Westlake Woods

I have been a resident at Westlake Woods for 4 months. The staff tries to be responsive to resident needs and unplanned absences and turnover have a demise impact on that.

The staff is friendly and the facility is clean. The activities program is very nice as it requires a big effort to provide entertainment, field trips and coordination to move groups of residents about! My biggest issue is with lack of training for staff, lack of pay for the staff and the management lack of respect for the workers who have a very difficult job caring for their elderly residents. I see the level of effort needed to meet the clients needs yet there is a revolving door with staff. Pay is surprisingly low, training is virtually non existent and the management seems to be very adversarial towards the staff. The bulk of the staff I have seen were great and very hard working.. to the point of overworked. If the management would invest in a longer training period for the aides and offer a tiered reward system of bonus pay based on how long they work there ( with performance reviews of course) your residents will benefit from better care and familiar faces instead of an ever changing cast of mediocrity. Your facility is for “profit” so reinvest a bit of that profit in your staff. It’s money well spent! After the staff is the face of your business!

Pros: -Nice location -Lunch outings for residents -Well decorated -Private rooms Cons: -WLW accepts residents beyond the “assisted living” level of care while employing uncertified care staff. -Staff ususally only receives 3 days of on the job training prior to being given their own assignment. -Routinely short staffed and as a result the resident care suffers. -Third shift works with just a single aide and nurse rather frequently. -Very high turnover rate-higher than most other facilities.

My loved one had been staying at this community, even after her care needs had advanced beyond what they could provide. Now that we've seen what a real memory care facility can provide we know that they were not equipped to deal with her needs, even though they said they were. This place was very clean, and we had some good experience with the staff, but the care was not what we were looking for. There also were not very many activities.

My mother has lived here for over 2 years. My brother and I are both out of state, so we cannot handle issues on a daily basis and need to feel comfortable with the care she gets. Westlake Woods has definitely met (and exceeded) my expectations! The staff is very caring and go above and beyond ...as an example, during the holidays one staffer came in on her day off to decorate the doors of the residents who had not done so themselves. In addition to taking good care of Mom, they have helped make my life easier by purchasing supplies for her between my visits and arranging for routine healthcare services, including transportation and escorts. We had a less-than-satisfactory experience with another facility in Erie prior to finding WW...what a difference a good facility makes for both the resident and the family!