Brookdale

The staff were great, they got to know my loved one and treated her well. My loved one complained often about the food. She didn't enjoy most of the meals and prepared many of her meals in her room instead of the dining room. The activities are good for those who participate, but the weekend activities were very limited. Overall, we were satisfied but would not recommend unless the family is willing and able to pitch in for buying groceries, getting their loved one out and involved, and coordinating doctors appointment etc. The water is not safe for drinking. The facility supplies limited bottles so residents must purchase all water they intend to consume.

The staff has been great, especially the engineering/ maintenance staff. The guys are very friendly and really want to help. The food seems to need a major overhaul. The residents are complaining and the menu meetings don't seem to help. We were told when we were looking at the community that there were many activities which doesn't seem to he the case. Need some more diverse things to choose from.

I think it's a great bang for your buck, however, it needs a little TLC. We picked this community because of the location and friendliness and the staff.

There is a lack of consistent communication. The floor needs sweeping and mopping...we brought our own supplies to clean toilet . Everyone there is very sweet but due to the staffing shortage there are very few activities. My mom is in Memory Care .. she was moved from Assisted Living after 1 week. I recommend the AL for those that are self sufficient.. unfortunately everywhere seems to be understaffed and stretched pretty thin

Nice people Slow to repair problems Food is poor

I have noticed there have been a few changes in administrative staff. The cnas housekeeping and rns were decent. Maintenance was asked if he [name removed] could put up a few pictures on the wall which he never did. She ran out of oxygen canisters and was supposed to be on 3 liters continuously. I went on vacation and came back to find she had no oxygen . She did have a free standing unit in her room that she utilized but could no longer go downstairs for bingo or to exercise class. She did go down for breakfast lunch and dinner without it because. They charge for bringing her meals to the room. When she had to be admitted to the hospital a couple of times I asked if they could pro rate what she was charged for medication administration and they said they don't do that. When I came back from vacation I immediately ordered more portable tanks for her. I asked the nurses station why they didn't order tanks and they said they did. I was told that when ordered they are delivered the next day. Unfortunately she became short of breath the same day the tanks were delivered and passed away the next few days at the hospital. I am asking for copies of doctor's orders and I also had to empty the apartment by the end of the month. I ended up having to pay someone and when I asked the financial administrator about some donation center that would take some of the furniture she wouldn't even suggest anyplace except for 1800 got junk. I had the apartment emptied but left clothes hangers that I thought the next tenant might be able to use and a brand new walker. I live all the way southeast and they wouldn't even remove those items. I finally was able to contact a new administrative person named Dominique and she did it for me. Hope she doesn't get in trouble. I had heavy bags of stuff to throw in the dumpster and the maintenance guy who was young didn't even offer to help.! Just take it to the dumpster he said. I am a 71 year old woman and weigh 115 lbs. I did all the cleaning up and I know that families are supposed to it. But they had no sympathy except for [name removed]. Once you no longer can pay their rent they couldn't care less. I would recommend that people either keep a close watch on their loved ones while they live there or do more research about their policies and procedures before they move in. Maybe research other places also.

My Mom, [name removed] was at Brookdale Franklin for about 15 months. She loved the community and people. However, after 2 rent increases of nearly 10% each time, the cost became unsustainable. The staff at Brookdale was exceptionally caring and engaged with the residents. They did an excellent job with special activities and outings. The facility is showing signs of wear/age, but is nicely maintained. [facility removed] is a newer facility, but there are ongoing challenges with food quality and a shortage of servers. The Executive Director needs to be more visible and engaged with the residents.

There is too much staff turnover even at executive director level, internal communications and coordination between staff members could use improvement. The common areas smell at times, Room cleanliness OK, but not great. The staff are friendly even though staff turnover is a problem. I feel like issues noted above with internal communication and coordination and staff turnover impacts quality of care. [name removed] has very few complaints about his meals. The activities are hard to judge. I don't think [name removed] participates in many of the activities, if any. [name removed] is on Medicaid, so cost is not an issue at this time.

My mom was only there a few months, as she fell and broke her hip after being there about 6 weeks, and passed away a few weeks after that. The people there were very nice, but seemed to be understaffed.

It was fine. Father passed in [date removed] and Mom in [date removed] so they were not there long but we would recommend this community to other families who may need a place for their loved ones.

It's pretty clean, as rooms are "cleaned" once a week but never dusted. - general apartment maintenance is not good, ie: Still waiting for new fire alarm- old one removed a year ago! Also Spectrum boxes need replaced w updated ones as they go out about once a day. Spectrum says they can't come do it unless someone from the facility calls and asks for it. Would also like to add that some staff members, especially nurses, are marvelous, attentive, kind, personable, and go the extra mile to humanize interactions and leave residents with a smile. I think they employ aides who are temps, and they often appear not know what they are supposed to do and do not answer buzzers. Would also like to add that the front desk IS NOT STAFFED from about 2:00pm for the rest of the say. If resident or family need to get in touch w the facility in an emergency, there seems to be no way to do so! Also, some residents are very concerned that anyone could just walk in and go anywhere in the facility most times of the day: very unsettling.

I was impressed with the staff responsible for patient care and with the food quality which was very good. The facilities, especially the dining room and the central patio are very attractive. However l feel that essential items like beds and wheelchairs should be provided by the facility and that medical supervision by MDs should be stricter. The physical therapist was excellent. For permanent or long term residents it is probably as good as you can get in Durham, though l have no experience with other comparable facilities.

We moved my in laws out last year. We were told there were caps on how much they could charge on my mother's care. It continued to go up. When we asked about the "cap" on charges. We were told that didn't include whatever the latest increase was. I complained repeatedly about filth on floors in kitchen and in the bathroom. I showed them green mold on ALL surfaces and sides of furniture. I took on of the women in charge to show her. She blamed the air conditioning. My point was if at any point the people that were supposed to be cleaning their room had actually been doing it, they would have seen it and cleaned it. We had to throw away many pieces of clothing that also had mold all over! Green Mold! I'm sure that was also dangerous for them to be breathing. You need to do a lot of following up to get answers. Staff is pretty friendly but gives no answers. Activities are planned but are usually canceled. Vehicle repairs or no one to actually do them.

I would say it is fine not outstanding. The activities director is good and the RN on staff is very good. Some of the aides/caretakers complain of having too much to do. The front end person is on her phone a lot with personal drama. I was contacted when my mother had issues with health. Also my mother is going into memory care as her dementia has worsened.

Most of the help staff were nice people but the nurse and other specialized staff were rude and unhelpful and did not listen. They just wanted to talk and justify their actions and inaction. I would not recommend them. I also get the feeling this is an industry standard so, I probably wouldn't recommend any of them.

It's a very large facility and care givers are at times slow to arrive at a requested call. I would carefully recommend Brookdale Brookhurst to other families. I feel welcome but the size of Brookdale does take away some of the attention one would like.

She enjoyed it. I can see how others may not. Older facility but clean Had few issues with a couple employees but most staff was friendly. Had a few major issues at the end. Night shift nursing staff didn't really attend to her comfort. Constant change in cooking staff. Most residents didn't care for the food prepared Had a great activities director. Definitely catered to the residence desires. Definitely more expensive than the service and the facility warranted. It has now been over a year since my mother has passed. If there has been a change in the nursing staff, I would recommend. If there has not, I would not.

My dad passed away on [date removed]. At first it was nice, but during the time that he was at Brookdale, the amount of staff turn over was troubling. They could have done a better job communication amongst the staff and listening to the families.

Brookdale was a beautiful facility however I felt like my mother did not get the care that she needed there. I felt like they were understaffed and very unorganized. I'm afraid that's all I can say I have gotten better.

The staff that helps residents is great. Food and cleaning of resident rooms need improvement.