Atria Tamalpais Creek at 853 Tamalpais Avenue, Novato, California.

I work here at Atria as the Restaurant Manager and have been with the company for a little over a year now.I can say that even after owning my own restaurant for several years this is by far the most rewarding job that I have ever worked .It comes from the residents who have so much to share along with some of the most caring and giving staff I have ever had the pleasure of working with in this business!
The upper Management and department heads really care about this community,(They have the Heart!) and it makes me proud to work for and with a company that has such a high level of integrity.Crystal Welsh our Culinary Director takes pride in everything she does. Crystal takes it to the highest level of meeting our residents needs and creating wonderful and exciting meals and it all begins with her having such a huge Heart and Loving what she does everyday!I look forward coming to work everyday because it is so rewarding to be here and to be a part of this great family we have here at Atria.Amy ,Anna , Betty, Grant and Chef Katy and really go above and beyond on our Culinary team and they make everyday a great one here at Atria!

The facility is very nice and the staff is friendly.

However, they are not prepared or trained to give adequate care to dementia patients.

My mother has been a resident in the "life guidance" unit or what is more commonly called memory care. She is a dementia patient.

Atria claims to be prepared to provide care for dementia and Alzheimer patients. However, a hallmark of the disease is combativeness, including refusing to receive medical care or take showers. A quick search of dementia will show this is common behavior. When we placed her in Atria and were asked for over $7k per month they said they understand the disease and were trained to provide care. At best, only some staff seem able to handle clients that are challenging.

Several residents in the same unit as my mother were asked to move out or were relocated by family.

We relocated our mother too because staff, on two occasions, had the fire dept. come take her to the hospital when she yelled at them refusing to get out of bed or when she was asked to take a shower. We have learned from local medical staff that they frequently send clients to the hospital when they are challenging.

Finally, staff turn over has been tremendous. In particular, the manager of the life guidance unit has changed three times in 1.5 years with several months without a manager at all.