Bickford Senior Living

The administrative staff is great. The director is new to the position but she is really great and personable. Linda in the office is what I call the "face of Bickford". She is lovely and wonderful. [name removed] is the chef and again, amazing. [name removed] is the new nurse and she is outstanding. The aides are very difficult to rate. There is always a large turnover with the aides. I understand why as it's not an easy job. There are a few long time aides and they are just great and treat my dad well. There are a few things they could improve upon. My dad's bed could be changed more often and correctly. He could be showered more often. He usually has to ask multiple times. The activities director is very nice but could use some help doing different activities with the seniors. The med techs are very good.

My dad needed more care than assisted living could provide. That should have been identified that from the beginning. I think they just wanted to fill the bed/room. PCT and RN and head if nursing great. After you sign and pay they are slow to respond if at all - after first month still asking for lights in the closet to work .... waiting for new bulbs....

The staff is friendly and supportive. Food is below mediocre. Cleaning is not a priority. Only one on housekeeping staff. Facility is not handicapped user friendly. Doors are difficult to open. Window blinds are almost impossible to operate. Meal utensils and dishes are frequently dirty. Staff knock then enter even if resident in undressed or in bathroom with no regard for privacy. Waitress put placemats where people sit in chairs to change tablecloths. Waitresses handle eating utensils by eating end, not handles.

They can improve with more staff. Better food and more/ better communication. They don't keep their payments as quoted. Offered a discount of [price removed] then months later retracted that and now is billing for it.

No activities for memory care, just a TV. The quality of the care services depends on who is working the shift. Need more help on staff in memory care. Need a sitter in living room from morning until bedtime. Keep room doors locked when not in them. Things missing from room from night staff or patients walking around and go in rooms and take things. As of now they have 2 staff and one med tech for 16 people. It is very clean and A few workers there were awesome

They don't keep their payments as quoted. Offered a discount of [price removed] then months later retracted that and now is billing for it. More staff. Better food and more/ better communication

They push their "we're a family" story at you until you move in & then it's impossible to contact a corporate person. They made a billing error the very first month- overcharging the daily rate. The aides, nurses & maintenance staff are great though. Helpful and patient.

The facility is in need of repairs and renovation. It use to be a beautiful facility that treated residents like family. Unfortunately, like so many other senior living options, it's corporate owned. There is less focus on the residents and more focus on profit. Some of the staff are outstanding. Due to a revolving door of management and lack of appreciation, the good people do not stay. We have a lot of family so Mom was well cared for by us and we advocated politely for her and the other residents. When we didn't see appropriate change, we moved her.

They said she could have her dog and they would help her take care of it. The dog wasn't even there a week and they called and said the dog had to go.

My dad was approved for Assisted Living in June and he moved in on [date removed]. At that time, he needed a hoyer lift to get in and out of bed or in and out of his wheelchair. The understanding was that his PT would continue so he could eventually become a one person transfer. Approximately 90 days later I was told that they wanted to move him to memory care because of his reliance on the hoyer lift. I told the Administrator at Bickford that my dad was making great progress with PT and he was able to stand for at least 60 seconds with the help of his physical therapist. I asked if I needed to supplement his PT with an additional therapist. I was met with resistance. My dad was on-board with a move to Memory Care based on the fact that he would be able to spend more time in his room. Communication was not great. One nurse told me that it could be a 2-4 week transition because my biggest concern was his possible confusion of being in a new apartment at Bickford. I received text messages last week on Tuesday from the Administrator that my dad was supposed to have moved the prior weekend. When I asked about his slow movement to Memory Care, I was told that he must be moved immediately. Last Tuesday evening we had to solicit friends to help move my dad. Apparently they had a new resident who was moving in on Wednesday. By and large, there are caring people who work there. The food is enjoyed by my dad and I know that he is safe there but an unpleasant situation that could have been solved for with better communication would have been appreciated. I also found out that they were double-diapering my dad. I had no idea what that meant but apparently if they double diaper him they change him less frequently. PS. Billing is a nightmare!!

They are shorthand all the time. So it takes them awhile to answer calls. The staff are very nice and are doing what they can. It hard for one person to take care of 20 - 30 people on their own. They do the best they can.

I think the food is terrible and I believe they are under staff. Not in the kitchen they need more help on the floor The lady who runs the activities is wonderful. I think the furniture outside needs cleaning it smells like urine . And where the ducks are needs to be cleaned they are making a real mess . The shower curtain are to short and water gets all over the floor the people could slip.

Never enough help so took for ever to get help they were suppose to help with the cat and that was seldom. Always had to wait to get in or out of the building because of shortages of help,there were rooms that really smelled like pee really strong.

When my mom got there she wasn't able to walk by herself or get out of bed by herself. I think Bickford is a good place for someone who can get around good. My mom was left stranded at Breakfast or in her room at times. We ended up moving her to the [facility name removed]nursing home where they could better care for her. She has passed away at 91 late last year.

My grandmother, with dementia and 90% blind, needed more one on one care than their facility was able to provide. What they offer would be considered more of independent living with supervisory care. Staff did their job, it just didn't meet her specific needs.

When I first toured Brookdale it looked like a nice facility and for the standard residents it could be. My aunt was in their memory care wing. There was a lot of staff turnover. The food served was generally something you would find on a kids menu at a restaurant and quite often cold. The "entertainment/tv room" is so small when they try to do activities residents are stacked 2 & 3 deep. The memory care wing is very dark - on outside windows in general public areas. When I checked my aunt into Brookdale there were lights in her room that needed to be replaced plus the cable in her room needed to be turned on. After a month neither of these had been taken care of. There was an episode where my aunt was having breathing problems and on the verge of a panic attack. The nurse on staff couldn't find a stethoscope so they took her blood pressure. I stayed with her until she calmed enough to go to sleep, the nurse never came bak to check on her. Finally - there were several times I would visit and equipment would be left in the halls (floor fans, purs carts, etc) making it difficult to navigate the hallway. People with dementia get confused easily and this definitely contributed to her anxiety level. When I signed the contract for the room I was promised 1 month free rent. I kept getting told they were working on it. When I gave them notice I was moving my aunt out, the credit miraculously was applied.

I loved the place when my father in law was cared for in the assisted living area. There were activities, good meals, and he could sit in different areas to keep his mind occupied. However when my father-in-law became worse and was placed on the memory ward; it was awful. He needed hospice/end of life care; the RN did a poor job assessing my dad’s needs for pain management. Every time we went there his door was closed??!!! Being a hospice nurse for over 12 years I would never keep any doors closed; otherwise you are unable to evaluate/assess how they are doing. He could have fallen on the floor and know one would even know! They never turned him and when I asked they didn’t have any pillows to place our dad in a different position (He was so weak he wasn’t able to turn himself.)He was always soiled (the odor was horrendous!). I asked for oxygen to help with is breathing; it never came. Many evenings when the nursing assistance were just sitting on their phones!! Not caring for the….

So the overall experience has been pretty ok. There are glitches that are not Bickford's fault, it's the fault of the care person. Hard to keep good staff like anywhere. When staff is there, dad sometimes waits a long time for someone to come to his aid (changing his brief, etc.). Overall though, my dad is happy there. At least as happy as he can be at this stage.

Right now they are understaffed most of the workers go out of there way but you can only do so much when your short staffed. Some things do not get handled in a timely matter. Hard to get answers to questions from people in charge. When calling the facility a lot of times there is no answer with no way to leave a message.

It's a nice place, we are on the 4th manager since I moved in. The staff is a mixture of good and so so. The housekeeping works hard, but they are made to help out on other things. Communication with the family is okay. Some of the food is good, and some not. I think they are trying to improve. I would recommend this facility to others.