Brookdale Westlake Village

Our experience with Brookdale Westlake Village’s Memory Care Unit was deeply disappointing and distressing. My father was a hospice patient there, and we encountered ongoing problems with communication, cleanliness, and decision-making that no family should have to face. His room often smelled strongly of urine, even after repeated requests for cleaning. We struggled to get basic care coordination, including podiatry and medical follow-up. The worst incident occurred when my father—who was on hospice, sedated, and asleep—was sent to the ER for a psychiatric evaluation without proper coordination with hospice or family consent. I had specifically requested that hospice handle the evaluation onsite. The decision to send a terminal, sleeping patient to the ER in the middle of the night was unnecessary and inhumane. Later, the facility abruptly required that we hire a “sitter” for my father with only a few hours’ notice. Brookdale later agreed to reimburse us for a week of sitter costs but has been slow to follow through. Ultimately, we had to move my father out of Brookdale for his own safety due to the facility’s repeated incompetence and lack of hospice coordination. When I raised these issues with Brookdale’s internal investigation team, no corrective action was taken, forcing me to escalate the matter to the Ohio Department of Health for a formal review. While a few frontline caregivers (like Nakila and Sarah) were kind and compassionate, management failed to show the empathy, professionalism, or judgment expected in dementia and hospice care. Families should ask tough questions about staffing, cleanliness, and hospice coordination before trusting Brookdale Westlake Village with a loved one’s care. We wish we had.

The warm and friendly atmosphere is great. There are plenty of activities to choose from and places to go if you want. My apartment feels safe and it’s comfortable. Our laundry rooms aren’t very clean, especially the floor.

Even 1 star is too generous. This staff towards assisted living is so abusive. I witnessed my great aunt (who was the sweetest purest gem btw) get verbally, mentally, and cutting it close to physically abuse. She was dying and couldn’t form cohesive sentences. There were moments where she had basic requests like help washing her hands. And when she finished using the bathroom, she was next to the sink and said “I want to wa wa” and the lady working screamed “WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT” and then aggressively shoved her wheelchair— my great aunt was clearing trying to say “I want to wash hands”. Any coherent human with a brain can understand that. They didn’t even -try- to understand her. When I was not there, my family witnessed their verbal elder abuse on several occasions. We had to hire a third party to take care of my great aunt in the assisted living… so in other words, we were only paying Brookdale for a roof over her head and for food. They weren’t taking care of her, and when they did, they were hours late and would scream at her. Speaking of the third-party person we hired separately to take care of her, in the last few days of my great aunt being alive, my family was grieving. These are our last moments and days with her, and our peace should’ve been respected. The Brookdale staff had the audacity to start drama and tell the third-party we hired that we wanted to fire her and that we hated her, which was never true. In moments like that when a family is grieving, how mentally sick and toxic of a staff do you have to be to target a grieving family between the third-party employee that they hired. My great aunt never deserved to live nor die in this facility. It does not align with her kind and loving karma. Me personally, I would rather be dead than ever be in the hands of these people.

Residents and staff are friendly here, and the grounds are beautiful. The food is plentiful, with lots of choices. The management at Brookdale Westlake Village reacts quickly to complaints and suggestions from residents and makes what changes it can.