Priority Life Care

My parents have been there for a month and have not been happy with the place yet. The apartment was not ready when it was supposed to be and they had an extra few weeks. They had no hot water. It was just almost warm, They get their breakfast late and my mom is diabetic. They have mentioned this a few times. Brentwood new about her diabetes before they even got there. The air conditioner does not work in the living room and if they use the ones in the bedrooms to cool off the living room than the bedrooms get way to cold. The maintenance guy knows about it. He told them it probably needed Freon and he would have someone in Monday to take care of it. That was 2 weeks ago and they are still waiting. They limit the amount the windows can be opened so that does not help. Communication amongst the staff is awful. My parents will tell them they will not be down for a meal the day before and instead of checking that it was written on the menu paper they come up and knock on the door to see if they are coming down for the meal. They had no cable when they moved in. It was not set up for them, They went the whole weekend without TV, so they were bored. Luckily I had some movies they would like and brought them over. They really have not had a good experience here.

I have a parent living at Brentwood. Initially I felt very good about Brentwood and the services, the well-trained staff, the skilled nurses, and the administration. Over the past 4 years I have seen all of this go down hill. After being bought out twice by other companies the older skilled staff is gone and has been replaced by young people. The original nurses have gone, the administrator is always in her office, the one superb employee is now gone and I'm hoping the activities don't become status quo and childish. The list of amenities that are listed are quite embellished. There is no place for outside activity at Brentwood and others that are stated as being there are not. All in all my parent is safe, it is clean, allows pets, and she is fed.

My loved one seems to be gaining weight with the food they are providing her so they defiantly have some nutritious meals at this community. As far as the staff goes I am very pleased with the marketing director and a lady named [Removed], however I am very disappointing with the overall care my loved one has been receiving. They have been providing her basic needs but other than that they do not do much. I have found my aunt in bed before seven which is way to early for her and have many times caught the aids just lounging around on there phones. I hope some improvements will be made in the future as I am very concerned with this facility.

My tour of this community was a decent one, but I was not very impressed. The community seemed a bit outdated. I would say there is some updating that this community needs to make. The staff was kind and friendly. Overall It was not community for my parents.

I wasn't very impressed with my tour of this community. First thing I noticed was the smell, there is a bad odor that lingers around the community. The community looked clean for the most part. It was a basic community, not very appealing to our taste. It was not the place for us.

My parents are back home with me now. The community looks great, everything was very nice and clean. The meals were nice, the food is good. The staff was kind and very nice. My issue was with the head nurse, she was not good at medication management. My parents medication was mishandled many times. It is a nice community. I would only recommend it if you don't need much medication management.

My mother has been in the Memory Care Unit for about 16 months now. We are growing more and more disappointed in the service here. It was still under the Emeritus Corp when we first moved her in and overall seemed like it would work out. There was always SOME level of frustration trying to reach and get calls back from key staff... but there had been activities, decent food and living space and overall it was decent. And affordable as Mom has a budged limited to Social Security and some other Financial Aid. Since Brookdale Corp took over there has been a lot of changes and instability in the senior exec staff e.g. Exec Directors have changed 3 times, Senior Nursing Staff fired , Memory Care Director let go more than 6 months ago and still not replaced...and new Nursing Director gone after 4-5 months. My family members that have come on visits have sometimes found her or other residents unkempt, in unchanged Depends. Not all of the time. 25% of their visits seemed to bring reports of such nature. Other times reports were OK. Long term problem: Of all her belongings, like clothes and shoes and bedding... over 80% of her stuff is missing and what is in her closet is not hers! New stuff family buys and brings, even labelled with her name and room number were found to be missing a few weeks later! I am working on seeing if the Facility will be accountable for these losses. Food is one area that we do NOT have complaints about. Unlike other reviewers Mom enjoys their meals. And it seemed OK the week I stayed in the area visiting her daily. The facility WAS having periodic entertainment, parties for the residents, playing memory games, medicine ball, taking them out on field trips etc. That was a year ago May. As of now, I have found there to be a drop in many activities offered, no field trips, etc. More aides have reportedly been hired, but, yes, the language barrier speaking directly to aides is a problem , as is general communication with staff. One of the persons fired when Brookdale took over was the Director of the Memory Care Unit and while there was some areas I had been trying to improve in my dealings with that Director, at least there was someone who cared about the residents and was there as a go-to person. I am 3000 miles away and financially cannot afford to visit as often as I'd want, and having fast reliable communication is a MUST! The new Director seems eager to improve the situation, but so had the other New Director who was there just a few weeks before leaving, and I had promises of well-intended improvements by the District Director. Now there is a New Exec. Director and I am in the process of seeing what he can/will do about all this. He's just been there a short while and I do not yet know what things will actually be DONE (rather than just talked about) to improve and rectify the problems. I will update my review as more developments occur. I am in the process of seeing what other options I have; we are hampered by having a rather low budget to work with.

Sales staff could have been more informative. They were friendly, young, smiled, but weren't all too informative. Gave me a stack of papers to sign at that was just about it. My Uncle is 84, had to go to rehab, at the same time his wife died of brain cancer. Anyway after he was released from rehab I got him into Tanglewood. They didn't tell us about the 1,500.00 "Community Fee" up front, said it was for cleaning, painting, new carpeting, and administration costs. Well I moved him in and there was no new paint, no new carpeting, and no cable hook up. The general housekeeping appears to be cosmetic. I had to pitch a fit to get his cable hooked up. I talked to a family and it took them three weeks to get cable. They also want a months notice to move out. You don't know what your loved ones body is going to do. Well my uncle fell And broke his hip So back to rehab as they dont provide that service. So we had to give a months notice and had to pay 2,000.00 for an empty room. I'm 57 years old and had to move his furniture out by myself. I left an old chair and got a call from the business agent saying they couldn't release the room till I removed the chair. What did I pay 1,500.00 for? As far as my uncles care I'll give them 8 out of 10. The administration I'll give a 4. Good riddance.

My step father is a resident of Brentwood. He has often told me someone (staff?) enters his apartment when he is not there. It is evident his things have been moved around as if searching for things, lights turned off he knows he has left on. He voiced his concern, was not taken seriously, and the uninvited entering continues. I feel this is a personal safety problem and he should be able to leave his apartment without worrying who and why (someone) has been in his apartment. It is also an invasion of privacy. Another problem that has come up is at times no one comes to assist him to meals. When he mentioned this, one excuse was they heard him talking on the the phone and didn't want to bother him. He takes insulin daily for diabetes and it is dangerous for him to miss meals. I do not live in Niles and am not able to bring his concerns to your administration. Please look into these issues so there is resolution. He very much enjoys the food served and activities that are scheduled.

It didn't seem like they were ready for us when we moved in. The room was kept pretty clean, and a couple of times the room was rather a mess. The nurse Linda, I was not too happy with her. There were medical procedures that were conducted without my permission, or even notification. Michelle was most helpful and cooperative, Celeste was outstanding, I can't compliment her enough. A few others did well, if you are somewhat healthy, you are probably fine. They have great activities, the activities director is wonderful. Calvin is an outstanding young man, what a great C.N.A. Todd is a terrific director of food services, the food was delicious. The maintenance was good. Stephanie was always concerned about me. Brenda did a fine job. The receptionist was wonderful. The rooms were nice, I liked the accommodation and size. The doctor they have on staff there is outstanding, very proactive. It's a beautiful facility.

So far Emeritus has been fairly good for my mother. There are two items, however, that could be improved for her. First she says the food isn't very good. I'm not sure what is likely to be done about that. From my experience, my mother is more likely to eat because the food is delicious, not because she "needs to eat something". In her active, earlier life my mother was an extremely good cook and baker. The other problem I feel could be solved without inconvenience to the staff: She could be given her evening sleeping pill at a more favorable time for her. At first it was given to her just about every night about 8 pm which meant she must be ready to turn off the TV (and miss her favorite shows) and go to sleep much earlier than normal for her. Now she is given the pill anywhere between 8 pm and midnight! When she receives it so late in the evening, Mom still must rise early for breakfast when she's not had a long night's sleep; consequently, she falls asleep after breakfast during daylight hours. This is all my mom wants: TV, reading, good food, and a quiet, safe life. For someone who is 95, I don't think these are unreasonable requests. I feel very confident she is being cared for and help is only a push of the button away, but I am concerned for the other creature comforts she most desires. So far, better food and a more definite evening time for her sleeping pill is all she would like. I realize that people in the same situation (assisted living, nursing homes, etc.) are probably prone to wanting and yearning for their past situations and tend to complain-- at least this is what I have heard from families and neighbors with whom I've talked since we began the search for "a place for Mom". But can't each person be treated a little more personally? What would YOU want if you were in my mother's place? What would YOU expect? What would make YOU a little happier?

There have been significant staffing issues there and my father has been extremely vocal about the medical care he has received and pays significantly more to receive. Current management seems to be trying but there are still issue

Staff is overloaded. Food was not standard for healthy residents. They need better nutritional meals and more aids. Im not happy with care mother received. I was an aid so I know. Premises was fairly clean. Medication was 95% accurately provided.

The people staying there are horrible, not all but a lot of them. My rooms were nice.

Some of the aids were very friendly and attentive. The clients were not allowed to stay in their rooms and had to sit in the common area all day except for meals. They were given water only a couple of times a day.

Well, if placing a loved one here anytime after September make sure to ask how much the cost will increase in the next year. We were blindsided when a month after mom was here to find out they were increasing every cost by 10% in the new year. Care we were told could be met is not. Major staffing changes continue to occur but we are not formed of them. We just find out. Bottom line if I had to review this place I would not recommend it for someone that really needs assistance on a daily basis. We are in the process of looking at other places

No nursing staff (LPN, RN) available after 7 or 8 at night. If patient with dementia attempts to get out of a door, be prepared to have to pay for a private sitter for approximately 48 hours. If any kind of financial or billing questions, be prepared to be ignored. Administration gives you their cell phone number to call for concerns, and then doesn't answer and doesn't return messages.

Management has no experience dealing with the elderly. Activities director either ie simple and not challenging. Most residents don't receive weekly housekeeping. Most Servers don't see to residents needs ie, Go in bathroom and come out wearing same gloves, picking up thing off floor while serving. Rude to residents, Food is getting better but nothing is hot. Are they trained in restaurant etiquette?

We moved her after a month. The administrative staff was rude to me and to my mom's nurse when they were gathering the information about her medication. There were limited activities for people, and the food was not acceptable. The trash was collected on a weekly basis. The staff who had daily contact with my mom were very friendly and helpful.

Dresher Estates has a very nice facility and a terrific activities staff that provides a full schedule of things to do every day. [name removed] and [name removed] are great and interact compassionately with residents. There are aides who provide compassion and care to the residents, and the dining room workers often take the time to help residents with their food orders, as they get to know them. Some even help cut their food for them. There is a wonderful psychologist, [name removed], who is in the facility for a full day every Wednesday. (There also are doctors in the facility who come in once a week, but very limited time periods.) They also provide pet care services – I don’t know if other assisted living facilities in the area permit residents to have pets if they can’t care for the pets themselves. Those are the plusses. On the downside, there has been an excessive amount of cost-cutting and staff turnover in the last six months. The previous Executive Director left. The head of accounting left. The main receptionist/concierge, who knew all of the residents, left. The facilities director left. They are on their third management company in a year. Two heads of nursing have left, and no one has come in yet to take that role. Many nurses and aides have left. The wonderful hairdresser, who had been there for around 20 years, was let go, and they contracted instead with a corporate salon, whose hairdresser left within a few weeks. Now they have contracted with yet another corporate salon. Tablecloths and flowers have disappeared from the dining room, and it took over a month to replace a dishwasher, making it feel much more like a hospital, with residents eating off of paper plates and using plastic utensils. Snacks in the community coffee room are gone, and more services for the residents now have added costs. And here is my most serious concern: They have moved to a more corporate model of having only one aide on duty (down from three aides) for an entire floor. This may work if residents are totally self-sufficient, but for those who are wheelchair-bound and need help with dressing, showering, using the facilities, and getting in and out of bed, it is a huge problem. I have seen residents waiting more than 40 minutes after pressing their Call button for help, which is unacceptable, particularly when they need to use the bathroom or get to an activity. It is painful to watch a parent be demoralized in that way. It’s also painful to watch good aides being overworked to that extent. Likewise, the number of nurses has been reduced, and the company has replaced most of the nurses with med techs. The management has not given any indication that they are concerned enough to move back to more staffing, which seems to indicate that they value profits over people. My parent is safe, but not always treated with the dignity one would expect from any facility for seniors, and particularly from a private one. That was not the case when my parent first arrived.