Brookdale Foundation House was a nice place. There are options for a studio type, one-bedroom, and two bedroom. The tour was very informative, especially for a person like me that has never taken a person to a senior home before. It's very informative to know all the options and what to expect for payments for other services like giving medication, or giving a bath. I visited the memory care area, and they have games and music time. The lobby was very spacious for the seniors to walk around, listen to music, and sit by the fireplace. It's a very nice facility.

We visited Brookdale Foundation House. In comparison to the place we chose, it wasn't as new of a building. The memory care wing felt kind of dark and cramped to me, maybe it just wasn't as open. The employees were very nice. I didn't see many activities and amenities in comparison, except they had a spa-type area. It seemed to me that a couple of areas were in disrepair, but it was clean. It's located near a hospital.

Brookdale Foundation House was the first community I've toured, so I didn't know what to expect. It's a nice facility and everything. I just think that it's too far away. The traffic conditions to get there for me, particularly during the busy times of the day, would be an issue for me. If I was closer, I would certainly consider it more. I think they have a pretty good program for their dementia patients as far as stimulating them, their minds, and stuff and keeping them active. It's very clean, very orderly, spacious for people to get around on their own in the memory care unit and things that just kind of help them trigger their brain activity and stuff. People seemed to be nice there. I visited the memory care units because my husband has dementia so that would be important to me. They do arts and crafts and things like I think most of them do. They also have these things on the walls that are kind of touchpoints for those that have dementia. Like they have a desk that's out there with boxes where you can put envelopes and things and move things around and little things on the wall that you can turn like doorknobs or just those kinds of tactile kinds of things that might cue thoughts within them and kind of stimulate them a little bit. I don't know how to describe it. You almost have to watch it. They have a garden there where they can get out and walk around and do different kinds of activities for them. Some can do cooking classes and some do other things. The staff just showed me around and explained how they did things for the residents and what the activities were in their own little bedrooms or how they could interact with other people. They had their own area that they were pretty much free to roam in if they wanted to be with people, they had social areas for that. They had a big kitchen cafeteria area where they could go and do activities there if they wanted to.

I think Brookdale Foundation House takes very good care of my mother-in-law. Even though she has dementia, she still has some ability to get dressed and use the restroom. The things she needs assistance with, I think the staff was attentive to that and they were friendly. Food is good. Communication, overall, is good as well when there's an issue with my mother-in-law. They make sure to reach out to my husband so he's aware. There's a couple of dining rooms, and I've only been into one. It was a very, very pretty, and very elegant looking. The lighting was sufficient, just decorated very nicely. It was clean. They have a beauty parlor, a library, and someone who comes in to do foot care, so it's really nice. The rooms are very nice too. When my mother-in-law first went there, she was in the assisted living where she had a nice and good sized one-bedroom. When she moved to memory care, it's a little bit more studio-like. I don't care for it as much, but I think that's kind of the nature of the unit that she's on. I would say they're very nice, and the place is kept up very well. However, for the care she is getting (which isn't a huge amount), it's pretty expensive.

My Mom lived at Brookdale Foundation House for a little over two years. She started as independent living, then we changed her to assisted living and in July 2020 we moved her to their memory care area called "Clare Bridge". Mom's dementia got worse due to the isolation from covid. When we moved her from her assisted living room to her memory care room, her room was very dirty, with mold growing in glasses in her sink, about a dozen meal boxes that had been delivered to her because of covid were uneaten, smelly and some had mold, bags of cat feces from her cat were in her food pantry and more. I had thought that with assisted living, my Mom was receiving much better care, but since I could not see her because of covid, I never knew. My Mom was in much worse condition than when I had last ween her in February of 2020. I was worried about her care in Clare Bridge, especially since I was unable to check on her due to covid. I asked over and over again, how was she, and what activities was she doing, and I got short answers like "fine". I visited her outside in the cold in the winter, but it was hard to tell how she was doing with these short visits. Finally in March 2021, I was allowed to have inside visits in her area. They brought me to a conference room and we sat at a dirty table (like someone had a messy lunch earlier) and we had a nice visit. I noticed my Mom seemed unshowered and her finger nails were very long, very ragged, chipped and sharp. My Mom had to go to the bathroom right away, so I followed her to her room so she could go. There I found them changing her bed, and one gal told me that her bed was soaked with urine. Her room reeked with urine and a window was open to let fresh cold air in. I had no idea my Mom's mattress was wet or there had been a problem, until two days earlier they had asked me to bring a waterproof mattress cover. Their solution was to cover the wet smelly mattress with a mattress cover. I wondered, what else is going on here. I decided to get my Mom out of there and I moved her to an adult family home a couple of weeks ago. When my husband and I were moving my Mom's things, we found her mattress AND boxspring soaked with urine, her loveseat soaked with urine, her room reeked, her shower was filthy, my Mom was wet with urine, her clothes in her closet were wet with urine, 3 out of the 4 light bulbs in her bathroom were burned out, her floors were filthy. I was shocked, angry and upset that my Mom was living in these conditions for 9 months. My Mom immediately had a doctor appointment, and she had a raging UTI. Since she is on antibiotics for the UTI, her dementia is much better now. Mom lost 20 pounds this past year too. I tried and tried to talk with staff to see what my Mom needed, how she was doing, updates, and they never had any time to really answer my questions, and they were always full of excuses. I think they are understaffed and undertrained. I feel so sorry for the others who are living there. This is terrible. I am so glad I moved my Mom to a new place. She is clean, kept dry, does activities, watches television, is having her UTI taken care of and looked after better, eating better meals and she is so much happier. I feel terrible that my Mom had to endure poor care for this past year of isolation in her room all alone. Several times I mentioned that an email and a photo once a month telling me how my Mom was doing would be nice. Texting a photo would be nice. I asked over a dozen times for a Christmas photo of my Mom and I never got one. Our outside visits could have had a heater, flowers on the table, blankets to cuddle up with, a tablecloth, anything better than a cold plastic table. They did the absolute minimum as far as I could tell. I have so many friends with parents in senior homes and I heard such good stories of what was going on at other places. The turnover rate of the help in Clare Bridge/Brookdale was high.