The Bristal at Lake Success

My wife was transferred to Bristal from another Memory-care organization. The best decision i ever made. If I was aware of this facility it would have been my first choice. Place is clean, spacious and staff very friendly and helpful.

The Bristal does a very solid and competent job. The Activities director [name removed] is a gem.

The room options are great-each with their own private bathroom whether you are in a private room or share a suite. Big windows and very comfortable. The staff demonstrates that they truly care for my mother or any resident at the Bristal. They always show her respect and love and my mother constantly praises them. The activities vary and my mother participates in everything! She is never bored and hardly in her room which is one of the best aspects of the Bristal. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is beautiful. It is truly a home for her!

Our mother was in The Bristal at Lake Success for 3 years. The facility was first class in all regards. The building was always clean, the meals beautifully prepared, and the staff was professional and caring. The room was well appointed and comfortable. The staff kept the family informed of all situations and was always available for consultations. We experienced only minor glitches, for example lost laundry items and not a great beauty salon. Although the Bristal is costly, the adage “ you get what you pay for” applies. This memory care facility is operating at the highest level of care.

I could not have been more pleased with the people and the quality of the Bristal experience. Although my father passed away after less than 3 months there, they have earned my deep respect.

My mother is a resident at the Bristol Memory Care Assisted Living. In Lake Success I have never seen a more compassionate staff ,each resident is always addressed by their first name and everyone is always clean and neat.The facility is just beautiful and spotless,the bedrooms are spacious and light filled. The staff (including the administrative staff)is responsive to any questions I think the best recommendation is from my mother who only has good things to say about her experience and is always happy to go back after an outing with us. When we speak about the food she will tell us how good it is and if there is something on the menu that she doesn’t care for there is always an additional option to choose from. I will always be grateful to the staff for helping to make my mother happy in her home.

The facility has no systems or policies in place to assure services are rendered as promised. The turnover of staff in every department over the past three years has been astounding (activities, wellness, administration, maintenance). Past employees all blame administration. Medications ordered by doctors aren't given regularly and reliably. Wellness has lost medications on several occasions, medical charts are adjusted not to reflect missed medications, and families aren't notified when residents have missed medications. A large part of this is due to the extreme high turnover of staff. [Name removed], the executive director changed company rules in Jan 2019- she won't provide receipts when families bring in over the counter sealed medications, which doctors have said families are allowed to supply. She knows that wellness department is likely to lose them. Calls from doctors’ offices and hospitals to the wellness department aren't answered and not returned. Most of the time, the wellness department doesn't answer the phone when called. The current executive director, [name removed], also refuses to have an answering machine for the Wellness Department, and her regional manager (Winsome Bent, [name removed]'s older cousin, who is supposed to oversee the facility) has repeatedly stated that “it takes at least 5 years to get a facility running as it should, they know they have unresolved issues". Therefore, current residents and families are subject to a mis-managed, un-experienced staff who aren't given the resources needed to do their job correctly. When you go to the owners - Engel Berman Group in Garden City, NY and you explain to them the issues - their answer is "we're developers, Ultimate Care Management deals with the day to day operations, we don't care how well or not well they do it ". Tape recordings and video evidence of these facts will be posted soon to YouTube. As seen in the picture - "The Gym/Fitness room" - to prospective residents/family, they claim that they have fitness activities here. After residents move in and start paying $10,000 a month, they find out they don't have access to it. It's only for use by Northwell's Feinstein Institute Research projects, which are narrowly selected studies for short periods of time. As seen in the picture - the Bus - They haven't had a steady driver in three years and no one is in training. Weekly bus trips they put on the calendar are fabricated and don't happen. The three that did occur over the past three years – 1) They went to view Christmas lights at noon in mid-December. They couldn’t see anything because it was a bright sunny day 2) They went to an apple picking farm, when they arrived the farm was closed. The recreation director and staff didn’t call ahead 3) Shopping at Walmart – the two staff members allowed the one resident to purchase a large bottle of Tylenol and alcohol which she wasn’t allowed to have. You would think that they would tell the resident they couldn’t purchase it, but by their lack of action, they show that they don’t provide proper care. The “Wall Street Room” an open, non-locked, non-supervised computer room - it's a tremendous vulnerability to dementia and Alzheimer residents. This was put in by the Engel Berman Developers with no thought given for the personal and financial safety of memory care residents. Several psychiatrists called the facility regarding the risks of it, but the administration chooses ignore it. They don't use or incorporate it for any "therapy" or activities. They consistently mis-represent and fail to deliver on the care and activities they provide residents.

The Bristal was my moms home and we were very pleased with the service n care she received there. She was always well taken care of..clean n fed and rested. But beyond her basic needs she also was stimulated with the activities. The staff built relationships with her and truly cared for my mom. She laughed with the staff and sang songs and enjoyed the company of the residents. I was welcome to visit anytime and I did visit often. The administrative staff were very responsive and supportive. The nurses were skilled and very kind. We have a very positive experience at the Bristal!

This has been a really great community for our mother. She was one of the first people in this new facility and the staff has been caring and generally excellent the whole time. She even likes the food!

all good care and activites-- sometimes its hard to get in touch wit the people in charge to get an update about Mom.

The place is nice, but we just heard [name removed] the Rec Director is leaving. She is the best and we love her. Not sure how mom will do once she leaves. Find a way to keep her.

Just heard that the Recreation Director is leaving this Bristal. My family loved [name removed] who took such great care of our mother. I can't believe they are letting her go. She was the only bright star in that place. So sad!

They have messed up my uncle's medications 5 times. I can never reach the wellness department and they don't have a voicemail for me to leave them a message. They also don't do the outdoor activities that they advertise. The trips they do take are to Dunkin Donuts or the pizzeria down the street (which they have to pay extra for). They couldn't find a bus driver for over a year so the bus sat out in the parking lot, unable to be used by residents who pay over $10,000 a month to live there.

When I had the tour here I liked it and I thought it was better. I would like to go there myself! However, it was going to cost my loved one much, much more over the year. The representative was wonderful and I enjoyed her.

When the Bristal at Lake Success opened, I knew it was the perfect place for my mother. I had been looking at facilities for 2 years and I couldn't move my mother from her beautiful home to a one bedroom with a hallway and a dining room. All the memory care facilities I had looked at had a depressing feeling to them. The Bristal is clean, beautiful and professionally run. My mother feels like she's in a 5 -star hotel. The staff is very nice and there's a lot of space to live . I feel that my mother is well taken care of there. I can finally sleep at night!

My mother has memory loss. She has been at the Bristal for several months now and is well taken care of there. The staff is both friendly and professional. The facility is beautiful and, clean. The atmosphere is like a luxury hotel and there is absolutely no institutional feel at all. The staff makes a real effort to keep the residents active. Anyone gets agitated, the staff does there best to make them feel better and help them get over whatever is bothering the resident. The staff makes an effort to get residents together to establish friendships. If you have a relative with memory loss, this is the absolute best facility that I have seen. My mother is very comfortable here. I would not allow her to stay in a bad facility.

The staff here at this community are good. The community is clean and maintained The meals are very good and a nice variety. They offer activities to the residents to participate when possible. This is a great place for care and value for loved ones to live and I would recommend this community to others.

My mother moved in to The Bristal 5 weeks ago & our family couldn't be more pleased with this move. She began her journey on Oct.1 at The Bristal at North Hills living in a 2 bedroom apartment with my father in the assisted living side. Unfortunately, my mom suffered a stroke in December & my dad was hospitalized shortly after. Dad passed away in January & mom went from rehab to the memory care unit at North Hills. It was an extremely difficult time for our family. We made the decision to move her from North Hills to Lake Success as we felt our mother would benefit from a change of scenery. All her children felt the same. We also loved the fact that this facility was strictly dedicated to memory care. We definitely made the right decision. Since the move my mother's spirits couldn't be better. She's referring to some of the women as her friends, & I have the feeling that she feels like she's in a beautiful hotel. I can't say enough about the staff, the activities ...it's all been terrific. I'm also pleased that The Bristal has partnered with the Feinstein Institute/Northwell Health to do a study on dementia, that my mother is participating in. This will then avail her of other therapies (dance, strength training ). Our entire family gives The Bristal our highest praise. We feel fortunate that there is such a facility on LI that worked with this population.

We had wanted to keep my father at home with my mother with the help of aides, but as dad’s Alzheimer’s advanced it became increasingly evident that this was an unrealistic option. After meeting with [Removed]. at The Bristal at Lake Success, we realized that there was an opportunity for dad to have a better quality of life. Since becoming a resident at The Bristal, we have noticed some amazing changes as my father has become much more verbal and we see that he enjoys engaging in activities that stimulate and encourage group participation. My father appears to be much calmer and when he does have moments in which he is stressed or angry, the staff are quite skilled in redirecting attention. Residents are treated with respect and are cared for by the entire staff. Every member of the staff knows and greets my father by name which always brings a smile to his face. The facility is beautifully laid out and have a very welcoming feel. Resident apartments are extremely clean and well maintained. Although in less than a month, the Bristal has far-exceeded my expectations.