Bethesda Senior Living Communities

This was an interesting community when we visited. It was three buildings and they seemed like group homes you would find in a residential neighborhood. They have a central kitchen. They prep the meals in each building. They have eight to ten rooms as well as a huge common area. There are attendants assigned to each building. The buildings were clean we just did not feel this would work for our loved one.

The meals have been good but it could have better quality and selections. I like the staff who are there. It is very clean community too. I would like to see them improve with more activities. Overall my mom is doing well with the care and atmosphere.

My mom is doing okay with the help from the community. The staff are being helpful with the transition. From what I hear, my mom is not really enjoying the meals. Overall this is a fine place and she is doing fine.

The tour and later evaluation went well. My father was admitted while the admissions director was out and he was a bit lost his first week, with no real information on activities, etc. I felt just kind of left to his own devices to find things out or know how it all worked. He is adjusting now. The facility is very clean and most of the staff is quite friendly. The food is delicious, the rooms are kept clean and I am just hoping for a good experience for him!

Did a tour at hickory villa and found the staff friendly. One lady poked me to tell me how much she liked living there. It seems like the residents are out of their rooms a lot socializing and everyone seems higher functioning. The rooms are VERY small. They take the Medicaid waiver right away,

The sales staff are very helpful. There is an RN on staff Monday-Friday which makes me feel more comfortable. The activities are numerous so no one should spend much time in their room. They are good at taking the occupants shopping, even if only one person wants to go. The facility is small so it's difficult to get lost. The distribution of food in the dining area is a bit disorganized, but everyone gets their food. The only problem I've had is getting a kitchen sink in Mom's apartment. They said it would be installed within one to two weeks of her arrival. It's been six weeks and still no sink. They keep assuring me it will be here.

My mother in law took awhile to adjust, but since she has been there has flourished. I find the staff to be warm and friendly and very attentive.

My father was here for a week when we were on vacation and he thought the people here were really crazy. He's not really at the point some of them are but right now he's jsut seeing the medical equipment and I told him that after a while he would see them as people. Here they don't lock the doors so people can come and go but it's not in a very good neighborhood.

That one was a level one assisted living and was not able to provide the care that we thought my dad needed. They were not able to help him get in and out of his wheelchair or with toileting.

Place was nice: however pricing was expensive. The monthly rental basically didn't include very much.

Staff very friendly and trying hard. Facility is way understaffed, especially at night. When you push the emergency call button it can take up to 30 minutes to come and that's if they come at all. About half the time they never come. My father has fallen several times at night, emergency call button is pushed. With no answer after 20 minutes or so my mom has to get her walker and go looking for somebody to help. This has happened at least 3 times this year. Under staffing is causing almost all of the problems we see. I'm pretty sure corporate is limiting the staff levels at residence expense. The lady across the hall from my parents moved to another assisted living facility because of the same problems we are having.

Told the sales people issues with husband. Bedridden with broken hip. They could not give him recovery needed.

[name removed] Executive Director is wonderful very sweet and professional with both patient and families the medication aids are wonderful. We had a little hiccup when my mom first was admitted, but he had some discussion and that's been fine but I understand that they are short-staffed with medication aids, and nursing that they've had some turnover and you can certainly tell that. The rooms are good size they were when we moved in. It was really clean freshly painted. Staff were very accommodating and helping us with needs as far as moving my mom in with a cart and they were wonderful checking in and welcoming her. According to my mom, the food could be better and hot. As far as the price, I'm not really sure on how to compare the price. It seems like for what we're paying right around $[removed] month and will need to start an application for Medicaid for assistance and [name removed] has been great about helping us with that. Activity wise my mom seems to love it. They love bingo and the outings and they have a diamond dot club and so overall and very happy that my mom is adjusted well to that. It was really tough, putting her into an assisted living because she's never lived on her own before, but I know it was the right thing to do.

It is a nice facility and relatively affordable. Communication is my biggest hurdle as I am out of state. I do not receive timely responses to emails.

Front line staff did a great job caring for dad for the last 6 months. He passed on Dec. 7. Food was good. He enjoyed it. Cleanliness was decent, not always timely after messes in the bathroom. Activity availability was very good. Value for the money was par level. The biggest area of concern was medication management. One of Dad's essential heart meds was discontinued by nursing director, in error(there were no orders given), in August. Dad's decline after this became accelerated and the healthcare system and we, family, struggled to put our finger on the issue. In November at a follow up cardiology appt. , the PA at cardiology office noticed that the essential med had been stopped and asked who stopped it. I told her, I'm not sure, but I will find out. She, of course, restarted the med on November 11, but it appears as though the decline had now been too advanced to reverse it self and damage to heart too great. He passed on 'Dec. 7th. When I pointed the med error out in November, the admin said that she wasn't sure why the error wasn't caught on the monthly med reconciliations that were supposed to be done. Ie....end of August at the latest should have caught the med error. It is hard for our family right now to make a recommendation of a facility whose care quite possibly led to the acceleration of dad's demise and eventual passing. I do want to say, the front line staff was did a very nice job caring for dad and there are some excellent caring people. (He enjoyed each of the people who cared for him very much) This problem lies at the administration level and specifically at the nursing admin level.

The issue we had was with the medication service which is huge... If we hadn't been advocating for my mom it could have been a disaster!

The staff are not friendly to residents or guests. Except for the Executive Director, RN, and the Engagement Director, the other employees dont acknowledge anyone's existence. Residents are allowed to smoke in both the smoking and non- smoking areas even after I brought it to the attention of the ED. My mother doesn't smoke and has no where to sit outside with inhaling second-hand smoke. The 3 cooks are not good and people complain all the time about the food or dont eat. Good: actually rooms separated by a wall as opposed to just a curtain, nice facility that is clean, regular activities for the residents, beautiful grounds.

Their food needs a lot of work!! It comes to the residents Luke warm to almost cold sometimes it's just not very good!!

Quality of care is very poor compared to [community removed], where we spent 2 years. There are no CNA's, just "care givers" that have no training. They charge a [fee removed] non refundable deposit and seem to accept patients they can't care for. We've seen patients that need too much care that only last 2-6 weeks before they leave for better care and lose their [fee removed]. Our family's experience would recommend this facility if the resident can live pretty much independently without much assistance

They seem to be understaffed in memory care, necessitating that everyone pretty much receive the same medication on the same schedule regardless of individual circumstances. Same with activity. Activities are geared to the least cognitive resident so that they can be done across the board.