Better Living

Pros- 1: The kitchen staff is friendly and serves high quality and generous portions of food. 2: The inside of the facility is clean. 3: The aids are friendly. 4: cost is comparatively low Cons- 1: the secure back yard is not kept up. Porch swing is broken and the yard has never been mowed or weed eaten. 2: The manager [name removed] is rude and will not uphold standards. She refuses to update the care file for Dad. We have found his room unkempt, sheets and blankets missing in the morning when we arrive or absence in the late afternoon. 3: staff will not help with hygiene ie shaving, brushing teeth. 4: The ombudsman has been called to the facility twice due to improper care. 5: [name removed](facility manager) will not call or answer calls from my mom now that hospice is involved. Nor will she make time to speak to Mom in person when she comes to the facility. 6: Calls to the director of facilities have fallen on deaf ears. If Dad wasn't in his final couple months we would have moved him to a new facility already. If we could do it again, we would select a different facility. I wouldn't send my dog there to be properly cared for. All issues stem from the management team.

Even the memory care unit is truly assisted living. My parent needs a lot more care than what they are giving him. It doesn't make any sense to have this memory care unit be assisted living. Obviously anyone with memory care issues needs some attention.

This facility has gone through a number of operators since 2019. It seems they come with big promises, but nothing changes. There is no commitment to fixing deferred maintenance and resources to the staff must be limited, the food is so bad.

My loved one was there a short period of time.They did not have a housekeeper, or enough staff. They did not have a maintenance guy, a director or nurse. The food was terrible. It was low quality, and was not fresh. They had activities, such as; exercise, crafts, afternoon outings, and bible study. They did not, make an effort to get all of the residents involved. The care aides were excellent.

I went on a tour here and it wasn't a good one. They had just changed the ownership like the day before. No one knew I was coming . The person doing my tour couldn't answer my questions. They didn't offer any OT or PT. There were only 19 beds in there and there were things broken in there like the closet doors and the rooms were small. I recommend families tour several places before making a decision.

Ruth Thorud is enjoying living at Brookdale Blaine. She loves that the facility is small. The staff is very friendly and helpful.

We are having some issues with this community. I'am hoping things improves, but if they do not I will move my mother out. It is a nice facility, but they need to do their jobs better. The staff do not really follow through with what I ask of them. We are paying extra for more extra care for her, and she has not been getting the extra care from the staff. They are working to fix things. They do offer activities and nice food. At this time I would not recommend it.

Tour was good, brought mom for a meal prior to moving in, food was good;salad and spaghetti. Move in nightmares: Menu, non existent, nor posted. Mom and others have been fed frozen fish patties and undercooked French fries twice in 1 wk, frozen pizza for dinner 2x in 1 week, mid day snacks; go to the "snack basket" which it's memory care; residents won't remember. Some kind of koolaid/juice is beverage served each meal. No milk unless I was there to request it. No water, paper plates & cups for serving food/ drink. Maintenance: Move in day for mom, mentioned the need for closet doors latch, baseboard needing to be re-attached... as of today, nothing done. Dishonesty; lies about shower,laundry/linen days,resulting in my giving 2 showers/both of only linen changes. Housekeeping; I cleaned her room for 2 hours prior to moving her and her things in. No weekly housekeeping. I have had to clean visibly soiled toilet and rinse clothing, had to ask to have room swept and mopped.

Flew in from out of town to visit my Mother. [name removed] told us she had to go by ambulance to Ottumwa Hospital for psych eval to get her meds changed, then she could return (lies). She was discharged from the hospital later that evening and when we tried to return her to her to river place (in the middle of the night), they would not let her in to return to her room. We called [name removed] , the director, and he said she cannot come back. No advance notice of any kind. So we are sitting in the parking lot in the middle of the night with no place to go. The day before, my sister went to visit her and she was lying outside, and my sister had to bring her back in. I noticed that they waited until the first of the month (after she paid in advance for the month ahead) before they pulled this hateful stunt. Looking at all options.

This is difficult. The Landings managed the facility when my husband moved in. I would have scored them high on all categories. Since Northern Oaks took over I have been considering moving my husband even though that would extremely difficult for him. I know there is a labor shortage but the management has made so many procedural changes that are affecting the care of the residents. The best caregivers have left. There are usually only two people on duty and frequently one of them is the cook. The caregivers are struggling to keep up with their responsibilities which is made more difficult because there's no longer a process for communicating from one shift to another each day. My husband's bathroom is not cleaned regularly. I AM NO LONGER NOTIFIED WHEN HE FALLS. He has Parkinson's and fell 39 times last year but since October I haven't been notified by them. The wonderful registered nurse is no longer there. The LPN on duty now seems to have no understanding of dementia or Parkinson's and has not attempted to learn about how to care for the residents. She has ZERO compassion for the residents. Several residents have moved to other facilities. I would not recommend Northern Oaks for anyone. I would be interested in finding another place for my husband.

The worst facility for clients. They keep changing there website. Not once did I witnessany outings, picnics, on-site musicians, excerising, etc… There is no spa or salon it is a closet with no ventilation. No employees stay, or wear name tags. What red carpet treatment ??? Pricing leave seniors with no money left over at months end which is against Anoka county standards. They are now hiding behind a “place for mom”, “jaybird management”, which all 3 places have very low reviews. Run as fast as you can everything the tell you about this place is literally a lie!!

I would have wanted to know clients are the truth about this facility. The truth is employees treat clients very poorly and none of them wear name tags. The food is not up to anyones stanards due to needing to hire a cook with knowledge of cooking. It is a lot of sandwiches or pizza delivery which isn’t her approved diet. Staff is deceitful and can not be trusted. There is no maintenance man. All negative reviews are removed from the site. Clients are being considerably over charged. Turn around in staff leads not having enough staff at all. Especially at night time. Most employees treat clients rudely and have no patience. They offer no activities, meal planning , no extras. I would not recommend this facility to anyone as they offer little in providing quality care.

Management and HHA need serious retraining. No support from management, constant staff shortage and there is reason why a 19 bed facility in a area that senior living is in need have lots of openings. Look elsewhere as care here will be poor and expensive! Zero activities. What they pass off is very limited for activities. Too much turnover in staff and the staffing to resident ratio is alarming, especially at night.

Looked great at first, but our mother said the care was not what you paid for meals were terrible, chef quit, fed Mexican food 3-4 times a week. Elevator broke all the time and she was on second floor. Bed bugs on lower level by bingo room found in some ones room. how does this happen in an assisted living facility??? The maintenance man was the nicest man there and the most caring. The little gal doing the interviewing doesn't have a clue what is going on, or the Manager for that fact either. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. We have since moved our mother , where she is getting great care.

i test

Very dated and small rooms. No updates since it was opened it looks like. Staff do not conduct themselves professionally. Not a secured place. Enter and walk in without anyone asking who you are. Very little activities and no outings. Too expensive for services and environment you are getting. Better choices to consider in the area.

We have had our mom at Emery for four months. As of today we are at 27 days with none of the electrical outlets working in her room. We have brought this up eight different times and are told that they are looking into it. They reported an injury to her foot but had no idea how it happened. Her doctor thought it was broken and did x-rays because of the extensive bruising. She has had a black eye, a bruised cheek and arm and we were the ones that had to point it out. We found moldy food in her room. We are trying to find a new home as soon as possible.

Very disappointed in the treatment of my M-I-L at Emery Place. She was one of the 1st residents to move into Emery when it opened 2 years ago. Emery Place made an independent assessment of her a few weeks ago and decided she needed to be moved to their new locked facility because she burned a brownie in her microwave and "failed" an assessment they gave her. The nurse at Emery Place appears to make all the decisions and is not open to any other opinions (including family). She gave us the choice of moving to the locked ward or moving out. So...we are moving my M-I-L into a facility that respects her independence and fulfils their commitment to increase the level of care as needs increase instead of warehousing our loved ones in a locked (and understaffed) facility. Do not heed their promises of being able to increase the level of care your family member needs as they age. What they mean is that they will require them to move to the more expensive locked ward in order to remain at Emery. My M-I-L has been "assessed" at several other facilities that we are looking at to move her to, and has passed all their assessments. I'm confident the reason Emery Place required her to move was that they have a waiting list for her type of apartment, and they thought they could fill their empty rooms in the locked ward with residents who currently occupy the coveted rooms. Our story is not unique...in the last 30 days this has happened to 3 residents. Unfortunately, they didn't have the family resources to advocate for them. Beware...