Brookdale

They need to start taking care of their residents. My mother is bed and wheelchair bound and when they put her in the recliner daily, they just leave her there all day. My mother requires a high level of care and the care at this facility is substandard. My mother has a Stage 2 Decubitus Ulcer that her caregiver claims to have never seen. [removed] because this did not just appear overnight. I also believe that my Mom is being over medicated because at times she is unresponsive and it is difficult to wake her up. [removed]

Some things need working on at Brookdale Memorial Oaks. I cant be specif on things but overall I am not pleased. The facility is clean. That's about all I can say.

There is no orientation for someone first moving into the community, so it takes a good while & a lot of questions to get information. Usually takes more than one complaint to get something accomplished. Usual reply is that "someone called in sick" or "they were short-handed"; apparently they have no back-up when someone calls in sick. They do have some excellent nurses and caretakers, but there are also several who do as little as they can get by with. Lunchtime meals are very good & nutritious; however, evening meal is not. (example: bologna sandwich, chips & fruit). They also run out of lot of items by the end of the month.

We toured Brookdale Novi, but my father actually never moved in there he decided he wanted private care. Nancy helped me who is excellent with working with us and finding us Brookdale Novi, not to many amenities, but luxurious large bedrooms, the square footage was great compared to other homes.

They are a very friendly group, but it would be my guess they are short staffed because of corporate guidelines. Daytime care services good, night time it drops off (short staffing)

Would like to see arts and crafts and more music and live entertainment. social hours should include wine and beer sometimes. The residents are too sedentary. Need more activities to keep them interstellar, interactive, and awake.

The higher ups at Brookdale Medi Park West are not so friendly. We did not get what we thought we were getting at all. They changed who owns the place by the time we moved mom in. Mom is there independently but they told her they would help her a long and they haven't. Mom does enjoy the activities. They used to serve really good food at this facility and now they don't. A lot of residents are complaining about that. The staff seem to want family to stay away to integrate her but they really seem to not be doing a good job of it. They wouldn't let mom bring her bird feeder which really meant a lot to her and they have let other residents bring theirs. The staff is not available for anything we need. I feel like they have us in and have our money and now they are done taking care of us!

Staff is friendly and eager to respond to need. Overall the facility is clean. Communication requires improvement. It was frustrating not having one point of contact that has the status of resident, from medication management, daily activity, medical treatments, dietary status, etc. Management tells family members to communicate with the staff, but information is not communicated with shift change. Not staffed adequately to handle contractual terms. Family may get caught up in the middle between home care agency staff and facility staff as to who performs what tasks, and care may fall through the cracks. Overall, felt like we were oversold on services they say they provide.

There have been a few issues with transportation to the doctor and back, and we have ended up having to do that ourselves. They are constantly busy, and it was an emergency call where the doctor needed to see him right away, but they are not able to do anything like that without advanced notice. (How can you give advance notice when it's an emergency?) There have definitely been some room for improvement. I think the people working there are spread too thin.

They can improve on giving human beings silverware. They were choking on their chicken the other night and drinking out of styro-foam cups. With the amount of money they are charging, the food is horrible. Every single person complained about the food. The fact you can't give these people a fork and a knife to eat with is disgusting.

People pay +/- $4000 per month to live here. The place is pretty nice, but the food they serve the residents is shameful. A soup line at the Salvation Army serves better food than this place. If you have a relative or friend who lives here, stop in unannounced for a meal sometime. You'll be shocked. There is no selection of entrees and, if they have a dietician, they should be fired. Any school cafeteria has better food than this place. It's pathetic and disgusting.

I have to say the place is always clean. The people who work there are very friendly and caring. However, in retrospect I would not have placed my aunt there. There is really limited stimulation for someone like her - physically challenged, yet mentally agile. Unfortunately it is too expensive to change now.

The place could definitely be cleaner. They clean around but not under the beds and they do not get the places in between. I am not getting some of the service that I am paying for. I have a very sore throat which my doctor said was due to the atmosphere and some of the chemicals they use to clean and such, so I have been having to come home to sleep at night. Prosperity Oaks is now Brookedale and things have slowly improved since then and I hope they will continually get better.

The cleanliness of the facility is good, however, my fathers floor in his room was always dirty. His clothes were missing and mixed with others. We would visit and he would be wearing someone elses clothes. Skeet did a great job keeping Dad clean. They seemed generally concerned for his well being. There was a disconnnect in communication when issues arose when dad had to go to the hospital. Skeet was not sure which hospital Dad was taken too. Billing was an issue. Skeet and their main headquarters in Texas, I believe, are not on the same page... getting bills from both places. I paid headquarters and Skeet was still saying we needed to pay.. very confusing. I thought the cost per month was rather high.

Mom lived in this facility from May 2014 to March 2015 when she passed. We typically visited mom at least once a week; however, we do not live close to this facility. We did see a decline in services as this facility transitioned from Emeritus to Brookdale. I think most of this is reflected in staff’s moral as they are now scheduled to work at multiple locations instead of just one. There also seemed to be a decline in food service. This is one of 8 facilities that mom stayed at over a 10 year period. There are a few that are much worse, but with the transition to Brookdale,I can say that there are better in close to the same price range (but what was great a year ago may not be today). In retrospect I regret choosing this location. Instead of the local care focus this once had, just consider it similar to the other corporate driven old people warehouse culture of Brookdale. Pro’s: There’s a large courtyard where residents can spend time outside, unless you are in a wheel chair then they only want you outside with assistance. Most of the staff are pleasant and care about their service. Rooms are dated but larger than the average facility (I would rather see owners spend money on care service rather than looks). I only noticed a smell in the facility twice over almost a year. Con’s: Higher community fee than most. A pet visitation program was important to mom, it’s in the contract; however, it never materialized. The facility has over 80 units, and has only 2 care givers scheduled on weekends. So if your loved one is incontinent it might take a while. There were a few times we found wet articles in the laundry hamper or floor of her room, but after vigorous complaining this seemed to improve. We were told that friends would be able to call mom, however several people complained that this didn’t work. Only place mom stayed where we had this problem, so include in your plan the cost of paying for a direct line. We would get calls if mom fell, but that’s it. Other places mom stayed were much better at keeping families informed. Imagine walking in to a facility and finding that many of the residents are sick and that the dinning hall had been under quarantine for days. (as happened just a few weeks before mom passed). I would have expected at least an email explaining the situation and what was being done about it. Both my spouse and I received phone calls 24 hours after mom passed requesting that we move her stuff out, even though we were paid through the end of the month. Apologies ensued; however, this just shouldn’t have happened.

Mom lived in this facility from May 2014 to March 2015 when she passed. We typically visited mom at least once a week; however, we do not live close to this facility. We did see a decline in services as this facility transitioned from Emeritus to Brookdale. I think most of this is reflected in staff’s moral as they are now scheduled to work at multiple locations instead of just one. There also seemed to be a decline in food service. This is one of 8 facilities that mom stayed at over a 10 year period. There are a few that are much worse, but with the transition to Brookdale,I can say that there are better in close to the same price range (but what was great a year ago may not be today). In retrospect I regret choosing this location. Instead of the local care focus this once had, just consider it similar to the other corporate driven old people warehouse culture of Brookdale. Pro’s: There’s a large courtyard where residents can spend time outside, unless you are in a wheel chair then they only want you outside with assistance. Most of the staff are pleasant and care about their service. Rooms are dated but larger than the average facility (I would rather see owners spend money on care service rather than looks). I only noticed a smell in the facility twice over almost a year. Con’s: Higher community fee than most. A pet visitation program was important to mom, it’s in the contract; however, it never materialized. The facility has over 80 units, and has only 2 care givers scheduled on weekends. So if your loved one is incontinent it might take a while. There were a few times we found wet articles in the laundry hamper or floor of her room, but after vigorous complaining this seemed to improve. We were told that friends would be able to call mom, however several people complained that this didn’t work. Only place mom stayed where we had this problem, so include in your plan the cost of paying for a direct line. We would get calls if mom fell, but that’s it. Other places mom stayed were much better at keeping families informed. Imagine walking in to a facility and finding that many of the residents are sick and that the dinning hall had been under quarantine for days. (as happened just a few weeks before mom passed). I would have expected at least an email explaining the situation and what was being done about it. Both my spouse and I received phone calls 24 hours after mom passed requesting that we move her stuff out, even though we were paid through the end of the month. Apologies ensued; however, this just shouldn’t have happened.

In the past few weeks there has been a big turn over in the senior staff at Beckett Meadows. The executive director, director of memory care and the director of nursing have all left the facility. There has been no communications from the facility on who replacements and what other changes are in store. I'm going to be interested in seeing if all these changes are for the better or of things go down hill.

My mothers first week was very rocky! No staff member came to tell her anything about the timing of the laundry service, the linen schdule, the apartment cleaning or how to get help. In fact, yesterday (Tuesday) she needed help and finally got the courage to pull the help cord and nobody came. If she had fallen or had some other emergency, she would still be waiting. The gal at the front desk, Crystal, has been the only one that has given her any help or answered any questions. Better not lose her!

I toured the facility with Darlene. She mentioned she started there couple of months before. My mom did not attend the facility. She is staying with my brother in Ft. Worth currently. Facilities like this start at 3,400.00 and then add the Level of Care plan. My mom would have had to pay the highest level $1,000.00 because of being in a wheelchair and [name removed] nursing home had her on so much insulin. The total price would be close to $4,400.00 and possibly higher. She did not have that kind of income to afford the facility. We were NOT pleased with [name removed] at all. The Director of Nursing is a bad person. Brookdale North offered to take her there and work with her but in the end we did not go there. Currently, Mom is not on the insulin and has lost weight and is walking with the 4 prong cane. This is a great outcome.

Food is awesome great flavor and choices. Follow through with patients could use improvement with communication and aftercare.