Brookdale West St. Paul Memory Care

When my mom moved in [date removed] Brookdale was not fancy but had a very homey and loving feel. The staff were excellent. Over the last 2 years it has deteriorated in every way. The quality of care really depends on who is working. They have been through at least 3 head nurses and countless care attendants. So are sweet and some are rude. Also there is definitely a training issue amongst staff. My mom passed away in [date removed] and by then the whole experience/care was deteriorating to a point that I would have wanted to move my mom but she was at the end of life. I would NOT recommend this place.

This place will never return phone calls and they don't take care of your loved ones! Needs to be shut down! BEWARE! They don't allow family access they have to be left in by staff they are severely under staffed. My mom went 6 months without a nail trim she had several falls and they refuse to give the incident reports. The m.e. has had several suspicious deaths from the same building. There have had several reports filed on them. They have not returned [removed]k from my mom's money when she died in August. I had staff there telling me that they were cruel to my mom when she was having an episode and the older lady that works there is mean. Don't put your loved one's here

Very friendly but some of the staff need more training. The buiding is older but most things are fixed within a few days. Smaller community, which is nice. They need more choices & variety on the food menu, less pork & some extra spices.

One of the things that I like about the memory care is that it is smaller and more like a home. The facilities are nice and they have activities daily for the residents. The activity director invites each resident to come to the activities daily which encourages my mom to go. The staff have been helpful and friendly. They take the residents out on outings.

My mom has been a resident of Brookdale memory care for a little over six months. When she first moved in things started out pretty well and she adjusted easily to the community. After some time I noticed she was losing a great deal of weight and I began showing up during meal times to observe what was going on. I noticed when she ate, she would only take a few bites of food and a couple sips of water During each meal. After the meal was over, the staff came and took her dishes full of food away. I discovered she had lost 33 pounds in only six weeks, and throughout this entire time, no one told me this was taking place. Now I am looking to move her to another facility, and even after several requests, Brookdale has not sent over the necessary paperwork. If your loved one needs a higher level of care, I would not recommend this place.

Some staff were trained pretty well but it seems like a big turn over of staff so some didn't know all they needed to care for my dad.

There has been a major turnover of staff positions over the last month here. The community does well at filtering in agency staff so it doesn't feel short staffed for the resident's care. There is also corporate staff that will come in to fill in for the senior staffing roles, and they are fantastic. Within the first three days of my loved one being in the community, the chef went and spoke my loved one to find out what they would like. The chef is available for the residents to speak to and give their thanks for the meals. One of the things I liked about Brookdale, is that on their Activities Calendar, they had a daily goal listed for each activity and this was impressive to me! The activities have a good variety for the residents to participate in.

1. Most of Staff is agency 2. 2 caregivers to 15-20 residents 3. Rooms are small 4. Management does not engage with the residents 5. meals are warmed up in the microwave 6. Sitting arrangements for meals 7. 1 choice for meals 8. Place is to small cost about [price removed]depending on care 9. High turnover 10. Staff is not paid well for their work 11. Resident care coordinator causes to much drama with the residents and staff Do not have your family member move here!!!

I liked it because it is a small facility, feels very homey. Seems to be a good fit for my husband.

Our experience has been very positive. Mom first moved into a Brookdale assisted living, but failed because she kept trying to leave. Brookdale worked with me and she was in a Brookdale memory care within 24 hours. She exhibited a lot of maladaptive behaviors at the start and for a while longer. They worked with physicians and got her medications adjusted and now she is basically behavior free and happy. They take care with basically all aspects of her life and I have no concerns about her care. Staff are always friendly and have great interactions with all of the individuals that live there.

I moved the love of my life to her new home on [date removed]. The reason our family decided on W. STP was the small family setting and the feeling of real love & care that was evident from day one. Over the past nearly 5 yrs, that has been a reality. Never for a moment has my bride not been loved or cared for, less than what I have done or would have done for 52 yrs. The staff there have all been loving & caring. I admit that there have been special caregivers sent from above, and many have left, but Brookdale always hired new special caregivers, so my wife has always had special care here. They always have high quality, truly caring & loving caregivers. Every time I've arrived, right away whoever meets me tells me how my bride is doing, what she's been up to, and what she is doing presently. The food is exceptional, and it is prepared to whatever the resident's needs are. I have always been made aware immediately of anything regarding her health & welfare. She is secure, safe & loved !

It is a small community which is an advantage.The other residents are delightful. It was recently updated. Hands on staff is good. Administration does not take responsibility for problems. We had issues getting things on a schedule when we moved in. We still do not have a care plan. Communication is poor. They have not had a steady activity director since she moved in. They give out a calendar but the activities don’t happen. Housekeeping is poor. Has potential to be a nice place but you really have to stay on top of things all the time. Administration has been better since the virus.

The only reason I give two stars is for the overworked direct care staff. They try very hard but are not given time to devote enough time to direct care. Imagine trying to watch 20 two year olds which is memory care and do cooking, cleaning, dishes and clean residents rooms. No wonder they can’t take care of people who need extra attention. They call family for help all the while they ask for more money for their care. Management is not communicative and the nursing staff is not friendly and don’t take time to even do body checks. My mother-in-law passed away in January,2019. I am glad we had hospice because I think her medical needs from the nursing staff would have been non existent. Never saw the nurse that whole week before my mother-in-law’s passing. Never checked how we were dealing with this and to this day have never offered any compassionate care.

While most of the staff at Brookdale are excellent, they are overworked, especially evenings and weekends. It’s a very lonely place for the residents, with not much activity taking place. The assisted living building has a very low census. There is usually one good meal a day(lunch), and breakfast and dinner are questionable. The evening staff must cook and serve the evening meal, clean the kitchen and dining room, then give medications and put the residents to bed. Brookdale is a for profit company, and nickle and dimes it’s residents.

My dad is here and this is for a short term stay so it is a good fit. The people here are super nice and attentive. There are only 13 people here and they don't have an activity director so the daily activities are limited. They have home cooked meals and they all sit at the table. They will clean my dads room 2x a week. They have a nice patio area. We may be transferring to a Brookdale in California which is great. I would recommend this community.

My sister lives here. The community is pretty good and she seems to like it because it’s a small community and there aren’t a lot of residents. Everything is very accessible to her as far as in getting around and the staff has been very nice. She doesn’t need a lot of care but they’re helpful in doing little things for her if she needs them to. The food is okay but they serve a lot of the same things and don’t offer much of a variety. They have a few activities available as well as morning exercise classes. The cleanliness is good, we haven’t had any issues, and housekeeping comes by daily to empty the waste baskets and vacuum. The only issue we’ve had is with the bookkeeper and our bills not matching up with their records. It is something we’re currently trying to work on though. Overall, I would recommend this place to others.