Jocelyn Lem
1/5
When our mother moved into this facility over four years ago, it was a nice place. The director's name was Shawn who ran the place with care, not afraid to get his hands dirty. As many assisted living facilities are lacking in staff, it would not be uncommon to find Shawn helping in the dining hall, cleaning the common areas, or answering calls from residents for help in their apartments. Three years later, Shawn was dismissed (or voluntarily left -- families were never told what happened) and a new director, Anna Reddy, replaced him. Things went terribly downhill from there. Residents never were formally introduced to the director and even a year later most did not know what she looked like. Brookdale San Ramon went from decent to deplorable quickly. Many long-time staff members were let go and replaced with staff the new director brought in. At no time were new staff members introduced to residents, as the previous director did on a regular basis. Twice, our mother woke up to strangers in her bedroom announcing they had to check her vitals. Our mother was so frightened as she had never met these male caregivers before. A new housekeeper joined the staff and the halls became visibly dirty, not being vacuumed regularly. Additionally, minimal effort was made in cleaning the apartments. Our mother, as well as family, felt left in the dark during the COVID lockdowns, with no regular updates provided nor clear direction of COVID procedures (e.g, quarantine rules, visitation, etc.). The dining hall was closed to limit human contact and meals were instead delivered to each apartment. Several times, our mother was forgotten and not delivered a meal, forcing her to call the caregivers to remind them she hadn't been provided any meals. Three times our mother fell in her apartment activating her ALERT with no response. Fortunately, they were not serious falls but our 89- year old mother was on the floor helpless, and had to crawl to the phone to call for help. The third time, no one answered her calls, so she had to contact my sister to call the facility. Once my sister was able to reach someone, the staff replied that "everyone was on break." We finally decided to move our mother to a new facility due to the deterioration of care and cleanliness. I communicated with the director and accountant several times giving them notice of our intention to move our mother at the end of the month and to cease any automatic withdrawals from our mother's bank account for the monthly rent. The end of the month was not a full 30 days, but I inquired about any procedures or requirements for the move. The director only instructed us to give her 48 hours notice if we were planning to access her apartment to pack. At no time did she state that a full 30-day notice was required . During the last week of our mother's residency, several meals were not provided and caregivers neglected to check on her for days at a time. When our mother called for a caregiver, they told us that they were told by management that our mother moved out already. When we finally moved her to her new facility in April, a week later $5K was taken from her bank account by Brookdale. I contacted Brookdale immediately and spoke with the accountant reminding him of my emails three weeks ago directing them to stop automatic withdrawals. He replied that he knew of my instruction but was told by the director to make the withdrawal. Additionally, he said we would receive a refund check in the mail. He added "I don't know if you were told but I was instructed to withhold an additional $1600 from your mother's refund check." I was shocked and upset and asked what the $1600 charge was for and why wasn't I advised when I gave notice of the move. He replied that he was surprised the director did not tell us, but we did not give the full 30-day notice required so the $1600 would be withheld. I made several complaints to the regional manager, but unfortunately Anna Reddy remains the director at Brookdale San Ramon.
