My mother moved to the Bethesda Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care, Fort Worth. The basic setup for most of the care facilities for memory care has the memory care unit farther to the back of the buildings that they're in, so that when visitors come in they check in the lobby, but then they have a long walk back to the area where the memory care patients are going to be. But at Bethesda, they have two separate units, the assisted living in one section and the memory care unit in the other. To access, you go in the lobby, you check in, you go through one set of doors and all of the people are right there very close by. So you don't have to walk through a lot of other people and disturb a lot of the people to get to the person you want to visit. The staff has been very helpful from the first time I walked in just to look around, to getting me the information I needed about the facilities, prices, and what services they offer. The staff has been more than helpful in everything that we needed to do. Unfortunately, when we moved my mother in it was raining, and so they allowed us to bring all of the stuff in and put it in the lobby for a minute while we kind of did a relay of old boxes and stuff back to her room to get everything set up for her. So they have accommodated us in everything that we asked them to do. They were always upfront with everything. "This is how we do things. This is what you need to do." And they walk you through everything so there's no confusion. It took a little while for Mom to let them start helping her do stuff, and so they've been giving her books to read, puzzles, and stuff like that to do. They've been very accommodating as far as getting that done. She's a little difficult to work with to say the least, but they have managed to do quite well with it. They have very clean facilities, they're bright and sunny, and everything seems open. They seem to be doing everything they need to to provide an upbeat atmosphere for their clients, and everybody seems to want to take advantage of the fact that it's spacious. They have plenty of room to move so you can go and do whatever it is you would like to do. I found two facilities that were less per month as far as the cost goes, but they didn't have all of the things in the facilities that Bethesda had. But it was like their price per month was kind of a bargain, while at Bethesda, you get a fair price for the quality of what you're getting. They may not be the cheapest, but they are the best value per dollar.

My father has settled into Bethesda Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care. It's very clean and inviting. The staff is very friendly and attentive. He said the food is not hot enough. They offer a trivia club, they're doing an Alzheimer's walk today, and other than that, I'm not aware of any other activities. I believe we're getting what we're paying for.

What my daughter and I learned is you have to know who's running the show at these facilities--at all times, because it fluctuates! Although we felt my husband's care was good when he first began his residence there in January, by late February it had become obvious that, with many personnel changes (memory care director, marketing director, med aide, nurse, and primary attendants) also came a deterioration in his care. If your loved one has any behavioral issues (as my husband did), this might not be the right facility for them. Their practice with my husband between late February and May 2020 was to immediately administer strong psychiatric meds and STILL send him to an ER--where the ER doctor would ask me why they had sent him as he would be perfectly calm long before he even arrived at the hospital and therefore NO need for him to have gone there. (So even though the price of Bethesda compared to some is on the low side, beware of unnecessary additional hospital bills!) In addition, there were times that he was obviously overmedicated (we popped in unexpectedly regularly on weekends and on evenings) and eventually learned that he was often receiving medications at different dosages than what had been prescribed and/or PRN meds were being given routinely at night even when there was no documentation as to the need. (Insist on receiving MAR reports which show which of the med aides and/or nurse and/or memory care director are responsible for doing so.) He was often not clean and they would leave him in the same pull-up all day. We witnessed wheelchair residents lying on the floor at times where we had to locate an attendant to get help as they often appeared to be nowhere in sight. Other times, we witnessed a "caregiver" yelling at a resident she wasn't apparently very fond of. It is our understanding that this facility is currently under State investigation for several complaints. Check out ANY facility you're considering for your loved one with a fine-tooth comb. If you see any red flags, continue searching for the best possible location. Best of luck to you.

I chose Bethesda Gardens Memory Care for my mother because it has inclusive care. There's no care rating, so it's an all-inclusive fee. They seem to have good and friendly staff members, and my mother likes the activities. Food is a big thing, especially in the assisted living portion, although it's not as diverse in the memory care since it's a smaller operation. It all appears to be good, and it's as good as any place can get. Overall, we're pretty pleased. They have games, they watch movies with popcorn, and there's a little bit of dancing that I have seen. There's not as many activities as the assisted living section because it's a different population.