My siblings and I are deeply grateful, especially to the staff at Raksha - Regina, Zenash, and Sumitra--who have such a difficult job, but one they all choose to do because they care about the elderly. I witnessed them sing, tell jokes and stories, and get my dad to say and sing things he hadn't in years, smile, and laugh. They got his diet so clean, they were able to take him off insulin for the most part, which he had been on since he was a young adult. They got him to walk after a hip surgery and treated him with care and dignity as they did the other patients they cared for at the same time. Shalini and Nalini were effective and communicative as an administrative team, who had good connections to medical care and were open to alternative care as well. Dr. Andrew Wallach who is the "house doctor" was wonderful and did this because he cared about this segment of the population who are aging rapidly without an infrastructure in this country to take care of them. For almost a year, my dad spent his last days in this place of care. One of us adult kids would visit about once a week at least. And the weekend before he died (the staff and administration tried to warn us--they knew as they had seen pre-death so many times), I could tell that he tried to express thanks for care the staff was giving him, even with his state of dementia. There was no panic of the unknown in his eyes--just him trying, with his lack of ability to speak or move much, to communicate last messages--including ones of gratefulness to his caretakers--the patient, talented, smart women who carried him into bed, changed his diapers, cleaned up endlessly around the toilet, cut and his hair, cooked amazing Ethiopian food (yum!), took his and others' odd yelling with grace, and engaged him in conversation when he asked where his wife (my mother) was (died just a month before he was admitted)--people who authentically cared about him. I really hate to break it to you, adult children, but end of life for our parents is hard and never perfect. It's not going to match our expectations of when we may have last seen them. I do not lie -- it will always suck, but we should be grateful and thankful that there are others like the folks at Raksha to give our parents the best possible end of life that we cannot for whatever reason we might feel guilty for -- we live too far, we have busy jobs, busy lives, children to take care of -- whatever the reason. Or just that health-wise, our parent really would benefit more and have a better quality of end-of-life from a place that understands and can provide 24-7 care better than we could provide. Some of our parents will be much more far gone (either mentally, physically, both) than others--and this is where you, adult child, need to do your homework and really determine what kind of living situation will be right for your parent for what their needs are now. A care home may not the right choice for absolutely anyone who may be experiencing memory issues, physical limitations, etc. Yes, it's scary - but it may not be the right choice right now. For my dad who was forgetful enough to not eat or drink; who wandered in the streets and thought he could still drive; who never remembered the person who just talked to him 2 minutes ago or what was said; who had incontinence, mobility, and chronic health issues; who had limited ability to converse normally with people and was prone to occasionally shouting--the house of Raksha was a blessing for him and us. So for that, I give Raksha 5 stars--but keep in mind, it's 5 stars only if you, adult child, did your homework and determined it was the right situation for your parent. If your parent is only entering the initial states of dementia but has no other issues, it may be more appropriate to look into hiring a caretaker to come to your parent's home certain hours of the day and do certain tasks. If your parent really is looking more for a senior community housing to spend their golden years in, then that's a different kind of situation as well. Best of luck to anyone dealing with discernment around end of life care for a loved one. Please feel free to message me on yelp if you want to ask more about our experience with Raksha. read more

While some of the day time care givers are truly caring and exceptional, the overall level of care falls well short of acceptable and respectful. The main mode of "care" is overly medicating until your loved one is an invalid - and easy to manage. Services promised and paid for (like physical therapy) are non-existent, this constitutes fraud. The main "activity" on offer is watching tv - all day. The owners of Raksha will look you in the eye and smile while they lie directly to your face - they should not be trusted to care for your elder loved one. I would rate zero stars if possible. read more

I could not believe a Sr Care facility with such incredibly horrible business practices operates in California, one of the most regulated states in the US. The founder/owner is one of the most dishonest people we have come across, and we couldn't get a straight answer from her...EVER. Always someone else's fault, always changing the story and NEVER ONCE getting to the bottom of our complaints! STAY WAY! read more

My mom lived at Raksha for two years. I am so grateful for the care that she received there, and for the support I felt from the staff. My mom was not an easy patient, but they always treated her with kindness. They would prepare her special snacks because she was a very picky eater and give her extra cookies:) Choosing a place for my mom was pretty hard because she never wanted to be "in a home". Raksha felt more like a house than a care home, and they took better care of her than I would have. Shalini and Nalini were always available to talk about my mom and helped me make many hard decisions. When it was time for hospice, they helped her enroll--this gave her even more care at the end of her life. read more

My mother lived at Raksha Care home for 1 1/2 years. During her time there she received excellent care. The meals are organic and prepared in their kitchen. She was showered daily. The staff was wonderful and really cared for the people in their charge. My mother never complained about the staff or the facility. This is a small facility and not for everyone but for end of life care i strongly recommend it. M.R. read more

If your loved one needs a place to live out their remaining days in the comfort of a home-like setting, this is an option that *might* be worth considering. If your goal is a short term stay- for continuing rehab to build strength in order to return home, to a somewhat normal life, stay away!!!! The focus here is very much on assimilating residents into the rhythm of the house, which is very slow, not at all stimulating and lacks direct focus on an individual's specific needs for recovery. The staff is pleasant and attentive, but they lack the training and experience to understand the differences between their resident's individual needs, and goals. Unfortunately, sometimes we only realize a place is wrong for someone once they've spent time in the environment. My advice with this and any other care residence--be absolutely certain they are capable of providing the specific kind of care they promise!!! Sadly, that was not the case for my family. read more

A frighteningly horrid dump to take you loved one for abuse or death, whichever comes first ! We dropped our Mom at the Stannage location in October under an agreement with the owner Shalini Bhutani, that was supposed to include night "awake staff" - meaning someone to be awake during the night to attend to obvious needs of a patient recovering from a stroke such as changing, cleaning, meds, liquids, etc. We paid an additional fee for this extra service, tacked onto the the cost of basic needs care and assistance. Our total payment for the month was about 5 thousand dollars. The end result: when we arrived after her first night of "care", to our horror, we found our Mom restrained in her room, to the bed with her wheel chair and a belt to lock her in. We found out the cook was left by himself to somehow stay awake 24 hours to attend to the needs of all the residents !? Yes this cook, apparently also called a "caretaker" (literally someone with a minimum training requirements of 4 hours). As it turned out, this dangerously inept guy was supposed to handle all the duties of a CNA or Nurse, including giving meds, checking wounds, and so on. When we had the temerity to ask why our Mom was jailed in her bed, he flipped out, losing his temper, and threatened my sister, saying the he had "high blood pressure". Fortunately the daytime assistant showed up and played a peacekeeping role. We immediately called the Ombudsman and reported the emergency. A complaint was filed and we got our Mom the hell out of there as soon as we found an assisted living home with an actual nurse on duty. The bottom line is that we were lied to by Shalini the owner of Raksha Care homes, and it took this incident to finally get what we paid for; a night attendant, called a "sitter" to stay in the room with our Mom for basic care. Yet it was too little too late, we no longer considered this a safe place for a resident in a vulnerable, weakened state, using a walker and a wheel chair. What we found out was that during the weekend, the night staff drops down to just the one person, who cannot possibly handle the needs of 5-6 residents while also being expected to sleep, if even just to take them to the bathroom or change a diaper. What was supposed to be a month was only 5 days, and eventually, a full refund was requested and yet we only got about a third of our money back, not nearly what we expected for such a disastrous, short stay and and a broken agreement. Be forewarned, if you are looking for a good board and care for your parent, grandparent, or whomever it is, avoid this place like the Plague, especially if their needs are significant. The hot tempered cook who, allegedly "a caretaker" is named "Tom", and he still works there. The owner, Shalini, who is reportedly an RN, actually trusts him and other such "caretakers" (4 hours training), to handle medical needs, if and when they arise. Scary to imagine these folks dispensing meds, taking vitals, and God forbid, properly bandaging a wound or doing ANYTHING serious. read more

Trusting a home with the care of a loved one is difficult to do. My dad spent some of his final days at Raksha's Care Home and it was a good experience. He loved the food and the caregivers were all very kind. This is not a big institution but rather a small home with intimate care. read more

My mother Nancy was fortunate enough to be able to live at Raksha on Cornell Ave in Albany, CA for a couple of months as we transitioned her into California. Nalini and her staff are the most caring people our family has ever encountered in an Assisted Living type facility. The biggest thing I can say about Raksha is that I've never felt that my mom was more safe than when she lived there. Most facilities talk a big game and do not support the day to day care of disabled individuals, but at Raksha they have more of a family atmosphere and really take great care of their residents. It's a peaceful place and the residents values are respected and celebrated. Can't say enough good things about our experience. Mike read more

My mother became a resident of Raksha 6 in July 2017 and the experience was amazing. I had been caring for my mother for 3 years and was going to be travelling during the summer and wanted to place her in an environment that would provide her with the same care or better that she was familiar . Kaiser Hospice recommended Raksha 6 and I am forever grateful. The staff at Raksha 6 is amazing. They treated my mother like an angel. They loved her gently and tenderly. My mother was 89 and living with dementia/alzheimer disease but was very aware of her surroundings and always expressed her love for her new home. She made friends with the other residents and spent her days talking and enjoying their company. She didn't have a big appetite, but the food was so good she would eat 3 meals and dessert daily. She was always clean and fresh, hair combed, skin smooth and always smiling. Whatever needs or wants she had Raksha supplied. I spent every day at Raksha with my mother because it became my new home. My children visited often and always felt welcomed. The facility was always sparkling clean, and smelled fresh. The owners were also amazing. Not only in their care of the residents and facility but also for the families. In October, my mother smiled her last smile at Raksha, Carmen (staff) was with her and I am forever grateful. read more

Both our Father and Mother spent their last years here, and were extremely well cared for, and came to view Raksha as Home and the staff as part of their family. Raksha is owned and operated by a mother and daughter team who treat their residents, as well as their staff, as part of their own family, and this love and concern shows in the low turnover of the staff and how the staff in turn comes to know each and every resident. I can't say enough about how important this familiarity becomes to the elderly - especially as dementia take hold. Our parents experienced loving care, respect, and concern. After a severe stroke which left our Mother hospitalized, she was always asking for the staff members by name, whom she had come to love. At the very end, she had a peaceful passing in the familiar surroundings of Raksha and the staff she came to know so well. They have three facilities, all in Albany, with two being converted houses which makes for a very home-like environment. Their main facility is larger and probably better for more intensive needs. During their time there, both Mom and Dad stayed at all three. Like most I suspect, I originally wanted to find a way to care for my parents myself, but once I realized this wasn't possible, I am grateful that we found such a loving and caring home to support our parents' needs. read more

Just over a year ago we moved a family member into the Cornell location. Since then we have found the staff to be patient and kind and provide good care for medical and personal issues. The facility is always very clean and the food fresh. If any problems come up we get contacted immediately by Ms. Bhutani's daughter who manages the facility. Any emails sent are replied to promptly. It's a relief to have our family member somewhere safe, clean, and well cared for. read more

Raksha Care Homes first came to our rescue when our father needed help recovering from back surgery. He could no longer handle the stairs in their home, and the level of care needed was too much for our mother. Shalini and her staff went far beyond what we expected, and far beyond what the other care facilities we considered could offer. Raksha provides an intimate home-like setting, with care givers that get to know the residents and tailor the care to each resident's needs. In our case, it meant actively coordinating the rehabilitation for my father (including coaxing/encouraging), being flexible on routine to make my father comfortable, and picking up my mother for visits (Shalini did this personally). The staff at Raksha Care Homes became a family for our father and later our mother. For a brief two-year period, both of our parents shared a room at Raksha before our father passed away in 2012. That was a wonderful experience for them, as they could share each other's company at the end. Our mother recently passed away in 2017 after suffering a massive stroke. Shalini was extremely supportive during the early rehabilitation phase, and finally the hospice phase. Our mother had grown so fond of the care givers at Raksha that she asked for them by name while in the hospital (and several visited her on their days off). I am very grateful we found Raksha Care Homes, and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone! read more

As I learned through my research, Berkeley and Albany are not well-suited for board and care homes, largely because of geography and architecture. But my mother was used to the area and we wanted her to have some sense of familiarity in her transition from independent living. Despite being dark and cramped, Raksha looked good on paper - but the reality is completely different. I had to be out of town when my mother was released from the hospital, so I only heard about her experience for the first week or so. My mother has always been very easy-going, accepting difficulties with the kind of fatalistic stoicism few of us can muster. So, I was surprised at how much she complained about her new home. At first, I thought she was having trouble adapting to her new circumstances, but I soon realized there was much more to her unhappiness. The first time I visited her, I pointed to the emergency call button next to her bed, perhaps remarking that it was good she had that nearby. She became distressed and cried, "Don't touch that! They'll yell at me!" I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, but I still tried to convince myself that she was overreacting. However, I could no longer rationalize the situation when I witnessed the staff's behavior first-hand. Some examples: One of the other residents, who was wheelchair bound, accidentally bumped a table and knocked something off of it. Without coming over, the staff member nearby immediately began loudly yelling at her, "What are you doing?! Are you breaking things?!" I picked up the item that fell on the floor and pointed out that nothing was broken. The staff member was relieved but still admonished the resident to be careful. Another time, I came to visit my mother at noon. She went into the kitchen and sat down for lunch, but the staff member seemed surprised. (The printed schedule on the wall sets noon as lunchtime, and my mother paid attention to the mealtimes.) I remarked on the schedule and the staff member grumbled about keeping up with everyone's needs and pointed to a quiet resident (who died soon afterwards) and said that she had just asked for breakfast two hours earlier! Another time, my mother couldn't find her nightgown and asked if it was still in the laundry. The staff member she asked noticed I was there and politely said she would look, then I heard her loudly complaining to the others about how demanding my mother was, asking her to do things when she was so busy. According to my mother, the staff was much worse when family and friends weren't visiting. But their behavior in front of us was bad enough. It was not long before my mother's friends began calling me to share their own terrible experiences at the home. Everyone I spoke to thought she should be moved out as soon as possible. Whenever I took my mother out somewhere, she begged me not to take her back. Whenever we spoke, she asked when she could leave. It broke my heart, because she clearly felt that living here was some kind of punishment. She complained about her treatment to the owners, but that only made things worse: the staff made a greater effort to be polite, but in a hostile way. Did I mention that this place is expensive? My mother now lives in a much better home in a nice part of Oakland, with much more room, friendlier and more attentive staff, better food (the food is awful at Raksha), many many more activities and amenities, and a great view of the Bay - for less money! I'm not going to go into the financial shenanigans the owners of Raksha got into, because they just seem par for the course for businesses caring for helpless elderly people these days. Just remember (with Raksha or anyone else), to ensure that the contract you or your loved one signs has the terms you agreed to, and make sure they're not being billed for things they don't need (and that they're receiving the services that they pay for). There is a lot of money to be made "taking care of" the elderly. When I asked about ~$800 in services my mother didn't receive, the owner was contemptuous, pointing out that $800 meant nothing to her because it was such a tiny fraction of her monthly income. read more

Shalini was caring and honest with a transparent agreement process. The staff was very loving towards my grandmother who needed full help with transfers from the bed to chair, continence care, feeding and position adjustment. She was at the Garfield location. We got to know Carmen and the other staff members. They were loving, kind and gentle with my grandmother. My grandmother was always clean, well attended to, and given good food. They sleep there and provide 24/7 care. These days, this level of full care can be very expensive at the larger assisted living facilities. I found the prices to be very reasonable considering it is the bay area and close to where I live. I highly recommend them. read more

3 years ago I needed to find a place for my Mom's friend, Mary, to live after having a stroke. She was no longer able to live in her assisted living apt due to the fact they couldn't give her the level of care she required. After meeting with Sharlini and viewing several other places I decided on Raksha. She lived at the Cornell Ave home until her death several months ago. I was very happy with the care and attention she received over the years there. The caregivers loved her and were always very sweet to her. Over the years I checked with her friends, who had came to visit her and they were always positive about Mary and how she was cared for when they visited. When she started to go downhill and needed hospice it was Edith, the head caregiver, who talked to me about it being time to consider hospice. I'm very grateful to have Mary in a caring loving environment for her last years. and would recommend them. read more