Arden Courts of Glen Ellyn

I looked at several memory care facilities in the Western Suburbs and the information that was provided to me was crucial in caring for my father. Very knowledgeable and compassionate people.

I was a nurse here and got fired after raising concerns over the safety of the residents. It was also done over email. Here is what you should know: The Executive Director (Laura) will promise that they can take the most complex patient and turn their symptoms around. This is not true. Residents are not sleeping at all in a bed during the night. That hasn't changed. They all declined since they get there, and can longer walk much. There are only 2 caregiver's per 16 patients, unless someone calls off. The other night there were 2 caregivers for 60+ patients. The communication between staff doesn't exist. (I had to tell the nursing staff not to crush medication that was a time release medication, something nurses should know). Whenever a new MD order came in, the caregivers (who are not nurses) weren't aware, nor the nurses.caregivers don't engage in any conversations with the patients, nor even smile. It's the visitors that talk with the patients. One resident fell up to 13 times since being admitted there (that was the amount reported) with multiple lacerations, bruising, swollen extremities and hospitalizations. one even recently died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is caused by trauma 99% of the time.The solution by Arden Courts of Glen Ellyn to those with advanced dementia is to hire a 24hour caregiver from a home service to stay with the patient all the time WHILE THEY ARE STILL AT THE FACILITY. Well, after paying $6,500 a month plus medications and supplies to stay at Arden, who has money for a caregiver from an agency, which cost $20-25/hour in addition.. (The home is not covered by medicare, nor outside caregiver agencies,), it's all out of pocket. The 2 caregivers are supposed to do everything for the patient, but they don't have time, as they also have to do all the laundry and wash the dining room floor and do the dishes. The caregivers complain of the lack of help and lack of raises. They are to check the patients every hour when the resident is inside and every 15minutes when they are outside. This does not occur. They will tell you is absolutely does, but it doesn't. It takes 2 caregivers to give each patient a shower, so during that time, which is longer than 15minutes, the other residents are by themselves. The nurses are unlike hospital nurses. There is no urgency in care here. They take a residents blood pressure, pulse and respiratory rate and weigh the patient only once a month. So it is not a daily visit, other than giving them their medications. The family has to point out all the new symptoms, pain, that they should call the MD, what medications they should give them. The initial meeting with the Executive Director makes everything sound wonderful. You fill out forms so they can know what is best for your family member and to personalize. But no one knows or looks at this, or follows it to form a plan of care. No one seems to know! People even had another family meeting to go over all our complaints and issues, you will be told 'they would handle it', and months later, things still wont be done, and they forget you had told them. The concept of the memory care being free roaming for the residents and the layout is great, except for the tile floor and non passed carpets and tiled bedrooms. They don't know how to redirect patients while keeping them calm and not elevating they to combativeness. Also once a resident becomes a 2 person assist in any form, they can no longer stay at Arden.To top all of this off the Director of Nursing (Gina) has been charged with Multiple DUI arrests and DWIs for being under the influence of drugs and alcohol you can look that up. No one should ever have to go through any of this and apparently it was the same prior to me being there with the old staff as well. So if your told, we've changed it all around with new staff just don't believe them. Now watch as they copy and paste in their response, 'we can't talk specifics, but here's a number you can call'. What a joke. Pray for these residents.

My aunt is at Arden Courts and I can't say enough about our experience. From the day we got there to get her settled in, every person we encountered from the front reception to the director and caregivers have been nothing but caring and helpful in so many different ways. There's a lot that comes up in making a transition like this. The staff has taken a lot of time talking us through the whole situation. Arden does not feel like a typical nursing home facility. It has a homey feeling to it. Every time I've been there, everything has been clean. When we visit, the residents are not just in their rooms. Everyone is out and about either in the dining room, living room or doing activities. There are also two courtyards in the middle of all the residents' rooms. They are able to put up bird feeders and plant in the flower boxes or just go outside any time they'd like. There is a medical staff on the premises, a beauty salon, and a library. When you find a loved one in a health situation like memory care, you have to put yourself in their shoes to see if the people who are going to be taking care of them, would be something that would be acceptable for yourself. For me, Arden would be the type of place I would want to be cared for at.