The Bristal Assisted Living at Woodcliff Lake

disappointmemt

Just visited the Bristal yesterday with my mother who has dementia. The Nursing Director interviewed my mother and treated her extremely poorly. The interview was impersonal , insensitive and unprofessional. Having a family member with dementia is so difficult and requires TLC from the health care community. I asked the Nursing Director privately to be discrete with her questions because we have'nt told my mother that she was going into Assisted Living/Memory Care yet. I asked the Director if I could answer any questions to reduce the stress on my mother as I am a nurse and am the Health Care Proxy. She rudely told me that only my mother could respond. We sat down together and she quickly asked my mother if she had problems with ELIMINATION!!!!. She wanted to know if she had bowel problems or urination problems. My mother was taken back and began to get upset. She continued to fire questions at my mother as she went down her clip board in her cold hearted manner. My mother could have been evaluated without offensive questioning if this director had the skills to communicate with the dementia population. I was not pleased and the Bristal /Nursing Director rejected my mothers admittance. They stated that her dementia was more progressed then their cliental and they dont have the staff to accomodate her. I informed them that the reason people go to Memory Care is because they have dementia. And guess what? Their dementia cliental will all advance to severe dementia. What will they do then..remove them from their facility??? I have received feedback from 3 other Assisted Living/Memory Care Units in the vacinity . They have received patients from the Bristal because the families are dissatisfied with the care . Ironically, my mother has been accepted at a beautiful faciilty and a client from the Bristal is arriving today. The Nurse at this facility was lovely and kind. The 2 other facilities that I visited were appauled with the details of my Bristal experience. Here's the bottom line..If your looking for Tender Loving Care, you won't find it with the Nursing Director at Woodcliff Lake, NJ

Frank1

The Bristal is a brand-new place. It's very nice, and the food was good. I will be considering this facility at some point.

Caring102252650

Every day The Bristal has something like sing-alongs, arts and crafts, dance, and therapy. They have socials where it could be just a specific people together for ice cream social or they have a hot chocolate social. They have arts shows, and people come in to play the piano. It is a wonderful community. Every day there is something going on. They have movies at 2 and at 7 so it is wonderful. The place is spotless and beautiful. It is brand new -- maybe about a year and a half or 2 years old. Everything is still brand new, but if something breaks down or something is not going right, the maintenance people are there right away. My mother has called a few times, and they've been so good and kind to her. They fix things right away. The staff is lovely. They are very helpful and very friendly. They know every one of the residents by name. They have a lot of help. Just recently when it snowed and the people slept over, they had accommodations for their staff. There are always people there to help, and that made me feel good. They serve three meals a day, and the three meals are like gourmet meals. They have like five choices all the time at lunch and dinner. They have salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, and hot dogs if you want to choose that. It is really lovely. My mother keeps saying that you couldn't have picked a better place. It took her a month and a half to adjust, and she wasn't that happy in the first month, but once she started making friends, it was OK.

Provider Response

Anonymous92222050

The Bristal at Woodcliff Lake was my first choice. I thought it was wonderful, and they were new. However, they were telling me all the things that they were going to provide like the activities, but they had not started them yet. They were not established yet. They had very few activities, and they did not have any porches. The rooms were clean. They were lovely, and they did not smell. It was a completely locked facility. I think the security was overdone.

Provider Response

Linda101439550

My visit to The Bristal was great. They were very helpful. If my aunt decides to go in when we have to bring her somewhere eventually this is where she will go. Their dining area was very nice -- very impressive.

Caring101101750

The Bristal was very nice. It was a beautiful place. They had full accommodation and three meals a day. They had all kinds of entertainments, exercise facility, and transportation to doctors and shopping. There was a bistro 24 hours, and you could help yourself without any charge to drinks and some small cookies or piece of fruit. It was beautifully decorated and was really top of the line. The food was magnificent. You would order from the menu, and if you had guests over, you could have your own private dining room. It was a minimal charge for the guests.

Sherry41

My mother is now living in The Bristal Assisted Living. It is new, clean, and appealing. I will rate it very good; I mean there's always room for improvement. My mother doesn't think the food is particularly good, but they seemed to be working on it. It is in a very nice neighborhood.

Diane96144050

I found The Bristal Assisted Living for my mother. In November, it will be 1 year old. From outside looking in, I thought we would be sending my mother to a hotel for the rest of her life. It is like a hotel. It has unbelievable decorations. That probably caught my mother's eyes -- how beautiful it was. The food is probably good because if she doesn't like something, she can send it back and get something else that she likes better. It is an assisted living place and a memory place. However, they need to improve on giving orientation. They could have been a "5" if they learn to orientate the people better when they move in. Nevertheless, they have tons of activities. They have a movie theater and a lot of people are walking. Also, they're younger. My mother likes to be around people who are younger. Even when they eat dinner, they don't ever have the wheelchairs or the walkers with them. Their aides take everything into the walker room and they bring them back to the table when they're finished. The residents looked like they're eating like normal people and they're having conversations. Also this place takes Medicaid, the other facility will not.

Caring95983950

My mother has only been at the Bristal for a week and a half, but so far, everybody has been very, very lovely, very helpful, and very nice. The whole facility is very nice, and it’s all new. It’s not even a year old. Her room seems to be big enough except for the fact that some of the things are too high for her to reach. My mother thought the food was very good. I’ve seen the dining room. It really is just nice. It’s spread out. There are tables usually of only 4 at a time. They arrange for who’s sitting with whom. They probably have way more activities than my mother will ever take part in.

Caring85928050

The Bristal Assisted Living is a brand new facility. It is nice. However, they have a high employee turnover rate, which I found to be a little disheartening. Nevertheless, they try to do their best to take care of the residents there. When my mom wants some kind of coffee and toast and jam, that's what they get her. In that respect, it's pretty good. The nurse there is very attentive. She called me when my mom was having issues with something and she also recommended a new general care physician for her. My mom loves her and it is great. My mom has difficulty communicating with people, but this one works out well. The new nurse they have is a sweet lady. She is very attentive and intelligent. I hope she stays because there have been several who have come and gone. Overall, the staff is attentive. I did see what the residents are eating there and it is not junky fast food. The food is better than average. In terms of accommodation, my mom has a private room. It is like a one-bedroom hotel room. It has her bed, two armoires for clothes, and another drawer that she has other stuff in. They do have activities. They have movies several times a week in a separate room. They do coloring and reading. They have guests who come sometimes with animals and sometimes they play guitar and sing a little bit. They send out the monthly calendar and they have stuff for everybody everyday. However, my beef is that it is too expensive because it is really, really difficult to come up with $7,200 a month for one person. I would recommend this place.

caring8900

I put my mother-in-law at The Bristal Assisted Living at Woodcliff Lake. It is brand new and everything is just beautiful. It's very good because there are not that many people in there yet. When we enrolled her, there were sixteen people, so it's a not a wait-listed property at this time. She seems to like the food. She seems a little bored with the menu, but then she knows how to ask the chef to make her something different, if they have the ingredients. She is in a full apartment and it has a kitchenette without a working stove, which is fine. It has a very large bathroom, very large walk-in closet, and her bedroom and living room are very similar to the apartment that she left before she moved into assisted living. The dimensions were almost exact, and aside from the window and the height, it's almost like she is still in that other apartment.

Caring79072050

The Bristal Assisted Living at Woodcliff Lake is a lovely place and it is brand new. They told me that they require many years of private funding before they would put anyone on Medicaid and we were looking for a facility that accepts Medicaid. And because of that knowing it would not be an appropriate place for my parents, I cut the visit short as to not waste time.