Brookdale Highlands

Great team of employees. Our activities director offers many in house activities as well as trips to the casino, Publix, Walmart and different area restaurants on a weekly basis. Transportation available to doctor visits. Friday afternoons include Happy Hour with beer, wine, soda and ice cream. Come out and see our community for yourself, visit with our residents and talk with Jayme about a place for your family member. 😀😀

My father was a resident at Brookdale's memory care unit, and our experience was mixed. The good: The food was consistently good, and the staff was flexible about providing extra meals for spouse and visitors, which we appreciated. The rooms and bathrooms are a good size. A couple of staff members — Sean and Eddie in particular — were genuinely warm and caring. The concerns: Cleanliness was a recurring issue. Vacuuming seemed infrequent, and bathrooms did not seem to be cleaned on a regular basis. One side of the building also lacked adequate air conditioning, which is unacceptable in Florida. His room was routinely close to 80 degrees (he was only there in the cooler months fortunately). The "Daily Path" program was a major disappointment. It was heavily promoted during the sales process, but in practice it didn't really seem to exist. Day-to-day life for residents mostly consisted of meals and watching TV. There seemed to be very little meaningful engagement or structured activity that the memory care residents participated in. More concerning, a nurse overlooked a medical issue that should have been caught. When it came time to leave, the discharge process felt disjointed and informal. If you're evaluating memory care options, I'd encourage you to look past the sales p pitch and ask detailed questions about what a typical day actually looks like for residents.

BH has a friendly and respectful staff with little communication and ineffective management. My mom has been a resident for a year and a half and has yet to receive many of the benefits prescribed in her Care Plan: failure to stringently follow her diabetic nutrition boundaries, loss of her much-needed walker, failure to assist her with grooming, failure to promptly launder and return her clothes (many pieces have been lost), failure to consistently make or change her bed and the failure to keep her room clean and sanitary. My mom, despite instructions to the contrary, is allowed to stay in bed all hours and as a consequence can barely walk due to inactivity. In addition there has been no access to on-site salon or spa services although the facilities do exist. Frustratingly, staff does not respond to phone calls - indeed, they rarely even answer - and they seldom answer the secure door without persistently ringing the bell (and there is no functional bell on the inside). I have called, messaged and written (even twice to the State) and am received politely with assurances for improvement that simply don't happen. In fact, it seems to be standard practice not to respond to emails or phone calls based on my experience. I urge everyone who has a relative here to visit often and be vigilant. At $6k a month you may be surpised to see what your family member is NOT getting.

I visited the home during a recent BLFS (Better Living for Seniors) breakfast event. The kitchen staff made a beautiful spread for us, which had a good variety and was tasty and fresh. The dining area where we held the meeting was tidy and clean. The staff were very pleasant.

Thankful for the collaborative partnership that we share with the team at Brookdale Highlands. It's wonderful to have our caregivers from Assisting Hands Home Care work alongside the staff there to provide the best care for their residents. It's such a delight to see the joy on both our clients faces and our care teams.