The Gardens at Park Balboa

The Gardens at Park Balboa could be better. It always takes time for things to get done, so I didn’t find the staff to be as fast or as responsive as I would like them to be. The service has to be better.

My mother was a resident in the memory care unit for a little over a year. Despite being notified by a staff member that my mother had a UTI, they ignored it until she developed septicemia and had trouble breathing. In the ER, I discovered that they hadn't cut her toenails in months, which shows the level of care provided. She spent a week in the hospital and was in terrible pain because of kidney damage from the septicemia. Neither the doctor nor the home told me she was in kidney failure until the facility director bluntly asked me if I'd considered hospice care. She spent the last month of her life heavily medicated and nonresponsive. There were some wonderful caregivers there, but many that were young/untrained, or simply didn't care past the paycheck. I wouldn't have bothered to write this review except that nearly two years after my mother's death, we received an email from the former director (is she back?) wanting to know why we used the word "scum" in our Yelp review. I don't see why it was necessary for her to re-open our wounds.

I recently moved my elderly mother in here and so far I could not be happier. They are taking very good care of her. The entire staff has been wonderful. I give it 4stars for now because she hasn't been there that long but I anticipate a 5 star rating.

I didn’t see many residents at The Park, and I’m looking for my aunt who is a very social person. The building itself seemed much older and not as fancy. I loved the grounds, it was beautiful, and it has a nice garden area. It’s more of an apartment style. The few residents that I saw didn’t seem as alert, talking, and aware. The rooms she showed were not as nice and fancy, and this was the same for the dining area.

I cannot thank Klara and the staff at Gardens at Park Balboa for the love and attention they showed in giving me information about moving my mom in in the near future. Lots of places to choose from but with the apartment type living it gives a great feeling of independence. I would highly suggest!

I went to visit The Gardens at Park Balboa, and it was not good. I thought it was actually very depressing and that the layout was dangerous. There were so many level changes like something would be carpet and then it would floor and then there would be stairs; you kept having to change the way you walk. I didn’t meet any staff on my tour, but it was a very depressing and dark facility. The rooms were very small and dingy.

The Gardens at Park Balboa had a combination of both independent and assisted living. The staff was really good. It was clean and nice. They had a garden and some statues. The food was pretty good, and the dining room was nice. They were a larger facility.

Dear:Resident service Director I just wanted to thank you again for your true kindness and professionalism combined is rare and beyond exemplary. You and your team working together with such care and precision all while gently explaining everything was something I shall never forget . You and the Gardens of Park Balboa were so very kind even offering us sandwiches and breakfast after the long night. Something I know you are used to . You have my profound gratitude as I know establishments are nothing without the leadership within. God bless you,Brittney,rosie and Miss Blanca. Respectfully and with profound thanks. Elyssa

My mother recently passed away after a slow decline in health. She had lived at The Gardens for the past six years in relative comfort and with excellent care by the staff. We first saw that my parents needed to be in assisted living and had a long battle to convince my father to make the move. After his passing, it was a necessity. They had friends who'd lived there in the past, so were familiar with the facility. We met there, Abby Oppenheim, who graciously assisted with visiting, then processing my mother's settling into a small studio. There was room for her mementos and she could live comfortably within easy distance of the dining room. We met a number of the residents and as one can expect, found a variety of states of health and aging, but by and large, pleasant and happy people. The staff was most helpful at all times and I can only say that they were outstanding in their attention and assistance to Mom's needs. My lady-friend, a clinical dietitian with years of experience in similar facilities was immediately and favorably impressed as to the quality of the place. Late in my mother's stay, she needed to go to the secure, dementia unit, which is a part of the facility and readily accessible to visitors. This was easily done and still, most convenient. It's hard to think of anything not worthy of recommendation at The Gardens, from the administration, nursing, front office and dining room staff. I can name names throughout the staff, but rather than chance missing any, I will say that some were even more special to Mom and myself and they should know who they are! Their assistance and care made this whole experience a positive one.

There are so many events that transpired over the last year my parents lived at this facility. Please be very careful if you are considering moving your loved ones with dementia here. There was a change of Directors and everything went bad. When we originally moved my parents in, the facility had a full time RN on staff. When the RN left shortly after we moved in, Marie, (a great facility director) hired a full time LVN to take her place. Over a year ago Marie was just gone, no notification from management, when I would ask where Marie was no one could tell us, not a letter, email, nothing. The facility was without a director for over 2 months before we were notified a new Director would be joining the Gardens. Several months after they hired Dana (with no previous experience as a director of a facility) the LVN was gone. No word from management, not a letter, email, nothing. When I spoke with the director she told us that she and one of the "med techs" were capable of covering the job of the RN/LVN and that they were not going to replace anyone in the position. Neither of them are medically qualified to take the place of an LVN or an RN. While most of the med techs are wonderful and caring, many other young caregivers do not have sufficient knowledge to care for seniors with dementia in the free community or in Safe Haven. My mother began having some behavioral issues that I, her doctor and Dana were trying to sort out. Dana suddenly began forcing our hand to move my mother to Safe Haven. She cut off my ability to speak with the med techs and said I had to go through her. She never consistently followed through on communicating important information so we could evaluate how my mother’s meds were working or not. After the multitude of emotional events Dana put our family through due to her lack of support and knowledge of helping a family traverse the terrain of a loved one with Alzheimer’s, along with her inability to take responsibility, and because they no longer had an RN or LVN, we decided it was in our parents best interest to move them to another facility. We simply had lost confidence and trust in them and they wore us down. We served formal notice via email to Dana and the owner of the facility on May 1st, 2013. About a week later Dana presented my father, a 97 year old sweetheart of a man with a notice to move to Safe Haven or be Evicted. This notice went on to list out various events with my mother as the reason for the need to move. My dad, a loving, honest, and hardworking man all of his life was beside himself with fear, confusion and grief. There was no reason under the sun that anyone with any compassion would do this to a senior who didn’t have the ability to comprehend what was going on. I had already given them our 30 day notice! This broke all of our hearts to see our father in such a state of depression. The owner of this facility backed Dana all the way at every turn. When we moved my mother and father out, I realized that they had lost her wheelchair. I decided to let it go and move on. I was exhausted. My mother died two weeks ago. I was shocked to receive a bill from The Gardens for $340.00 last week for services they say they didn’t charge us for.

I been visitibg this facility since 2006. My grangmother lives there i love this place the staff are really caring and always ready to help. My grandmother enjoys to live there is like a big familu the feeling you get as soon as u enter is of a warm house. love it gardens keep the good job.

The front desk employees seem to be on top of things. Except one girl who seemed to have no idea about the comings and goings of residents. I felt that the places is somewhat insecure because I am never asked to sign in or out when I pick up a resident and drive them off the property. I am never asked to sign a resident in or out. One time, I was physically assaulted by a man with Alzheimer's and the front desk worker apologized, saying it happens all the time. I've been to one room, it seems like a huge dormitory. The staff seems nice enough, although I do get a sense that the staff treats residents as "non-people", or treats them as lesser than themselves.