Briar Glen Alzheimer's Special Care Center

I went to Briar Glen Alzheimer's Special Care Center. Everybody was very nice. They had a lot of areas outdoors where people could sit. I thought it was very nice. The rooms were big enough, and it's close to home which is the most important thing. The staff was very nice. She seemed knowledgeable, and she did not pressure me to make a decision. They have a barber (I believe she mentioned that), and they do activities with the patients. They were doing chair exercises when I was there. It felt pretty homey. It didn't feel like a hospital, so that was good.

My mom has been a resident of Briar Glen for three weeks now. So far, it's great, and we're very pleased with it. You could make an appointment to visit. They had a living room section where you would go, but then somebody that had visited had called and told them that they had been diagnosed with Covid, so they stopped the visit. They had their first shot on the 21st and they'll get their second one on February 4th. After that, they will re-evaluate. When you go and visit, there's a phone out in the foyer, and there's a glass. They can sit on the other side of the glass and you can talk on the phone. The staff has been very good and they have a lot of activities. We haven't been inside. We just went for the initial visit, and we just went into mom's room. She goes in for music activities. They have a sweet shop and they take them there. So far, that's all because we haven't been able to talk to her either. They said they have a patio area where the people could go. I think the building is built around the patio area. The staff has been very nice, and the facility was nice, too. Value for money is good. They had a deal that if you pay a little bit more, then they couldn't go up on the price, and we liked that a lot.

Rittenhouse Village at Hoover offers respite care, but the minimum is two weeks at $180 a night. It was a nice place and a good community, everything was clean, and smelled good. The room was very nice, it was organized, clean, they didn't have television, but it was a nice room. It is what it is.

Rittenhouse Village at Hoover is the best facility we've got here in Birmingham for people with dementia. So far, they’ve been really good to Mom and she's getting used to the place. I called the other day after lunch and she was playing Bingo. The place is relatively new, nice, and clean. They seem to care about my mom and her welfare. They get her out of her room and provide her three meals a day plus snacks. When I met the chef, he told me that if Mom didn’t like what they are serving, he will fix something else, and he has done that a couple of times already. I've talked to the staff mainly on the phone and they were all very friendly. Lauren, the coordinator, has been very helpful. They’ve got a nice dining area and living area. Mom can go outside and sit because it is a locked community, so it's secure.

A family member was recently placed in this facility. I am concerned about weekend care as they run on a "skeleton crew". The plumbing was clogged all weekend. It was deplorable to say the least. Two days later the toilet was stopped up again. Weekday, daytime staff has been kind and helpful. But forget the weekends. Baths are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No doctor available for consult unless one is fortunare enough to catch him on Wednesday's only. Be aware. Ask questions! Great sales pitchers.

Rittenhouse is a single-level, small place with about 85 apartments. They are very caring to my dad, and, so far, we are very impressed with the staff and the food. We don't have any complaints. The room is quite large, they have a lovely dining room and several common areas for the residents to socialize and do things. It was recently purchased, but the staff and the management are still the same. They had a Thanksgiving, potluck dinner for all of the residents and a couple of Christmas parties for the residents and family members.

Actually we thought we had a bad experience at Rittenhouse. We were under the impression that when we went, our 94-year old aunt would be supervised and watched. She had a couple of falls and had abscess in her legs. Aunt said the food was good. The dining area was large and roomy.

My mother lived here temporarily, while she was waiting for a spot in memory care with her husband at another nearby facility. I was very impressed with most of the PCAs, as they generally were kind, attentive and patient with the residents' needs. The receptionists were very helpful as well. However, the building itself looks fairly run-down and dated; the entryway feels very institutional, with residents almost constantly sitting by the door as if hoping to leave. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of activities other than watching TV and the occasional bingo or sing-a-long, so I found that many residents often just sit around looking bored and/or getting agitated. Perhaps they need more staff. At one point, Mom's toilet was clogged - I offered to fix it myself if they had a plunger, but they said they'd take care of it...finally after three days, someone fixed it. Given Mom has incontinence issues, this was a fairly important/urgent fix. I also noticed many residents calling out for assistance from their rooms and it took a very long time for anyone to check on them. I'm very grateful our Mom had the PCAs she did, because I don't know that everyone got the attention (and it made me wonder if they only did it because I was there).