Overall sentiment from these review summaries is heavily negative and centers on serious transportation and safety issues, though a small number of positive comments note helpful staff and an attractive downtown location. The dominant and recurring themes are unsafe driving behaviors, inadequate passenger restraints, poor incident response, and smoking by staff in ways that create health risks for residents. Those concerns are presented alongside one clear positive impression of individual caregivers who provided direct assistance to a resident.
The most prominent cluster of complaints concerns Metta Homes/Metta Transport vehicle operations. Multiple reviewers allege negligent driving: speeding (one report lists 59 mph in a 55 zone), tailgating by a Metta transport van, and at least one report suggesting a van flipped or went off (the review language is terse, but it describes a vehicle flip/off-road event). Reviewers also state that passengers were not properly restrained — specifically citing that an elderly passenger was not strapped in — which is a critical safety lapse given the population served. These driving- and restraint-related issues culminated, according to reviews, in injuries to a grandmother and transport to hospital. Taken together, these items present a pattern of transport operations that reviewers view as unsafe and inadequate for vulnerable older adults.
Equally troubling in the summaries is the reported breakdown in incident management and communication. Several reviews say the driver did not report the incident and EMS was not contacted at the scene despite injuries. One review states the owner was uncooperative or pushy after the event. These items indicate not only operational lapses behind the wheel but also deficiencies in post-incident protocols, escalation, and transparency. Lack of timely EMS involvement and failure to report incidents both raise concerns about training, policy enforcement, and the facility’s responsiveness to emergencies.
Another repeated theme is smoking by staff, especially in or around transport vehicles. Reviewers mention the smell of cigarette smoke and a driver smoking in the van. For elderly residents, particularly those with respiratory or cardiac vulnerabilities, smoke exposure is a significant health risk. The presence of smoke odor and observed smoking by staff imply either unclear no-smoking policies or poor enforcement of such policies, which undermines resident safety and comfort.
Despite these serious criticisms, reviewers also note positive elements: individual staff members were described as great and went out of their way to help a resident’s mother, and the Montello Downtown location was described as beautiful. These positive points suggest that some aspects of day-to-day caregiving or the physical setting can be satisfactory. However, the overwhelmingly safety-focused complaints—especially about transportation—overshadow those positives in these summaries.
Notably absent from the provided summaries are detailed remarks about dining, activities, or other facility amenities; the feedback is concentrated on transport safety, staff behavior around smoking, incident handling, and the demeanor of ownership/management following incidents. The lack of commentary on dining and activities means no reliable conclusions can be drawn about those areas from these reviews.
In sum, the reviews point to urgent, actionable concerns: enforce and regularly audit safe driving practices; mandate and verify proper passenger restraints for all transports; implement and train staff on clear incident-response and mandatory EMS notification policies; require timely incident reporting and transparent communication with families; and enforce a strict no-smoking policy for all staff and vehicles. While there are positive notes about helpful individual staff and an appealing location, the consistent and serious safety complaints—particularly around transportation—constitute a major liability and reason for prospective residents or families to seek clarification and proof of corrective action before trusting Metta Homes with transport or care-sensitive needs.
