Monarch Southbury — Local services in Southbury

My family moved my mom into Motif's assisted living unit in the middle of November 2023 after a stay in the hospital and rehab for a heart problem. She lived at Motif roughly for six weeks, getting stronger, before transitioning back to home in January 2024.

The first thing you notice when you walk into Motif is how friendly the people are. Not just those on the sales team, but the nurses, the staff, and the residents all greet you and make you feel welcome. Being the skeptic that I am, I thought "surely this friendliness is a front to get new folks like us to sign a contract." However, I'm glad to say I was wrong. Not only were the employees of Motif nice people, but they were motivated to adjust and adapt plans for your loved one to make their stay as comfortable as possible.

Of course, when you consider entering assisted living, the number one concern is the quality of care your loved one will receive. For my mom, the level of care was excellent. My mom is not always the easiest person to satisfy (ok, that's putting it mildly), yet Motif worked with us closely to map out a plan that would serve her best. Here I'm going to shout out to both Jennifer and Samantha, who lead the nurses and aids. You won't find easier people to work with. At ground level, all of the nurses were very kind to my mom, and when we left my mom admitted she would miss several of them. I hate to single out any one individual because I don't want to leave people out, but certainly going above and beyond normal duty were Lisa and Shanique.

In general, my impression was that the vast majority of residents seemed happy. We met many of them in the dining hall and often they would go out of their way to say how friendly everyone was at Motif. And the food was pretty decent, in particular the desserts.

As with any place, there always are going to be a couple of drawbacks. Probably the largest issue I had with Motif was the lack of structured integration of new residents. My mom is not good at meeting new people, and I was hoping there would be protocols specifically designed to introduce her to other residents who perhaps shared her same interests. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I was surprised to find that Motif had assigned seats in the dining room (not sure if this is common practice in other similar facilities), and my mom was assigned to a table by herself, so unless she had a visitor she ate meals alone. Motif indeed has many group activities throughout the day, including exercise classes, crafts classes, etc. However, we found that existing residents tended to keep to themselves during these activities and pretty much ignored the new person in class. Probably the most difficult part of the day was evening, when my mom got very lonely after my dad ended his daily visit. Apart from a happy hour at the pub from 3:30 to 4:30 the only other evening activity available was a nightly movie at 6:30. Unfortunately, going by oneself to a movie in a dark room simply is not a good way to make new friends.

I admit all that sounds pretty bad, but there's a silver lining. I brought up my concerns to Tim, the Executive Director, and he and his staff were very much willing to work on improvements to help with my mom's socialization. We discussed several ideas to help my mom, and he and the Activities Director worked to implement those that seemed feasible. Sadly, my mom decided not to take part much in these new programs, but the programs seem to be taking off and, I hope, will help someone else in a similar situation. But the overall point is that Motif employees, from the top down, are motivated to keep making improvements to help their residents. Really there's not much more one can ask for.

Anyway, I have to say I am glad we found Motif. We were in crisis mode when we got there and they delivered on all of their promises. Then, whenever an issue came up, they were willing and able to work with us to improve the situation. That is a tribute to the professionalism of...

My step-dad has been at Motif for the past two plus years after a fall that kept him from returning to his house. From the minute I walked into the building, the place had a homey feel that I knew would make him comfortable. I always found the staff wonderful to work with. Everyone knew my stepdad's name, and always had something nice to say about him. As his Alzheimer's got worse and we had to consider memory care, everyone did their part to make the transition a smooth one.

One of the very kind things the staff there did for me was--after his money was beginning to run down--they spoke with me about the long waits to get into nursing homes. They gave me solid advice to get his name down on those lists early, before his money was gone. Because of that advice, I was able to research nursing homes and apply to the ones I liked best, and get him a spot in a place that felt right for him. I learned at the nursing homes that not all assisted living facilities would give that advice, choosing to keep you there as long as they could. It speaks to the concern the staff at Motif has for their residents, not just there to make money.

Though the facility changed hands early into his time there, I always found new management responsive and helpful when I had problems or questions. Overall, I would say that I have no regrets about moving him to Motif and would highly recommend taking a look at here if you need assisted living for...

It has come to my attention that there is a possibility that a negative review was left on behalf of my family. The review is listed under the name Rutucci. If this is not the case, I apologize in advance, however, I find it extremely important to set things straight. Mom has been in the Mosaic Memory Care Unit for 3 years now. She just turned 101 years old! The incredible staff of Nurses, Personal Care Aides, Managers, Activities Personnel, Dining Staff, Receptionists, Maintenance and Housekeeping all work together to provide Mom the best possible care with compassion and kindness. The Administrative Director is hands on and always has an open door policy. I wouldn’t want Mom to be anywhere else. To address the negative review comments, the meals are very appealing and appetizing and the facility is charming and welcoming. We are so grateful that we found a caring and loving place for Mom. It is with great pleasure that I write to highly recommend Motif by Monarch Assisted Living...