La Vida Llena

Clem9999999

My father was a resident of La Vida Llena. He suffered from mild dementia. When he became ill, and required hospitalization, LVL took him to the Presbyterian Hospital ER, and left him there by himself on a Saturday night. The Presbyterian Hospital ER waiting room is not a place where you leave an old defenseless person by themselves, especially on a Saturday night when the Albuquerque knife and gun club is particularly active and their hangers on crowd the waiting room. This action was just one of many gross shortcomings of LVL.

mpohara

My mother stayed here for "respite care" from home hospice while I was out of town. She was on full time oxygen and completely reliant on it to live. The nurse, when I checked my mom in, said she had to give her a "room air test" to demonstrate her need for oxygen which involved taking her oxygen off for ten minutes to see how she did. I told the nurse that my mother's need was well documented through home hospice (which I could provide) and that under no circumstances could she be without oxygen for more than half a minute or so. She seemed satisfied and dropped it. The next afternoon, while I was three thousand miles away, the same nurse went into my mom's room and said she needed to take off her oxygen. My mom, terrified, protested but was told she had no choice because it was required. They made her take it off, failed to use a pulse-oximeter and left her alone in the room. Somehow she managed to call for help after eight minutes before she fainted. When they checked her, her oxygen was at 53. Most people lose consciousness at 55. After all that, which itself could have killed her, the next night, when her oxygen concentrator failed and I begged them to help her (because I could tell something was wrong based on her numbers and her audible gasping on the phone), they refused, telling me I needed to stop bothering them. I was desperate and asked a friend to go check on her. After he arrived, they checked her concentrator, realized it was broken and switched it out. This was after almost two hours of my calling and begging them to help her. When I returned from my "respite" I asked the nurse what happened that her oxygen was allowed to go down to 53. She replied, "Oh, no, it was actually 56" as if that were perfectly okay. This place is pretty and clean, but I would never leave an oxygen patient here.

Sara835404

La Vida Llena is very clean and nice looking with nice grounds. I have a friend who's there who I visit her often. They have independent living, assisted living, and a nursing home. If a person runs out of money for the monthly fees, and they're very old or very sick, they will keep them there until they pass away, so they continue to have same amount and quality of care. My friend who's legally blind taught pottery and painting there. The food is tasty and perfectly adequate. The monthly fees are fair.

Philip16

We visited La Vida Llena and stayed for 3 nights as their guests. They treated us very wonderfully. They were excellent, wonderful hospitality. The place is extremely expensive but wonderful. All the staff we met were extremely friendly, hospitable, and welcomed us with open arms. If they lower their price to about $300,000, we would be interested. Their food was excellent.

PatVBYFZ

La Vida Llena was very nice, and it looked like I could afford to be there. I was very happy when I figured that out, so I didn’t look any further.

Caring112182950

We looked at La Vida Llena. It's a life care community, so you must enter healthy and able to care for yourself, and when you can no longer do that, they move you to assisted living or nursing home. The staff was wonderful. Their dining room was lovely. They have a broad range of activities.

Caring107266450

La Vida Llena is lovely but you have to buy into it, and they offer all the activities. It’s like a really nice fine hotel; you have a tablecloth and a menu.

Abq

We had a parent who was living at La Vida Llena in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was later moved into the "dementia wing" where we were promised full care and comfort for our parent (at a hefty price). The opposite seemed to be true. First of all, he was given extremely strong medication to keep him "calm." He was moved from room to room with various roommates which would be upsetting to people without dementia. Fortunately after much upset he finally got a room of his own. The staff didn't seem to understand how to deal with dementia patients. They were extremely impatient and even at times hostile when he lashed out at them from fear. He was often left in his room with no food or drink, and we were told they couldn't "force" him. Their efforts to feed him were minimal at best. It was a constant battle to make sure he had the basics. We had to hire outside help to make sure he was cared for. He was not given any mental stimulation at all. They would forget to bring his newspaper, which gave him some pleasure. We constantly had to remind them to bring him his paper. They would do it a few times then go back to default mode and leave it in some stack somewhere in the lobby down the hall. All this applies as well to grooming, such as bathing, trips to the bathroom etc. if we had not had outside help it would have been a catastrophe. The fault rests on the management who put on a great show and sale. Once they have lured you in they disappear and leave you to navigate the system on your own. They hire untrained and unqualified people to deal with this sensitive population. If you do have a loved one there in that particular unit be prepared to check on them often! Buyer Beware!

Caring71982150

I was at La Vida Llena as an invited guest. The facility is new and very beautiful. The location is also very good. It just opened this year. It would definitely be my choice, but it’s expensive. I would highly recommend this place if you had the money. We looked at the apartments and they were nice. We had a light lunch there with a salad and a dessert and it was okay. We were nicely treated by the staff. They were knowledgeable and all our questions were answered. They have different things going on like movies, games, and if I remember correctly they go to different places.

GoToros55

This assisted living provider is exceptional. There are two types of living situations - a separate apartment where nurses visit or in rooms in the complex itself. The nurses are very helpful. The staff gets the individuals to and from eating, church, activities, and anything else that might be going on. I had the opportunity to interact with patients and take them to and from their activities. They are all very loving and are kept happy by the staff. The apartments are very nice and comfy, as well as being handicapped friendly. The apartments give independence and the inpatient complex has a lot of activities to keep the individuals busy and happy. There is a little room dedicated to watching TV and mingling with each other. Patients who need help are always attended to if someone needs help, a nurse or another part of the staff is there to help them. I think this would be a great assisted nursing home to live in because of the never-ending good will of the staff and other individuals in the complex.

Thestonedranger

The staff was very friendly and helpful, and assisted us in almost every way imaginable. The facilities were average, with no obvious signs of negligence with respect to upkeep. The residents seemed well taken care of, as well as happy, for being in a nursing home. Nursing home food has always been a reservation of mine, but at these facilities it was above average, and actually tasted like food. My greandmother seemed to be quite happy with the place, until we got to the room, they are a bit on the small side, but still plenty liveable. There is a bed and chairs and tables like you would expect, but nothing is over the top or out of place. So although La Vida Llena is a beautiful campus, with good food and relatively nice rooms, I think I will find somewhere else for my grandmother, who is picky as all get out.

Thestonedranger

The staff was very friendly and helpful, and assisted us in almost every way imaginable. The facilities were average, with no obvious signs of negligence with respect to upkeep. The residents seemed well taken care of, as well as happy, for being in a nursing home. Nursing home food has always been a reservation of mine, but at these facilities it was above average, and actually tasted like food. My greandmother seemed to be quite happy with the place, until we got to the room, they are a bit on the small side, but still plenty liveable. There is a bed and chairs and tables like you would expect, but nothing is over the top or out of place. So although La Vida Llena is a beautiful campus, with good food and relatively nice rooms, I think I will find somewhere else for my grandmother, who is picky as all get out.

Anne R

La Vida Llena has been a fantastic place for my grandmother for the last 3 years. It is a comprehensive community, offering everything from a retirement community (no assistance) to daily health and living assistance for immobile or ill residents. The staff are incredible! Everyone from the head nurses down to the cleaning maids are SO kind, cheerful, helpful, and greet all residents and their guests with a hello and a smile, every time. The campus is lovely, with separate houses and patios/yards for retirees and garden courtyards for the assisted living wings. There are always plenty of activities. The food in the dining hall is of good quality. They even have My grandmother has been very happy there, and the family is very happy and comfortable with her there as well.

alelpaso

My grandmother is a constant complainer, but when she speaks about the people who care for her at La Vida Llena, she has nothing but nice things to say. We are always impressed by the staff ourselves when we visit; we often eat in the main diningroom or cafe when we visit and have organized a birthday party for her through the catering department and those experiences have always been positive. She has been there for 8-10 years now and is going better mentally than when she moved into the facility with my grandfather, who has since passed. I would recommend it to any perspective residents living in New Mexico.