Brookdale at Home Jacksonville

If you love your friend or family member with dementia, DO NOT PLACE THEM IN THE MEMORY CARE AT THIS FACILITY. Where do I even begin? My 62 year old father with early onset Alzheimer’s was here for 6 months until I got a call that they were immediately discharging him on a Friday afternoon. They said he was aggressive so he had to have around the clock eyes on him. This was an additional 35 dollars an hour. That’s 840 dollars a day over the weekend when no one was even working. I was given the manager on duty’s phone number. When I called the manager on duty, I was told he was no where to be found. I live in Denver. When I arrived there, the director tried to tell me that my dad was aggressive and attempted to “strike” the workers. The nurse corrected him and said that my dad would get really close to others and that “being in their personal space is considered aggressive.” I had watched my father’s behavior and he was minding his own business. The woman watching him for 35 a hour expressed that she was confused why she was there because he was so sweet and had been great. That same day I ended up taking my father to the hospital. He was admitted to the hospital because he had a UTI. Records show that the facility was aware that he had a UTI since July 9th. This was August 4th. I never received a call about this. My father wore Depends and somehow nobody noticed that is urine was dark brown from the amount of blood from the UTI that was not resolved. Speaking of depends, I had sent cases of wipes and depends that I was told were stored in a closet where they were labeled. I had recently sent a case so I asked for them all back. Those were nowhere to be found. And there was no explanation. The closet where every residents were kept barely had any and nothing was labeled. They refunded me for those but there was still no explanation. When we cleared my father’s room and stripped the bed, the almost 400 dollar mattress I had bought him, that I have receipts and photos of, was not there. It was a stack of memory foam mattress toppers. The director tried claiming that there was a cover on the mattress and that it had been removed. This type of mattress did not have a removable cover. This was confirmed with Serta. My father was aphasic and could not speak or communicate. If he was more combative it would make sense because of the uti that was not treated that was most likely caused my leaving my father in soiled depends for too long. When other family visited in the past, they had to find someone to help change my dad because they would not proactively do it. There was also fesces still on the wall in August that was asked to be cleaned in April. Once at the hospital my father deteriorated very quickly and he passed away a week and a half later. Brookedale knew this and did not even acknowledge his death. (There was one nurse that loved my dad and she did reach out separately) As if that wasn’t enough, it is exactly the 45 day mark after moving my dad out. They charged me for the whole month of August and I was waiting for a refund that would take 30-45 days. I reached out two days before the 45 day mark and was met with “it has not been exactly 45 days”. I was provided an 800 number. Back to the mattress: I was sent a photo of a mattress cover on someone else’s bed that did not even slightly resemble my dad’s bed and was told that was it. Again, this mattress I bought did not have a removable cover. The photo was taken on August 15th after my father had already passed away and been moved out for almost two weeks. The director also claimed to have called me and left me a voicemail letting me know this mattress cover “that belonged to my dad” was found. Per my carriers phone records a call was never made by him or the facility. I will continue to add to this review with updates.

I have been living at Brookdale SOUTHSIDE for almost 3 years and I am so happy, this is my home, the staff and management team are always there to help. The dining room staff are very accommodating. I love living here

Our family feels so blessed to have Brookdale Southside. The staff is so friendly, empathetic, and patient. The food is good quality and tastes great (my mother lost 15 lbs. in 7 months in her last home due to her picky eating and is finally getting back to a healthy weight). Their team takes care of the building and grounds- everything is clean and well-maintained. It has been such a weight off my shoulders to know my mother is in such good hands - thank you Brookdale Southside team!!

Moving here has changed how I view and interact with other people and residence at Brookdale. I have engaged in many activities here which has driven me to be more responsible and positive about myself, mind and body. It's also encouraged me to be more thoughtful, kind and passionate about others around me. It's inspired me to get more involved and determined in making our lives here better.

We moved our mother here almost 2 years ago from a facility in NJ. The first thing I'll mention is that the cost was dramatically less here! Now, after my mother has passed I can tell you that they did exactly what they promised to do. Our big concern was that our mother would never have to be moved again, and that's exactly what happened. They provided a home for her until the end of her life. Never once did they say she had to be moved somewhere else because she had become too hard to care for. They kept their promise. The people that run the facility are truly special, like any business, you will see caregivers come and go, but throughout our time there, the management was always good about keeping the good ones and letting the others move on. These facilities are certainly a challenge to operate, I for one am extremely happy that I chose Brookdale Southside for the last years of my mother's life. I do have to send out a special acknowledgment to the activities director in memory care. Her name is Lena and she is incredibly special! I also have to commend Sal on his fantastic hands on management of all of Brookdale. Finally, the person in charge of memory care, which is where my mother was, came in after we were already there for quite some time, his name is Randy, and he turned out to be an extremely good person at the end of my mother's life! None of these places are perfect, but this was definitely the perfect place for my mother.