Brookdale Senior Living Sterling House Profits come first at Brookdale - BEFORE residents and employees Brentwood Tennessee

The salesman said their corporate philosophy is "Take care of the residents and the bottom line will take care of itself." 

More than 3 years after moving my parent into one of their facilities, I can say I haven't seen many examples of this in action. We were told that when they were short staffed they will borrow workers from one of the many nearby facilities. I have never seen this happen. One key position (Asst. Dir of Nursing) was vacant for a full quarter of a year. Only after I protested to the director about the impact this has on residents did they start scheduling extra shifts for some employees (not always a nurse) to cover some of the hours the ADN would have. That isn't the same as 40 hours of LPN service. 

Many, many times when I visit my parent I find things not as they should be, according to the care plan. This puts the elderly, especially those not able to speak for themselves, at great risk. If I were not monitoring my paren't care very closely, none of these issues would be addressed.

We pay a lot of money for service we can only get by hounding the director and reminding them of what they are supposed to be doing. When we point out issues, the Director of Nursing always has an excuse as to why they didn't provide the care or something wasn't done properly. She doesn't seem to feel she should take responsibility for anything. This makes it very hard to get the care we are paying for. The facility director will sometimes apologize and take action where needed, but this may solve a problem in the short term, but it doesn't last, or something else happens.

I believe the employees care very much about the residents and work as hard as possible to provide the best care they can. They can't help that they are greatly under-resourced.

 They run on the thinnest opperating costs possible. They are not allowed to staff adequately. They say it is based on acuity, but the fact that my parent has had to wait half an hour for help, and sometimes help never comes, indicates to me that their ratio is not sufficient to provide the care they promise.

I would not recommend a facility in this chain to anyone looking for a facility for a loved one. I'm sure there are worse facilities, but don't be fooled into thinking they are any better, or that they truly live by their "corporate philosophy." 

If you are wondering about the bottom line, take a look at their financial reports. They are definitely taking care of the bottom line -- at the expense of vulnerable elderly residents and their families.