"The Nest"... sounds all protective and sheltering, right? Weeeelll....
Here's the deal... taking care of someone's aged parent is difficult. If you run one of these facilities you won't 100% please the people who have entrusted you with the care and safety of their mom or dad. But I think you should do better than this. Did The Nest have some five-star moments? Briefly. Did they have some one-star moments? Oh, yes.
Michelle, the owner of The Nest, plays a lot of games, in my opinion... the reality of how many staff members are actually on the premises, the reasons why decisions were made regarding meds or not having promised activities.
Also, Michelle has more than one "senior care facility" and you can't help but get the feeling that she moves the staff and the various residents to wherever it helps HER the most... and I don't think it was always what was best for my mother-in-law. And, from what I can tell, other people who had their parents at The Nest agreed. Did it make sense to force my mother-in-law (Joan) out of one care facility and into another that was as much money but in a crappier neighborhood, a crappier house and into a new, strange environment? I think there were some valid reasons... but mostly a lot of self-serving shenanigans.
I've waited over a year to write this review... it's such an emotionally charged situation when you are losing a loved one to Alzheimer's. I've waited for the initial anger to subside because I wanted to be clear about what I was angry about. And it's STILL hard to determine what the issues are and what reasonable expectations you should have regarding the care of your parent.
We eventually removed Joan (all three daughters were in agreement) from the other care facility that Michelle runs (on Morrison St in Encino) and put her in the Sunrise Care facility in Studio city. My mother-in-law recently passed away after spending over a year at Sunrise. Now, please understand that Joan had Alzheimer's and to compare her last year of life with the year before is difficult... so I wouldn't want to draw unfair comparisons between the care of these different facilities. But we were happier with Sunrise than we were with The Nest... and Sunrise was not perfect either.
This review is for The Nest on Hayvenhurst in Encino... not for The Nest on 15460 Morrison St....though, as far as I know, they are both owned by Michelle.
As far as the activities The Nest offered... not all of them materialized. To the contrary, we felt that Michelle was strongly suggesting that we needed to hire on additional caregivers if we wanted the level of care that we were under the impression was already part of the deal. From there, it occurred to us that after strongly suggesting the same thing to the families of several other residents, it appeared that it allowed Michelle to hire even fewer of her own staff. On one evening, my wife went to visit her mother at The Nest and the caregiver that WE had hired on was the only caregiver in the house and there were two other residents there in addition to Joan, my mother-in-law.
Look... ALL of these places are run for profit... the less staff they have, the more money they make. The more activities they promise, the more staff they need. The more efficient, experienced and personable the staff members are, the more they will have to pay them. On top of that, your parent's condition may always be in a state of flux and, most likely, worsening every month or two. It's difficult to focus on the quality of any one care facility when you are evaluating so many different factors but I can say, after having my mother-in-law at four different facilities (over 8 years or so) that, in hindsight, we are not happy with our experience with The Nest.
And, by the way, here is what I would like to offer you who are reading this review ... feel free to message me if you have questions or concerns. We can even exchange phone numbers if you want advise or opinion. I mean, this isn't some silly restaurant review... this is regarding the care of your parent and we all have to help each other with this kind of stuff. It's hard to find people to bounce ideas off of and to get feedback from. People that want to slam the place that they are currently using hesitate to share with others while their parent is still at the place... and you won't have an opportunity to talk to those people until after you've already signed up with the facility. Does that make sense?
Good luck with finding a place where you mom and/or dad are comfortable and safe and well-taken care of. read more