Life Care Services LLC

Based on size and layout, I worry about changes in resident behavioral changes being recognized and addressed promptly. Very old facility,

Clean, secure. Stark decor. Limited space. Not as friendly staff. Community shower/tub. Smaller rooms. Some outside area.

4th floor 1 bed 600 sq.ft full kitchen with micro. $3,600 includes assisting daily + 3 meals a day 8:00am 12:00pm and 5:00pm Does have guest apt for $60.00 a night + breakfast. $11.00 for dinner. No outside noise.

They don't provide a cottage or manor house there. But, the location is closer us that can be considered for an assisting care living in the future.

I visited toured the assisted living and the skill care facilities. The rooms are all nice, like living at home. Big closets. Assisted living requires one to bring all furnishings etc. I didn't ask about cats. The corners were a little frayed, but the skill care may be what we need for the short term.

Good tour. My husband really liked this place. However, I fear that Mom and Stepdad would have difficulty getting from their room to the dining room due to the maze of covered walkways which still let in the heat in summer and cold in winter. Also too easy to just walk away. I think they need more restriction or monitored entry and exit.

Buy-in required for independent living.

Prices may be more reasonable.

Don't go there. It is like a jail sentence. They seem to care more about profit margins than servicing the residents, complete with absurd protocols just to keep themselves from being slapped with a lawsuit especially during COVID-19, with no regard for humanity or the mental health of residents. In other words, let the patient suffer or die first. Do nothing without a directive from a physician.

My family member was taken by ambulance to Paoli Hospital twice, and Bellingham did not notify me either time. How does that even happen? He liked the place, but admittedly, he did not have high expectations. People there were friendly.

My father lived at First & Main Lewis Center for 21-22 months. It is a beautiful facility. There is a piano and sunroom. I did not see any newspapers or magazines. There were children's books in the memory care unit. My father would complain that it is boring. He did not like to sit and watch TV and had always led an active lifestyle. He liked to walk, garden, and swim, but the only time he did that was when we had the opportunity to do that was when he was with us. I was told I would get weekly updates, but I never received one update. The first newsletter arrived a week after he died.

My mother has been four months and unfortunately the cost is too high for what you get. Yes it is brand new and very pretty, but this property is poorly managed and isn’t filling up with residents. One leaves, one checks in and basically they are just treading water! The food isn’t good despite reviews that say it is. It’s either too salty or fat or not seasoned. At times they give a very good meal but it’s random. The every day menu gets boring. They say they have dietary but there’s never any access to anyone, because they are understaffed it’s hard to find a nurse to ask for medication lists etc... some of the staff is caring but most are unprofessional including upper management. Most places have unlimited snacks- Clarendale pad locks the snacks! Most have live religious sermons, they say they can’t do to their demographics? Well this could take forever and we don’t have it, so we are moving to a homey or plane that caters to the residents and family’s! Who give a Christmas party for residents not just their business pals. It’s just plain overpriced!

My loved one used to stay at Presidential Place, but we found out very quickly that it was not a good fit for her or our family. It seemed that they had made a lot of promises that were not fulfilled once we moved in. For example, upon move in, we were unable to open the freezer door because it hadn't been defrosted. The maintenance man said he would bring a new one the next day, but it never came. When we moved out two weeks later, it still was not there. We also asked that my loved one receive showers every morning, and we were assured that that would happen. However, it did not. My loved one would go for days unshowered. They just did not meet a satisfactory care level at this community.

After touring the facility and reviewing the services provided and the activities offered, we decided on Memory Care for my mom at Clarendale of Algonquin. I've recently discovered that the calendar of activities for Memory Care is not accurate. While visiting my mom, we decided to escort her to one of the activities listed on the calendar and we were very disappointed to find out that they don't follow the calendar at all. I've visited my mom on several occasions and the staff is pleasant enough, but not really engaged. Prior to moving into Clarendale my mom was in the day program at Family Alliance. What a wonderful program! The calendar of activities is real and the employees are very engaged and seem to be having as much fun as the participants. I feel I was misled into believing that I would be getting the same level of care at Clarendale.

I had recently taken a tour of this community and I have no complaints of how things had went. The staff where on time to our appointment and made sure to answer any questions I had for them. The facility was brand new and they where just get everything organized and in place especially in memory care. I just wanted something more established for my husband.

Over all a very nice community. Lovely people living and creating a beautiful neighborhood. It is approximately 8 years old and in that time however the quality of services has changed. The dining experiences started almost gourmet but has declined. This is after constant turnover of staff and food services. Presently at a very mediocre level and disappointing for the monthly fees chaged. The turn over of directors and staff is concerning and is not reassuring that things are improving . The most difficult area in the living system is the health center. The staff is extremely good hearted but clearly they do not have the staff to give quality care. It has always been on a skeletal staff. They don't pay the caregivers enough to give them an incentive to improve. Seems to be little oversight to correct these problems. AIDS stand around and wait until someone does their work. Morale is low so patient care suffers. I am very reluctant to use their health care again

Misleading statements and misinformation from marketing saleswoman undermines trust . Regency Oaks Management should be honest and show integrity. When we complained about being mislead nothing was done by management.

My parents were satisfied with their independent living apartment at Bellingham for several years. Their only major complaint was the significant yearly increase in rent, which some of their friends ultimately could not afford and had to leave. As health declined so did the opinion of the services at Parklane/Bellingham. The staff's communication was inconsistent and frustrating. Case planning was heavily influenced by financial priorities. Beware and get everything in writing.

Apartment was not REALLY ready as promised (counter-top was not replaced; one broken drawer slide; new carpet, but hard floors were dirty; entry way not painted; bathroom faucet broken; toggle bolts on toilet were not cut; etc.).

For 10 months, my mother had reasonably comfortable care at Brookdale’s Clare Bridge Lexington facility and had adapted to the environment and staff. Recently, my mother was confronted with some physical contact which she, and our family, found objectionable. My mother stated that she did not feel that she fit into that circle of people and that she would like to get away from the scenario. We met with Clare Bridge management twice. Our simple request was to protect my mother from the scenario by keeping her isolated from certain situations. The first time, management agreed to honor our request. Then they requested a second meeting a week later, only to tell us that they would not protect my mother from the scenario, due to patient rights. At this crossroads, we decided we had to move our mother immediately. Our family does not agree with the policies within Clare Bridge. We think that the recent situation has contributed to my mother becoming physically ill (vomiting, diarrhea, and a bronchial infection all within a one-month timeframe). My mother, like others at this age, has a difficulty fighting off germs and the resulting infections. We think that the passing of saliva between the residents is passing germs from one resident to the next. This reminds us of the stories of airborne Tuberculosis passing thru institutions of the past. The locking up of soap does not help either. Apparently, Brookdale has instilled a policy of locking all such materials up, due to some cases of human ingestion. Contrary to Brookdale’s claims, the staff is not always with the patients when they go to the bathroom. We have seen one patient relieve themselves on the carpet in the bedroom of a different patient. The staff did clean the carpet by gloved hand, but how clean is this? The patient did not know where they were at, and was not the problem. We do not feel that this is a healthy environment for our mother. Patients do have rights. However, when the patients are handicapped to the extreme that family members are managing the patient’s care and finances, the patients are managed behind a continuously locked door at an institution like Clare Bridge, and unknown staff members are managing their lives to the level of bathing and bathroom assist, the patient-rights logic seems to ring hollow. The rights topic deserves some discussion. My mother had expressed her rights. She had stated that she does not feel that she fits into this circle of people and that she would like to get away from the scenario. We tried to invoke some level of sanity by participating in the two aforementioned meetings. We failed to accomplish anything with Brookdale Clare Bridge Lexington management. However, it seems like Brookdale is exercising its right to get paid for not doing its job. This was further shown, when we informed them that we were departing. They asked if we were moving to a competitor’s facility. We identified that we were. Therefore, it was their policy to charge us another monthly residency fee of $5500, since we did not give them a month’s advance notice per the contract. As stated earlier, we were in so much of a hurry to get our mother away from the situation, that we did not want her to suffer another 30 days in this environment. So ask yourself, did my mother retain her rights? In our opinion, the Lexington facility has issues. Our mother drinks milk like a youngster. Even though we asked the staff to provide her with milk, it was very rare that we could confirm this happened. Generally, it was water or juice. Once when she was feeling nauseous, we had to go to the main facility just to retrieve a Sprite to settle her stomach. Clare Bridge seems to be too understaffed to manage the situation. On one occurrence, we had to wait approximately 10-15 minutes just to exit the locked front door; there were only two staff people in the facility at this time. Turnover has been relentless since our first association with Brookdale. I encourage researching families to look at the employee reviews found online to see what their thoughts have been about Brookdale (Glassdoor.com). As a public firm, one can also see information online about the financial status of Brookdale Senior Living (Yahoo Finance, BigCharts.com, and SEC Filings). How these numbers relate to patient care, personal staff livelihood, and the retention of the staff members is not clear. The researcher should draw their own conclusions. Finally, when the time comes that their loved ones need to be confined to an institution like Brookdale Clare Bridge Lexington, I hope Clare Bridge managers think hard as to where they locate their family member. Ask your family today for their opinion of how they would like to be treated tomorrow.