Life Care Services LLC

Buy-in required for independent living.

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!

They took good care of my Dad in the Skilled Nursing Area. They had some communication issues that did cause some big confusion on the part of the family. I believe the Rehabilitation and Social Work staff would greatly benefit from extra training in active listening.

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.

Their marketing revolves around continuing care. You move to the next level of care when needed. My mom got a UTI and that was it for logical thinking...she needed the supervision of the memory care unit. But no rooms in MC so she had to stay in AL for another month. She also had to pay for 1-on-1 care during that month at [amount removed]. The aids sat outside her room and were tasked with keeping in her room (for her health and safety) She was so confused and all alone. The 1-on-1 care cost her an extra [Amount removed] that month.

My overall impression was only a 2. There was little communication. I was looking for more information about more places and got little about either.

Gold framed welcome sign with my name, lovely sales person, very specific details and tour. Gifted 2 sets of cookies in logo burned wooden boxes at the end followed by a Valentine gift dropped at my home on Saturday the 14th. It's a lovely facility but 24h concierge service, 3 restaurants and $[fee removed] per month is ridiculous. A little less Marketing to bring down the costs would be wise. They should better understand their regional market. New Englanders are less about posh and more about direct statements & quality assurance. A hard sell during a difficult time is off putting. My mother's current status would find most of this very overwhelming and scary. Director of Activities in Memory Care talks very fast and hugged my husband and I without taking a beat to 'read the room'. I am not, nor is my mother, a fan of uninvited physical contact from strangers.

Food service challenged and not worth the monthly cost. Very disorganized post move in service. They try but requires advocating on behalf of my parent. As of now there is not value in this facility. I feel like they should allow you to strip out food service and bill as used . It is poor service, inconsistent quality and only positive is convenience.

We had to move my folks out of there because they couldn't care for them! They do not keep enough staff! And the dining room food went downhill fast and constant staff change there as well!

I'm sorry to say, but so far the experience has not been great. I'd give it a 2. The apartment is very nice. But he had a few medical issues since he arrived and Windsor's med team has had trouble getting it sorted out due mainly to insurance issues. Regarding food, he went to the dining room once but found it extremely cold, and so hasn't wanted to go back. But with being ill he also hasn't been up to going to the dining room. But he's found the room service food to not be a great experience. However, the facility is very nice and many of the people seem very good and nice. Yet, we have experienced a number of unfortunate problems making for a rough start. However, they are making efforts to address and resolve the issues we have experienced. "

The food was not very good. Not what most older people would want to eat and not hot with portions very small and would run out of food, especially desserts. Some staff was not very nice and friendly, especially at night and weekends. They made my mom sit in her wheelchair everyday and every time I came to see her. She always had high anxiety and scared of the staff, but not all. I felt like they were punishing her by making her sit in the common area and I would find her asleep in her wheelchair with her head hanging down.