Family First - Rosedale in Gig Harbor, WA

Pros

• Julie, Chris, and the Family First team are amazing people and active community members in the Gig Harbor Peninsula area.
• They provide an amazing family service and are highly involved in the local business community.
• The owners and caregivers treat loved ones like family, delivering kind, compassionate, and attentive care.
• The staff are friendly, hands-on, and focused on residents' happiness and contentment.
• The homes are clean, safe, welcoming, and feel like a real home.
• The staff and owners are approachable and keep families well informed.
• The Thomsons have built an amazing organization with integrity and deep care for seniors.
• Family First is a place people can feel good about placing their loved ones and is highly recommended for elder care.

Cons

• They describe Family First as “an absolutely nightmare” for their mom and dad, saying the ownership did nothing to address complaints.
• They say staff were short-staffed and repeatedly failed to provide promised showers, sometimes not giving one at all.
• They recount a staff member taking a 40-minute nap, turning up the laptop volume, and then intimidating them when confronted.
• They claim visiting hours are strictly enforced and family can only stay when a loved one is in a coma or dying.
• They describe a resident wandering onto a main road and say staff did not notice or act promptly.
• They report being treated differently by management after raising concerns.
• They criticize cultural insensitivity and biased remarks, such as “brush up on your Swahili …” and “don’t even get me started about the awful food,” and they say the food was awful.
• They claim a grandmother fell out of bed and died two days later due to incompetence.
• They add a blunt warning: “Don’t send your loved ones here.”

Review

Best suited for families that want a small, intimate, family-owned setting where 24-hour care feels personal and genuinely home-like. Family First - Rosedale operates as part of a cluster of small adult family homes in the Gig Harbor area, and the tenor across the positive accounts is one of warmth, direct access to owners, and hands-on attention. It is a fit for residents who benefit from a tight-knit, “household” atmosphere rather than a large, impersonal facility. The small scale often translates into responsive care, homemade meals, and a consistent caregiving team that families can get to know over time. For families who prize transparency, ongoing family communication, and a care philosophy that treats each resident as part of a broader family network, this community checks meaningful boxes. It is a strong match for those prioritizing relationship-driven care over clinical gravitas.

That said, certain families may want to consider alternatives. If the priority is highly structured clinical oversight, strict regulatory assurances, or a setting with more formalized protocols and staffing layers, a larger, more traditional assisted living campus may be a better fit. Families with elevated concerns about staffing consistency, safety incidents, or the need for rigorous incident reporting might lean toward options that offer deeper institutional safeguards. Additionally, those who require uninterrupted 24/7 supervision with a larger crew, or who prefer a setting with a clear, uniform daytime-to-nighttime staffing model, could find a bigger operation more reassuring. The negative accounts in the broader feedback suggest the importance of independent verification of current staffing, safety practices, and daily routines before committing.

The core strengths of Family First come through in the personal, home-forward approach. Reviewers repeatedly highlight a “family first” ethos, with owners who are present and highly engaged, and caregivers who are described as kind, compassionate, and attentive. The homes are depicted as clean, safe, and welcoming, delivering what families want from a non-institutional environment: a comfortable living space, home-cooked meals, and a level of daily interaction that fosters trust and openness. The intimate scale often means quicker responsiveness to needs, easier family communication, and a collaborative approach to care planning. Partnerships with hospice, routine home visits from medical professionals, and practical help with accessing long-term care benefits also stand out as concrete supports that can reduce stress during end-of-life transitions and ongoing caregiving.

Those advantages do not erase potential red flags. A highly critical account describes multiple lapses in care, from delayed showers to abrupt nap periods and confrontations with staff, plus safety concerns around a resident wandering away and a sense of diminished oversight during a crisis. The reviewer also flags restrictive visiting hours and an experience where assistance during a late-stage moment was not forthcoming, culminating in a tragic outcome. While this account appears to be outlier relative to the more favorable experiences, it underscores the real risk of variance in small, home-like operations. In such settings, day-to-day reliability can hinge on a small caregiving team, shift coverage, and management responsiveness. Prospective families should probe these exact points: staffing levels, shift changes, incident reporting, safety protocols, and how emergencies are handled in real time.

Practical due diligence can turn the positives into a reliable, well-supported choice. Prospective families should tour the Gig Harbor home and any affiliated Olalla locations, meeting the owners, supervisors, and several caregivers in person. Ask for a transparent overview of staffing ratios by shift, average response times, and how errands such as showers and hygiene are scheduled when staff are short-handed. Inquire about wandering resident safeguards, daily routines, mealtime flexibility, and how visiting hours are managed in practice, not just on the policy page. Request recent references from other families, talk through the care plan and any hospice coordination details, and verify how Long-Term Care policies are navigated. A careful set of questions will illuminate whether the day-to-day reality aligns with the promising anecdotes.

Bottom line: Family First - Rosedale is a compelling option for families seeking a warm, home-like, family-owned setting where care feels personal and accessible, and where the owners’ daily involvement can accelerate trust and communication. The strong points, intimacy, attentiveness, home-cooked meals, and cooperative care with hospice and medical professionals, can meaningfully offset the appeal of larger, more clinical environments for the right resident. However, the existence of a troubling, first-hand account of neglect and safety lapses cannot be dismissed. It serves as a clear reminder that in small, intimate homes, consistency and robust oversight matter just as much as heart and hospitality. Those with especially high needs for regimented staffing, rigorous safety protocols, and unequivocal consistency may want to compare alternatives with larger staffs or corporate structures to reduce risk. For families prioritizing a truly familial care experience and who are willing to conduct thorough, pointed due diligence, Family First represents a serious contender worth visiting, verifying, and weighing against other options in the Gig Harbor area.

Parks

• Sehmel Homestead Park (1.2 miles)
• Eddon Boat Park (2.4 miles)
• Ancich Waterfront Park (2.5 miles)
• Kopachuck State Park (2.5 miles)
• Horseshoe Lake County Park (5.1 miles)
• Five Mile Drive (5.4 miles)
• Point Defiance Park (5.9 miles)

Places of Worship

• Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (1.8 miles)
• Agnus Dei Lutheran Church (2.9 miles)
• Christ Episcopal Church (10 miles)

Physicians

• Nancy E. Boyden, ARNP (1.9 miles)
• Crescent Psychiatry (2.3 miles)
• Personalized Psychiatric Medicine (2.4 miles)
• Harbor Orthopedic Clinic (2.5 miles)
• Franciscan Urology Associates at St. Anthony (2.5 miles)
• Pulmonary Consultants (2.5 miles)
• Optimal Wellness (3.3 miles)

Restaurants

• Puerto Vallarta (2.2 miles)
• McDonald's (2.5 miles)
• Qdoba Mexican Eats (2.6 miles)
• Netshed No. 9 (2.7 miles)
• El Pueblito (2.7 miles)
• The Harbor General Store (2.7 miles)
• Tides Tavern (2.9 miles)

Pharmacies

• Good Neighbor Pharmacy (2.5 miles)
• Franciscan Pharmacy (2.5 miles)
• Target Pharmacy (2.5 miles)
• Walgreens (2.5 miles)
• Sav-On Pharmacy (2.6 miles)
• Rite Aid (3.4 miles)
• Bartell Drugs (3.4 miles)

Cafes

• Starbucks (2.5 miles)
• Starbucks (2.5 miles)
• Starbucks (2.6 miles)
• Panera Bread (3.6 miles)
• Starbucks (7.3 miles)

Hospitals

• Gig Harbor Ambulatory Surg Center (2.8 miles)
• MultiCare (9.6 miles)
• Group Health Cooperative (10.1 miles)
• MultiCare Regional Cancer Center - Tacoma (10.2 miles)

Transportation

• Port Orchard Airport (6.7 miles)