Reviews

Each market has different demographics, but Brookdale Corporate is tone deaf to local management input on the subject. The prices continue to rise each year and the corporate office, driven by profit only cannot figure out why so many locations are sitting at a lower-than-average occupancy rate. Bottom line the prices are too high for many of the local markets. The staff is amazing, but the quality of the food is less then desirable. The cooks do the best they can with the budget. The location where my family member is living is in need of a major renovation along with other locations. There are many other choices in senior living about 18 mins from our current location that are newer and the quality of the food and environment if 90% better. There is no reason to raise rates over $320.00 more a month. My advice to families looking for senior care is to view other locations. My family member has about 6 more months or less here on earth otherwise I would move them to one of the senior living facilities located about 18 mins away, the short drive would be worth it. The old saying is true, buyer beware!

Thank you for choosing Brookdale and taking the time to share your feedback. We would welcome an opportunity to discuss any concerns you may have and encourage you to contact our management team.

The experiences I shared at Orland Park, IL were unacceptable. The marketing tour presents a lovely package. The facility is appropriate for independent seniors who seek assisted living. For those loved ones with dementia, please avoid at all costs. In great distress, I sought a facility for my loved one to soon fall for the "bait and switch" tactic applied by marketing. I was offered confident reassurance that this was the best place after assessment and told he qualified for assisted living "as long as he could press a button." Within days of placement, I was informed the only solution was Memory Care. He was moved into a small room no larger than a storage closet, unlike other rooms in the unit. In addition, he waited weeks to be moved as it needed to be "prepared" despite being told two rooms were available in MC by marketing. When asked about the size, I was told we had to be placed on a waitlist for a larger room; yet we paid the same monthly rate. Memory Care is not acceptable and cannot provide proper care for dementia residents. Staff lacks the medical training, interest, or as I later found, common sense to follow directives on file; or, handle emergencies. The management and staff pass the blame so there is no accountability for serious errors. Memory Care is a secured unit so few see the real picture outside of normal working hours. Families wait an extended time to gain access to their loved ones due to waiting for staff to open the door; the assigned nurse is often found on other floors. It was impossible to reach corporate headquarters to address issues early on. An empathetic director at another facility prompted a district director to contact me who was somewhat helpful but lacked the authority to address the major issues. The final event resulted in my loved one's DNR not being acted upon despite being provided to Directors and staff. I could share much more. This incompetence and negligence left my family and me devastated and never addressed.

Thank you for speaking with our District Director of Operations regarding this concern.

I've had lots of issues with the staff's lack of care for my dad over the last 2.5 years. My dad had a hearing aid that Brookdale was suppose to give him every morning & charge every night. I hadn’t seen them since January 2024, and it did not register on his companion phone app since November 2023. It appears that Brookdale did not provide my dad's hearing aid on a daily basis & it was lost for several months. At best the hearing aid was lost on July 30 (the day of a doctor's appointment), but no one at Brookdale realized this until August 7, over a week later, and only because I specifically asked for it. In addition, I took pictures of his closet & laundry, and each time he has mostly dirty laundry. I actually had to ask someone to take his laundry once because he no clothes. Most of his clothes have gone missing & the majority of the clothes in his room are not his (some are women’s clothing). I’ve mentioned this several times and was told that it would be addressed. Nothing has changed. I’ve also complained before about his missing personal hygiene items & that the bathrooms are always dirty (the floors are incredibly sticky). Not once over the last 2.5 years have I been there has the floors been clean. I’ve mentioned this in emails (with photos) twice & it has never been addressed. I’ll also note that the Primary Care doctor that Brookdale insisted my dad use is also an issue. He told me that my dad’s urine screen had multiple bacteria flora so he could have cancer. I asked if he was sure & he said that it could also just be an infection, so he gave my dad antibiotics. I asked what I should do and he said nothing because my dad wouldn’t qualify for chemo anyway so why bother. That was particularly traumatic. My dad is paying over $100,000 a year to stay at Brookdale. As of the end of March 31, 2024, Brookdale reported annual revenue of $3,045,000,000. It’s shameful that Brookdale makes this much money off its residents while providing insufficient care.

We take your comments seriously and our Health and Wellness Director has reached out to further discuss.

My mother lived in the independent section of Brookdale Senior Living for over 8 years. The staff were loving and kind and took very good care of her. She was an active participant in their many activities, had friends there, and was generally very happy there. However, since she passed away in March, it has been a nightmare trying to get reimbursed for the time we paid for that she didn't use. Brookdale has used every excuse in the book not to send me (the executer of her will) a refund check paid to my mom. Just be aware of this if your aging parent is on hospice or terminally ill. Only pay step by step rather than a full amount if you can do so.

*******, I'm so sorry for loss and hope as time goes on things get a little easier for you and your family. Our records indicate the refund was issued on 5/6/24. On 5/14/24 you requested the refund to be made payable to you, rather than the estate of your mother, which was sent to our Legal dept. for review. On 5/20/24 you were notified via email that our Legal dept. denied the request. When a resident passes we're required to issue the refund to the estate of that resident and not a family member.

In response to Brookdale's answer to my review, I attempted to cash the check made to my mother's estate and the bank refused. Although they had 2 accounts in her name, they would not deposit it because it was made to her estate, not to her. I never asked Brookdale to make the check out to me. I requested they make it out to my mother instead of her estate. She did not have an estate account or a trust. Brookdale refused. However, they suggested I send my mother's will to them, which I did. They again said they couldn't help me because the will mentioned her "estate" (what will doesn't have the word "estate" in it?) They told me the only thing I could do was to fill out a small estate affidavit, if my state had one. I filled one out, had it notorized, and consulted my attorney. He suggested I take the affidavit to the bank and see if they would deposit the check and they did, although they said it could possibly be denied by the Feds. My attorney told me the only other thing I could do would be to set up an estate account, which would involve going through probate and paying much more money than the value of the Brookdale check. In this whole process I felt Brookdale did nothing to help me and were only interested in covering themselves legally. Literally, if my state did not have a small estate affidavit I would not have been able to deposit this check (money that belonged to my mother) and Brookdale would have kept the money. It makes me wonder how many other people have just given up and let Brookdale keep the money. I have now had many people in my life die, including my sister, my husband, my mother and my father and I have never had this problem.

My previous issue with Brookdale Senior Living has been totally resolved which I'm grateful. They are a wonderful facility and take excellent care of my husband. The staff is loving and caring and the food is amazing.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. Our staff is committed to providing the highest-quality service and care and we will share your feedback with our management team. Thank you

Once a quarter staff forget to order refills of medication. 2 times it has been for my father's pain medication which has caused him to go into withdrawal \and the response I get is "we called the doctor", "we called the pharmacy," "we don't know when it will get here." My father now sees a pain management specialist. I have no idea when that started, what he is providing/prescribing, I don't have his name, they can't tell me when he comes. They've told me he provides injections - of what, I don't know, it's not on his med list. Two weeks ago they added an additional medication but didn't tell me. I found out through my father (who has dementia) when he was convinced that they stopped his regular pain meds for this new one. There's been days I've been there and water to resident's rooms is shut off for hours. The staff were allowed to leave and go to the gas station next door to use the restroom. The residents were not. I happened to be there when a resident was asking and the head nurse told her, "I called maintenance, there's nothing else I can do. I don't know anything else." My father's AC broke on a Friday. The maintenance guy wanted to leave early and said he would fix it on Monday. We live in Florida, it was summer. I learned about this when my dad called and asked me to bring him a fan. We got there and it was over 80 degrees in his room and none of the staff knew that there was a problem, there was no after hours maintenance procedure/number to call. They said he could go sleep in the empty room next door that had AC. We refused to leave until it was dealt with. The maintenance man had to come back in, told us he couldn't fix it, after my husband threatened to call and report senior neglect they magically found a new AC unit and installed it. The new Health Service staff accosted me in the hall saying we needed to go over my father's annual review but is now saying we don't need to meet until May. -10/10 Stars, do not recommend.

We are aware our District Director of Operations and District Director of Clinical Services have reached out, and we appreciate you taking the time to speak with them about your concerns.

My uncle is a resident of Brookdale Hagerstown, MD. Last year the staff screwed up and didn't give him his meds for two days. As a result, he had behavioral issues and hit another resident. The former director of nursing, Dorothy, acknowledged that Brookdale messed up & mismanaged my uncles meds. She apologized and said it would not be held against him. There have been no other issues reported to the family, until this week, when the new director of nursing, Patti, called us claiming that my 76-year-old uncle who has Parkinson's disease and uses a walker, was accused of shoving and kicking a resident. I asked for video footage, witnesses, and incident reports to try to understand how this was physically possible. She was unable or unwilling to produce anything or investigate. Instead, she threatened me and said if I didn't agree to get a sitter for my uncle 12 hours a day that she would coordinate it and invoice me. This was after I explained to her that my uncles fiduciary had to approve his expenses. She didn't care. She also told another health care professional that if we didn't comply, she would simply dump my uncle at a nearby hospital and refuse to re-admit him back to the facility. When I complained to the executive director about this, they retaliated and increased the private duty companion from 12 hours a day to 24 hours a day for no apparent reason. Today I had to have the sheriff's office check on my uncles. The private duty nurse called to say that the executive director Kilan and nurse Patty forced my uncle who has dementia to sign a Notice to Vacate effective immediately letter. They refused to email me his POA a copy and instead for the cops they dropped it in the mail. I live out of state and will not receive it until next week. Protect your loved ones from this understaffed, unethical Goliath corporation that has previously been sued by their own shareholders!

We take your comments seriously and are committed to providing quality care and services to our residents and their families. Our management team has reviewed these concerns and we wish to assure you the safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority.

My Mom was a resident of Clare Bridge (memory care) for almost 3 years. The negatives she has experienced are as follows: 1. The level of care deteriorates over time, when in actuality, a more persistent level is needed. My Mom eventually contracted a UTI, no longer got out of bed, and then suffered from stage 2 and 3 bed sores (diagnosed at the hospital). Additionally, there is an apparent policy to not bring food to her room— I had to bring her food. 2. The Executive Director turnover is commonplace, not the exception. During the course of my mother’s stay, there have been a total of 4 in less than 3 full years. 3. Care conferences aren’t conducted as advertised (once every 3 months), much less when a change in level of care leads to an increase in the monthly fee. There was only one care conference updating the initial plan before the last one that was conducted shortly before she was sent to the hospital. 4. Other staff turnover (to include Health & Wellness Directors, nursing staff, etc.) is very high, leaving little to no consistency in care. 5. They can— and will — report you for financial exploitation if the bill is not paid. In turn, they can— and will — send the outstanding bill to collections in short order; and name you as the responsible party.

We take your comments seriously and are committed to providing quality care and services to our residents and their families. Our management team has reviewed these concerns and we wish to assure you the safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority.

I do not recommend this company to anyone who actually cares for their loved ones. Tawny the Director over the Maryville, TN location is completely rude and unprofessional to our family. Denying our family visitation rights to our loved one on hospice and being short with people over the phone when they're trying to find out how their grandparent is doing should be a criminal offense. But unfortunately it's our word against Brookdale's... and I highly question the moral and ethical practices of Brookdale Senior Living as an organization now.

The community will continue to honor the resident's requests. Thank you.