Brookdale Senior Living

The administration of this establishment is ruthless to its employees. They only care about their bottom line. I would be afraid to place a loved one in this facility.

I entered this facility after undergoing a knee replacement, for an intended rehabilitation stay of up to ten days . Although this was almost 12 months ago, I still have deep concerns about the care, ability and professionalism of a good majority of its care staff and some of the nurses. So much so, that it has had a profound effect on me and now I feel inclined to review this establishment and give prospective clients something to seriously consider.

Due to my experience I left after 3 days.

In order to avoid a rambling review the following incidents occurred:

On initial inspection of the facilities offered, all appeared satisfactory and my husband and I were told that the rooms are deep-cleaned between patients. In reality I was given a private room with a dirty bathroom (two attempts by a staff member were taken to clean it), a ripped comforter on the bed and a dirty food tray, which my husband cleaned.

A nurse wanted to remove my surgical stocking even though my surgeon had said it should stay on for 7 days - this was a couple of days after my op.

My pain meds. were often not dispensed as directed/required and on occasions, even after requesting them several times "carers" forgot to inform the attending nursing staff. On one occasion I hobbled to the desk in tears and acute pain after waiting 2 hours. Likewise, my requests for ice (to go on my knee) would be completely forgotten or would arrive after an hour.

I would be awoken at 4 in the morning as a 'carer' wanted to "empty" the small waste bin in the bedroom, even though this had been done only a a few hours prior. I found this behavior to be extremely questionable.

Most worrying was the incident when I was first admitted. The nurse at the time wanted to inspect my body. I told her that it was not necessary as I did not have anything wrong with me (i.e. bed sores bruises etc. ). Some time later after my husband had returned home, I was in much pain and the nurse in question said, " you can only have your pain medication if you let me examine you". Obviously I conformed as I was in great discomfort and did report this incident to two other members of staff. This type of threat is completely unacceptable.

Knowing that I was diabetic, I was continually served with sugared desserts etc. I wrote on the menu each day to inform them but their mistake was repeated. These mistakes could have had serious consequences for a patient who was not alert .

Staff here seem not to be able to differentiate between those patients who have Alzheimer s or are aged and those who are much younger and able.

All in all, although the physiotherapy staff were very good, my time there has left me with great worries for those patients who are not as young as I (63) or of sound mind.