Brookdale Chapel Hill Memory Care

Brookdale Chapel Hill was old, shabby, and just worn. I came in to say that I had an appointment with Crystal. Everybody that came out of their office thought that I was meeting with Crystal and they went right back into their office without even greeting me. Crystal, who no longer works there, was horrible. She tried to put my mom in a room with another resident there that should not have a roommate at all. It was just horrible. I could never leave my mother there. There were no activities. I was there between 1:00 and 1:30 and was wondering, "Where are all the people that live here?" There were just two or three residents sitting in a living room area watching TV. I don't see any nursing assistants. I asked, "Where is everybody?" and they said everybody's in the rooms with the residents, which just seemed weird. The dining area seemed rather small. I was not impressed.

We moved my mom into Brookdale Chapel Hill, and it just seemed loving in this place. They are very attentive to what her needs are. They seem more attentive to the residents, especially the ones with Alzheimer’s, so I am feeling a lot more comfortable. The room is nice -- smaller but nice. It has a nice bathroom, but they don’t put the showers in the bathroom because they are now in the dementia unit, so they have separate showers. The room is nice, and it is clean. They were having a little trouble with the food because they had a chef who got sick and had to have surgery, so they just recently changed chef. I was discussing the food with them, and they are definitely working on that. My mom is really picky about food, and she will say something, but the people are so nice. I’ve never heard her say anything negative about any employee. You walk around there, and all the employees are smiling and dealing positively with the residents -- engaging and hugging them. There is an administrative gal named Deb, and she just gives anybody who comes in a big hug. She invites the residents to come in and talk to her. It is just a totally different feeling and more of a loving atmosphere. It is quite hard to describe, but it is what made us finally move. I felt like I could relax because someone was really going to be aware of her feelings and trying to make her feel as happy as they could with all the difficulties of dealing with Alzheimer’s. They have a really good activity person and all of these people at Brookdale seem like they really know what they are doing as far as dealing with people with Alzheimer’s and how to redirect them in a positive way. She does these activities, which are very good for them and are fun, and that was the other thing that really drew me to Brookdale of Chapel Hill. They have some very good employees who are doing a job that helps make everything flow.

Brookdale Chapel Hill was good. My husband wasn’t there for very long, but it was fine while he was there. At that time, it was Clare Bridge. As far as I know, the level of care was good. It was OK. I was satisfied. My husband seemed to like the food. I would recommend this community. The room was very nice. He shared a room with another man. He was in the memory care center, and there was an assisted living building in the same area. They geared the level of activities to the level of functioning of the patients.

Brookdale Chapel Hill (formerly Clare Bridge of Chapel Hill) is very similar to their assisted living, except it's only one floor, and they do have the similar things. They interact, but not at the level that you do in the assisted-living place. We just liked the way that the two facilities are close by to each other. They had rooms with nice views for the residents to see.