Parkrose Chateau

There were a few red flags that flew up during my visit, it's a new facility for me, so I was unsure of what I would see or would take place. When I walked in, I was immediately greeted by a very friendly staff member. She had a warm and welcoming smile, the kind of smile that can instantly settle nerves, which is an excellent quality for someone working in a senior living community to have, I am sure she has helped many residents. Anyways, she was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction. Off to a great start. Of so I thought...

Whenever I visit a facility for the first time, the first thing I do is explore the facility itself, I look for saftey hazards, unsanitary conditions, defective or broken items, things that could cause potentially cause a resident injury, illness, or undue stress/frustration. The thing that was very evident and remained the same in every area of the facility was how dirty it was. There was dust, spills, dirty carpet and flooring, there were areas that smelled like foul body odor and urine, the walls were filthy, the furniture including the dining room tables and chairs were also dirty. Believe me, I do not walk through facilities with a while glove or deduct points for a speck of dust, I am not looking for perfection - just sanitary living conditions and Parkrose first needs a thorough floor to ceiling cleaning, then all they have to do is keep it that way. The residents apartments were just as bad, I spoke with one resident who told me that she cleans her own apartment because the staff who are supposed to clean it, don't.

Another issue that I witnessed a few times throughout my first visit was how some of the staff treated the residents, I heard a lot of negativity and complaining coming from the staff. I heard one staff member tell a resident that if he asked her the same question one more time she was going to lose it. Well, I about lost it myself. The residents are living in assisted living because they need assistance, they can no longer live on their own, maybe they are becoming a bit FORGETFUL. The staff member should never have complained about this at all, let alone to his face! We all know that forgetfulness is a sign of old age, it's something I am sure we all have had to deal with at one time or another, but to actually yell at the resident for something he was probably not even aware of or if he was aware, it's probably something he is sensitive about, it inexcusable in every way. It is never okay to yell at a resident and it is completely unprofessional to complain to a resident, but especially when the complaint is about that resident! I saw several situations similar to this one by other staff members during my visit and all of them were just as disappointing.

I saved the last part of that first visit to begin chatting and getting to know some of the residents, and one resident said the saddest thing to me, it is something I will never forget. I was asking her how she liked the facility, how she felt about her care, the staff and so on and she grabbed my hand and said that this was nice (talking with me) because no one ever asked for her input or asked her how she was doing or if there were any concerns she had. I could not believe it, it really made me tear up. It's upsetting when residents tell you that no one ever stops to ask if they are okay or how they're doing. It is the staff's job to know that the residents are happy and comfortable, but they would never know if they weren't because they never take the time to ask. I told this resident that I was there to assist her in resolving any issues, etc. and let me tell you, she made up for all those times no one asked her how she was feeling! She had a lot to say about her feelings regarding the facility, the staff, other residents, and so on and I was more than happy to listen. She NEEDED someone to listen to her, it makes me mad that no one had before.

I will be going back to Parkrose Chateau in a couple weeks, I have many more residents to meet and speak with and I am hoping that this facility can get turned around in the near future and become more resident-focused. Until it does, however, I would not recommend people to this facility.