Garden View Assisted Living

My family moved our mother to Gardenview Baton Rouge at beginning of April, 2019. Before the end of the month, we moved her out and cared for her at home. To be fair, there were positives. The facility is very clean and comfortable, the cafeteria serves healthy and great tasting food. The aids are generally friendly. Thats where it stops. Our experience reflected incompetence in executive management, and every time we questioned what was going on we would hear how busy she was. The apologies for not following through on commitments was a pattern hat disturbed us greatly. Specifics:1. On meeting with the Exec Director, we determined that the computer system simply had key care data for my mother wrong. Initial decisions to go to Gardenview was after specific discussions with the Wellness Coordinator about significant incontinence, and steps they would perform. The chart in records of Exec Director reflected mild incontinence. The food assistance showed she needed food chopped (wrong), but oddly enough, he cafeteria didnt even follow the wrong instructions. These are small examples of incompetence. 2. The Wellness Coordinator assured she would post a sign, advise and show aids how to apply an lotion that kills bacteria for incontinence and prevent urinary tract infections, a very damaging infection for elderly. The method she used was to hang a sign that had nothing to do with what was to be done. To be fair, I asked aids what the sign meant to them. They didnt have a clue and didnt even know what the lotion related to.Four specific issues that caused us to immediately remove our mother:1. Issue 1: The incontinence care Gardenview committed to did not happen. My mother developed a urinary tract infection within a couple of weeks of being there. These UTIs really beat up elderly women. They were not coming around. She went to bathroom unassisted, fell, and hit her head. She hit hard enough to put a hole in the wall. She takes Coumadin to thin blood. An aid found my mother on floor of bathroom with hole in the wall and would not call 911 until my sister arrived at facility. We have pictures of the hole in the wall and still cant comprehend the refusal to call 911 until we arrived.2. Issue 2: I personally spent several nights at the Gardenview facility. They have a policy of visitation every two hours. The policy is a joke. There was a major blowup when we questioned why no-one came at all the last night of my second visit. The aid lied and stated my mothers chart showed she was in hospital. When I asked to see chart, the aid expressed I didnt have a right to see chart (she was caught). When I insisted, the aid called me an MF numerous times in lobby of facility, with residents just a few feet away having breakfast. It was very ugly and we were never comfortable with our mother at Gardenview thereafter.3. Issue 3: We had caregivers that advised us aids were not taking mom to eat, but rather brining in Styrofoam to go boxes, stacking in kitchen, and not discarding. They called this an extra service and charged for this. They did not even discard the uneaten boxes.4. Issue 4: I cannot describe the fullness of a diaper my mom had. I noticed an aid do a flyby, I asked why she didnt change mom. The aid told me I needed to not tell her how to do her job. I personally changed the diaper. It was so full I got witnesses. We took pictures and reported to Exec Director. I still have the pictures and I know Gardenview would not want this published. In my opinion, Gardenview Baton Rouge, and their parent located near Lafayette, LA build nice facilities but have competence and integrity issues. I have several exchanges with the owner as well. The owner agreed to refund money and is now not responding to follow-up requests. If you are looking at a facility in which you or your loved ones require care and assistance, my advice would be to see past the sparkle and look elsewhere.

For my family and I, this was a very difficult decision to make, finding the right fit for our dad. Dad is very social and enjoys the many many activities that the Garden View provides for him. He looks forward to the weekly singings and of course the bingo games. The staff is very nice and compassionate. The cleaning staff does an excellent job, cleaning the building but also cleaning dads apartment. We always feel welcome to stop by to visit and the staff and management are always available to talk, Very willing to help. Thanks so much for becoming apart of our family and for loving our dad.