Sunrise of Falls Church

Very nice visit, welcoming and good suggestions. A real possibility

Many of the care providers there are warm and caring. The facility is physically nicer than a lot of the older Sunrises. My loved one had been in another Sunrise that had some problems but in retrospect wasn't so bad; Falls Church was much worse. As in all Sunrises, the staff is overworked and spread thin; in this case it was extreme. Some staff members are problematic; I saw one (of the more competent ones) scream at a resident. Another one dropped my parent on the floor and wouldn't pick him up; she pushed him into bed, where he lay all tangled, rather than put him into bed properly. When I brought it to the attention of the management, they did work with this staffer but did not fire her and she did continue to provide care to my parent. Hopefully its gotten better but as of this fall the management was a disaster; many key positions were unfilled. Everything fell on a new nurse, who was good but overwhelmed. They would run out of my parent's pain meds and wouldn't provide meds on time. They would neither follow through on doctor's care orders nor would they allow our own private duty aides to provide that assistance (such as walking hm down the hall for five minutes or transfering him from one chair to another, which they defined as "care"). They leave the residents sitting in the same transfer chair for hours instead of transferring to other chairs. The state-mandated afternoon snack is sometimes simply a glass of root beer, and they cancel afternoon activities when the good activities person isn't available. We didn't file state complaints as we feared retribution against our loved one. We were about to move him to a nursing home when he passed away suddenly. Their attitude toward his death? Some of the sweet caregivers were very affected. The head nurse simply said it was "probably for the best," as if it hadn't been her job to keep him alive. Had they followed through on exercising him and treating him well, or had they allowed our private duties to do so, I really think he would have lived a little longer, and he would have gotten to see his granddaughter (whose arrival the day after he died he'd been looking forward to) one more time.

My friend is doing great at the Sunrise of Falls Church. I was told they are doing a great job.