The Bellaire Senior Living

A.T.

I did a tour of The Bellaire Senior Living. I had a really difficult time getting an appointment to see this place. I called three times; one time I was told I have four calls ahead of you, I will call you back. I never received a callback. I tried calling again the following day to see if I could get an appointment because we were in that area. This would have been a good location. When I finally got acknowledgment to come to the facility, I better be there within one hour or they wouldn't be able to see me; not very friendly. When we arrived, the person that I talked to on the phone was in a look like they were at a staff meeting. She stepped out in the hallway, pulled another person over, and said "Show these people around." It turned out to be the activities director who took us on a tour. It was a negative visit because also in passing, I found out, was the man that told me I have four calls ahead and I'll call you back. She said, "Well, they just showed up. What should I have done? So, I just said, "Well, okay, we're here. You know, can we see the facility?" So, she showed us the activities room. People were waiting for her to show up to run a bingo game. She told me, "I'll be back." and then she pointed to someone in another room and said, "That's the person that you want to talk to about your sister's care". How they were running this place was very interesting. They charge you a rent fee for the room, then there's a separate fee that's charged for the patient care. It's like two separate businesses; it was very interesting. She took us to the memory care floor, which was on the third floor. You take an elevator, everything's locked. Off of the common hallway, there were two rooms, and then on one side, we interacted with the staff who were very knowledgeable. I found out they were the medical staff; they weren't the staff of the facility. This was a separate, kind of contracted out business. We were talking with them, and I was feeling like, they seem to know what they're doing. When we went back out in the common hallway, I observed the other doorway; it was also memory care, and I asked to observe it. As soon as we went in the door, a resident in a wheelchair kind of pleaded with this woman, "I need to use the bathroom. Can you help me?" she said, "I'll get someone to help you." Then we started walking down the hallway, and then the woman again said, "I just soiled myself, I need help. Could you please help me?" And she said, "I'll get someone," and I said, "Why don't you try to get someone to help her? You know, we can wait out in the hallway." So then she went back to the other side, the other way, and got someone. When I looked at the paperwork that we were given from this place, I found this quite interesting. If someone needs their clothing to be changed and everything because they are incontinent, it's a $30 charge over and above the regular times that you would change your clothes. I thought how horrifying, this woman was alone, and there was no one there to help her. She asked for help, she was told somebody would come, and in the meantime, she soiled herself and I thought, "Okay, she's going to be charged thirty dollars to change her clothes." What a great business this is. This is terrible. I was completely turned off by this place. They were so rude, and I just didn't feel any compassion, except from the two staff members that we saw in the other wing who were helping patients. I didn't see any compassion being exhibited there. We did walk into the dining room where the assisted living patients were finishing up their lunch, and that was the only time we ever saw any food. That was a very negative review, I wouldn't recommend going there for anything. It was pretty awful. It was an adequate room, and they were on the third floor, so they had a view out the window across the parking lot. There was a large high school facility across the street, so there was an athletic field, and they probably could see sports games being played. But there wasn't a lot of decoration or anything in the memory care section. It's just like walking down a blank hallway. Considering the two people that we met who were caregivers, I would give them a three on that, but the other people, I give them a one.

Provider Response

Diane

The staff at The Bellaire in Riverview was very knowledgeable about their own facility and the services they provide. They're also very friendly, very welcoming, and very easy to talk to during our visit. The rooms we saw were really nice. They were well laid out and perfect for a single person looking for a place to live. We also saw their menu, and it looked like there was a nice variety and healthy choices of food.

Linda

Bellaire Senior Living is much more independent than the other place we visited. They didn't have in-depth planned activities that we saw in another community. We met some of the residents, and the person in-charge seemed very knowledgeable and knew all the residents there. It's a smaller community, and it seemed like they didn't have transportation to doctor's appointments, baking, shopping, and those types of things. The appointments were a little dated, and the air conditioner would be hard for my father to reach since it's a little close to the ceiling.

Kendal

We visited The Bellaire. It was very nice, and everything was good about it, we just can't afford it. They have a nice dining room, a lounge area with a fireplace, there's a library, a hair salon, and there's also an outdoor gazebo. The staff was very good.

Mike

I was not impressed with The Bellaire at all. It was almost a high rise and most of them were independent units. The memory care unit was on the top floor and it was locked down. It was not very comfortable or homey. I didn't like it at all. It's institutional and the rooms are very old. They had activities and meals, but it was too expensive for what they had to offer.

Sam071480

The Bellaire would have been my number one pick. The apartments are very nice. They have some that are split rooms, one-bedrooms, and studios. It’s really nice. They have the living room area with a TV and a fireplace. It’s really homey. I like the fact that they do activities and outings. They have their own refrigerator in the room with them, but the stove doesn’t work. It is also more within my father’s budget.