Brookdale

This was not a good experience for us with this community, My father was here for a short period of time. I was very disappointed with the care he received. I had a care giver living with him, and they would inform me about the lack of care he was receiving. There is more residents than staff members. The bill we received has many add on, and hidden chargers I had no idea about. I was disappointed with our experiences at this community.

We have a family member there. I wish we had done more research before moving in. The response time to call buttons or alarms is frighteningly slow, if at all. The meals are so poor, even though they advertise on their website great salads, breads, fresh fruit and vegetables. It's salty, and really poor quality. The executive director is full of promises, but it's all lip service -- do NOT be fooled. The staff clearly do not like her. Unfortunately they also have a very poor staff retention. We can't even keep up with who they are! Please make multiple (unannounced) visits at various times, especially on weekends.

Our mother lived here and we were never so grateful to get her moved out. After countless complaints about the smell of urine, lack of staff and the staff that were there being clueless- we had enough! Our mother suffered many falls due to lack of supervision. The executive director talked all around the issues instead of correcting or giving results. We allowed her to attempt to "fix things" but it simply did not happen. It was a terrible experience for all of us and we wish we would not have allowed our mother to live here. The Executive Director will tell you that they are full staffed, when they are not. We were fooled, and we hope that other families are not fooled.

Was offered a tour that I waited for 15 min or more. Lady in front lobby had a strong smell of urine. Nice building but seemed under staffed and costly. The Administration seemed a bit rude and in a rush

I did not like this community for the care of my husband. The staff does not do what they promised. The administration does not do her job. This community is not clean and my husband's bedding was not changed. When I was there at different times of the day and this were not right. The state that they have activities but they are never done. The staff is usually playing on the there phone. I found a resident that was not able to find his room. The staff is not trained to do what is required. I would not recommend this community. He has been moved out of the community.

I toured this community. I did not like that they had a hole due to a storm It did not have a pleasant odor. The staff were nice and answered the questions we had. I was not happy with this community and would not recommend this for anyone. The only positive was the price for the care.

Stay away from Brookdale. Instead of having round tables for residents to eat together, there are tables where lonely residents sit by themselves. Sad. Blood pressure can be high and the nurses do not follow up with doctors or additional blood pressure readings. Nurses do not question unnecessary medications on the chart that should have been discontinued. Linoleum in room and bathroom rolling up and maintenance does nothing after complaining. Resident with a dog that is chewing all of it's hair off and they do nothing about the poor animal. Elevators have stopped and kept residents for 2 hours stuck. 300 residents have long waiting time for 2 small elevators for 12 floors. Air conditioners have problems with cooling the resident rooms and common areas along with hot elevators. Meals are not homemade and are processed junk from US Food group. Minimum activities to keep the residents happy such as outings outside the facility. Boredom for the residents. Better facilities with more attentive care elsewhere. Good luck!

It is unfair to give an overall rating since I don't know much about Richland other than the fact that the odor of urine was so strong I never got any further than the lobby.

The food is really bad and the service is so slow. Residents sometimes have to wait over an hour to get served our food. A lot of the time they will run out of desert before all the people are served and just tell us "sorry, we ran out!" Every week it seems like they are cutting out a food item or service. They raise the price over $200 a month every year and at the same time cut back on the quality of food and service. I talked to one of the employees (who was quitting) and she said she had worked at a lot of these places and this one was the worst she had ever seen. She called it "the McDonald's of Assisted Living Facilities". Back in 2015 when I came here the food was better. They have a new manager now and he is rarely ever here and he is all about cutting cost. They don't even have a maintenance man because the last one quit. They have a very high turnover rate and are always understaffed. As for the staff, they are all very nice. But they are so serverly understaffed that nothing gets done. Rooms aren't cleaned on time. Beds not made as promised. Items have been stolen from the room. When you push the button it may take 30 minutes or more for anyone to come. I am searching for another place to live at this time. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

My Mom moved into Brookdale San Ramon [Removed] and it's been one thing after another since. Employees unlocking her door and coming in without allowing my Mom to get to the door. Employees coming into my Mom's apartment when she's not home. Cold, dry, or incorrect food served. Frustrating issues of what is included in Mom's monthly rent/services. One thing said and another thing done. Really upset my Mom. Cancelled activities ALL THE TIME. On poker night's my Mom can't play because it's "full". Serious errors on her monthly rent invoice. Mom's cleaning service barely cleans. My Mom cleans most of her own apartment and she's almost 90! On the pro side - Mom has been medically looked after very well. They are always checking on her. Mom's apartment is very cute and the perfect size for her. My Mom NEEDS to be in a place like Brookdale, but I am having serious doubts that Brookdale San Ramon is the place for her. The building and her apartment are great, but as far as activities, food and follow through Brookdale San Ramon leaves A LOT to be desired.

Extremely short handed. My father was in the memory care unit. First shift was OK, second was not so good and third was beyond horrible. There is little to no supervision of staff. Most anyone in a supervisory role is either socializing in the med tech room or behind closed doors. On two nights I caught the 3rd shift person asleep. She woke up and saw me. She didn't even care! The next night was right back at it. No wonder so many falls happen at night and they are found in the morning. I complained but it went nowhere. No one in there "minding the fort". No one sees what goes on on 2nd and 3rd shift. There were a few good caring employees, but they were overworked by picking up the slack for the bad ones. Getting services paid for didn't happen and don't even get me started on all the missing items.

Early Returns. Can not get completed. We have paid and filled all applications but the move in date is over 2 weeks past and they can not get the contracted apartment done. This is a BIG, BIG problem. Costing me a lot of extra money but mainly STRESS and GRIEF. My elder parent is at total wits end and my wife is so stressed. The people seem great but the business side of this completely,as of now, is impossible. We contracted for the 1st and now the 15th and no carpets and NO move in date. They have not followed through. This solicitation for review came too soon as I do not know if they will complete their agreement. I can not express my current disappointment as deeply as I feel.

My Mom has dementia and lived there for about a year in the memory care unit. While there are instances of compassion from the employees, this organization is very poorly managed. To give a little background, I live in California but honored my Mom’s wishes that she stay in New Jersey to remain close to her friends, hence the decision to move her into Brookdale Echelon Lake. As my Mom’s only child, I am her legal and financial representative. In August, I received an invoice which showed an increase in Mom's Personal Service Rate (PSR) by $641 per month retroactive to 6 June.  I called Brookdale Echelon Lake multiple times to determine the reason for the increase, but received no response. Since I had no response from the local facility, I called Brookdale central billing who said they could not address my question and that I had to contact the local facility.  I left more messages for their local business office to call me, but they were not returned and I was not provided an explanation. In September, I traveled to the East Coast and met with Brookdale’s Business Office Manager and several other of the facility’s leadership. During that meeting I was told that there is no requirement to notify me in writing of the increase in PSR, nor obtain my formal acknowledgement of the increase. I pointed out that there was a signature block on the personal service plan for the legal representative, which I had not signed, yet they insisted they had no requirement to obtain my acknowledgement for the change in services. Finally, when I showed them that notification was required according to the Residency Agreement they eventually refunded the money. When I asked why the rate needed to be increased they stated that my Mom required bathroom assistance, which equates to $641 / month. Interestingly enough, I visited with my Mom for several hours that day and not once did I witness a Brookdale aide ask her if she needed help going to the bathroom, nor did anyone actually take her to the bathroom. Several weeks later, a friend of my Mom (who is a Doctor) visited her and told me that “she had to assist my Mom to go the bathroom because the staff was ignoring her” – yes, that was her unsolicited comment to me. According to Mom’s Personal Service Plan dated 6 June 16 the additional funding was in order to "assist resident using the bathroom schedule:  approximately every two to four hours during the day and as needed during the night". I could go on, but to close this out, Brookdale informed me that they could no longer accommodate my Mom. She had several unwitnessed falls, and they were becoming increasingly concerned with her safety. I will say that they were very patient as I attempted to find a facility near me in California and moved her closer to me. I finally moved my Mom on 20 October. It is now 11 December, and Brookdale has still not returned the remainder of my Mom’s payment for fees for the rest of October in the amount of $2,600. Looks like I have more phone calls to make this week.

Horrible! Would advise no one to go there. Mother has been there 11months and I've contacted [Removed] twice. Revolving door as far as employees are concerned. Do not keep enough employees on staff for safety and cleaning. I could go on.

I would not recommend this community to anyone. Everything about this community needs improvement. In the beginning they promised a lot things to my mother and I, and they have not followed through with many of those promises. The billing is horrible. They continue to overcharge my mother for things she never received. When I bring up my concerns to the director, he says he will fix the problems, but he never does. The resources they say they have available, they don't. Everybody hates the food. This community isn't fit for anybody, they do not provide acceptable care.

My mom has been a resident when it was Merrill Gardens, then Emeritus, and now Brookdale. Each transition has only included a reduction in services, quality, and management. The number of caregivers has been reduced to a level bordering on dangerous, food has gone downhill along with long wait times to be served because there is not enough hired staff, and services such as cleaning and transportation have suffered due to lack of staff. The only victims in all of this are the residents whose rent continues to increase along with their personal service rates. Management is clearly under tremendous pressure to cut costs. Also, don't be fooled by the recent renovations to the building. Pay more, get less is the motto at Brookdale-San Ramon. Morale is very low with residents and employees.

Brookdale Alzheimers Facility is a nightmare. My husband was drugged so badly he could not walk without help and consequently fell several times and was badly bruised. His legs swelled and sores appeared and were not treated. The floor of his bathroom was extremely dirty, smelled horrible, the toilet was plugged and no one knew what to do. He was there 20 days and was treated like garbage. The food was terrible, the "Locked facility" was a joke and he got out 5 times. I was then given the ultimatum to remove him or hire around the clock care. That bill was over $3000 for a week. I paid over $3000 when he went in and a few days after he left, received another bill for over $7000. It is a money grabbling company with minimum help but lots of administrative executives floating around.

My family visitied this community. They were not happy with the tour because they were not met by a staff member, but a cleaning person. They did not get to speak with anyone about the community. I would not recommend this community to other due to the sad welcome when we arrived.

Lost power during hurricane, but generator didn't work. Lied to family members calling in to check on loved ones by saying they "had always had power", but I was there! Elderly people sweating, only out of their rooms if they could get down the dark stairs that didn't have emergency light. Elevators didn't work. This went on for 12-14 hours! Medications given to loved one when they were not supposed to get those medications anymore. Some staff nice, other staff very rude. Please, find another facility for your loved one!

I was very displeased with this community, the staff had promised us a variety of things during our tour then when move in date came they did not follow through with any of them. I had to provide my parents an extra bed as well as a TV set and chairs in the bedroom. They also were often short staff and would take my parents up to an hour to receive there food.