Independent Living Community in Westlake, Ohio

Susanne

It was wonderful and I liked it a lot. It was like home and was really nice. They were very caring. The rooms were lovely and they have beautiful gardens for them to enjoy. The amenities were lovely and I just liked it all the way around. I liked the staff a lot too. I like that they have a dining area where you can bring your whole family in and you can have a meal that they would actually serve.

Doris

My experience with Brookdale Westlake Village was very nice. Their apartments are very nice. For a first visit, I was very impressed with the presentation. The dining room was very nice. They have entertainment, a swimming pool, and an exercise room, which I was very interested in. Overall, I had a very good impression, that's why I'm leaning a lot toward it.

K.M.

We toured Brookdale Westlake Village, and it was a very nice facility. It was very clean, nicely decorated, and had a comfortable feeling, but the memory care unit is in a whole separate building. Each resident had their own room, and it was large enough to put a bed, dresser, and a couch in, and they had their own bathroom. It was done up like a bullpen with the rooms on the outside perimeter of the building. The center was a large country kitchen. You could sit on the counter top area or the tables, they have a large community family room area, and another area where you can do crafts, arts, painting, or drawing. They had a spa room, and they had a large soaking tub that was wheelchair accessible. It reminded me of a high-end spa. They had morning and evening aromatherapy, exercises, social activities, arts and crafts, and they watch TV and movies. My husband liked the facility because of how it was structured.

Bill

The size of the rooms at Gardens at Westlake Senior Living were more reasonable than the other places, but everything else was great. The activities seemed to be good. The facility was nice. The only downside was they don't offer Medicare.

Susan

My dad was in the Skilled Nursing/Rehab facility following a hospital stay in November 2016. My dad had moderate dementia at that time with sun-downing behaviors that became much more pronounced while he was there due to the added confusion of an unfamiliar place and people. They were not equipped to handle this despite their assurance that they often dealt with Alzheimer/dementia patients. When I toured the facility (which is attractive, bright, and clean) before making a decision and asked specific questions about fall prevention, I was assured that they have procedures to minimize fall risk as much as possible. This was an issue with my dad and his memory/confusion problems - he could not remember that he needed assistance to get up and get around (since just a couple weeks before he had been maneuvering independently), and we did not feel that fall risk was minimized as they had assured. Their solution for the cognitive and falling issues was to suggest that WE hire an outside private care agency to provide one-on-one monitoring around the clock while he was there - which we did - at great expense - for peace of mind and because there seemed to be no other options offered. That helped, but we were disappointed it was needed since he was already in a facility that was supposed to be caring for him. Communication and problem-solving were lacking; we felt like WE had to initiate communication in several instances and also try to come up with ideas to make some situations better - this left us scratching our heads since we were not the experts in this type of care - we thought they were! The rehab sessions were very good and progress was made, but at only about an hour per day, without follow-up the rest of the day from other staff to encourage more walking, etc. - that progress was limited. They did offer quite a few optional activities during the day which would be great for people who were mentally capable of organizing and scheduling themselves, but that was not the case here. The food was really good and helped my dad regain some much needed weight. Many of the nurses and caregivers were extremely helpful, caring, and hardworking, which we did appreciate. But if your loved one is placed here and cannot speak up for themselves well, I would suggest you have someone with him/her there most of the time - either rotating family members or hiring outside help like we did. Those weeks were very stressful, and when my dad moved from Brookdale Skilled/Rehab into nearby Arden Courts of Westlake Memory Care Community, he was much happier and we were much more at ease with Arden Court's understanding of dementia issues that appeared lacking at Brookdale Skilled.