Aegis of Moraga

My family member was at Aegis Moraga living in assisted living for about 10 months in 2015 until we moved them to a well regarded Board and Care home. When we signed on at Aegis, the move-​in fees were significant, and they may be higher now. You don’t get much for the money. The facility looks good and is well maintained. The facility is best suited for those with full mental faculties who can enjoy the planned activities. The activity director and his team are good. Look carefully if your loved one has dementia or other frailties. The only nursing help on site is a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) who is overworked, not a Registered Nurse. Most caregivers who provide the day-​to-​day assistance are kind but very young and don’t have much healthcare experience. We never knew who provided regular care. There were routine problems with personal hygiene. When management was asked specific questions, they’d get on the radio and ask for «Caregiver responsible for Room 100» instead of by name. Often the caregivers appeared disinterested or difficult to find. We were never sure the care Aegis was charging for was being provided. We’ve had conversations with other families who had relatives at Aegis Moraga. Their consistent feedback is the facility doesn’t deliver the services they charge for even if your family is hands-​on. When you are paying six figures a year, expectations are high.
The facility is a money making venture (in spades). Care points went up routinely, went into effect immediately, and caused multiple cost hikes that were substantial over a very short period. Take a look at the Aegis contract document before you sign it, and you’ll note the company has raised rates from 5 to 6 + percent for the past several years. There is another one scheduled for March of 2016. This quickly gets prohibitive for any family trying to conserve resources.
At night and on holidays it appears the management staff empties out and the place is run by junior staff. On one occasion, the family got a phone call at 3:30 a.m. to pick up our family member from the emergency department. My relative had been ambulanced 20 minutes away without anyone making contact with the family, and was there for about 2 hours before we knew. There was conflicting information provided about the reason for the trip to the hospital. Needless to say, patients with Alzheimer’s don’t always communicate clearly about what is wrong with them. The ambulance trip probably wasn’t necessary, and the family may have determined so if we’d been contacted by Aegis before the trip.
When we returned back to Aegis at 5 a.m., the doors were locked so we contacted someone inside to let us in. The person responsible looked to be in her late teens or early 20’s at most. No one on staff seemed to think a 5:00 a.m. drop off was unusual or seemed particularly concerned about getting my family member settled in. I had a similar experience when I returned my family member to Aegis at about 7:30 p.m. on New Years Eve 2016. When we returned, the entry area was deserted, and the wander guard my family member was wearing caused an alarm to go off at the front door. It was still sounding after we returned to the room, got settled, and I left. A staffer who was servicing a resident in an adjacent room appeared unconcerned.
Do your research and save your money. Find another facility that provides better and consistent care. The place puts on a happy face about being concerned about residents, but that’s «eyewash».

My mother lived at Aegis Moraga for three years when it first opened 15 years ago and I wondered today how it looked inside now. So I walked in and walked around and it looks like it did when it was brand new, perhaps a bit better. I sat in front of the fireplace and talked to a nice, fine lady who had been there only a month and she loved it.
I know assisted living/​retirement home their have problems just as my mother had her ups and down days. My wife was there most days and made it work for her. People who work there are not family nor long time friends and have limited ability to try to make people come out of their rooms, or do something that they just don’t want to do. But when they do want to, there’s a lot to do. Some times, people just like to be alone, too.

Very surprised to see the one star reviews. I understand that some people might question the deposit and whether they could get better value elsewhere but the rest of the comments don’t align at all with our experience.
My mother-​in-​law has been at Aegis for almost two years and my wife is there every day at different times of the day (we live close by). The morning and early afternoons are quite active with breakfast and lunch, exercise, and social brain fitness activities. There are entertainers like kids choirs, singers, musicians and dancers there a couple times a week. They have art on Fridays and ice cream socials with a lot of grand kids (my kids included often) on Sunday. They take them to movies monthly, a restaurant outing, it’s really more than most of the residents can ever be a part of.
They have a beautiful facility, it’s clean, there’s a library, it’s light and airy and bustling with activity every time we go. My mother in law says it’s «like being at a resort» and she can’t believe how quickly time has passed.
The staff there is fantastic — we’ve gotten to know many of them personally over the years and they are caring and conscientious. The food is great (we eat there on the major holidays).
Overall we feel the place is fantastic, bright and airy, cheerful and the kind of facility where you’d be happy to have a parent or relative spend a few years.

UPDATE: (9.2015) Janssen Malloy LLP is investigating Aegis of Moraga as part of a potential class action lawsuit concerning staffing/​billing discrepancies.
One of my biggest issue’s was getting charged for service’s not provided or not needed. When confronted they could not justify the charges and were unwilling to remove them.
They also charge $ 8,000 (not a typo) deposit. (What could cost $ 8,000 when someone moves out?) That’s 2x or 3x more that similar facilities.
Be aware that they have a VERY high turnover rate with there staff which directly relates to the high turnover in there occupancy (weird if this is such a wonderful place) This is something to consider being when your loved one get’s older is hard for them to see a new unfamiliar face each time they need their med’s or need anything else.
Many reviews talk about how beautiful the facility is which is true BUT in hindsight that had little value to my loved one.
If you are considering Aegis vs. another facility make sure you ask if the other A.L. facility has any residents that moved from Aegis and ask to speak to one of there family members to find out why… that might make your decision much easier.
Bottom line Aegis is run like a large corporation (which it is) and you pay a lot for services that can be provided at other A.L. facilities for much less. I moved my loved one out because of the above issues and I wanted my loved one to feel cared for like they were living at a friend’s house, which Aegis just couldn’t provide.

I don’t know about the other reviews, but my family had a very different experience with my mother during her stay at Aegis of Moraga. Our mother moved in just after Christmas of 2011 with early to mid stages of Alzheimer’s. She enjoyed the activities from the beginning and even put on a little weight because the food was so good.
Mom made friends with the other residents as well as the most of the staff. It was a very warm and inviting atmosphere.
I really can’t say enough about the staff. In all of the time mom was a resident, two years and about nine months, I never saw any of the caregivers without a smile on their face, and they never appeared irritated or exasperated regarding any of the chores they had to do. This includes all of the personal hygiene issues she had that I couldn’t help her with.
She spent the last 2 ½ months in the memory care unit, and passed away in mid August. I spent much of the last week with mom. During that time, she was basically in a comatose state. I was very impressed with how the staff cared for her each day. This was a very difficult time for me, and I’m not saying that they made the experience enjoyable, I can say that they made it better for mom and me.

I am only writing this review to let folks know that assisted living does not well accommodate those with memory problems. Aegis is a lovely facility and if you or your loved one can fend for themselves, use a button call system, and ask clearly for help then it is a nice place. They made a lot of promises regarding their ability to help my mother with moderate dementia. They did a fair job, but the reality is she spent way too much time alone in her room. The staff there, while they are lovely caring folks, aren’t really trained to work with memory deficits. They do have a memory care unit, but it wasn’t something we wanted for our mom. Do your homework. Check out smaller board and care places that can give one on one attention. I don’t think this corporate model, while well intended, can meet the needs of most folks as they age and experience memory issues.