Life Care Services LLC

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.

Place is honestly a [removed] for the price it's appalling. We fully plan to remove our mom as soon as we can find a better spot. The caregivers aren't nice. They promised things that have never happened. It's a house of cards.

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.

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.

They made a huge mistake with their renovations by doing EVERYTHING at once. The dining room is the biggest stressor: a half-sized activity room, long wait times for seating or NO seating and taking food to our apartment. So no or compromised: dining room, pool, salon, therapy room, fitness room, lounges, bathrooms, garages, front desk, mailroom, market café, resale shop, health services; dangerous (falling tiles, garage door closing too soon, power outages, dirt and dust). They don't upgrade old apartments: our tub and shower are dangerous but we would have to pay for upgrades ourselves.

RECENTLY LEFT AVALON OF commerce after 2 1/2 years of total frustration with its’ management. Inadequate attention to concerns I do not recommend any facility managed by LCS and specifically[name removed] or [name removed]. IF you’re considering Avalon, get ALL PROMISES IN WRITING, which is not a guarantee of anything. Look elsewhere, AVALON is a disaster that is happening. I am curious about who/what was used in the US News report? LCS(UTAH)[name removed]? [name removed]? GOOD LUCK.

No issues with staff, they all do their jobs, as you know the construction is getting really ridiculous. If it's not one thing it's another. Yet thy are talking about raising the cost over there. Not too happy on how they treat a 95 year old with all the inconveniences.

To be honest. We didn't have the best experience. My parents left after 4/5 months. Partially was my folks they found it very depressing there. But the food went down hill, they weren't very helpful, everything took a long time to fix or get help, we could make the internet work consistently for over a month. Things we thought were included, were not. Such as someone to call for help after normal business hours.

It was very poorly run. Person in charge of dining room was frantic. There was the promise that my mom would be supported by other residents, and a bunch of mistakes made.. kept charging after we left... not a good experience.

Watch out and ask lots of questions. Check out the answers, they misled us. Food service is good. Apartment sizes are ok, but be careful.

My husband is a resident of the memory care unit. The facility and grounds are beautiful giving the impression of a high standard of care. However, there is a great difference between the assisted living and memory care. I generally think that the staff are friendly but unfortunately lacking in training for dementia residents. I have observed a lack of follow through in providing ADL assistance. The first week my husband was there, he developed a facial dermatitis from lack of assistance in washing his face. There is a situation of some residents entering into other resident’s rooms and causing anxiety and this does not appear to be being addressed. There is not strong adherence to the care delineated in the resident service plan. I have repeatedly voiced my concerns to the memory care director and am not seeing a clear improvement.

As a resident, one gets to experience both the good and bad; no place is perfect. Good: DATV is s beautiful building with large units. Staff are pleasant, and the new Executive Director is working hard to fix issues & improve the resident experience. The bad: It's a new building with a lot of bugs still to be worked out. Heating issues continue to pop up - over 3 weeks to fix and the hallway is still 57 degrees. My wifi has broken twice, and remains broken now, but they gave me a temp work around on that. There have been other problems as well, so they have to play whack a mole with those constantly. You hear the people upstairs. The food: not good. Edible? Yes, but it's cheap, repetitive, boring, heavy on saturated fats, carbs, & sodium. They really can't accommodate special diets, unless you eat the same thing every day. Little has improved despite complaints. There are mice in the dining room. Some are considering moving as they are not delivering on what they are marketing.

The staff are lazy and indifferent to residents. Some of them are just plain mean.

8 hour shifts instead of 12 hour shifts. Have activities for the residents which they were just starting when we left. Snacks for the residents between meals. Better care with the residents personal items especially when names are on everything. Watch residents more carefully so when you walk into the room there isn't someone else sleeping in the bed and they had no idea where that resident was. I had to complain about 2 aides because of how they talked to me and a resident and how an aide shoved a resident in to a chair for dinner. Administration staff was good. I left there at times very stressed.

Frequently got broom and swept his room as floor was dirty. Laundry was lost and other peoples stuff came to us. I was there most afternoons and no one came every 2 hours to take him to bathroom so my Husband, his clothes and bed were found wet. When laundry was returned clothes were shoved in cabinet in stead of hanging things up. Then there was when he became agitated and started cussing. They didn’t asses possible reasons or triggers, as I had been telling them he was getting more confused …such as illnesses: UTI, elevated ammonia level, lactic acidosis were the diagnosis’ he received when taken to ER for behavioral issues. Then I was embarrassed at the ER when the doctor told me that Clarendale would not accept him back. But the managers who made these decisions should have communicated with me. Also, we have been waiting for our refund for a couple weeks now.

We only looked at two places in this was the best of the two. I am frustrated because the first week we got there. The ownership changed hands and there were some issues they weren't fixing in the place. Now I'm running into problems with accounting where they're giving me a bill last month and not providing any details on where to send a payment and who to make the checks out to. And they were charging the $[removed] deposit that we already paid. I called their accounting departments about five or six times Since and now we just got another bill and they're charging us $[removed] late fee and cannot get a hold of anybody to discuss with. Overall, it's not a bad place, we're just trying to get these things worked out and they have worked out the maintenance stuff since. The billing stuff is just still hanging. I hope and fairly confident they will make it right.