Dominic Village cannot honor its own faith-based mission, it should at least align with the ethical, commonsense policies every other senior community follows out of basic fairness. Until that happens, I cannot recommend St. Dominic Village to families seeking truly mission-driven...

We have stayed at St. Dominic's Village in the Angel House Rooms several times while receiving treatment at MD Anderson and Houston Methodist. It is such a lovely and comfortable place to stay. We enjoy walking around the grounds, talking with the sweet people, eating in the Dining Room at very reasonable cost, relaxing in the community room, spending quiet time in the library or in one of the gardens, and going to the Chapel for prayer and services. The Angel House Rooms are clean and comfortable (w/twin beds only)and laundry facilities close by. You truly get a great place to stay for a great price that is close to the medical facilities. Even more importantly, you feel the love of Christ everywhere you go.

There are a couple things to know about getting to St. Dominic Village (SDV) and the Angel House Rooms. First, because there are two locations in Houston with the same address as St. Dominic, 2401 Holcomb Blvd, make sure you include the zip code 77021 or you may end up on the other side of town!!! Also, if you are staying in the Angel House Rooms, they are located in Charlotte Hall. When you enter the Village, you will come to the gate. You will need to tell them you are going to Charlotte Hall, not Angel House. When you get to Charlotte Hall, there is no specific sign for Angel House, but the nice folks at the front desk will check you in and get you to your room. If you are driving, you can park out front or on the right side of the building. One other helpful note, SDV is no longer offering transportation for Angel House guests to the medical facilities. You can get an Uber quite easily, at a reasonable cost, and you will save money on very expensive parking at the medical facilities. Again make sure you give the Uber Driver the CORRECT address with zip code for pick up. Hope this helps you have a...