Ultimate Care Senior Living Management

In my family's experience, The Bristal at East Northport is like a movie set - it looks fabulous on the outside but once we went behind the scenes, we found it was nothing but a facade. THINK VERY CAREFULLY before you place a loved one in this facility ! While most of the general staff were kind and tried hard, management created a hostile and inept environment. When he applied to be accepted as a resident at The Bristal, my father had some memory issues, but he was entirely capable of independently taking care of himself (showering, dressing, getting himself down to meals, and all other activities of daily living). The Bristal was aware of his issues, and that he was taking memory medication, when they accepted him into the facility. Over the 9 months that our dad was at this facility, we found that: 1) when an issue arose, their way to address it was to ask us to pay more money. One example- As the weather got warmer we asked that the staff to remind my father to drink water so he did not get dehydrated. We were told that this was not covered by the aprox $7,300/month we were already paying and that in order to to give him such reminders we had to up his care level - an additional $11/day ($330+/mo) 2) you cannot rely on the medical staff (while I believe they try their best, from what I saw my best guess as to why you cant rely on them is because they have too many residents for too few staff members) 2 examples: - We voiced concern to management about my dad's weight loss. They suggested that we give him a supplement shake (like Ensure) once or twice a day but said they needed a prescription in order to give it to him anything, even items that are over-the-counter. MORE THAN ONE MONTH after the Rx was delivered to them we found out he was not getting the Ensure. Why? Because the Rx said "as needed", which required my dad to go to the Wellness Center and ask for them. Wellness knew of my dad's memory issues and knew of our concern for his weight yet never called us to explain how the Rx was written and suggest we obtain one that did not say "as needed". - My dad started seeing the facility's therapist. MULTIPLE TIMES I asked that they have the therapist call me to discuss my dad. (I even witnessed notes being made in my dad's records, and after a number of requests an email was also sent) I NEVER RECEIVED A CALL OR CONTACT INFORMATION ! 3)[Removed]. When any issues or concerns arose, rather than having a meeting with my family to explain the situation and try to come up with an appropriate Care Plan (a term I learned only AFTER we had to hire an advocate for my dad)[Removed] would telephone us and in a hostile and dictatorial manner tell us what we were going to do (which ALWAYS involved paying MORE MONEY). He even [Removed] to serve my father with a 30 day notice to evict if we did not do what he said. In my opinion, when [Removed] became involved he only made situations worse. 4) Less than one month after my dad moved in, despite the fact that he remained completely independent in his activities of daily living, the facility's social worker advised us that they wanted to move him into the memory unit (again, more money). This, together with my experiences over the course of his living at the Bristal, left me with the impression that The Bristal ACCEPTED HIM INTO THEIR FACILITY WITH THE INTENT TO SHIFT HIM INTO THE MORE EXPENSIVE MEMORY UNIT ASAP. Over the 9 months that my dad was at this facility, it was clear my father's mental condition was deteriorating and changes needed to be made. It was an extremely vulnerable place to be - deciding how to best take care of our dad who had always taken such wonderful care of us. Instead of lending a comforting, helping and experienced hand, the hostility and pressure we received from this facility was beyond anything I can explain. We are very grateful that we learned of a wonderful advocate and placement person, who helped us find and move my father to The Atria in East Northport. What a difference !

I must say, our experience at The Bristal has been nothing but horrendous from day one. The food is terrible. The staff is unfriendly and management is quite rude. They told me that were trying to work out all the glitches. My mom took a fall while in the assisted living unit and was sent to the hospital. Luckily, nothing broken. She then took another fall that same day and was sent back to hospital, again no breaks, thankfully. You would think the caregivers would have kept a closer eye on her to avoid falling again. They then told me my mom would do better in the reflections memory loss unit. I must say it was very depressing. Minimal activities. Nurse did next to nothing. And caregivers were rude. No one knew what was going on. My mom took another fall, but this time broke her hip and had to have surgery. After returning she fell again and broke her wrist. She returned and they told me the only way my mom could stay there was with round the clock private aides. I incurred over $10,000.00 in expenses for this. The Bristal Aides did nothing for my mom since she had private aides. Brand new hearing aides were lost.The leg rests to her wheel chair were lost and 2 necklaces. When I asked The Bristal for a reduction in price. Since we could not afford this. They said absolutely not. All they are interested in is the money. I had no choice but to move my mind m out. She is now walking again. This place should be shut down. Horrible experience

You cannot judge a book by its cover. What I am saying is that architecture is appealing, the intake coordinator upsells what this place has to offer. Truth is this IS PURGATORY! Expect unlicensed unknolwledgable young adults to dispense medications without a clue to what they are giving your loved one. Training is offered throughthe Bristal. They haveno certification!!! The dining experience is not only unhealthy but the residents are treated as a burden. If they order the "famous delicious Bristal chicken" while eating they decide they also want a salad, Eunice is more than happy to put them in their place by telling them "you already got your Entree! You ain't getting no salad now". The sample menu onthe site is the same menu all week, every week. They have no concern for residents diets. Cola is offered or placed on the table regardless of the fact that the resident never drank it at home. Icecream comes with every meal. Expect to see a 30lb weight increase . The first month. Staple foods at this place are burgers, hot dogs and deepfried garbage with a butter sauce. Breakfastnis pancakes or grease soaked eggs with fatty sausage or bacon. Activities... high speed bingo. Book readings at an incoherent rate. Trips to the dollar store. Aside from eating there is nothing offered as an acfivity, especially one that is cognitavely stimulating. Every employee is an Islander who roll their eyes and treat residents like rich white trash. When they say they will do something for your loved one expect that you will spend a frustrating two hours only to find that their shift ended 15 minutes after they spoke with you. Telephones go through a trunk system and are monitored. The Director of resident relations, Sherry is a [removed] who mopes around the builing doing seemingly nothing. My parent was physically assaulted by another resident repeatedly but it was repeatedly dismissed. Valueable possession are stolen and the resident is told "no honey you never had that". Expect your loved ones to rott at the Bristal of East Meadow! It is actually more frofitable for them to turnnover the room at a fee of $9700. Residents are woken by means of a strangers key opening up their door, lights turned on and the door slammed closed. Don't expect a pleasant wake up call or a courtious knock on the door. Bedtime meds are given after dinners which is about 6pm. . Residents literally roam the halls aimlessly with nothing to do. Expect a rapid decline in cognitive skills and health. There are no activities that enforce them. The facility is not listed as licensed on the NYS DOH website. Security is highly questionable as the room numberes are engraved onthe keys and the desk guards sleep at night. DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONE TO BRISTAL OF EAST MEADOW! They will die neglected and in a short time frame. Susane Ryan is a con and makes the p,ace sojnd like a luxury resort. FAR FROM IT! the have an excercise room but the activities coordinator doesn't direct them their. The"movie theatre is a 36" TV playing b rated movies. Most of all - something serious were to happen, "wellness" are a bunch of lazy uneducated RUDE women who complain that they are busy taking care of another resident and will get to it when they get to it....never happens! Nassau county police do not intervene as residents are seen as "in a protected environment". Take my advice if you care for yours... go across the street to the commons or to the summit. Save yourself the pain of knowing your loved one died because some lazy untrained wellness worker was too busy calling the carribean or stuffing their face . They are perpetually on break! There in no time clock to punch in or out. BRISTAL OF EAST MEADOW WILL MAKE YOUR FAMILY UNHAPPY THEY WILL CAUSE A RAPID DECLINE IN YOUR LOVED ONES HEALTH! DONT BE A SUCKER! PUT THEM ELSEWHERE!

Toured for the second time. Residents do not seem happy. New management once again. No stable management staff. Would not recommend visiting.

My Mom was a resident for just 2 weeks before becoming ill. The Wellness staff did not recognize that she was not feeling well and forced her to go to the dining room for lunch, even though she was sick. She wound up falling in her room because she was so weak. Two days later, she wound up in the hospital with severe bronchitis. We kept/paid for her room for 2 months hoping she would go back after her hospital stay, but she never did. We realized that they could not care for her and we didn't trust them. [removed] Bottom line: Administration was very accommodating during our tour and seemed sincere, but once my Mom became a Resident, we couldn't even get them on the phone to ask a question. They didn't even answer my emails. DO NOT send your loved one here. Its just a business to these people and they have no compassion. They are just into making money and could care less about the Residents.

This place is nothing like the pictures. Very expensive and the food is terrible, they don't have enough help for the residents. They actually place ankle bracelets on the residents like criminals. It is a very sad, depressing place. As everything else on Long Island its all about the money and not the people! I am very, very disappointed.I need to get my Mom out of there!!!

I toured and had lunch, food is terrible. Residents didn't seem to be doing much and wasn't much activity going on. Staff was not friendly and passive. I wouldn't recommend.