Atria Lynbrook

It's hard for me to write this review because I am such a big fan of Atria and so many of it's communities, and I typically have only have wonderful things to say about their communities but Atria Lynbrook is a community that I have multiple concerns with. I have had many families and residents complain about the way they are treated, and while I know there are absolutely wonderful staff members, there are some that do not interact well with the residents at all. I have seen several incidents of staff members treating the residents poorly, but I have been informed of many, many more. I have heard that these staff members will be rude to the residents, impatient, snide. I have been told the staff members will say hurtful things to the residents or make the residents feel like they are a bother or an inconvenience. I have also been told that when the staff members aren't being verbally mean to the residents that they will just flat out ignore them. I have personally seen one incident of a resident being ignored. A resident, new to the community, walked up to a staff member and began to say that she needed something and asked the staff member if she could help her. The staff member looked at the resident and then just walked away - without saying a word! I felt so awful for the resident who was just standing there trying to process what had just happened. I walked up to the resident to see if I could help her find a staff member who could help her with her request. She said she was just wanting to see where she could go to find a cup of tea. I told her that I would be happy to show her. We went in to one of the common areas and found a couple of seats and then I went to get us some tea. I don't even like tea, but after what had just happened to her I wanted to make her feel comfortable. Here she was, a lady who was new to the facility, new to senior living altogether just trying to find her footing and trying to figure out what to do next, how to be come comfortable and secure and happy in her new found life and the reception she gets is being ignored by a staff member who is supposed to make her feel accepted and welcome. I was furious with the situation. I brought her the tea and her entire face just lit up, like the answer to her happiness was in that cup of tea. We sat and talked for a good hour about the community, the residents, the staff. I told her that there were some wonderful staff members in the facility and those are the staff members to lean on, About half way through our conversation a couple of other female residents sat joined us and they introduced themselves to the residents and they began telling her about all of the wonderful things Atria has to offer, all of the exciting experiences. They also talked with her about the not-so-good stuff such as the poor treatment from some of the staff and the advice they gave her was very appropriate for what she had just gone through with the staff member. They told her not to take it personally, that it had NOTHING to do with her, they told her that those staff members act that way to all of the residents. They told her that there are many great staff members to go to for help and that they would show her. They said for her to do what they do - just ignore the staff members who are rude to them. I had to jump in at that point to let them know that they have more options than just "putting up with it" and ignoring the behavior. Then they began talking to the resident and getting to know her and they were laughing together and talking and I realized in that moment that the resident would be just fine - she had found friends. I saw the 3 of them a little later as I was getting ready to leave the facility - they were all having lunch together. The resident looked very happy, which of course, made me very happy.

Sometimes it boggles me as to why the staff members who treat the residents this way are still getting away with treating the residents this way. Many of the families who complain to me about the care and treatment by some of the staff also tell me that they have told management - so I KNOW that a lot of noise has been made regarding the situation, so the management team IS aware of the issues at hand, so why then is it still an issue? It really confuses me because it seems like Atria always hires very quality staff members for their communities, so I am not sure what happened in this community and I again am not sure why they aren't doing a thing about it, and if by chance they are tending to the issue, I have not seen any improvements in any of my last few visits. I want the residents to be able to go to ANY of the staff members for assistance and not have to worry about being ignored or treated rudely. I want them to be able depended on every staff member for support and I don't think that is asking for too much.