Brookdale Foundation House

Reviewer RC#0715

I like the location and the facilities at Brookdale Foundation House. The rooms are nice and well-taken care for. They do bingo, a drum class, exercise class, walking, field trips, and my father enjoys the shuttle service that would take them shopping and other places. All of them are super helpful and friendly. I like the way they do their menus and the little kitchens they have. They can also take the food to their room and I love all the chairs and how they've set it up. It's almost like a restaurant or a hotel versus old folks' home.

Don

I've visited Brookdale Foundation House, it's a very nice and very lovely place. They have very nice amenities and nice rooms and it's a fairly large place. There's a central area where it's all kind of pretty much together, there's a library, dining room, visiting area, entertainment, and the things that they have there for the people. They've got everything that I would need, and they also provide shopping and excursions and trips and what you're going to need when you're limited on what you can do. They provided it all there. In that place, you don't have to go upstairs, you've got elevators to go up the second or third floors and nice wide hallways for people in wheelchairs. So they've got plenty of room to maneuver, it's a lovely place. it wasn't brand-new but it was up-to-date and very nice. They offered everything there, they had independent living, assisted living, and then the nursing home. It's all there. I saw some people there eating and it looked good and they're being served. It's not a cafeteria, it's like eating in a restaurant.

Macey

Brookdale Foundation House had a very nice library and some incredible activities set up. Probably out of all the places that I have seen, they were the ones that were very impressive. The staff was informative and incredibly friendly. They had art-related projects that were up for viewing outside. So, you could see what people did and what they worked on. The apartments themselves were very nice and well-maintained, too.

Tammy

We visited Brookdale Foundation House. In comparison to the place we chose, it wasn't as new of a building. The memory care wing felt kind of dark and cramped to me, maybe it just wasn't as open. The employees were very nice. I didn't see many activities and amenities in comparison, except they had a spa-type area. It seemed to me that a couple of areas were in disrepair, but it was clean. It's located near a hospital.

Provider Response

Penny

I had an in-person tour of Brookdale Foundation House. I like the cleanliness, the lightness, the decor, the spaciousness, the friendliness of the staff, and the fact that everybody living there seems to be very much at ease and comfortable. The apartments were kept very clean. They were very spacious. The inputs that the staff gives to the people or to the family of the people who are moving in is very smart. They tell them not to clutter. They give them help in picking out furnishings and placing the furnishings, although they do not provide the furnishings. So the feeling you get when you look at these apartments, even though the floor plans are very similar, is that they're just nice, clean, and open. The dining, lobbies, library, and recreation were all very well appointed. If they are looking at facilities for their family member, they definitely should include Brookdale Foundation House.

Dennis

We toured Brookdale Foundation House for my wife, and I think we saw the assisted living and the memory care. They have a nice facility there. They have the grand piano, as I recall, and it's very well done in the interior. The rooms were good, but not quite as good as the one we saw in another place. I think the only staff I met was the salesperson, and she was fine. They had an exercise area, a dining area, and they had a central area.

Richard

Brookdale Foundation House is a fairly large facility. When you come in, it's a big gate that you pass through, a driveway that goes in and then loops around, and there's the parking there. So, it's a big place when you first go in, you'd be like, "Wow, this is pretty nice" I toured the assisted living. The thing is, I felt that there were a lot of older people there. It seemed like a very senior group, with lots of wheelchairs, a lot of walkers, and just an older group than what I'd seen in other communities. All the staff was nice, the salesperson or the sales director that worked with us was very, very nice, very knowledgeable, and has been in the industry for quite a while. They appeared to be a very good staff and the staff had some longevity. They had been there for quite a few years so that's a good sign if you don't have a lot of turnovers. It's right in Federal Way so, from our house, it's only about 12 to 15 minutes away. It's not very far from us. The only thing with Federal Way is, and we've lived in this area since '71, there's more and more crime coming towards us. The only drawback to Federal Way is that there's more stuff going on in that area than there has been in years so that's the thing, that's the negative part, and I don't know that people would know that unless they've lived here a long time and they've seen the change. The facility itself is tucked back out of the way and it's pretty grand when you go in. It's well maintained and the staff does a great job at taking care of everything.

J.E.

Brookdale Foundation House was the first community I've toured, so I didn't know what to expect. It's a nice facility and everything. I just think that it's too far away. The traffic conditions to get there for me, particularly during the busy times of the day, would be an issue for me. If I was closer, I would certainly consider it more. I think they have a pretty good program for their dementia patients as far as stimulating them, their minds, and stuff and keeping them active. It's very clean, very orderly, spacious for people to get around on their own in the memory care unit and things that just kind of help them trigger their brain activity and stuff. People seemed to be nice there. I visited the memory care units because my husband has dementia so that would be important to me. They do arts and crafts and things like I think most of them do. They also have these things on the walls that are kind of touchpoints for those that have dementia. Like they have a desk that's out there with boxes where you can put envelopes and things and move things around and little things on the wall that you can turn like doorknobs or just those kinds of tactile kinds of things that might cue thoughts within them and kind of stimulate them a little bit. I don't know how to describe it. You almost have to watch it. They have a garden there where they can get out and walk around and do different kinds of activities for them. Some can do cooking classes and some do other things. The staff just showed me around and explained how they did things for the residents and what the activities were in their own little bedrooms or how they could interact with other people. They had their own area that they were pretty much free to roam in if they wanted to be with people, they had social areas for that. They had a big kitchen cafeteria area where they could go and do activities there if they wanted to.

Melanie

I think Brookdale Foundation House takes very good care of my mother-in-law. Even though she has dementia, she still has some ability to get dressed and use the restroom. The things she needs assistance with, I think the staff was attentive to that and they were friendly. Food is good. Communication, overall, is good as well when there's an issue with my mother-in-law. They make sure to reach out to my husband so he's aware. There's a couple of dining rooms, and I've only been into one. It was a very, very pretty, and very elegant looking. The lighting was sufficient, just decorated very nicely. It was clean. They have a beauty parlor, a library, and someone who comes in to do foot care, so it's really nice. The rooms are very nice too. When my mother-in-law first went there, she was in the assisted living where she had a nice and good sized one-bedroom. When she moved to memory care, it's a little bit more studio-like. I don't care for it as much, but I think that's kind of the nature of the unit that she's on. I would say they're very nice, and the place is kept up very well. However, for the care she is getting (which isn't a huge amount), it's pretty expensive.

WhatAYear

My Mom lived at Brookdale Foundation House for a little over two years. She started as independent living, then we changed her to assisted living and in July 2020 we moved her to their memory care area called "Clare Bridge". Mom's dementia got worse due to the isolation from covid. When we moved her from her assisted living room to her memory care room, her room was very dirty, with mold growing in glasses in her sink, about a dozen meal boxes that had been delivered to her because of covid were uneaten, smelly and some had mold, bags of cat feces from her cat were in her food pantry and more. I had thought that with assisted living, my Mom was receiving much better care, but since I could not see her because of covid, I never knew. My Mom was in much worse condition than when I had last ween her in February of 2020. I was worried about her care in Clare Bridge, especially since I was unable to check on her due to covid. I asked over and over again, how was she, and what activities was she doing, and I got short answers like "fine". I visited her outside in the cold in the winter, but it was hard to tell how she was doing with these short visits. Finally in March 2021, I was allowed to have inside visits in her area. They brought me to a conference room and we sat at a dirty table (like someone had a messy lunch earlier) and we had a nice visit. I noticed my Mom seemed unshowered and her finger nails were very long, very ragged, chipped and sharp. My Mom had to go to the bathroom right away, so I followed her to her room so she could go. There I found them changing her bed, and one gal told me that her bed was soaked with urine. Her room reeked with urine and a window was open to let fresh cold air in. I had no idea my Mom's mattress was wet or there had been a problem, until two days earlier they had asked me to bring a waterproof mattress cover. Their solution was to cover the wet smelly mattress with a mattress cover. I wondered, what else is going on here. I decided to get my Mom out of there and I moved her to an adult family home a couple of weeks ago. When my husband and I were moving my Mom's things, we found her mattress AND boxspring soaked with urine, her loveseat soaked with urine, her room reeked, her shower was filthy, my Mom was wet with urine, her clothes in her closet were wet with urine, 3 out of the 4 light bulbs in her bathroom were burned out, her floors were filthy. I was shocked, angry and upset that my Mom was living in these conditions for 9 months. My Mom immediately had a doctor appointment, and she had a raging UTI. Since she is on antibiotics for the UTI, her dementia is much better now. Mom lost 20 pounds this past year too. I tried and tried to talk with staff to see what my Mom needed, how she was doing, updates, and they never had any time to really answer my questions, and they were always full of excuses. I think they are understaffed and undertrained. I feel so sorry for the others who are living there. This is terrible. I am so glad I moved my Mom to a new place. She is clean, kept dry, does activities, watches television, is having her UTI taken care of and looked after better, eating better meals and she is so much happier. I feel terrible that my Mom had to endure poor care for this past year of isolation in her room all alone. Several times I mentioned that an email and a photo once a month telling me how my Mom was doing would be nice. Texting a photo would be nice. I asked over a dozen times for a Christmas photo of my Mom and I never got one. Our outside visits could have had a heater, flowers on the table, blankets to cuddle up with, a tablecloth, anything better than a cold plastic table. They did the absolute minimum as far as I could tell. I have so many friends with parents in senior homes and I heard such good stories of what was going on at other places. The turnover rate of the help in Clare Bridge/Brookdale was high.

Provider Response

Christopher

I visited Brookdale Foundation House, and it was great. They were very friendly, the place was really clean and well organized, and the staff was really great, too. It has pull cords in case of emergency, it has Wi-Fi, and it is TV ready. He is getting a studio apartment on the first floor, and he loved it. The bathroom was great because it has a walk-in shower. It was very spacious, and the kitchen was great, too. It has a small-sized kitchen, but it had a full-size refrigerator in it. There was a microwave, an oven, and a pantry. They had different types of rooms. They have a library and a room where you can eat with family when that opens up again. There are fireplaces all around the area to keep people warm when it is cold outside. They have a piano, I think an exercise room, a little store, and a phone that during COVID times you can use to call and talk to a person while you see them outside, like your family or something like that. But they're starting to let one person per family come in during the day to visit for a little bit, so that is cool. This one was the best option for him. It is close to where we live. My daughter lives only a few minutes from where he is going to be living. There are a lot of different stores nearby. There is a Kaiser clinic that is right there, too. It was just a perfect location.

Mary

Brookdale Foundation House is a wonderful, clean, and well-kept place. It is a very busy place with a lot of residents, but they seem to handle them all very well. My friend has her dog with her, and there's a dog walker. It's all been very good. They have a daily calendar of activities, and she's really looking forward to going to bingo. They also take the residents to outings every week. They took her to her doctor two miles out of the allowed distance, which I thought was really amazing. My friend is a very picky eater, but she tells me the food is great. It's a very large community but the setup is very lovely and homey. There's a section in the main lobby where they have three or four fireplaces and a library area.

Nancy

Brookdale Foundation House was very nice but very expensive. I stayed there for almost a year. The rooms were nice and had a little kitchenette. The food was OK. You could order off a menu. The people were very nice. They had trips to different places.

MB

I'm moving in to Brookdale Foundation House. I chose it because the price was better for me. I wanted a 2-bedroom, which I got. They seem to be friendly and open. They have been very good at working with me. I've eaten there several times and the food was good. They had all kinds of things going on, but I haven't experienced any of it yet. The people that I've talked to are very happy. I have no complaints.

Susan668218

We chose Brookdale Foundation House because we want to be somewhere in the suburbs of Seattle. A nice woman showed us a cottage that we loved, and we signed the contract. It was a beautiful place. The deciding factor was the cottage and that the location was excellent. We think it suits us very well. The cottage is spacious with bolted ceilings, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, a whole closet, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. It was being refurbished with beautiful marble countertops. Having a garage was a big help, too.

Pam121798550

My aunt is at Brookdale Foundation House (formerly Foundation House of Federal Way). It's a very nice, recently updated facility that recently lowered the prices on their one-bedroom apartments, which made it very affordable for her. She's a pretty active gal, which is great because they have activities and transportation. At this point, everything has gone well, and she's very happy. I would recommend it. She seems to be pretty satisfied with the menu.

Michael115274550

Brookdale Foundation House was too big for my mom, but it and everybody was nice. They were in the middle of a major renovation.

Anonymous115342850

Brookdale Foundation House was very large, new, and beautiful. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We would have to find a room closer to the dining area for my sister. My parents liked it very much. It was close to medical care, and, along with that, it was very beautiful and well-kept.

Pat114904850

The staff at Brookdale Foundation House was very helpful, and the cost was a little less expensive, but still getting all the care. We had a meal there, and the food was good.

Anonymous107097950

Foundation House is a great community and a very pretty place. They have vans, and they go to the doctors or take them to the store. They have a little store, a beauty shop, and music there. They have just about anything that she needs if we are not available to help her. I haven't had any trouble with the staff; they seemed fine. My mother has a one-bedroom apartment and a huge bathroom with a big shower, a little kitchen, and just about everything that she needs there. They have a dining hall where she can go to eat if she doesn't cook, and she likes eating there. They have lots of activities, so there's never a dull moment if you don't want one.

Pat102910350

Mom has been at Brookdale Foundation House for about 3 weeks. It was the only one that she really liked. It is very good, and we would recommend it. The staff is very friendly, and the communities are very clean. It’s a couple of miles from the mall; you could take the bus there. They do exercise programs quite frequently, and they do bingo and Wii bowling. They go out on trips; they have shopping 3 times a week.

Denise27

I didn’t feel the staff at Foundation House was as friendly as the other facility I went to. We were with two nurses as we toured, and they were dealing with a client. He seemed like he just wanted to get back to his room, but they told him he had to wait for someone to come to assist him. That isn’t what I want to hear, because there were two of them, I don’t know why one of them couldn’t have assisted him. I didn’t tell that they were being very pleasant generally but when you have clients or potential residents come in there to visit, the staff should be very open and friendly to those people. The rooms were pretty decent, and it was a nice facility, but the staff turned me off.

Provider Response

Caring86628750

We have committed to a place called Foundation House. It is independent living with options for assisted. We have a cottage there, so we are independent. What I like best this place is the independence, the availability of all of the activities, food and everything, and the ability to move into assisted living when we need it. They have bridge, bingo, exercise, crafts, excursions, transportation, and classes. The staff is very friendly and accommodating.

Caring82260850

I had heard of Foundation House before, and so I went there for a visit. The facility is high quality and very nice. The foods are very good, and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I didn’t see any activities, but we were told that they do have some. The cost is pretty high for this facility for us to be able to get a place there.

Caring79214750

I like the open concept of Foundation House. I like this facility a lot, but it was way too expensive for us. The people are very friendly. I talked to the residents and they like this facility. Their dining room was very nice.

Caring71651950

I visited Foundation House. It was not what I was told it would be. I was supposed to meet some residents there and was supposed to be served lunch, but none of that happened. I was shuffled into a room, left with the woman whom I talked to. We went to see a couple of places. I was quoted prices that were outlandish. I would not recommend that place to anybody.

Maude1

My mother did stay in Foundation House for a couple of days. They're all wonderful there. The staff, the activities and their residents, they're all great. It is a fine facility.

ThomA

Foundation House is fine. We thought it was a little like a hotel. The staff is friendly and helpful, is always around, gives us lunch and answers all our questions. The foods were okay, but not outstanding.

Tim G.

While I did not enjoy the prospect of having a family member living in a nursing home, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of devotion the staff had. In many places, it seems like the staff is moderately apathetic-this facility however had workers who seemed to genuinely enjoy their work. The staff was happy to answer any questions I had.While the facility was not the most advanced, and did not have the amenities of some more expensive nursing homes, it did have excellent staff and better than average available activities for residents. The facility was clean and orderly, while still seeming somewhat at ease. While my family member did not seem very enthusiastic about the prospect of living there, after a month they greatly enjoyed it. Having friendly staff on hand seemed to make them feel more like they were with family, not people being paid to help out. I would choose this facility for myself if I ever found myself in a position where I needed to go into assisted living.