Hi all - these “Stuffable” branded storage poufs just came across my FB and, before I buy, wanted to see if the community has any experience / feedback on how they work / hold up.
FWIW, I’m looking to store out of season soft goods - bedding, throw blankets, beach towels, puffy coats, etc.
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences / advice / suggestions / alternatives.
We hope that our experience will save another family from the frustration and time that we have lost as we attempted to get our dad residency at Hawthorn Landing at Heritage Community Kalamazoo.
Heritage Community Kalamazoo is comprised of different buildings, each with their own level of comfort and care. We can only speak to our experience at Hawthorn Landing, which is the mid- to low-income assisted living facility.
Backstory: Our dad can no longer live on his own and requires a level of care that makes assisted living a great option for him. When researching assisted living facilities we had a number of requirements:
- Clean, safe, uplifting community with good reviews
- Availability of high quality care now and in the future all on one campus - assisted living, memory care, acute rehab, skilled nursing, hospice, etc.
- A guarantee that even when our dad’s money runs out, that he will be able to remain in the home he’s made with the community he’s built
Hawthorn Landing initially checked all of these boxes. Our tour of the facility showed us it was nice, no frills, but our dad is a “salt of the earth” guy and he’d be happy in their small apartments. Google, Yelp and Medicaid.gov reviews were positive. Hawthorn Landing offers both Assisted Living and Memory Care within the building, and, should our dad need acute care or skilled nursing, Upjohn is on the same campus.
A big selling point for us was that Heritage Community offers a “Benevolent care program”, which by our reading, provides financial assistance for residents who are no longer able to fully pay for their accommodations / service fees. This program is funded thru “Endowment Funds” which would make up any gap in accommodations / service fees after an individual’s savings / long term care insurance is depleted and they are solely reliant on Medicaid and any income they may receive from their Social Security and any Pension.
Everything looked great, but then, the Red Flags started to appear:
🚩Red Flag #1: Zero Financial Transparency - We asked for more information about the “Benevolent care program”, specifically information about the solvency of the “Endowment Funds”, and were told that they don’t share that information. Which is odd, because as a charitable trust, this info is publicly available. We shrugged, and researched the funds ourselves, found Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax for HERITAGE COMMUNITY OF KALAMAZOO FOUNDATION INC on IRS.gov / Charities and Nonprofits / Tax Exempt Organization Search via their EIN: 38-2775795 . And in the 2024 tax year, they appeared well funded at $8M and paid out roughly $280k annually. Really weird that they refused to share this info as it's publicly available and pretty positive? For what it’s worth, all of their facilities are listed as non-profits and are searchable via IRS.gov as well. Here are a few:
Directors Hall (DBA Hawthorn Landing) : 26-4576739
Amber Way - Wyndham West (DBA Meilland Squire): 38-3470397
🚩Red Flag #2: Trust Me Bro - In order for our dad to be accepted at Hawthron Landing and, to our understanding, for him to be eligible for financial assistance via the “Benevolent care program” we had to demonstrate that he had savings and income that would enable him to pay full price rent of $4.5K for at least 5 years.
We agreed, shared all financials, and asked that Hawthorn Landing provide something in writing stating that, having demonstrated this, our dad is eligible for financial assistance via the “Benevolent care program”. Sales and Finance told us “not to worry about that” and “that’s not how we do business” and “we can’t make changes to the current contract” and basically, “trust me, bro”. That does not fly with us. Saying that your organization is committed to supporting its residents, and that you all review resident needs on a case by case basis is all well and good, but 5 years down the road those are empty promises by someone who no longer works here. A contract is clear and transparent, something we’ve learned that Hawthorn Landing has trouble with.
🚩Red Flag #3: Month-to-Month - Regarding contracts, the only contract that the resident / family signs with Hawthorn Landing is a month-to-month rental agreement. Meaning that if Hawthorn Landing should ever need to evict a resident, or residents, they can do so with little to no notice, leaving the resident, their family and social services scrambling to pick up the pieces and secure alternative housing. Reading back into Google reviews, it looks like Heritage Community Kalamazoo has done at least one mass eviction a few years ago. There is nothing preventing them from doing this again.
🚩Red Flag #4: Non-smokers only - On our initial tour, Sales told us that our dad could continue to smoke, just as long as he did so off-campus. We had begun making arrangements to get our dad a Rascal so that he could scoot the 75 or so yards to the edge of the sidewalk / parking lot where he could light up. A few weeks later, a Care Coordinator met with our dad in person and issued the mandate that unless our dad committed to quitting smoking, Hawthorn wasn’t the right place for him. Goal Post Move #1. We discussed this with our dad and, while he was disappointed, he was on board with quitting smoking. He told us that he understood that this is probably what he should do anyway and that he’s smoked for long enough. When we came back and shared this with the Sales team, who relayed this to the Care Coordinator and Executive Director, the ED did Goal Post Move #2. Now his word to committing to quit isn’t enough, he would need to quit smoking in earnest over the next 30 days, at which time the Care Coordinator would re-assess him and evaluate how his smoking cessation was progressing, and then they would decide if they would accept him or not.
So, over the course of one week, our dad and our family experienced whiplash - going from “Yeah, your dad can smoke, just off campus” to “No, your dad has to commit to quit” to “We don’t believe you and your family’s word regarding your previous experience quitting smoking, so go ahead and quit and then we’ll re-evaluate you after 30 days to see if you’re really committed”. And in the midst of this, they went on about “An abrupt change of that nature would likely bring behaviors and consequences that would become our responsibility to navigate and manage.” What? This is giving re-hab. This is giving prison. He is a cigarette smoker. Hawthorn Landing is requiring our dad to be somehow proven and certified tobacco free in order to even be considered for residency? What?
🚩Red Flag #5: Toxic Work Environment and Stonewalling - Sales offered to arrange a call between our family and the Executive Director and Care Team for us to get clarity regarding the details and requirements for our dad’s smoking cessation, and for us to make the case that our dad is committed to quitting smoking. We followed up with Sales about the status of the meeting, which is when we learned that the Executive Director sent an email to Sales stating “I thought I made myself perfectly clear, we will reassess after a month,” and said that she had no desire to speak with us. Wow. Just wow. The attitude is absolutely unnecessary. And we’re shut down. No communication, No feedback. No rescheduling. Completely stonewalled.
So, everything was going well until it wasn’t. Obviously we are running away from Hawthorn Landing as fast as we can. We just hope that our experience helps other families considering a move here to avoid confusion, miscommunication and lost time.
And since no one at Hawthorn Landing or Heritage Community Kalamazoo is open to talking with us regarding our experience, we are hopeful that publicly posting our experience will get the attention of their board of directors and leadership team regarding the systemic and structural failures present in their system.
CORRECTION: The Director of Sales did call and leave a message on the day of the incident, I missed it until today.
UPDATE: Just got off the phone with the Director of Sales, they apologized for the miscommunication and are offering to try to arrange a call between us and the ED. At this point, the bloom is off the rose. There have been so so so many red flags, we can't in good conscience overlook all of these glaring issues and try to get our dad into a place that's this messed up.
As I’ve been researching different backyard / sun / beach / park shelters, I’ve been getting lots of ads on social media for the Soli Inflatable Tent. Does anyone have any experience or advice? It’s $600 for a package that includes the tent, weights to make sure it doesn’t blow away, doors, netting, a floor, and other swag stuff. It’s a lot, but it looks pretty cool and like it’d be easy to carry, set up, and take down. Advice / experience appreciated!