Better Living

The people we met at this community seemed nice and the community looked clean. The community also seemed a little dark, dreary and not as inviting as the community we chose.

My parents are very happy with the meal service. They also are pleased that the staff are so friendly, polite and positive. The staff moved 2 cushioned chairs into their room so they were more comfortable. My brothers and I feel like our parents are in really caring hands.

I have had my dad in Brookdale Sauk Rapids for the past year. He is very happy there. The setting is quiet (in a residential neighborhood) and the facility is small (18 bed). I think he gets good care. It is called an assisted living facility but in reality it is more like a nursing home because most of the residents (including my dad) need a lot of help with their daily living activities.

Staff is friendly and overall did a great job. But my wife needed more of a one on one assistant. It seem to be understaffed .

They have no maintenance man, no main nurse, and right now, no head person as she was promoted. None of the problems in mom's room have fixed since she moved in, the end of May. Not real happy, but I don't want to move her again. If they could fill these positions, I think it would be a great place.

They are always short of staff the food is not the best after mom got sick they would not take her back very heart breaking.

I think you need to be male and no trouble. We were very pleased at first and then things changed. My loved one became a behavior problem and they sent them to the ER a number of times. My loved one is very anxious and they made them stay in their room and was not able to walk out their anxiety. On hospice now in the city, and not ideal as the family lives in a different area.

Not for us. The accommodations are only studio apartments as all two bedrooms are shared. I cannot imagine that set up works for many.

On my tour, there was nothing wrong but I did experience a high pitch sale. I didn't care for a comment the lady made. She said my mom can't an accident in the nice chairs. It is a brand new and a very beautiful community. They have good people there.

It has been an adjustment process for me with my move to this community. It is a nice looking community. They do a good job with the cleanliness. The meals are okay, but there is some room for improvement. The staff is good for the most part. Overall it is still an adjustment process for me at this community.

Small, Nice, expensive.

Even the memory care unit is truly assisted living. My parent needs a lot more care than what they are giving him. It doesn't make any sense to have this memory care unit be assisted living. Obviously anyone with memory care issues needs some attention.

This facility has gone through a number of operators since 2019. It seems they come with big promises, but nothing changes. There is no commitment to fixing deferred maintenance and resources to the staff must be limited, the food is so bad.

My loved one was there a short period of time.They did not have a housekeeper, or enough staff. They did not have a maintenance guy, a director or nurse. The food was terrible. It was low quality, and was not fresh. They had activities, such as; exercise, crafts, afternoon outings, and bible study. They did not, make an effort to get all of the residents involved. The care aides were excellent.

I went on a tour here and it wasn't a good one. They had just changed the ownership like the day before. No one knew I was coming . The person doing my tour couldn't answer my questions. They didn't offer any OT or PT. There were only 19 beds in there and there were things broken in there like the closet doors and the rooms were small. I recommend families tour several places before making a decision.

Ruth Thorud is enjoying living at Brookdale Blaine. She loves that the facility is small. The staff is very friendly and helpful.

We are having some issues with this community. I'am hoping things improves, but if they do not I will move my mother out. It is a nice facility, but they need to do their jobs better. The staff do not really follow through with what I ask of them. We are paying extra for more extra care for her, and she has not been getting the extra care from the staff. They are working to fix things. They do offer activities and nice food. At this time I would not recommend it.

Tour was good, brought mom for a meal prior to moving in, food was good;salad and spaghetti. Move in nightmares: Menu, non existent, nor posted. Mom and others have been fed frozen fish patties and undercooked French fries twice in 1 wk, frozen pizza for dinner 2x in 1 week, mid day snacks; go to the "snack basket" which it's memory care; residents won't remember. Some kind of koolaid/juice is beverage served each meal. No milk unless I was there to request it. No water, paper plates & cups for serving food/ drink. Maintenance: Move in day for mom, mentioned the need for closet doors latch, baseboard needing to be re-attached... as of today, nothing done. Dishonesty; lies about shower,laundry/linen days,resulting in my giving 2 showers/both of only linen changes. Housekeeping; I cleaned her room for 2 hours prior to moving her and her things in. No weekly housekeeping. I have had to clean visibly soiled toilet and rinse clothing, had to ask to have room swept and mopped.

Flew in from out of town to visit my Mother. [name removed] told us she had to go by ambulance to Ottumwa Hospital for psych eval to get her meds changed, then she could return (lies). She was discharged from the hospital later that evening and when we tried to return her to her to river place (in the middle of the night), they would not let her in to return to her room. We called [name removed] , the director, and he said she cannot come back. No advance notice of any kind. So we are sitting in the parking lot in the middle of the night with no place to go. The day before, my sister went to visit her and she was lying outside, and my sister had to bring her back in. I noticed that they waited until the first of the month (after she paid in advance for the month ahead) before they pulled this hateful stunt. Looking at all options.

This is difficult. The Landings managed the facility when my husband moved in. I would have scored them high on all categories. Since Northern Oaks took over I have been considering moving my husband even though that would extremely difficult for him. I know there is a labor shortage but the management has made so many procedural changes that are affecting the care of the residents. The best caregivers have left. There are usually only two people on duty and frequently one of them is the cook. The caregivers are struggling to keep up with their responsibilities which is made more difficult because there's no longer a process for communicating from one shift to another each day. My husband's bathroom is not cleaned regularly. I AM NO LONGER NOTIFIED WHEN HE FALLS. He has Parkinson's and fell 39 times last year but since October I haven't been notified by them. The wonderful registered nurse is no longer there. The LPN on duty now seems to have no understanding of dementia or Parkinson's and has not attempted to learn about how to care for the residents. She has ZERO compassion for the residents. Several residents have moved to other facilities. I would not recommend Northern Oaks for anyone. I would be interested in finding another place for my husband.