Brookdale Winston-Salem

Maria

My mom has been at Brookdale Winston-Salem for two weeks now. What I like the most about them is that it is a small facility. They don't have a lot of patients, so the patient-to-staff ratio is really good. There are always staff around enough to accommodate everybody's needs. The staff is friendly. They're kind to each other. You can see that they're friends. When you walk in, they are laughing together. As new employees would come in the front door, the others would come up and hug them when they entered. It felt more like family and like a home. My mom's room is small. The bathroom doesn't have a shower in it. Some places have showers in the bathrooms. Their reasoning is that it cuts down a lot on falls by having a hall bathroom where they can be monitored better, and I understand that, so I was okay with it. There's not a kitchen or anything. One of the biggest things is that all of the activities and everything are outside of my mom's room. One of my concerns is that she would stay in there and hide out all day, not venture out and make friends, and feel like it was home for her. So they keep that down to a minimum a little bit by just not having a whole lot in their rooms where they have to come out to get things. I've been with my mom for at least three meals now, and the food is always really good and very well prepared. They made pot roast Sunday that melted in your mouth. It was so tender that it was easy for somebody who has chewing problems to chew. You can tell that they're thinking through the process of what they're providing. For activities, they have two rooms set up. One is more like a living room with couches and chairs, and they have the TV going with game shows most of the time, because that tends to be a big one for memory care patients, and they really like game shows. Then the other room is set up with tables so that they can do activities. In that room, they have a piano, they have music playing from the era that they would have listened to. There's a placard on the wall that has the room number and the name of the patient in the room, so that when they're walking around, they see that, and they know that that's the direction they need to go, so they don't get lost going back and forth to their rooms. They have bingo, and they do art activities. In the summer they have a garden area, and they plant things.

Harry

I toured Brookdale Winston-Salem. They had a very busy schedule for their residents to keep them occupied. They had somebody come in to play music for them, and they seemed to be focused on social activities. It was an older facility, but I had no negative opinions about them. The staff were all friendly and outgoing. Everybody had a big smile and was pleased to meet me. I saw the dining area, the common areas, and the TV area.

BMD

We were very excited about Brookdale. However, my mom arrived with a UTI and she had some serious transition issues. Brookdale requested we hire a 24 hour nurse immediately. They had her in the hospital after 5 days. They suggested we make other arrangements when she was released. When all was handled, we had paid $12,000 for those 5 days. When we went to clean out the room, no one even asked how my mother was doing. They barely looked at us. Brookdale is a lovely place if you have a person who is quiet, docile and transitions easily. If the resident has difficulties, the staff seems overwhelmed. The place she lives now has much more training and demonstrates much more care - she has had no problems. If you take your loved one to Brookdale, anticipate being nickeled and dimed. You should also hope that your loved one causes no troubles.

Donna

We visited Brookdale Winston-Salem. They are a larger community and a lot more residents. It just has a different feel to it. The staff was very friendly and very engaged with the residents. It had a communal shower. There was not a private shower available for her room. Other than that, they were very nice. The location was very convenient.

Joy

Brookdale Winston-Salem was really nice. The rooms were nice and good sized. I saw a single room and a double room. They had a dining hall, a TV/family room, and an additional family room type where you could visit. The facility was very clean, and they had a courtyard for sitting.

Charles

We liked Brookdale Winston-Salem. It was homey, but all they had was memory care, and the residents move around under their own power. They had rooms where they all gather, talk, and do activities. We were generally satisfied there. The staff member was very cooperative and pleasant. They had somebody on-staff that took care of giving them their daily medications. They had a pharmacy they work with, and they all seemed to work pretty efficiently. They just weren't able to take care of my wife anymore. She started to need more than two people to assist her in doing things, and they weren't equipped to handle that.