Riverside Senior Life

1. The food is terrible to the point of occasionally serving raw chicken. We were told that they had 2-3 excellent chefs on staff. Not true. 2. They seem to have enough staff most of the time even though there is a lot of turnovers. 3. They weren't very helpful with getting the long-term care insurance to pay. 4. The price per month ended up being astronomically higher than what they led us to expect.

We chose Riverside because of the convenient location. The room sizes here were very nice. The only complaint I had about it was I pout my mom here for respite while I went out of state, her first day here she fell and had to go the hospital and they had no way to get her back from the hospital to the facility, so I had to facilitate a way for her to get back. Overall I would recommend them.

Overall, we have had a very good experience with Riverside Assisted Living. They have been really good as far as memory care goes, and I feel they are better than anything else in the area. Still, there have been some minor issues such as water not being provided at every meal or food not cut up into small pieces. I have talked to the staff about this though, and they do seem willing to discuss and accommodate these needs. I feel that the meals are complete and nutritious, and that the community is very clean. I am also very impressed with the activities they offer. I feel that my loved one is kept busy, which is definitely good for her. Overall, I feel this community is definitely a true memory care community, and it has been a good fit for us so far.

This is a wonderful community, and my mother is doing very well since her move here. I do feel she is receiving good care, and in is a safe facility. The staff is great. They are very good at keeping me up to date on information. She is being cared for very well at this community. She has gotten involved with some of the activities they have available. The food is bland, but overall they do serve well balanced meals. I would recommend this community, it is working out very well for us.

The communication with this community is pretty good. I feel they could do a better job of watching my loved one. They may be a little understaffed. They do not stick to a diabetic diet. The entire staff is nice and they keep the community clean.

Riverside Assisted Living & Memory Care in Bourbannais, IL is a beautiful community. The community is very well kept and clean throughout. The community offers a variety of activities for the residents to enjoy. It is a larger community and we wanted something smaller for mom.

Michelle was very friendly and took time to explain everything to me. It was also very nice and so it is going to be a hard decision to choose.

Things have changed since my brother started there about 18 months ago. 18 months ago everything was fine, he started in [date removed], and by [date removed] things had changed. They changed their name and we talked about whether or not things would change, or if it was a different company. They assured us that everything would stay the same, but it did not. They no longer shaved him on a regular basis or cut his hair regularly; it was a battle and it still has been since October. They kicked him out, we moved him, and then he passed shortly after we moved him. At the beginning, the first year was wonderful. The staff were really good, but before he had to leave we had to hire someone to come in and stay with him for 9 hours a day/7 days a week. When I'd be there to be apart of that, I noticed that he wasn't being changed anymore unless I said something to them. I saw a lot of differences, staff were very short. Towards the end there was one CNA and one nurse, it just wasn't good. Up until October of last year it was very good and I would have recommend it. I would see my brother every week and it's just really hard when you see your brother unshaved. It got to where he was being shaved maybe once a week and his hair wasn't being cut at all. He liked it very tight because he'd get bedhead. When we went there the day before Thanksgiving he looked awful, his hair was sticking up, his last cut was in October; he was unshaved and his clothes were wrinkled. The community itself was very clean, and the food was good, but I can not recommend it. I was able to be there because I was what they'd call a companion. The fact that he wouldn't be changed unless I spoke up, I would tell people all of that. As far as the staff go, I think they were very friendly, but they were short-staffed following October. It would be hard for me tor recommend it now. I would tell others everything and let hem make their own decision. The year before, it was very good. They had enough staff who were very friendly and helpful when we would visit every week, but something happened and now nothing is the same. When you go into the facility, it's beautiful. What the say sounds really good, but if there is any little thing, they will ask you to leave. For example: with my brother they said he had to leave because he would act out and was aggressive. He walked around constantly and never really sat down, he was known as "the walker". There were eleven doors and they were all locked, but you could still see out of them. It made them uncomfortable that he would go up to the door to look out, because he could possibly unlock it and go outside. When you have dementia, there can be this anger or aggression, but you're supposed to redirect them. There were a couple of incidents, one of which was when he pushed a caretaker. Although she was not hurt and there was no bruising, she pushed him back. She would pester him by walking around him and chattering. They came in and redirected the two of them, they both went their separate ways. The nurse called to let us know what happened and that everything was fine, but that she'd have to speak to the head nurse. The head nurse called the new director and they said he'd have to go to the Riverside Hospital's psych ward for an evaluation. He willingly went to the ambulance when they found him. This happened a couple of times but no one ever got hurt, as it's apart of dementia. They were always able to redirect him and everything was fine. The last time an incident happened, he was sent to the Riverside Hospital again. There was a lot of anger that last time, so he did have to be medicated before the ambulance ride. I believe he was not feeling well during this time and his medications weren't being monitored, because they ended up needing to be readjusted. Despite that, they refused to allow him back, but that's apart of dementia. I think apart of the issue is that he was also 6ft tall. We, as humans, get angry. Especially when someone is pawing at you. He wasn't the only resident who showed signs of aggression. There was another woman who screamed for help a lot, but she was there for over a year. Eventually they told her family that she'd have to go too. There was another gentleman who tried to get out his wheelchair because he thought that he could walk. Every time he tried to get up, he had one of those buzzers that went off. He did it six times in one day and they called his family and said he'd have to go someplace else. There was a couple and the wife would disconnect the sound pad for her husband. Instead of them trying to figure out how they can prevent her from doing such, they called their family too and said they'd have to go. When I looked around at the residents, they were mostly small women in wheelchairs, people in hospice, and maybe a couple of men. To me, it seemed like all they wanted were people in wheelchairs who were quiet, because that's all that was left. Family members would come up to me when I visited and they'd ask if I was related to my brother. I'd say yes and then they would say, "We really like your brother, he's very friendly". They would come up unprovoked, without being asked. One woman said she loved him because he'd calm her mom down whenever she got anxious. That's the kind of man they kicked out. He was known as "the walker", not "the fighter". Even in the outside world, we have days when you're not feeling well and if you're being pestered you might get angry. Because he was tall ( taller than any of the workers) they got scared. When we was sent off the last time, he was very upset. During his 7-10 day visit they readjusted his medication which calmed him down. We had spoken with the psychiatrist and because he had to leave, we asked her if he would be eligible to go into another good facility. She said yes, as the medication adjustment had made a difference. She said there would be no problem, but then she put on his report that he'd have to have a one-on-one person for the rest of his life. I really could not recommend Riverside. The place was very clean and the staff they had were very nice. When they show you around, you'll see that it's in an open area. The rooms were very big, I looked around and saw that some people had couches and stuff in their rooms. Those features I could say yes to, but you have to be in a wheelchair and you have to be quiet. You can't walk or wander around, and you cant approach doors. You'd have to make a decision on what kind of state your family member is in. Me being there 9 hours a day, I saw a lot. Right before he left his Depends were so wet that the tabs separated and had fell down, and that started to pull his pants down. We both had to hold on to the front and back so that it wouldn't fall down completely. He didn't want me to say anything, but I did speak up. Finally around 6:30pm they changed him, but he hadn't been changed all day. Shortly after that, he got very sick before his move and I don't think that the move helped him at all. We couldn't find a place in town that would accept him because they said that he was unmanageable. So he had to move about 45 minutes away. When they changed the name, something happened. He was always clean and well-groomed, they'd schedule an appointment and take him down to get his hair cut. It got to the point where they didn't even want to find him to bring him down. It's terrible that things like that have to change. At the beginning I could have given them all 5s, but things changed. I would tell everyone all of these things, and allow them to make their own decision.