Pricing ranges from
    $4,124 – 4,948/month

    Alaya Care

    46175 Sterritt Street, Utica, MI, 48317
    2.4 · 5 reviews
    • Assisted living
    • Memory care
    AnonymousCurrent/former resident
    1.0

    Dirty understaffed overpriced residents neglected

    I had a very negative experience - the house was dirty (sticky floors), bathrooms not set up for showers, food was horrible, and residents seemed neglected because the place is understaffed and unorganized. Staff appeared overworked with high turnover and minimum effort, management felt money-driven (owner focuses on appearances and makes you go through them), and despite a small, pleasant community and a quick-to-respond owner, it's overpriced and I do not recommend it.

    Pricing

    $4,124+/moSemi-privateAssisted Living
    $4,948+/mo1 BedroomAssisted Living

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    Amenities

    Healthcare services

    • Activities of daily living assistance
    • Assistance with bathing
    • Assistance with dressing
    • Assistance with transfers
    • Medication management
    • Mental wellness program

    Healthcare staffing

    • 24-hour supervision

    Meals and dining

    • Diabetes diet
    • Meal preparation and service
    • Special dietary restrictions

    Room

    • Housekeeping and linen services

    Memory care community services

    • Mild cognitive impairment
    • Specialized memory care programming

    Common areas

    • Dining room
    • Garden
    • Outdoor space
    • Small library

    Community services

    • Move-in coordination

    Activities

    • Community-sponsored activities
    • Scheduled daily activities

    2.40 · 5 reviews

    Overall rating

    1. 5
    2. 4
    3. 3
    4. 2
    5. 1
    • Care

      1.0
    • Staff

      1.5
    • Meals

      1.0
    • Amenities

      1.0
    • Value

      1.5

    Pros

    • small, home-like size (max 5 residents)
    • good community atmosphere
    • some caring or good staff reported
    • owner responds quickly / is accessible

    Cons

    • dirty facility (sticky floors, unclean house)
    • staff perceived as unfit or providing minimum effort
    • horrible food / poor dining quality
    • management described as money-driven and terrible
    • neglect of residents reported
    • bathroom not set up for showering
    • insufficient staffing / not enough workers
    • staff overworked
    • high staff turnover concerns
    • low staff pay
    • owner focuses on appearances over substance
    • unorganized operations
    • questions must go through the owner (gatekeeping)
    • overpriced compared with alternatives
    • not recommended by reviewers

    Summary review

    Overall sentiment across the provided reviews is mixed-to-negative, with a handful of positive points around the small, home-like scale and occasional caring staff, but a predominance of serious operational and care concerns. The facility's small size (maximum five residents) and a generally positive community feel are cited as benefits; reviewers also note that the owner is responsive to inquiries. However, those positive aspects are frequently outweighed by repeated complaints about cleanliness, care quality, management, and value.

    Care quality and staffing emerge as central concerns. Multiple reviewers report neglect of residents and describe caregivers as providing "minimum effort" or being "unfit." There are consistent comments about insufficient staffing levels and overworked employees, which reviewers link to low pay and high staff turnover. These staffing problems appear to contribute directly to inconsistent caregiving and perceptions of neglect. Although some reviewers say there are good staff members, the overall pattern is one of instability and inadequate staffing to meet resident needs.

    Facility condition and amenities are also criticized. Reviewers specifically mention a dirty house with sticky floors and a bathroom not set up for showering, which raises questions about basic hygiene and suitability of the physical environment for residents. While the owner is said to be attentive to appearances, reviewers interpret this as prioritizing optics over substantive fixes to cleanliness and resident support. The small size that can be an advantage also means that deficiencies are more immediately felt and noticed by families.

    Dining receives clear negative feedback: the food is described as "horrible." This is an important quality-of-life issue for residents and, combined with other operational shortcomings, affects overall satisfaction. There is little to no detailed mention of activities or enrichment programs in the summaries provided; the absence of positive comments about activities suggests they are not a distinguishing strength in the reviewers' experiences.

    Management and organizational practices are portrayed negatively. Reviewers call management "terrible," "money-driven," and "unorganized." Some report that all questions must be routed through the owner, creating a single point of contact that can function as gatekeeping rather than enabling transparent communication. While the owner is responsive, reviewers still perceive a focus on appearances and limited follow-through on operational improvements. Several reviewers explicitly say they would not recommend the community and that it is overpriced relative to alternatives they toured.

    In summary, although the community's small size and occasional caring staff are positives, the dominant themes are concerning: inadequate cleanliness, poor dining, under-staffing and overworked caregivers, high turnover tied to low pay, and management practices that prioritize appearance and control over consistent, resident-focused care. Prospective families should weigh the appeal of a small, home-like setting against the recurring reports of neglect, organizational dysfunction, and poor value. If considering this community, it would be prudent to verify current staffing levels, observe cleanliness and meal service in person, and ask for concrete examples of how management addresses turnover, hygiene, and resident bathing/showering accommodations.

    Location

    Map showing location of Alaya Care

    About Alaya Care

    Alaya Care sits in a quiet residential area of Utica, Michigan, and offers assisted living along with board and care home services for a small group of seniors, only six beds in a ranch-style house licensed under Adult Foster Care regulations in Macomb County, so you see, folks get to know each other and the staff pretty well. The trained staff help with daily needs like bathing, dressing, moving from bed to chair, and making sure residents take their medicine at the right times, and there's 24-hour supervision every day. Memory care is available for people living with Alzheimer's or other dementia, and the home has special security features and a safe environment for those who need it, offering tailored care plans to help people with mild cognitive impairment. Alaya Care also gives short-term respite stays, hospice support, help from personal aides, and physical therapist services when needed, and families find the clear focus on affordable, home-like care for older adults is a comfort. Rooms in the house have phones and are wired for cable and internet-there's even room service-plus pets are allowed in some cases, which is always nice for folks who love their animals. Residents eat together in the community areas, get meals with vegetarian and kosher options, and enjoy community-sponsored fun like movie nights, game nights, arts and crafts, Tai Chi, and music groups, so there's always something going on. The home has a library, recreation room, gardens, patios, outdoor walking paths, and group dining, making it easy to spend time inside or out. Housekeeping, laundry for linens, and medication management are included, and there's even an onsite pharmacy and laundry/drycleaning. The staff works closely with families and listens to each person's needs, aiming to help residents do as much for themselves as possible, and they create individualized plans so each resident gets the kind of care they're most comfortable with. Alaya Care also has technology tools for managing care and tracking services, offers a client portal for families, and supports care providers through an easy-to-use mobile app. The facility stays connected to local things like doctors, St John Medical Center, Walgreens, churches, places to eat like McDonald's and Starbucks, and shopping, so residents and visiting families don't have to go far for what they need. Since opening in 2018, Alaya Care's small size, close staff-to-resident ratio, and steady attention to health, safety, and daily activity have made it a steady option for seniors who want a simpler, direct approach to assisted living in a tight-knit place.

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