Brookdale Vestal West

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF AND AVOID THIS FACILITY!! Our parent has been here for over 6 months and they have had 2 new Administrators within 3 months. They were bought out 2 years ago - used to be Emeritus at Woodland Place (and it was a good facility according to the professionals I work with) but many issues have been caused by the corporate buyout, but most importantly, the staff and aides that work here do not care about the residents AT ALL. We have had several family members visit each week on a regular basis and have seen too many atrocities to mention to us and others. Residents are left on their own to eat, not engaged, are not attended to when they have "accidents" and the aides are not trained at all no matter what Brookdale may tell you. They are incompetent. We are in the process of looking for another facility for our parent and unfortunately can't have them live with us as we work long hours and have no one else to assist. I cannot think of one good thing to say about Vestal West... they overcharge for everything and "borrow" items from one resident to another (without replacing), claim to launder each residents clothes separately (but they do not) they lose clothes or they wind up with others. The food is consistently very poor quality and never the correct temperature. It seems they open cans and pour it on the plates. Generally people with dementia need assistance or encouraging with eating. I personally watched 4 or 5 residents during dinner trying to fit a piece of food into their mouths that should have been cut for them. Even worse was there were two aides sitting in the same room at their own table chatting and laughing. I asked if they could help, but they said they were not "assigned" to any of them. It was so pathetic that I got up to help them. When I went to find management, no one was around. Utterly impossible to believe - or even witness, but all true. I saw a woman sitting on the couch with a big wet stain around her and her pants completely wet. Her friend went to find someone to assist, and again passed an aide who said she wasn't assigned to the woman. The receptionist just looked at her with a blank stare. There was no one to help this poor woman except for her friend! When she took her back to her room, a few minutes later a man walked over and sat on the same couch with the wet spot! No one did a thing. I went looking for any one of authority and to no avail. It was 5pm on a weekend and there wasn't a manager on duty. I could not believe some of these stories months ago, but now witnessing firsthand there should be someone from the state stepping in. This facility demonstrates the worst in class. We are so worried about our parent that we hired companions to come in to cover times we can't be there. If I could rate Brookdale with a negative number, I would. Please do not be fooled by their sales pitch. It's the only time you will see someone watching over things, during a tour -- and when the Administrator is the one cleaning something, who is doing her job? Corporate needs to come here in a big way and wipe the slate and replace everyone here (again). Not sure even that will help since they have attempted to improve this place since they took over. They do not know what they are doing and it is very scary. Please save a life and do not subject anyone you care about to this toxic environment.

Although my loved one has only been here a short time our experience has been a very good one, so far! The facility is clean and well kept, and the place just has a warm homey feel. The food is good, and the dining room is well decorated and pleasant. I also like that they'll take the residents out on field trips and seasonal events!

Overall I think they do a good job at Emeritus at Woodland Place. The staff here are friendly and professional, and they keep a very watchful eye on the residents.They really go out of their way to make sure everyone who lives here, and who visits, feels welcome.

My experience with Emeritus at Woodland Place has been a very positive one. I do have a bit of a unique situation where there is some mail that arrives there that they have to get to me, and sometimes it takes little longer than I think it should, but I always do get it, and that is really the only area I can even think of where I am not 100% satisfied. It has been a very pleasant experience at a wonderful facility with very nice friendly caring staff.

My father has only been at Woodland Place for a little more than a week. So far, he seems to really like it. The care givers, and all employees have been very nice. The transition to this new facility was virtually painless. He was a little confused the first day, but after that, he seemed to fit right in. Molly Bronsberg from A Place for Mom was a great help. We knew our dad was ready for the next step, but weren't sure where to start. Within two hours of speaking to her, I received several phone calls and emails from different memory care facilities (some called too many times). She is perfect for her job - and always answered my questions, and accepted my feedback, both good and bad from facilities that we visited.

We thought the facility was very expensive and didn't care for the living quarters. None of the residents interacted with us and although we understood the focus was Alzheimer care, the locked doors seemed confining for Mom's current awareness.

Visited on 7/11. Extremely well managed, clean and organized facility. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Welcoming environment with many amenities. Met with Diane R, very informative with extensive community involvement and outreach programs. Like the 8:1 resident to staff ratio. Pet friendly is a big plus. Expect to visit again with potential resident this weekend or next week.