Brookdale

I toured this facility while looking for a place for my Father. It’s a very nice community and the staff members were nice to us. While we were touring the place, I didn’t get the best vibe. They let me know in the beginning that they did not have a bed available. I felt like the marketing director was just going through the motions of the tour because they didn’t have to sell it. She was knowledgeable and answered our questions. I would recommend other families to tour this facility.

The staff members here have been really good to work with. If there is ever an issue, they go out of their way to get things right. I can’t say enough about how cooperative and flexible they are. They have really good therapists but the visiting nurses have been a fiasco. No one seems to know what anyone else is doing. The very first day they were supposed to show up, they never did. The next day they were four hours late. They also have some issues with getting things that my Mother needs like wound care supplies. The community itself is just dirty and dusty. It even smells like dust. Thankfully they are replacing all of the carpeting now. I would recommend this community to other families.

Above our price range right now. But great location for us and have heard good recommendations from others who have considered Brookdale.

My parents are ones who don't like to ask for help, but if they push the button someone will come and help them. They are in the assisted living part of this community. They have a little studio apartment it stays nice and clean. And housekeeping does a good job at keeping the whole place clean. They will go down to the central dining they like the food OK. But doesn't like how long it takes to get the food and it's not always hot. The caregivers seem good. I would recommend this place.

Beautiful building interior rooms are bright and clean. Improvement needs, to be addressed with the food. We need to feed our seniors better. Unappealing, and below par for such a large company. Hoping this improves.

I toured this facility while looking for a place for my Mother. The reason why we did not pick this community is that they were farther away from me than I would have liked. The marketing director was very helpful and informative. She was very energetic and she was on top of her game. The other downfall we saw besides the distance is that the bathrooms weren’t very wheelchair friendly. They have a four-inch lip that you have to get over. If it wasn’t for that and the distance, they would rank a lot higher. I would recommend it to other families.

Comment: It’s nice to have my Mom in a place where she’s safe. However, the facility is very short staffed and certain things that are supposed to happen routinely (showers/laundry/eye drops) aren’t being done unless Mom reminds them. The pendent they gave her to press for help didn’t work well for the first 3 weeks. The communication between the management and the staff could be improved. I think the building is beginning to show its age as things often break down. Mom is getting regular food, though, and the staff are friendly, so those are both good. The management also seems to be trying to make sure our concerns are resolved in a timely manner. She loves being on a schedule and likes the individual people that come by to work with her. Overall, it’s been a good place. There are just a lot of tiny issues that we’re working through.

I went on a tour at this community and the man was nice and he answered all of my questions. It was an older building and it looked rundown. They allow the residents to decorate on the outside of their room's but it made it look cluttered. It just didn't seem like a good fit for my mom.

Was not impressed with my tour. [Removed] was pleasant but you could tell this was not his main job. Was only showed a 2BR when I know I said I wanted to see both a 2BR and 1BR. The 2BR was very tired/old looking. Couldn't get a real feel for the place because a concert was going on so that sort of limited where I could go. I would suggest to them if they are going to schedule tours, you really need someone to give a professional presentation and tour. Did like the fact that they had a very full schedule of activities. Facility looked clean and did not smell. Did not get to meet any residents so could get a feel for how they felt about living here.

I toured here and it was pretty good place but I felt overwhelmed. When meeting with them, they broke down all the different levels of care they provided and all of it seemed to be an additional cost (even just wheeling my Dad downstairs for food would’ve been extra). The building looked more run down as well. The person that took us on the tour was able to answer our questions and seemed to be helpful, though. After the tour, I would get really impersonal emails from the headquarters thanking me for taking the tour, but not from the actual person that gave us the tour. It just didn’t feel personal.

The staff here is caring and their heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, they are understaffed,so Mom often has to wait a long time for help. Most of the staff goes out of their way to be helpful and courteous to the residents, The food is not very good at all here. They do not always serve what is on the menu. An example occurred in November when the lunch menu called for beef sirloin, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and the actual meal was vegetable soup and a turkey sandwich. The residents complain frequently about the poor quality of the food and its preparation. They have met with management on several occasions to hopefully get this corrected. The perception is that management is trying to skimp on food in a cost-cutting move. Brookdale Dickinson Avenue is a nice, clean, well-maintained community with none of the telltale smells so common in senior care communities care facilities. Mom is very happy that laundry service is provided 2x a week. I love that this facility is a smaller place, with fewer than fifty residents. Mom had a beautiful view from her window. The grounds outside her room are well-maintained, with flowers and a birdfeeder she can see. I would like for communication between administration and the families of the residents to improve. There was a holiday dinner that took place before Thanksgiving. No mailing was ever sent to my home informing me of this event. I also wish that promises made by administration were carried out efficiently. For the money charged for the facility, personal care, and the initial Brookdale membership fee of $2500, I would like more "bang for the buck". Overall, I am satisfied that this is the best facility for my Mom at this time in her life. I would recommend this place to other prospective residents.

The person who was giving us the tour seemed fairly new. When we were asking questions, she didn’t have some of the answers and had to speak with her superior to get them. The facility itself seemed a bit tattered. They had a screened in porch and a lot of the screen had been ripped. They could use a little updating with the décor.

My mom was here for 4 or 5 years. There were a few issues that came up while she was there. The cost kept being pushed up and I kept trying to tell them that she couldn’t afford it because she was on a fixed income. I would find that she was in her room a lot and sometimes the staff wouldn’t be attending to her regularly. I had to talk to them once about her medication because they weren’t keeping up with it and they didn’t know what she was supposed to take. A lot of the time they wouldn’t reorder her medication in time so she was forced to go without it. On the weekends, they would have temps come in and they didn’t know everyone’s schedule for what meds were to be taken or when. They had a few activities, especially during the holidays; they provided dental care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and a salon. They would have group meals as well where the whole family could come. Some years you could go for free but then after a while they started charging the families to go. Another huge problem that I had was that my mother was on the top floor, so it was very difficult for her to get around. I talked to them about giving her a first floor room and they did and she wound up across the hall from the dining area, which worked for her nicely. However, the sewage from the upstairs neighbor would constantly show up in my mother’s bathroom. I’d come in sometimes and see that her bathroom floor wasn’t cleaned up well or that things looked dirty, and she even told me that they didn’t do a great job of cleaning. The facility agreed to give my mom a reduction in her rent and all of a sudden, after a few years of paying the same price, they said they’d have to start charging her to help her bathe, though that wasn’t something they were charging for before. All in all, I think at places like this, things sometimes fall through the cracks but they seemed to try their best.

The reason why I picked this facility is because the location was close to me and I was in a hurry to move my parents in. They actually have a program where you can stay as a temporary resident and the apartment comes fully furnished. The staff members here are awesome, loving and caring. Unfortunately, they have downsized their staff and it really slows up in their ability to care for the residents in a timely manner. My dad would push his button and it would take up to 30 minutes before someone would get to him. We looked at getting specialized nursing care but the facility said they would not be able to allow it. The other thing that my Father had a problem with is the food service. It was never that good and sometimes it would be an hour before they served him. By the time he actually got his food, it was cold. I feel like the facility brings you in by offering cheap rent but then they tag on all of these extra charges and they won’t tell you when the rent is being raised. I’m not saying I won’t recommend this facility, but I won’t go out of my way to recommend it to other families.

This is a nice facility for assisted living, not for memory care.

Beautiful clean facility. Most staff is very friendly and helpful. The restaurant is struggling to keep up with the demand from the clients. Food is excellent but they have a severe shortage of servers to wait on the people and deliver food. It takes 2 hours to eat any meal. If you order it to be delivered it's cold. The management is seriously trying to correct the problem but claim they can't find new employees to hire. Overall I'm happy at the facility and continue to recommend it.

Very nice but a little out of my price range.

I toured here when looking for a place for my parents to go. It was okay, I just didn’t care for it much. It didn’t feel that clean to me. It wasn’t filthy, but it just didn’t feel clean. It’s not a lot more expensive than any other place that I’ve gone to. Everyone seemed friendly and very open to helping us, though, so that wasn’t a concern at all. I didn’t think my parents would like the décor of it. Ultimately, we went with a different community.

I am not happy with this facility. This place feels so gloomy, dark, and honestly morbid. It feels and looks like a [Removed]. This facility is really big but all of the hallways are really narrow. When I was moving my Mother out of here, you couldn’t even get around anyone in the halls. You would have to find a corner to tuck into to let people by. This place is a nightmare. I wasn’t happy with any aspect of this place. When I went to the pool with my mom, the lighting was so dark we couldn’t even see the steps. The water itself was murky and looked dirty. Everything here is low quality. The rooms here I would describe as living in a closet. The final straw that I had was the day I was moving my mom out. The buzz going around the building is that the staff just found another resident who had been dead for 3 days. There is no reason why this should happen. There are buttons that you have to press in the morning to say you are awake and if you don’t press them, the staff is supposed to check on you. I would not recommend this facility.

Unfortunately, this facility was a little below what we were expecting. My Father said that he felt isolated during his stay. The staff really didn’t do a good job of engaging him with other people or activities. The schedule of events is posted in the main community area but they didn’t do a good job in distributing that to the residents. The other thing that I didn’t like is that it took the facility a full week to coordinate the therapists from the hospital to here. The only reason why it got taken care of is because another family member had to follow up with them. The staff members do a reasonably good job in taking care of the residents but it seems they have a priority towards people who have a higher medical need. There are only so many staff members and they’re more focused on residents who have a lot of needs. I would recommend seeing this community in person rather than just looking at it online.