My grandmother was a resident here for 6 years. In September 2024, I had to move her out of this facility. This facility was previously owned by Sunrise Senior Living. I was mostly pleased with Sunrise. Of course, nothing is perfect but if there was a complaint, the management handled it appropriately and always resolved the matter. In 2023, the facility was sold to Oakmont Management and is operating as Ivy Park at Fullerton. As expected with any new ownership, you expect to see a change in personnel; however, almost every staff member quit throughout the first year. The staffing levels went down significantly creating safety concerns. The management changed alot of things for the worse, to accomodate not wanting to properly staff. (I learned Oakmont has a class action lawsuit pending due to improper staffing levels at many of their facilities). If you visit the facility during the weekdays/daytime hours, you may not notice anything out of the ordinary but it is important to visit on different times and days to see operations. The weekends are especially concerning and there was never a supervisor on site during the weekends. If your loved one is independent and does not require "care" you may not notice many things I did. My grandmother required a higher level of care. While I believe most of the staff is good hearted, there is some level of incompetency by some, overworked staff and overall staffing shortage.
The first time I met with Executive Director Christina Hale, I expressed serious concern about the lack of staff, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays, but nothing changed. There were two incidents within the first year which were concerning. The two incidents involved falls where my grandmother was left for an unknown amount of time without help. Ultimately, I realized it was because her emergency button on the necklace provided by the facility was not properly working, coupled with the fact management quit providing staff to be stationed on the second floor Assisted Living area. After the second incident, Christina Hale assured me she would provide a new emergency pendant and conduct quality assurance tests on all pendants for all residents. I know my grandmother received a new pendant but I do not know if they ensured all residents pendants were properly working. She promised me my grandmother would be safe, cared for and they would step it up to make sure she got the care she was paying for.
In early September 2024, I walked into my grandmother's room to find my grandmother sleeping in her recliner chair without her oxygen on her. She is 24/7 oxygen. Based on the time of day, and after speaking to staff I determined she was brought back to her room after lunch time, assisted to her recliner and left for more than 2 hours without her oxygen on. The staff member forgot to put it on her. I was so thankful we visited at the time we did. I immediately went downstairs to find a caregiver to speak with. Of course, there were only two caregivers on staff for both floors of residents at that time (not including the locked memory care section). The caregiver initially lied. When I demanded to speak to a supervisor, I was told there was no supervisor. I demanded someone call a "supervisor." At that moment the caregiver decided to tell the truth and told me she "forgot" to put the oxygen back on. While I understand mistakes can happen, it is their job to make sure our family members are safe and cared for. Mistakes like that can be fatal. After careful consideration I decided it was not safe to leave my grandmother at Ivy Park any longer. I reported the incident to the Community Care Licensing Division who governs residential care facilities. There are serious management issues at Ivy Park of Fullerton. read more