Silverado Belmont Hills Memory Care Community

I’m not giving a 5 star rating because I believe there is always room for improvement. I think in caring for our parents we must remember that although we find a «residence» that can accommodate their needs, we must remain involved in care. The sales staff did a great job of selling me on what they could do. My father’s sliding scale diabetic insulin needs was a deal breaker at other residences. I was looking for a place that would care for him as a person and not just his obvious physical needs. They did that.
My father needed a hoyer lift to get him in and out of bed. Ordered by the rehab Doctor prior to his admission. They only used it once or twice. He went from wheelchair back to his walker? I watched my father go from non-​responsive to engaging. The confusion was still there. He smiled and he even laughed again. There were days that he refused to get out of bed. Me too. After a while we noticed that one or 2 days of activity produced a day where he was just too tired to get up. The staff was always attentive to him and to our needs.
James, the director of resident and family services, is always available to family and residents. The food is fresh and NOT at all like institutional tasting. The staff has kept me posted with texting videos and FaceTime of special moments.
In writing this review I realize that everyone has different expectations and experiences. My father thrived while living at Silverado Belmont Hills. My experience was a very good one. I would recommend them highly for your memory impaired parent. Remember that they still cannot replace you and the love and history you provide also. The respect shown to my father was obvious. I couldn’t be more pleased with the care they provide.

My father has now been at Silverado for a little over a year. Prior to moving he was living at home with my mom (as his primary care giver) and then I moved in to help — 6 years ago. The time finally came where he needed to have more «help» and my mom needed to «live.»
We choose Silverado for the beautiful grounds, the different communities, the open door policy and the staff (24 hour nurses). Since moving to Silverado my father has decline — not because of the «lack» of care, «lack» of food, etc — but his decline is due to his disease. The staff at Silverado has helped my family so much with aggressive behavior my father displayed in the beginning to now not needing even a quarter of the medication he started with. A great thing is that Silverado does not sedate their residents but rather find a balance of medication (if needed) so that the residents don’t walk around like zombies. They have very healthy food, which is made fresh and served to each resident in their communal ding room. We can visit my father anytime we want and even join him for a meal. One of the things I like most is that every worker there smiles and knows the name of 95%of the residents. It is truly the residents home… I see the bad comments regarding Silverado and feel «bad» for those who feel their loved one was not treated good there. I am so happy that my father is well taken care of. I feel like I am a daughter again and my mom is a wife again AND most importantly that we are now part of a bigger team all helping my father. I would totally recommend visiting (a few times on different days and different times) to see how this place and others places are.

Silverado is a beautiful facility. Their staff is friendly, works hard and they do the best they can given patient/​staff ratios. The staff was very good about getting my Dad up, keeping him groomed, etc. While my Dad was only their for a short while prior to passing, I always felt that Silverado management was more focused on revenue/​numbers then patient care. If your loved one has dementia, w/​out complication, Silverado is probably a good facility. Unfortunately, my father, who was only 72, had severe dementia and balance deficits. While I had my doubts, Silverado Management assured my that they would be able to address my Father’s needs. Within 6 weeks, he had a UTI, broken a hip and had passed away. To be honest, it was a blessing for my father. This still doesn’t absolve Silverado management. They had no way of adequately caring for my father, given staffing/​patient ratios (combined w/​my Dad’s severe symptoms). I would have had so much more respect for Silverado if they told me up front that given my Dad’s needs, they simply didn’t have the resources to adequately care for him. Again, if dementia is your loved one’s only problem, they will probably do well at Silverado. If there are other needs, especially balance, you should look elsewhere.

My dad spent 5 weeks at Silverado recently and we decided we needed to get him moved to a different facility. The most flagrant neglect was when my mom and sister-​in-​law showed up at 11 am on a Friday to visit him (he had been there less than 2 weeks at that point). Dad was still in bed, had not been gotten up yet for the day, he was in need of a diaper change, he had not eaten (he is diabetic). They asked if his blood sugar had been checked, no. When they checked it, his blood sugar was 330. My family couldn’t get dad awake. Finally, they were able to rouse him. I believe if they had not come by to see him, it could have been too late.
We were told the $ 6,500 community fee included 72 hours of one-​on-​one care when the patient is first admitted. I liked the idea of this. During that first 72 hours, mom told me that my brother shaved dad. I asked why he had to shave dad when he was having one-​on-​one care. That one-​on-​one care did not include shaving or showering.

This absolutely beautiful facility lacks basic care for it’s patients. My father was put in a room with a patient unable to move or speak. My father has dementia but is fully able to speak and was ambulatory. Silverado put him in a wheel chair and he lost the ability to walk while he was there. He also lost 14 pounds during his 5 weeks there.
I was hesitant to write a review here because we have moved dad and he is doing much better. But when I heard about the lady who walked out the front door and was missing for roughly 15 hours, I had to write my opinion. I don’t want any other families to go through the agony that we did.

DO NOT send your loved one to this facility. Although on the surface it looks lovely and pristine, the amount of neglect and lack of communication and action taken is sickening.
My father has had dementia for 3 years, and my mother just couldn’t physically and mentally take care of him anymore. I live in Belmont and work in San Mateo, so I would be able to check on him more frequently to make sure he was ok after he was admitted there. My father was walking, slow and is a fall risk, but nonetheless he was still walking the day he moved in, 5÷8÷14. They put him in a wheelchair that day for easier mobility, and never got him out of the wheelchair since. He hasn’t walked on his own again since entering the facility, nor have they attempted aggressively to help him do so.
My father wears glasses and has top and bottom dentures/​partials. So one day on my lunch break, I stopped by unannounced (as you should always do, never notify a facility ahead of time) to see my father. There he was at 12:35pm being spoon fed his lunch in his wheelchair, not even at the dining room table, but in the walkway area. He is capable of eating on his own, he just is a lot slower these days of course and needs help cutting his food. He was still in pajamas that weren’t even his, didn’t have his glasses on, and the caregiver turned to me and said he wasn’t eating his food very well. She wasn’t a young high school student caregiver, but a person in her 40’s who you would think had common sense. I quickly noticed that my father never had his bottom dentures in!!! Are you serious??? I’m not trained by any means to work in this industry, but the lack of common sense she showed much like others there was baffling. I went to my dad’s room to look for his glasses and teeth but came up empty. Just as empty as his clothes drawers that had zero clean clothes! We brought enough clothes for 2 weeks of living as recommended, as they say they wash the clothes twice a week. BS! Not to mention the following 2 days when I visited with my mother, the clothes still weren’t washed and they kept him in the same clothes. Anyway, after I was upset and questioned the missing items, staff quickly looked around and located them on the nurse’s cart. Unbelievable.
Over time, my father got a sore on his butt. Because of being bed ridden and sitting in a cheap wheelchair, this sore was developed. I understand that’s how it goes sometimes, as he is quite skinny these days, so it does happen. However, the monitoring of it was neglected.
So, finally on Saturday 6÷21÷14 (45 days later) we found a 6-​person board and care home in San Mateo to move him to (wonderful staff and great care, finally!) He appeared to be getting a fever though, so the staff right away took care of him and provided him with the necessary care. His fever escalated a bit Sunday and even worse on Monday. The home notified us Monday night they thought he should go to the ER to get checked out. I hopped out of bed to pick him up with my mother and take him to Sequoia hospital. Well, good thing this new home contacted us because it saved his life. From 10:30pm-4:30am my father was in the ER and was diagnosed with pneumonia, dehydration, and he was now aspirated. He almost didn’t make it that night multiple doctors and nurses said, but thankfully he is a fighter and pulled through. He was sent to ICU where he spent the next 3 days. Upon his assessment, his sore that we knew about had gone from stage 1 as we were told by Silverado to worse than a stage-​4 and unidentifiable it was so bad. I looked at the sore with the Dr and it looked like a shotgun wound in his butt. The sore turned into a half dollar sized almost an inch deep hole! I was in shock!
During this entire time my father who is obviously not all there mentally and doesn’t speak much anymore has been smiling and waiving to everyone that has assisted him. Nothing makes me get the chills of happiness than my father smiling during these tough times and the pain he’s going through.
Tomorrow, 6÷30÷14 he will be discharged from the hospital and go into a TBA skilled nursing home to help his wounds heal (now there are 4 or 5 sores/​wounds that Silverado failed to notice and inform us about) as well as he will get PT to help him try and stand walk again.
Please do not send your loved one to this place. The $ 275/​day $ 8500/​month is an out of control amount for this specific facility to charge. I wouldn’t be spending this much time writing this review if I was 100% sure that this place was awful. Many people might say it is a «nice place», but then again are they visiting 3−4−5 times/​week to see what is actually going on? I probably saw my father drink water once or twice, and never did I see the encouragement to stay hydrated, hence he almost died in part because of it.
Thank you for listening and if there is a way for those that want more questions answered about my experiences (there are many other things that were awful), I’d be happy to help.

My 90 year old Mom has been at Silverado since January 2014. I had taken a tour of 3 other places but decided on Silverado because of the unlocked doors, beautiful grounds, and the gentle dogs who live there. My Mom was a handful and probably would have been over-​medicated to fit in elsewhere. She was an independent loner who had fallen down stairs at home. She was angry and fearful after her sojourn through ICUs and a month in skilled nursing. She came to Silverado wheelchair bound in an uncomfortable neck brace. Little by little she recovered physically and psychologically. she gained 16 pounds in 5 months due to the excellent chef Mario (plus there is ice cream and sandwiches available 24 hours). Unlike other assisted living places, Silverado has 24 hour LVNs. The nursing staff, led by Amyda, is excellent and work well with the Kaiser doctor who sees my Mom on site. My Mom’s mood has changed dramatically. She gets around easily with her walker. She goes to exercise class every day. She attends the several musical events each week. She appreciates her warm, kind, hard working caregivers, especially Elaine, Angela, Jay, Luis, Indra, and Zo. Each day, they get her day started off right. They help her with her make up, bring her the newspaper and give her a list of the fun optional activities scheduled for that day (usually about 8). Once a week she gets her hair and nails done at the hair salon on site. We had a fabulous champagne birthday party for 20 friends and family in the library, catered by Mario. Whenever an issue comes up the administrators Veronica and Susan are responsive and creative in addressing the challenges with memory care patients who are anxious and sometimes confused. The front desk personnel, Emma, Carlos, Dimple, and Cindy always greet me by name, cheerfully, making dropping in fun and easy at anytime (no specific visiting hours). My Mom now enjoys going out with me for several hours each weekend to restaurants and shopping. Siverado gives her the support she needs to live a dignified, tranquil life. She no longer misses her house. Indeed Silverado is her home, and a pleasant place for me to visit often.

So Silverado apologizes for any bad experience I «may have» had. Does mean I «may have» imagined it all? Or are that I may be a liar? I see that their attitudes haven’t changed much since my first review.

I’m totally blown away by the negative reviews. My dad has been a resident at Silverado for over 4 years and he has received great care. As his Alzheimer’s has progressed, the staff has accommodated for his condition.
When he first started living at Silverado, he was still walking, but he was one of those «wanderers» that would go for a walk and get lost. The grounds at Silverado are great for people that like to walk a lot. There are walking paths and lots of flowers and plants to enjoy. The area is fenced in and the front door is locked and there is an attendant always on duty, so the residents can’t leave and get lost.
Silverado also has lots of great activities and they encourage all residents to participate according to their abilities. They even have outings. When my dad could still walk, he used to go on the outing to the local golf driving range and loved it. Now that he is in a wheelchair, there are other activities like ball tosses, singing, and those sort of things that he can participate in.
They also encourage the residents to be out of their rooms during the day and try to keep them in the common rooms where they can be social and interact with people. The food is good and they accommodate for special food needs. They also have private areas for family get-​togethers.
The caretakers are attentive and the nursing staff is caring and very good at communication and catching potential issues.
It is never easy to have to put a loved one into a care home. But, I must say that my dad is getting far better care at Silverado than he could get at home. The people at Silverado can get him to cooperate for showers, eating, sleeping, etc. There just comes a time when it makes sense to have qualified caregivers taking care of loved ones. After Dad went to Silverado, we could actually start enjoying him more because we weren’t constantly worried or trying to get him to do things he didn’t want to do. Silverado is definitely pricey. There is no doubt about that. But, if you can afford it, it is worth the money for the peace of mind. :-)

stayed for a few weeks and I had some great food here

My mother has been at Silverado for almost two years. Every time I visit she tells me how happy she is. She has friends. She participates in activities. Every caregiver knows her name. She gets physical therapy. The grounds are beautiful. They contact us every six months for a meeting with the staff. If I need an additional meeting they arrange it right away. When we visit, they feed us. I cannot believe the negative remarks in other reviews. It doesn’t sound like the same facility that we have experienced. I consider Silverado state of the art memory care. They really care. They think long and hard about all decisions. They organize support groups. They have wonderful gatherings every month with entertainment and food. Other memory care facilities don’t even attempt all of these activities. I highly recommend Silverado.

If your loved one is clear headed and physically capable go for it. If not this place is hideous. It «looks» good but the care was really bad. Smoke and mirrors. Don’t waste all that money. Hire someone and keep them home!

My brother has been at Silverado since late September of 2012 and I’ve been very pleased with almost everything about it. His room is cleaned daily, the food is excellent, and every caregiver knows him and me by name. I had one problem regarding bringing my brother’s dog because «he can’t participate in the dog’s care.»
Isn’t this an Alzheimer’s facility? How can he take care of his dog? One of the best things about Silverado is the frequent communication regarding my brother’s blood tests (he takes Coumadin), any bruises or falls, and last week they even told me that he was sitting on the floor in his room, reportedly (from him) because he missed the chair and couldn’t get up.
I’d recommend Silverado to anyone who can afford it. $ 229 a day for a shared room isn’t cheap!
BTW, my earlier 2-​star rating was in error. It fully deserves 4 or even 4−½ stars.
Unfortunately, my brother has since passed away, but I am convinced that he was in the best possible place for him for the last six months of his life.

My father moved into the skilled nursing section of Silverado six weeks ago after suffering a major stroke. That first day, each staff member (even the facilities person) approached him and welcomed him by name, introducing themselves. «Hello Mr. L., I am Kate, we are so happy to welcome you.» Nice touch, made him feel like an individual of worth.
The facility is immaculate and well decorated, organized, no odors, the food surprisingly good. Everyone was well trained, dealing well with some difficult cases of dementia and alzheimers. They had live entertainment of some sort every day which seemed to really please the residents.
But the very best aspect of this facility is the staff. Without exception they treated my father with respect, preserving his dignity at every turn. When he needed any kind of personal care, they made a point of shutting the door of his room. When they brought him to a meal, they always combed his hair and made sure he had a fresh shirt. They always told him what they were doing before they did it, giving medication, changing a bandage, etc. He told me he liked it there and that ‘everyone is really nice to me.’ He also said, ‘if one has to be in a place like this, the people here certainly make it easier.’ He liked that they have a friendly dog that roams the hallways. (I liked that the dog was clean and well cared for.) When anything changed in his condition or his doctor changed orders, the nursing staff would leave me a message with all the details. Very considerate.
This is all a great comfort to me, as my father passed away two days ago, after another stroke. The stroke happened while I was sitting with him in the garden at Silverado. I stood up and quickly approached Meryl, the nursing director, and told her something was wrong. She was immediately responsive and compassionate. I’ll never forget how she took charge of the situation while gently making me aware of the severity of the incident. She and Amyda, the wonderful head nurse, quickly moved my father into his bed and made him comfortable. Elmer, one of the assistants who had been assigned to my father (and was always so kind) checked in regularly to see how he could help. I recall being so touched by the staff’s desire, from head nurse to assistants, to support me and my father.
Silverado has an agreement with Vitas hospice, who we called in that day and were amazing. Albert and Norma watched over my father round the clock until he died peacefully and comfortably 5 days after that stroke. I am deeply grateful for their compassion, kindness and absolute skill and professionalism in such a terribly difficult time for me and my family. They worked seamlessly with the Silverado staff and I felt supported at every turn. They prioritized my father’s comfort while giving us needed privacy in his last days. In retrospect, they knew immediately what was really happening and were very patient with me as I slowly accepted the reality of his imminent passing.
My family and I are forever grateful to the entire staff at Silverado for the comfort they gave my father in his final weeks. From his arrival, to his few weeks of living there, to his death, we find peace in knowing that he was treated with great respect while alive and that his death probably could not have happened in a more gentle and dignified way.

I wish I could give Silverado a ZERO. It is too painful to remember and write everything that I did not like about Silverado, but one thing I can say is DO NOT PUT YOUR LOVED ONE IN THIS FACILITY. I tried to take him out but they said I had to give a «30 day notice». Unfortunately, with the mistreatment my father had there, he did not make the 30 days and passed away from a heart attack that in my heart feel was due to overdose by the staff there as I would come visit him and he would be LETHARGIC, would not be able to wake up.
My father having Alzheimer’s and diagnosed with having the mind of a 2 year old, was able to go through the main door and walk all the way to El Camino Real which is a ways down. Thank God for an employee from Silverado that was leaving work and noticed him walking down the street, he was able to bring him back to the facility. Silverado staff had the nerve to tell me that my 79 year old father jumped the 8′ fence!!! How could they insult my intelligence like that? I had someone from their corporate office come down to have a meeting with her, and their head staff there and I ripped them a new one. It wasn’t until that meeting where they apologized, that my father did not jump the fence, and the receptionist must have left the front desk. There are many more stories about this place, but one thing I need to make clear is that if you can afford to pay $ 8,000/month to put your family member here, I suggest to hire a person to care for your loved one in the home where you could supervise them.

I was hesitant to even look at Silverado after the first review but then realized that the other person’s relative might have been here when it was under another company’s leadership. I think it was owned by Sunrise at one point.
My cousin moved here in February 2012 after a horrible experience in an Alzheimer’s facility in Sunnyvale. She seems to be doing MUCH better here and is a lot happier. They have a good selection of structured activities that are good for Alzheimer patients, are big advocates of getting the residents involved in activities and not just housing them in a room staring at each other, and the grounds are simply beautiful. It’s a locked facility but the residents are free to go outside and enjoy the fresh air while still maintaining their safety. The animals running around are also very therapeutic and the residents seem to really enjoy having them.
The staff here has been pretty good and very caring. There is always someone around when you need assistance and staff are very easy to find. The people here seem to really care about the residents and like their job.
The food here is also very good!
If you have the money to afford it, I would recommend checking it out to see if it’s a good fit.

Horrible Horrible Place. My grandfather was here for sixth months. We were told this was a great place. Let me tell you if you love your loved ones DO NOT PUT THEM HERE. They neglect the people, don’t change there diapers, let them fall on a daily basis. I have visited my grandfather on multiple occasions and he was covered in blood with no explanation. You try to talk to management they don’t have any idea what is going on. Not to MENTION the place smells like urine so bad you cant even breath. Also they charge 8000 a month for what I have no idea. We have taken my grandfather out and found a wonderful place for him. PLEASE DON’T SUBJECT ANYBODY TO THIS HELL. the ONLY TIME MANAGEMENT WANTED A MEETING IS WHEN WE TOLD THEM HE WOULD BE REMOVED BECAUSE OF THE MISTREATMENT THEN THEY WERE CONCERNED BECAUSE THEY WOULD LOSE 8000 A MONTH. Also they say they have on call rn nurses this is not true they are lvn which is not a nurse by far. It seemed like they had about a ratio of 15 – 20 elders to 3 – 4 caregivers who make 11.00 a hour and cant speak english and could care less. One last thing the room are keep very very dirty.