Crossroads at Lakewood

Sally

My mom was in Crossroads at Lakewood. It was memory care, but it wasn't the best care in the world. It seemed like it was going to be, but after my mom got injured, it was just terrible care. I expected a little bit more from them but it just went downhill after my mom got injured. The only thing they ever did was call an ambulance every time, and that can be very expensive. There wasn't anybody there, there wasn't a nurse, and there wasn't any kind of a doctor. They have very young people that are kind of, I guess, learning, and half of the time they didn't know what they had to do. Her medications weren't administered to her in a timely fashion, and you could tell. She had Kaiser, and I can go into the website and look at all of her medical records and all of her tests. It was very obvious by her test results that nothing was being done because they were outrageous scores. The diabetic visiting nurse that went in there, that was giving her shots, told me they gave her pancakes drenched in syrup. There was no dietitian there to monitor any of that. I had asked when I put her in there and they said there'll be somebody that could monitor that, but there was nobody there. They just gave her what everybody else had, including fruit juices, which have tons of sugar in them. You can't give her apple juices, I would rather her just have water. When she got injured, she fell down there, and she had already broken her back once at home, so she had that injury a few years prior to this, and she fell down, broke her back over there, and nobody checked on her. They put her in the bed and they didn't come by to ask her if she had to go potty. They didn't give her any water when she needed it or anything like that. I finally got mad and I said, "Do you people even check on your residents?" My mom had fallen down about four times thereafter with that bad back, so I really got upset with them. I said, "It's about time somebody starts checking on her like every 15 to 20 minutes to see if she's got to go to the bathroom. I thought that's what you guys did. I thought that's what you helped her do." Maybe she needed a shower or something like that because it just reeked in there, and she was trying to use the bathroom all by herself, so she kept falling. They told me, "Well, she's complaining a lot about her back hurting." I said, "Well, no doubt. Are you giving her the Tylenol that she's supposed to get?" because I didn't want her on any pain medication. She wasn't getting the care. They called me and told me her back was really hurting, and I thought they wanted me to take her to the hospital, so I went down there. I went to go get her and I found her on the floor. I yelled at somebody to come and help me. I checked her over to see if I could move her first before I could. We lifted her up and put her in the wheelchair, and then I tried to take her and put her in my van, but I couldn't. My husband was trying to help and she was hurting too bad so we had to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital. They gave me a sheet of paper with medications that weren't even right. They're supposed to give you the documentation of all of the medications when they take her to the hospital, and everything was wrong there. Finally, they hired a nurse at the very end of all of this. There was an order for her to take the Tylenol, my mom to take the Tylenol for her pain, and some of these patches, these little pain patches or whatever they call them for her back. They weren't putting in the patches on her either, and there were doctor's orders for those to be put on her back. I buy them and I put them on her back when I go down there. I had to check on her like two to three times a week just to make sure she was OK. I felt like I was doing all the caregiving and they weren't doing anything. I even took Tylenol with me to give to her. One day my mom was crying and she said, "I feel like I'm going to die," so I said, "This is enough." That nurse that they hired, we had a few words because I said, "Your staff is just not taking care of business. Are you supposed to be supervising them? I mean, are you training them or are you talking to them?" I told her that nobody's helping my mom go to the bathroom. My mom was so thirsty. One day she drank a tall glass of water because she was so thirsty. Her diabetes gets her that way. It was just terrible care. There might have been some people there that really cared about my mom, but they left, and I was really sad to see them go. The nurse and I had words. When I called the director, he didn't even return my call. He wound up talking to me after I had to deal with the nurse. He didn't call me, I called him, and I waited on hold forever when I talked to him. He said, "Well, let me give you a piece of advice," and I said, "You know what? I don't need advice from somebody that doesn't have any leadership whatsoever. You know, I called you and you didn't even return my calls." He was sticking up for his nurse. I said, "You won't even sit there and listen to my side of the story about the care my mom is getting. Forget it, I'm not going to listen to somebody like you that doesn't have any leadership. You're not taking care of business there in your home." So, that was it. He tried to give me a hard time about making me pay for the whole month and I said I'll pay for the care that I've gotten up until now. I looked at the contract and I could pay up until then. He said I gotta pay for the whole month. I said, "I guess I'll just have to call my attorney," and after I said that, I think I started kicking in, and they said I could pay until then but I needed to get everything out of her room, because I had to take furniture and beds and all that. My husband raced back and we had to get all of our furniture out that day. That's how that worked out. They were really nasty, and I thought people shouldn't really take advantage of old people. Outside, the facility looks very nice, but that's deceiving. Inside, it looks very nice and it never smelled like urine. In my mom's room though, I think with the difficulty that she was having to get up to go to the bathroom, it started smelling like urine. The nurse walked in with me to look at my mom and I said the room really stinks and the bathroom needed to be cleaned. I don't know if they're throwing dirty diapers in the trash or what, but I said they need to be wrapped up or taken out of the room because it was so bad it made me choke. They have activities though and that was really good. That activity director was very, very good with them. I really liked the director there. She was very good with my mom.

TLMURP84

Lakewood Memory Care is a relatively new facility that holds around 30 or 40 residents. It's structurally fine, but it's got more of an institutional feel. They have a lower staff to resident ratio, so you're not going to be noticed quickly if your loved one needs assistance. The single rooms and 2-person shared rooms had big bathroom setup and step-in tubs. They had an activity director and lots of activities, a little gym area and equipment for physical therapy. The look and feel of it was like a nice hotel, but there weren't that many staff members on a daily basis to keep an eye on your loved one. There's nothing dilapidated or badly run, I just wanted a better staff to resident ratio. The staff was polite, friendly, pleasant, and knowledgeable. It was well set up and secure.

Kris Z

Lakewood Memory Care was a very nice house, and Barbara was very nice, but it just didn't fit our needs. It was clean and neat, but my brother felt that it was closed-in and dark. It's a very small place, and I think that they provide the residents with really good care, so I don't want to dismiss them, but it would not have worked out for my mother. Barbara was the person we met there, she was wonderful, and tried to meet our needs. They're not as expensive as the place we chose. It's really good bang for the value because the staff seemed really good.

Provider Response

DPC

Lakewood Memory Care is a nice place. My father stayed here. His private room was perfect for him. He had plenty to eat, he loved the activities and the caregivers really loved him and wanted to take care of him. Leelee, Annie, Jasmine, Shawndee, Roxanne and the Activities Director Kristina were very compassionate and great to work with. But there were problems too. His cane, pillows, sheets and blankets went missing. And the place is short on staff to do that much work. . Love the staff but it needs better management.

Liz

My father is in Lakewood Memory Care. It's clean and everybody seems to care about the people. I like the whole atmosphere when I go in there. The residents get along and enjoy spending time together. They had burgers last week and tomorrow they're going to have ice cream. They play dominoes, the ladies get their nails done, and there's painting. There's always something going on. The staff is great.

Larue

My mom is in Lakewood Memory Care. It’s working out fine. The room is very nice. The activities are working out fine, and if individuals need special activities, like occupational or physical therapy, they provide that for them. I think it’s an excellent place.