Brookdale Columbus

My mother moved to Brookdale Columbus yesterday. It's a very lovely home-type place. They have their own rooms. Everything is in a circle, so dementia and Alzheimer's patients can physically walk around the whole facility and they're safe. They have a courtyard that they can go out into, they have planter boxes that are elevated so that if their family wants to bring them some seeds, or some plants, or their gardening, they can plant their own vegetables that the facility will use in the kitchen, and they provide all the laundry services for them. If you don't have accessibility to buy furniture to go into your parent's room, they have furniture that they rent to you, but I was fortunate I was able to buy my mother her furniture to go into her room. They have a full dining facility. They feed them three meals a day plus snacks, and they're allowed to have their own snacks in their room, and family can bring it to them. They take them on outings, but with the COVID-19 right now they're not taking anybody out, which is understandable. The families can do visitations, you just give them a 24-hour notice that you're gonna come to visit your family member, and then that way they know when they can start preparing the family member. My mom is a dementia patient. She lived in the living room of my home and slept on my couch, and her room at this facility is as big as my living room. She's got a full-size bed, a chair, a nightstand, a set of chest of drawers, and her own bathroom that's accessible for help because my mother needs help taking the shower. It has a seat in it where she can actually sit down and one of the nursing assistants or CNAs help her bathe. She has her own TV, and each room has its own central heat and central air that the client can control themselves. If they're an extremely cold person they can have it warmer in their room, or if they're an extremely hot person they can have it cooler in their room. They say they do gourmet type food for them and whatever they don't like they'll try and fix them something different, but I really don't know because today's just the second day that my mother has been in there. When I was trying to find somewhere for my mother to go I was hitting all kinds of obstacles, people were telling me they didn't have availability for her, I'd have to try this place, I'd have to try that place. I had about three or four places that called me, but when Brookdale called me they said, "Please just come over and tour our facility and see if it would be something that you would like. We do have availability for your mother." I went over there and I was just truly amazed. You pull up and it looks like a house with a drive-up area to where if it's raining, or whatever, you're not having to walk through the rain or whatever to get to the facility. They were just extremely nice and helping me walk through the process of getting my mother in there, what I needed to do, how I needed to go about doing it. Whereas the other places that I contacted, the first thing out of their mouth was, "Oh no, she's gonna be a self-pay and we really don't have an opening right now for her." One place that I tried said, "Yeah, we've got an opening, but here's the package you have to pay to her doctor because she has to be reviewed by her doctor," and I did that, and the doctor took so long in doing all the paperwork that when I finally got it done and got it turned into them, they said, "Oh, well, she doesn't qualify because of the amount of money that she has." Then they gave up her bed. Brookdale also put me in touch with Patriot Angels because my mother is the spouse of a veteran, so they're gonna help me as far as when her money starts running low. They'll pick up the difference to pay. They even have an in-house doctor that will come in. If the patient chooses to stay with their regular physician they will physically take them to their regular physician, but me and my mother in one of her more lucid moments, we had a conversation. She said, "Well, I'd really rather see the doctor there than to have to go out and see the doctor." When we got there they were all out there waiting to greet her, the director, the nurses, the support staff, even the lady that does all the activities, plus she does their hair, she can cut their hair for them, she can style their hair for them. They were all out there. They just hugged her and welcomed her. They had other people that live there already, and I could hear them saying, "We heard you were coming." My mother is kind of finicky about what she eats, but I gave them a list of food that she didn't like, so they already know what not to feed her, but she mainly eats anything. The facility is extremely clean, the yard and the courtyard are very well maintained, has adequate seating, they can go out and just sit and get fresh air if they want to, and another plus for me was my mother is a smoker, and she has to go outside the facility to smoke. If she wants to go out to have a cigarette she can. They told me that they do a lot of stuff, they play bingo, they play board games, they do TV show games that people can get involved with, they've integrated it, they answer the questions and do stuff like that for them. They explained to me with her being a dementia patient that the first 30 days is where she's transitioning and getting to know the place, and so I could call and check on her, but I couldn't physically come see her. They would call me if there was something wrong. They said if she wanted to call me that would not be a problem. They let her use the phone to call me. Their value was a lot better than others. They also told me that if she should make a friend and decide that they wanted to move into the same room that they could move them into a bigger room. They said they have several patients there that are roommates, and then her rent would be cut in half because there'd be two of them and they'd be splitting it, and that was a plus for me.

Brookdale Columbus seems to focus mostly on dementia patients. They also allowed mom to bring her little dog. The staff is very good. Her room is very big. It's an older place, but her room is one of the biggest rooms that we saw. She's only been there a couple of weeks. They just seem to focus on memory care, and this is the one we liked the most.

My mother has moved into Brookdale Columbus, and it's been a very good experience. They're very accommodating and informative, especially with the virus. She has a bedroom with a bathroom. They do exercises with them every morning, arts and crafts, they were doing field trips before the virus, and they had people that come in to sing with them. There's a beauty salon where they can have their hair and nails done, a library that had books and puzzles, an activity room, and an outside garden area.

My mom is in Brookdale Columbus. They provide very good care for her. I would recommend them. My mom's room is clean. They have an activity room, which is well supplied. It also meets her needs. I had a meal there and it was good.

I am pleased with Brookdale Columbus. It's a very nice, clean, and safe environment for my mom since she is in memory. The food is good and they were very supportive of me when she needed to go to the hospital. The staff is very nice and supportive. They didn't recommend having TV in the room because they don't want them sitting in their room. They have TVs in the community room, and they got a computer and they want them socializing. They've got 2 community rooms with TVs in them. My mother loves the courtyard because she loves the outside and nature.

I have an elderly aunt that stays at Brookdale Columbus, so I am familiar with the care that she gets there. It is very clean and well kept. I think the staff is great. My cousins say the food tastes good.

We were talking with two ladies at Brookdale Columbus who were very nice and went out of their way to help me. It’s a really nice place. I really like it. All of their rooms have to be shared. You can bring a bed, chest drawers, and a TV, but they don't want you to have a TV right away because they want you to get out of the room. They have two dining rooms with a great menu. They have a porch and chairs outside for sitting.

We visited Brookdale Columbus (formerly Emeritus at Heritage Hills). I did not like the fact that you pay a base amount for the room you choose and then pay more for any extra medical care that was received, almost like a la carte in a restaurant. I also didn't like that residents in an assisted living home had to be up and at breakfast at about 8:00 a.m. These are quite elderly people who might not want to be up at 8:00 a.m. We did like its location, and the staff was fine, but that was all. It's very expensive, too.