Barathaven Alzheimer's Special Care Center

I've been at Barathaven 3+ yearswe love these people like they are our own family! We spend holidays, weekends, days nights etc with these people. We give up time with our families to make sure other people's family are WELL taken care of. The only negative thing I'd have to say is employees deserve higher pay (competitive pay) and retirement there would be less turnover! Especially the ones that have been with the company through all the low staffing and switching of Higher ups. Etc. Our nurses, maitnence, kitchen staff, caregivers , DON etc work their hardest to make sure we all cover the floor no matter what needs to be done! Barathaven is like a family. Ps the HSD is amazing

I have been a volunteer at Barathaven for several years along with others from our church. It has been a pleasure to work with the staff as they lovingly seek to care for all in their charge who have been afflicted with this terrible disease.The staff seeks to bring dignity and peace in the midst of the storm while gently walking with the families through the long, torturous good night.

My dad has resided in Barathaven for nearly 2 1/2 years. During this time, I can say that many staff took as good of care as they could based on high turnover and constant understaffing which falls solely on the Administration. I would spend up to 8 hrs a day for up to 6 days at a time when I came in without disruption or incident. This week, I had the misfortune of meeting with Brenda, LPN. Unfortunately, the winter/spring illness swept through the facility and my dad came down with a fever and pneumonia. Because of his age, it took some time but he was finally eating. I live out of state but was getting daily updates from my brother and also spent over 8 hrs with him at Barathaven on the weekend of 5/4 & 5. I saw him eat an entire plate of food with no help swallowing fine and regaining his appetite. He also drank a 8oz beverage in its entirety. He was joking and laughing this weekend. However he was still weak from days in bed. Unfortunately, on 5/10, he fell getting up from a chair at lunch and had to have an hip replacement. He returned to Barathaven on 5/15. Because Barathaven is not a skilled care facility, has only LPN and not RN staff, he could not return with his feeding tube. I drove in over 400 miles from out of state to visit. I was not understanding his wifes decision to not place him into an interim facility where he could still have an IV and feeding tube until he regained strength, could rehab, and regained his appetite for solid food. Not forever, just to recover. I know my dad has always hated going under anesthesia because he states if affects him for days. This would have been exasperated because of his weakened state. I entered his room to find my sister already pleading with his wife to give him a chance and to try to let him eat/drink. I probably should not have entered but it is hard not to after a 7 1/2 hr drive. Brenda did not allow my sister to continue to speak to my mother. It was an emotionally charged situation between family members. Although I got my mom to calm down after Brenda and a 3rd sister left the room, and the situation was de-escalated, Brenda kept inserting herself into a family matter and speaking on items that she is not qualified. Brenda did not remain neutral, was a pot stirrer and could not put her ego and meddling ways aside. When pleading for my dad, Brenda would yell from the door that my dad can not leave Barathaven he is not going anywhere. THAT is plain crazy. He literally was just transported to Barathaven the day before. He could just as easily be transported to an interim skilled care facility where he could have the IV and feeding tube. It is not Brendas place to interject. Every time my dad would start to become lucid, instead of allowing him to communicate....Brenda would encourage more sedation and Morphine. Brenda told me that my dad had not been lucid the entire time he had been in Barathaven. That is plain false. My dad regularly joked with me and the staff. Come to find out, Brenda had only worked there since 5/1- 2 wks and my dad had been recovering from pneumonia before he broke his hip. Barathaven failed my father by providing him the most heartless LPN who meddles in family matters, does not have any people skills, and aids in the separation of a resident from his children. A POA separating elderly from family members is a classic form of elder abuse and is often done for personal gain. It is so sad that during my dads final days Nurse Brenda is more for euthanasia than trying to get a resident to recover and facilitated this separation. It is also horrific that a son and 2 daughters, who my dad loved so much, can no longer visit their father during his final days due to the careless and not thought through decision of a 2 wk nurse; especially since I was present when my dad told the admin that he would have not appointed the POA if he could have predicted the actions. I am so sad for my dad and how his care facility has failed him in his final days. Because of this, I can not recommend Barathaven.

This review is to debunk the Regina Jaeger review as a hostile person in denial of her dads condition of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and transition to end of life. Regina as a result of her own actions got barred from Barathaven by the recommendation of police after the police physically escorted her out . I am Reginas brother so have witnessed her hateful actions along with similar actions of another brother and sister since dad was put in Barathaven after being diagnosed with Alzheimers. As Regina stated, she lives over 400 miles so rarely visited Barathaven yet writes a review like she is an expert of the facility.I agree with Regina that the staff of Barathaven were and am still very caring and loving to my dad. Many of the staff said my dad was the perfect resident and they just loved him. One of my sisters found Barathaven after asking many people for recommendations and finding Barathaven was highly recommended as the best Alzheimers care facility in the area. Some of things I like about Barathaven is the residents are allowed to roam freely and do odd things that make them happy including moving furniture and sitting or lying down anywhere as long as there is no risk of safety. Barathaven has daily activities for the residents and frequent visits of musicians that perform for the residents. Barathaven also has group outings for those capable enough to participate.While I admit I wasnt present when the police escorted Regina out, I spoke with Brenda the next day. Brenda was upset from the yelling and hateful things Regina, my brother and other sister were saying in dads room. My 3 siblings were trying to get the staff to withhold pain medication to try to get my dad to regain conscious. Another nurse told me she was almost in tears over their actions. This is barbaric behavior to withhold pain medicine for our dad 5 days post hip replacement surgery and who had never regained consciousness after surgery. I wish my 3 siblings would read Hold My Hand Caring for a Loved One written by Kimberly Roderique, RN for BJC Hospice and Final Gifts Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley to get past denial and learn that dad is following the classic end-of-life transition and is be cared for accordingly.Regina didnt mention that all the experts at the hospital and hospice gave dad a Palliative Performance Scale of 10% which is the lowest score before death. Also because of Parkinsons after surgery lost the ability to swallow to the point the hospital couldnt insert an NG tube in for feeding and medicine. A specialist was finally able to get a small nasal tube inserted with the diameter of a small electric cable where only liquid could get through. Regina also didnt mention that dads healthcare directive states the following:If I am persistently unconscious or there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from a serious incapacitating or terminal illness or condition, I direct that all of the life-prolonging procedures which I have listed below be withheld or withdrawn:1. Artificially supplied nutrition and hydration (including tube feeding of food and water.

And i forgot to mention the bed bugs