Brookdale Nine Mile

The gentleman who talked to me while I was at Brookdale Nine Mile was extremely knowledgeable, really thoughtful, and brought up some points that my family hadn't thought of before. It was nice to talk with him. When we walked into the building, everything was really clean and everything was honestly beautiful. The facility was very clean, interactive, and had completely reasonable decoration. It was set up in a way that I think someone with dementia would feel comfortable there. I was impressed. I wasn't able to taste any of the food, but I saw the dining area. They have a general area where the residents go to sit and eat, and they also have a private dining room. Both were clean and the people that were there eating looked good and the food smelled good. Some people were chatting, and I think one person was playing a game of cards. There were lots of people sitting outdoors enjoying the sunshine with all the flowers and stuff. Everything was kept up well and looked like they had a lot of good areas for people to do activities, but we came right around lunchtime, so there wasn't a lot going on. They would be my top choice if I had to pick somewhere today to have my grandmother be in for the rest of her life. It would be that particular place.

I would recommend anyone with a family member follow their loved ones medication and health very closely. In only a span of 3 months my father had multiple falls with injuries in which we not were notified of any. It was not until we were able to visit and noticed his finger incredibly swollen and appeared broken or dislocated in two places, bruises all over, and multiple skin abrasions that we began asking questions. We knew that there would likely be falls but completely frustrated by the absence of any notification. When we asked what was done to try and fix or help his finger heal (or at least not be as painful) we were told that nothing was done essentially because he was on hospice. Heart breaking to hear that the treatment would be denied for someone in such a fragile state and given no dignity for their remaining time. My mother was prescribed antipsychotics because she was “too difficult to manage” which caused terrible side effects for her. How does a facility that regards themselves as a top notch memory care have difficulty managing someone with dementia resorting to meds so quickly? At the new facility we found, they have a different approach, less medication, and we are able to actually talk with our mother again. The physician Brookdale uses explicitly told us that we need to accept that our parents our dying and seek counseling. I simply can’t understand how someone could care so little about other human beings and even more how Brookdale could work with a person like this defending him when we raised questions. The aids were very friendly but incredibly busy and over worked. In speaking with current and former employees, it appears that the issues we saw came from the health and wellness director who we were told if she had to be called in the middle of the night for an injury she was “madder than hell”.

I would recommend Brookdale Nine Mile. I could only see the outside of it because of COVID restrictions, but I saw a video of the inside. It's quite nice. The staff is wonderful. They seem to be well trained on how to cope with someone who is like my husband and in the late stages of dementia and has become violent. They seem to know how to handle him. With his dementia, as far advanced as it is, he does not communicate well. We signed up with hospice yesterday. I haven't even met the people other than the one Zoom conference, but talking to them on the phone they are absolutely wonderful and they treat me with respect and concern as much as they do with my husband. Absolutely nobody has a facility set up like Brookdale has. Brookdale is built specifically for taking care of people like my husband. These other places, they are not prepared to take care of anyone who might become violent, and that's why my husband is not in one closer to home.

My husband is at Brookdale Nine Mile. It has been good. He is doing much better here. They really know how to deal with dementia patients. There are not a lot of activities geared to men, but they are starting to play more of the sports, which is good. My husband likes that. The staff members are very caring. They treat the people very well, which is extremely important. The food is very good; meals are included. At a time they're short-staffed, and my husband has fallen a couple of times, but the RN has always been right there to assess, so that part is very good. There are exercise classes, movies and popcorn, and bingo. There is an open lobby in the afternoon for the residents where they can go in and visit, and have coffee or lemonade and a cookie.