Belmont Village

Facility is clean , well maintained and the managing staff is very nice and helpful. Many of the caretakers are as well, however, they don't provide the attention and level of care promised and most of the staff are not as well trained as they should be to deal with dementia and Alzheimer's residents. They tend to disappear for long periods of time during meals and I have witnessed several use inappropriate tones and words with residents. Sadly, it is at times when they do not know families are present. Even though the costs for the facility are high, in order to ensure the proper care and attention, most families also employ private caregivers. This was a disappointment.

Belmont does many things VERY well. The activities for the Memory Care residents are excellent and appropriate for the level of the resident. The food and dining staff are excellent as is the cleanliness and overall appearance of the facility. It's beautiful. The Care Services are disappointing. We were told the ratio of caregivers to residents was 12:1. Once in the facility, the ratio is 25:1. This is not enough to care for residents with dementia. They recommend hiring their Private Caregivers for one-on-one assistance. These 'Private Pals' are adequate but not what I'd expect from a facility at this price point. Caregivers/Private Pals routinely work double shifts. Communication needs improvement. Both the communication between caregivers on different shifts and communication with the family. This is probably an exceptional place for Assisted Living. For Memory Care (Alzheimers, Dementia, etc.) emphasis needs to be placed on the personal care they give the residents...and this is simply adequate.

It's a great place ONLY if you are living in the independent side, now if you are living in the dementia care unit is horrible!!! [removed] You can pull the cord and they will not respond for hours. What could you expect of the staff with more responsibility is getting paid minimum. My grandmother's room was filthy until I had to bring it to the staffs attention.

It’s a relatively small, older facility and only a small studio room was available to see. The staff were very helpful and provided all the info I needed. Given a variety of factors including cost, facilities, and availability I don’t think it’s a good match.

My 103 year old mother has been at Belmont Calabasas for over 3 years. Overall it has been and continues to be good for her. However, there are significant lapses in service, so at 103 sometimes she calls for help from an employee, and the stated policy is that person responds within 10 minutes, but the response time greatly exceeds that much too frequently. Always excuses for why that happens. This morning, my mother waited 90 minutes with no response, she then contacted my wife who called to inquire. Someone then came to her room quickly and while helping my mother let her know that her PAL (title of employee who helps her) didn't show up today. Obviously not acceptable, and if this was a one off, then things happen, move on, etc., but these unacceptable delays are very frequent. Very frustrating for us, but imagine how it feels if you are 103 year old and have a feeling of helplessness.

I am paying much more than I am getting in return. Its very hard to get staff to communicate with resident reps, children or health care surrogates. I was so excited to move Mom here but my expectations have not been lived up to. They sell a good story but its pretty much a fairytale.

The main reason that I put overall experience and quality of care as a 2 is because the facility has very bad communication, overstated their capabilities and did not proactively administer pain medicine before events that they know would cause pain. They will tell you that they have capabilities that they don't actually have. I was told they knew how to use a slide board. My mom got there and everyone was just looking at her because they didn't know how to transfer her with a slide board. The facility didn't even own one. How could you train your people on using a slide board if the facility doesn't own one? I ended up ordering one overnight on Amazon, but ultimately they ended up using a hoyer lift. My mom had bad back pain and the facility didn't plan ahead to give pain medicine before any transfers or changes. She would be screening in pain. They were also supposed to keep a brace on her when in a wheel chair. Many times I would come and see her in a chair without a brace and in pain. (Bad communication). There was a time that my mom's medicine was changed. The computer system in my mom's wing had the old medicine deleted, but the new pain medicine was not added. My mom was in pain and I went to get the nurse to give her pain medicine and they told me that her pain medicine was stopped. After I made a fuss about it and called the hospice service and they called them to verify that my mom was still supposed to get pain medicine, but a different dose, the nurse had said it was updated in one part of their system, but not the terminal on my moms wing. My mom also had a catheter to drain her urine. I caught it being restricted under her leg or not draining correctly, but no one noticed except me and my mom was in pain since urine was not draining correctly. I would say the facility would be fine if the resident didn't have any serious medical issues such as needing a catheter or back pain issues. When they assess whether to bring a person in, it seems like they just want the person in to get the money, even if the resident is beyond their capability. I also had billing issues each bill. They always overcharged significantly. They would always fix the bill, but this was an extra headache I didn't want to deal with with my mom being in bad shape. Some nurses were very good ([name removed] was a great nurse), while others were not on top of pain medicine. I had to be on top of this. If I wasn't there so much, I think half of them would have left my mom in pain.

The staff is not trained on how to take care of elderly dementia residents., but the cleanliness is their saving grace. A smile and a hello go a long way the staff does neither. Mom is left in her room by herself for hours at a time which I was told would never happen. My kids school lunches were better nutritionally and had better product quality. There are few to none. I've only seen mom once in the activity room. Considering the quality of care and meals. The only reason she is there is because Belmont is grandfathered in for 2 person assist. No other facilities that I liked and looked at in Oak Park / River Forest could accept her.

Workers attending my wife did so only grudgingly or not at all when they were supposed to. I or my caregivers had to hunt them down for things they were supposed to do on a regular basis. One time after asking them to put my wife back to bed, I had to chase them down after 45 minutes and they were at least six of them around the corner just laughing and talking. Meanwhile my wife was in agony. If I had not had my own caregivers there my wife would not have gotten proper care. My caregivers were only allowed to do minimal tasks but did way more for my wife's sake.

My 94 year old father lived here for the last year of his life. He was taken care of, but no one went above and beyond. His hearing aids were never cleaned, I would have to continually ask for his nails to be clipped and food was left rotten in his fridge. He didn’t need memory care, just kindness. The staff turnover was noticeable and the skilled nurses were understaffed. When I saw that he had lost a lot of weight and asked for him to be weighed weekly, I had to get an order from his doctor before they would do it. When he died, I didn’t even get a call or card outside of my hired hospice. This for [removed]a month? It was sad.

We had search many other retirement facilities in the area. Belmont was one of the nicest appearing facilities. The sales person assured us that all of our mothers needs could be met at the facility. Nothing but LIES! Very poor service an attentiveness to our mother. Many mess ups of medicines dispensed, ("this would not happen if you would use our in house over priced pharmacy") Mother pays $0 for her meds and does not wish to pay $165 for just one of her meds at their pharmacy. Heaven forbid there be an actual emergency as hitting the call button results in a 20 to 40 minute wait before someone responds. A nice dining hall as long as you get there by 4:30 as they often run out of the main coarse by 5:30. At the prices that Belmont charges residence, you would expect 4 star service but it is 2 star at best.

BV is understaffed and their PALs staff is not trained how to respect and handle the elderly. And no smiles or hellos. Some have been rude to friends that visit. Management team members are great. Not the level of care I was expecting, especially for memory care. I am tempted to move mom but who's to say another location would be any better. They charge an additional [name removed] per month for 2 person assist which I think is outrageous. They need to reevaluate. My experience is only with the memory care unit so I can't speak for the other areas.

Overall, the place is safe, clean, and pleasant. For me, it just didn't work. I never get any feedback. As one of the more expensive places, I was hoping for this. They never take the memory care residents out, except the patio (Another location takes them out). I was told that the staff had the ability to get residents out of their room. My brother won't come out. My brother doesn't join the activities. They don't alter the TV shows, activities to help him socialize. After a conversation about this, I was told that someone could walk my brother around. That never happened. The center might be great for someone who is not as active as my brother.

They did an assessment on my mom and assured us that she would be a great fit for their community, that they could take care of her for the long haul, and that she would be safe and watched over. She's only 66 and has advanced dementia, so her brain doesn't work but she's very mobile. Within the first 3 weeks, we noticed that she seemed more and more sedated, to the point of almost falling out of a chair multiple times. That combined with the fact that one particular staff member told us frequently how "busy" our mom was, how she wasn't sleeping, doing weird (but normal for dementia) things - we became concerned that she was being overmedicated. Not even two months into her being there, they said she needed a higher level of care for an extra $1,500 per month PLUS an outside caregiver to sit with her for 10 hours per day that we would need to pay for out of pocket. Not pleased, but we found somewhere else that would be a better fit for her. Now they're refusing to refund the facility fee even though they assessed her incorrectly from the beginning. We had to pay another facility fee plus partial rent for another place, plus moving her again - it's been a huge extra expense. I was really hopeful about the place because overall the staff is lovely, I think there was just one person who didn't care for mom and unfortunately poisoned the well.

I felt that the actual tour experience was kind of lousy. There were a lot of things that needed to be done that were not done, they needed some major renovations. It just felt run down. They had a very high base price which they explained was due to having a higher level of nursing care on site which we did not need. I did really like that they offered a program called "Circle of Friends" for early dementia residents. It is a program where residents who have early stages do not have to move to memory care and will do activities together but can still participate in normal activities as well with the assisted living population. I thought that was ideal and it would be great if more places could do that.

Our family had an in person tour and we did not like Belmont, they had dark rooms. They kept wanting to talk about assisted living and avoid our questions regarding memory care. Also more expensive. It could be good for assisted living. There is a pool.

We thought it was dated and felt more like an old folks home. They were more expensive and we felt we were getting less than at other communities. The units weren't as appointed as they were at other communities we saw.

They require all the residents to wear a mask, and this was a downfall for us.

Yuck. No. It has a smell.

The reason for the poor review is that our family was sold on services that could not be adequately provided for our elderly parent. We were led to believe that there was plenty of staff to assist our father...not so. We paid for the "enhanced care". When we see our father he is dirty, his breath is foul, clothes are often dirty and I have found his comforter covering up disgustingly filthy sheets! He rarely is clean-shaven which is not the worse thing. Also, scheduling the free transportation is not the easiest. Doctor appointments can only be on certain days (2-3 days in the week). And these must be scheduled weeks in advance to secure a ride. To wrap up, this place is fine for someone who does not need assistance. The available programs seem good for those residents who are able to engage. One last thing...I am surprised by the food served. Not the most appealing and nutritious! Lots of chips, grilled cheese, hot dogs, burgers, quesadillas which kind of shocked me. There are other things but not appealing. My dad has never been a fussy eater (my mom wasn't a great cook) but he doesn't like this food too much.