Las Brisas

The rooms at Las Brisas Independent Senior Living are all very nice and clean; it seems there is nothing ragged or torn. They asked us to have a lobster lunch there on Mother's day. It has the nicest dining facilities and the best menus we've ever seen. My folks are really pleased with everything they've had so far. All the staff has been very nice. They have plenty of things for the residents to do. It is just a very nice place.

The entire place was very nice and comfy. Many of the employees were very polite and the residents were very nice as well. The managerial staff was not as helpful (and sometimes a little rude). The place was still very nice and I am considering it for my grandparents.

Both my father and my uncle (brothers in law) currently reside at Las Brisas. I am there 4 - 5 times a week.The facility:The rooms and apartments are spacious and well maintained. Most have balconies or patios. The once a week cleaning is unreliable - there is such a high turnover of staffing that they are often short handed. The dining room is spacious and bright. There are fewer common rooms than at other facilites: a single "activities" room that includes the theater and excersize areas. The theater is simply a big TV around which they arrange stacking chairs. The excersize is a single piece of equipment. There is a pool table outside the room in a lobbyt area adjoining the dining room. The only other space is a small library area on the second floor that doubles a card room. The dining and activity room are on the third floor. The building is built into a hillside, so the first two floors have dark, long hallways, but the rooms are bright. The third (main) floor opens to a large outdoor patio where they have occasional group parties such as wine tastings. There is only one elevator, which can make it difficult at mealtimes as there are many people who are in wheelchairs or power chairs. It is a glass elevator, which makes it feel less constrictive, and although it has age problems, they are about to replace it . Building maintenance is excellent and they are constantly making improvements. There is a beauty parlor and an office where you can hire private caregivers. There are weekly outings of various kinds.The food:Extremely inconsistent. It can be good, but is most often barely edible. There is a dearth of fresh vegetables, which is ridiculous as we are a farming community with many farmer's markets through the week. The mealtimes are set at 8am, 1230, and 530pm. Everyone assembles and is served at one time, which makes for a lot of waiting. Other facilities operate more like restaurants. Again, there have been many chefs and cooks through here in the last 2 1/2 years.The Management:When I moved my father here in early 2010, we toured all the places in the area. We selected Las Brisas because the rooms were larger for the money, you could stay here as your health deteriorated and bring in whatever care was needed (some even have had live-ins ), even to the end of life, and mostly the managers. There are two couples who live in the building They personally ran some of the activities with the Social Director and supervised the meals, pouring drinks and making sure all needs were met. The main managers were perfect for this kind of facility - gregarious, genuinely "up", and very helpful. Unfortunately, there has been a constant turnover in management since 2011. I believe 18 or so as various couples have been forced out or driven away. Each new set has reduced services, and seemed more focused on cutting costs than serving their residents. Silly things like limiting drinks to one glass at meals (except coffee!), reducing the bus hours, outings, and activities, pulling keys to the front door from those who don't go out, etc. Where the previous managers were always offering carpet shampooing, a change and choice of window coverings in the rooms, etc., none of that is available. They will no longer allow the private caregivers to use the break room to eat their lunches.The rent has been reasonable for the area, but goes up automatically each year by about 4%. This happened even when Social Security and VA benefits got no cost of living increases for two years. This is not the case at other local facilities.Overall I would move my family out to another facility if they were not settled. Moving an 88 year old is difficult and would be disruptive.