The Springs at Lafayette

Mark

My dad is at The Springs at Lafayette. The thing I like best about them is the proximity to my house. It's two blocks away, which allows me to get up there several times a day without hopping in the car and driving across town. What I dislike about them is a long list: Their cafeterias are too small. They have too many tables in them, and it makes it difficult to get wheelchairs about in the dining rooms, and it's even at times difficult to walk. They don't have regulations on how much space they have to provide around the tables, but they certainly do not. I dislike them because they do not have a published schedule of when they change the sheets. And they have this ridiculous policy that they will only do it if the resident takes a shower, which to me is horseshit. They are separate issues and you're conflating them, and it sounds like they're being punished. I also dislike The Springs at Lafayette because they make decisions without considering the follow-up. For example, my father was using a scooter, they knew he was having trouble with it, they knew they were going to take it away, and they also knew that he didn't have a wheelchair, which means he had no other way of transportation. So they take away his wheelchair with no provision for mobility for him. If I wasn't two blocks away and going in there daily and overriding their insurance process, because I just went that day to get him a wheelchair and told them to bill the particular place where I got it and I got a bunch of shit back from them 'that's going to take it longer,' and I'm standing there with the goddamn wheelchair, and I said, 'What do you mean it's going to take longer? He's got the wheelchair now. No thanks to you.' They don't have a gym, but they have a therapy room. The physical therapists seem to control the whole facility, and what they say dictates what happens at a level that drives me crazy. So my dad had been using the exercise equipment for 15 or 16 months and he's in there using it, and they tell him he can't use it anymore, again without telling him what the follow-up plan was to be. If he hadn't given me a suggestion that he might be on the last downward slope, I would probably be getting him to hell out of there. Here's another thing they did that pissed me off. So as they took away his scooter, and I got him the wheelchair, he has trouble with his shoulders. And so I found a thing called a pedal chair, which is essentially a wheelchair, but it's propelled with your feet rather than your hands. And then they said he couldn't have that either because they don't allow that in their facility. I can't believe they would deny him a wheelchair that you control with your feet rather than your hands. They need to enlarge their dining rooms, they need to consider following up when they make decisions changing the privileges that residents have, and they need to have a posted schedule of when the sheets are changed. Changing sheets should not be contingent upon residents' behavior. My dad is in a studio, and in several of the other places that I went, in one of them, he could get a two-bedroom for less than he's paying for his studio, and in most of them, he could get a one-bedroom for significantly less than he is paying for a studio.

Alby5

Run do not walk to somewhere else. Family member has been there two weeks. Bad care, bad staff ratio to patients. No operator to answer phone calls so you wait and hope someone answers the phone. No front desk person so if you are visiting someone you have to walk around and try to find them. Call lights not answered in timely fashion. Very bad clinic staff to patient ratio. When you do find staff and asked them to help you with your loved one they will tell you in a few minutes and they never return. I felt like if I was not there to help with my loved one, their basic needs would not get done. If I addressed a issue, the answer was always I will talk with my staff. The only positive I could say is the building is nice on the outside and kept up on the inside.

Robert

I had a friend that was there at The Springs at Lafayette. He had a stroke, and he was there for a short period of time. I know that his wife was there also at the same time because she didn't wanna be alone, so they made accommodations for her. I'm sure she had to pay for that. I think she had a separate room, and it was kind of a temporary thing. His room was very, very roomy, very bright, and very modern. The facility was very new. There's exercise, the dining facility was good and very open, and I think they got a library. The staff was very helpful and very accommodating. I visited about a year ago before Covid.