Brighton Gardens of Columbia

My mom has moved into Brighton Gardens of Columbia. I like the apartment. It's a one-bedroom unit. The staff has been amazing, and that was part of our reason, too. They're so great. We haven't tried the food yet, but the dining area is lovely. They have lots of stuff. You name it, they have it. They even have a dog that lives here. They have a whole list of stuff that's there. They have bingo, games, trivia, and exercise.

We visited Brighton Gardens of Columbia for my mom. It was great. I was really pleased with everything that I saw. The people there were very, very nice. I met a lot of the staff, and a lot of them had worked there for many, many years. And they were forthcoming with the information. The place was very clean, and I did not see any negatives about the place itself. Brighton Gardens have a standard and very recognizable architecture and they're all very nice looking.

The salesperson that we worked with in Brighton Gardens of Columbia was very informative, accommodating and took us on a tour of the community. The facilities themselves are quite dated but the residents look happy and we have observed a few of the activities that were going on while we were there. The people seemed engaged and pretty happy with the place itself. People seemed very nice as we walked through. We also have friends in their memory care and they raved about the care they're getting, that's why we visited it. The person who gave the tour was great, she followed up with me a few days later, provided us all the information that we needed, and answered all of our questions.

I have been a volunteer at BG for quite some time. I love the place. The staff — especially Sheila and Margaret — always go above and beyond. The food is way beyond what you might expect. And the sweet little dog Josie is so loving with everyone, adding a special warmth to the residents’ day. This place would be my choice!

Brighton Garden's best is barely adequate, but where they fail miserably is in dementia care. Be concerned when your loved one is placed on their "memory care" (Reminiscence) unit. Behind locked doors, these residents are the forgotten ones. The Sunrise website touts a "resident centered dementia care approach." They further state "backed by the latest research, our staff designs programs with stimulating personalized multisensory experiences." While this sounds good, the reality at Brighton Gardens of Columbia comes nowhere near these accolades. The Activities Director has worked at the community for nearly 2 decades, and the activities she schedules are most certainly NOT backed by research. I don't see evidence of any education on her part regarding the current state of dementia programming. Activities are those of decades past-on the Assisted Living side, you'll find Bingo, occasional entertainment, Bingo, trips to the dollar store and area restaurants, Bingo....you get the idea. No creativity, no time spent in planning. On the Reminiscence unit, the calendar is full of inappropriate activities for the population: Coupon Clippers Club (most residents are unable to use scissors); Church Hymns (for the Jewish residents?); Walking club (what about the wheelchair bound?); Bingo of course, but only 2-3 residents can play. Multiple activities staff have quit in frustration. Despite their requests for more appropriate materials, including the technology that would allow for actual multisensory activities, the Activities Director continues to provide none of these. Even after multiple staff and families requested she purchase an iPad, and explained the free apps that are stimulating and engaging for those with dementia, she continues to provide coloring pages and colored pencils. While this Activities Director acknowledged that "maybe" she should get an iPad, she instead purchased "Sing Fit," which is good for just one activity that is neither stimulating nor engaging for the residents on the unit. Brain games make an appearance on the activities calendar, but when you provide staff with neither the training nor the materials needed, and the Director lacks the knowledge, engagement doesn't happen. Complaints to the Executive Director get you nowhere. While verbally in agreement that there are many issues that need to be addressed, she has proven that she only intends to placate, and not actually do anything to improve things. She freely admits that Sunrise is far behind the times where dementia programming is concerned, yet has no problems walking through the Reminiscence unit and observing residents sleeping on sofas or in their wheelchairs, nothing meaningful or engaging happening. Corporate supervisors have also witnessed this on multiple occasions, yet nothing changes. They have shown me that they do not care about the quality of the residents' lives. Furnishings are old and drab, carpeting worn. The Executive Director's response? They don't own the building and can't change anything. My request to provide materials to engage residents, a one time purchase of a few hundred dollars, was met with "not in the budget." Seriously? With most residents paying 7-8K per month, a few hundred isn't in the budget? Direct care staff is overworked and underpaid. In addition to caring for your loved one, they are responsible for serving all meals, feeding residents who need the help, cleaning the entire kitchen (including loading and unloading the dishwasher) and dining room, setting tables, folding napkins, bringing the garbage out to the dumpster on the opposite side of the building, etc.-3 times/day, while your loved one waits to be toileted and receive needed care. Again, the Executive Director acknowledged that actual dining room staff was needed, and she would not allow patient care to suffer. Months later, nothing has changed. Apparently this is also not in the budget. They are, however, very quick to raise their prices to you. They even take a percentage from the beauty shop's services, the cost of which is then passed on to families. Consider very carefully whether Brighton Gardens can meet your expectations. They've come nowhere close to mine, based on the Executive Director's assurances prior to signing the contract. As she recently said to me, "If you're not happy, why do you stay?" Guess I thought you were doing something to fix the problems. Apparently not. Time for corporate to clean house at Brighton Gardens!

Brighton Gardens of Columbia was a very nice place. They were very helpful, and they gave me good information. They were reading and playing Bingo, and some people were getting ready to go on a trip.

Brighton Gardens was 3 or 4 stories tall with wings going out. I thought they had up to around 60 or 80 residents. The problem was my mother had short term memory. If she was to leave her room in a facility like that to go down, I understood they had attendants and all those things to accommodate her, however, if she went down to the recreation area, sitting room or even the dining hall then preferred to went back on the elevator, she would not know which floor, wing or room to go to. It was way too much for my mom. They had very nice facilities, but they were not what I considered as accommodating. It was an excellent facility, but it was not for my mom. However, I thought it was excellent. For my wife and I, it would be perfect. It was 3 miles from us, and it was very clean.