If You Have Somewhere Else to Go To, Go There Before Clarendale of Addison We moved our Dad into the memory care unit at Clarendale in late March 2021. Our initial experience was positive. The Director of Sales was very helpful and responsive as we went through the procedures up to and through move-in day. Communications after this time deteriorated. Before moving our Dad to Clarendale, he lived in his home with 24/7 caregivers and was independently mobile, ate 3 meals a day, and weighed 168 pounds (he is 6 feet tall). When he was weighed in May he had lost 20 pounds. This was a cause of alarm and the nurse suggested he start drinking Ensure and we agreed. We were under the impression that Ensure was provided by Clarendale as we were not told we were supposed to provide it. Two weeks later my sister asked the nurse if our Dad was drinking the Ensure – that is when we found out we needed to provide it, which we did. The staff had difficulty keeping his dentures secured, thus making it hard for him to eat. When asked to supply more denture adhesive, my sister did. When it was still difficult for him to eat, the staff suggested that they remove his dentures while he ate. We agreed. It was during that time that our Dad’s dentures went missing. When my sister visited our Dad on Father’s Day she noticed that he didn't have his dentures in. She asked, and the response was they thought she had taken the dentures, which she didn't. His dentures were missing and the staff could not find them or determine what happened to them. Later in July the Executive Director stated that we never provided the proper adhesive and they could not be responsible for lost items. One time it was suggested that our Dad threw them out, but he was unable to get to a garbage can by himself. Per the Executive Director, as a courtesy and an extension of goodwill, she was willing to credit his billing statement $200. His new replacement dentures cost $4000. By this time our Dad had lost more weight and was unable to walk. During another visit when our Dad was being helped out of his chair to be put in his wheelchair, his pants fell off of him because of the extreme weight loss. By June 29 he weighed 136 pounds. On July 9, my sister was called about an added medicine and was asked if anyone had called to tell her that our Dad had fallen 2 days earlier. No one had called. By July 15, my sister received a phone call from a doctor, who sees residents at Clarendale, saying our Dad needed to be put into Hospice, as he only had about 6 months to live. It wasn’t until then that Clarendale “sounded the alarm” and told us he should be in Hospice and that they could not care for him anymore unless we hired a one-on-one. We were shocked that no one had suggested some action earlier to perhaps stop the weight loss. Our Dad seemed to be slowly dying from starvation. His condition was so much different in March. Throughout this time, it was very difficult to get our calls answered. We called the Director of Health Services several times, with no response until we followed up. Overall the communication after admission was poor. We ended up getting a second medical opinion and moved our Dad out of Clarendale (at 122 pounds) to the VA, then into skilled nursing. His blood work upon admission at the VA showed that one of his medications was low/not at the therapeutic level it should have been. When My sister moved his belongings out of Clarendale, she found his clothes and bedding had not been washed. He has been at the new facility for about a month. He can now feed himself, is more alert, and has even gained a few pounds. We highly recommend that people think twice about sending their loved one to Clarendale of Addison, especially if they have dementia and are unable to speak up for themselves.

The memory care service is outstanding at Clarendale. The director takes great care of my mother in law, she is always involved in fun activities in memory care, when she was at home all she did was watch TV by herself. I’m so glad to see her thriving, the director sends us pictures of her weekly, as well as updates on what they are doing. The layout of the unit looks and feels like a home which is comforting to us because we had reservation about moving her. We can not wait until the lockdown is over so we can go see her in person and enjoy the patio! I love that they have a Facebook page so we can see all of the memory care daily fun.