The Horizon Club

Wonderful caring staff and very professional.

The Horizon Club was told to call me if my mother went to the hospital they did not

My mom died a couple of weeks ago.  I feel compelled to write about how loving and caring the Horizon Club staff was to her and my father during my mother’s very long decline and death..  They made sure my mother was loved and my father was received the support he needed while watching his  wife and companion of over 65 years slowly die.  It is the staff that makes communities like Horizon Club a home.

My mother-in-law and her husband just moved into the Horizon Club after thoroughly researching the assisted living communities in the area.  It is very comforting to find a person like Heidi Noel who loves her job and truly takes an interest to make sure that the new residents of the community are welcomed and assisted in getting acclimated. We were introduced to many of the current residents as we toured the facility and everyone loved living there. We are very comforted and feel we all have made a good decision.

Horizon Club is an excellent facility with a friendly staff and administration, clean and updated facilities and the units/apartments are clean and modern.  I routinely go to visit my friend there and am always greeted by the friendly front desk personnel.  My resident friend comments about the excellent quality of the food and the service there.

This is the opinion of Hedy Cohn, not Kol Tikvah Sisterhood. My mother has been at Horizon Club in Independent Living for 8 years and I have written several times about how satisfied I have been with the staff and facility. A few weeks ago I took a 2 week cruise that my husband and I had put off several times due to Covid. I thought: What could happen to my mother in two weeks?
Well of course, something did happen and she needed to be hospitalized while I was away. The Horizon Club arranged for her to be transported, and when she returned, as they thankfully have a home care agency in the building, she was able to get care and medication assistance until I got home.
Although all staff is wonderful, Mary Beth is kind and welcoming, Erin is always there when needed; today I am writing to specifically thank Jean and restaurant staff.
When I returned, my mother’s eating habits became erratic, and in an attempt to keep her going, I would take her to the restaurant at odd times, and my husband and I would eat with her to make sure she actually ate. Jean always helped and worked with us. In addition, this holiday season, when her son and his family came to visit, despite how busy they are there, he was able to arrange for all of us to all eat there together. What a boost this was for her!
I want to thank Horizon Club, restaurant staff and all other staff for their dedication all these years and hope to be able to have my mother there as long as possible.
Hedy Cohn
Daughter of Fritzi Nozik

HC may be okay for independent living, but TERRIBLE for "assisted living".  They never respond to the call button, there is no personalized food preparation at all, the food is delivered cold hours late, the staff lost our personal property, the elevators and emergency exits are out of order.  Did I mention that they never respond to the call button?

Can’t say enough good things about the staff here. Moved my father here after looking at 10 different places and I’m sure I made the right decision. Everyone has a can do attitude and cares about the residents. Moved in with 2 days noticed and had to move from independent to assisted with 1 day notice and they made it happen. Sales, Danielle and Cindy, nursing Miriam and Belinda, Garrett, the restaurant staff, Erin in housekeeping, Mary Jo the director and everyone else all have helped our family and father make his reluctant move as easy as possible. The grounds are great, the common areas freshly remodeled and apartments are bigger and nicer than almost any facility I saw.

I'm writing to thank the Leadership Team and workers at the Horizon Club during this Pandemic.  I appreciate the open line of communication with an email every Friday updating us on the week.  All workers have recently been tested and all were negative.  They have been understanding with the residents and doing everything possible to keep them healthy and most important - HAPPY!!  I'm glad my Aunt Grace chose this Assistant Living!!

My Mom lived for about seven years at Horizon Club, and died there a year ago today at 95.  There are definitely good and bad points to the place, but if you are reading this you probably just want to know if you should put your loved one there or someplace else, and I think that you would make a pretty good decision if you did, and you could definitely do a lot worse.  When she finally decided that she had to move into a facility, we visited a number of places, and I preferred the Forum, which was perhaps a little more expensive, but my Mom said that knew people at Horizon Club, that all those places were the same, and so she moved there.  The first two or three years were pretty good for her, even though she was losing her sight, and she had several ‘boyfriends’.  Somehow she had always convinced the staff that all she needed was independent living, and she got a pretty good deal in a small room overlooking the waterway for a yearly rate of only about $20K.  Compared to something similar in New York, where I live, this would be nothing less than somewhere between one-third to one-fifth of what we could have found that is comparable here.  Deerfield Beach is a little run down, but is a decent town, and close to some nicer places including Boca Raton. Old people like to complain.  My Mom was not a happy camper her last three years as her health deteriorated with numerous problems that I won’t get into.  Some people on the staff are quite good and caring, some are new and don’t know what’s going on.  Some of the residents yell at the staff.  The aides are mostly from the islands, some are not easy to understand when they speak, and they probably don’t make a lot of money, but that’s just the way the employment market is for that.  My Mom’s biggest complaint was that they didn’t bring her what she asked from the waiters at dinner, and then, later, when she was confined to her room after she was unable to go down to the dining room, that they didn’t bring the right food up to her room that she had ordered from the menu.  I have to admit that I was not the primary contact person, and that my sister lived in Florida.  But when I went there, it was as nice as you could expect.  The food was plentiful and pretty good, a little bland for my taste, but that’s likely due to dieticians for the elderly.  Some of the residents smiled at me when I walked down the hall, happy to see a younger people in a place filled with the old.  Some residents had more significant problems.  My sister liked to complain about the costs.
The grounds are really quite nice.  There are two courtyards with a koi pond in one.  If you can get a room overlooking the waterway, there are beautiful birds back there.  There’s a pool, where my Mom liked to be on her better days with her gentleman friends, and various games like shuffleboard.  Unfortunately, not many people are able to take advantage of the outdoors, but there are various groups that the ladies go to, and an entertainment schedule for the auditorium, a shuttle schedule to shopping.  Yes, it’s all a little sad, people get old, but what can you do.  That's just our health care system.
When her heath worsened, Horizon Club insisted on moving my Mom to assisted living in the Atrium, which is similar to a hospital ward.  It’s nice there, too, with a skylight and an open area in the middle of the ward.  My Mom didn’t last long after that, maybe about five months.  There was constant coming and going of aides caring for her.  I had more interactions during that time with Garrett and Mary Beth.  One thing that did surprise me was how lean the staff is run.  Mary Beth is the director of Horizon Club, and I guess you could say that her main man is Garrett, but it was not as if these people sat around in their offices all day.  Mary Beth was at a station in the Atrium, and Garrett always was around doing something or filling in for somebody.  I’m sure it’s not an easy job for them.