TenderNest Assisted Living

Karen Zup

My mother was a resident at Tender Nest for almost a year. With only a few exceptions, I had no problems with the caregivers. Most were caring and compassionate with the residents. Unfortunately for both the caregivers and residents, there appeared to be a lack in training in essential areas. In addition, it appeared to me that the caregivers had so many additional responsibilities placed on them that the most important duty of caring for the residents became second to their other chores. At one point, my mother received another resident’s medication in error. I requested a meeting with management to discuss what happened and how it could be prevented going forward. Management minimized the severity of a medication error and the ramification of this type of incident. They never offered an explanation nor expressed a concern about the incident. As a result, I found that I became much more attentive to the process of medication distribution and if I saw things that concerned me, I brought it to the attention of management. On more than one occasion, these concerns were also minimized or blamed on another party. The last incident involved bubble wrapped pills that were compromised. Two days after addressing this issue with management, my mother was given a 30-day eviction notice, which I understand is unheard of in the industry, and we were forced to move to another facility which has resulted in a deterioration of Mom’s dementia. The reason given for the eviction was that my mother required 1 on 1 care; however, I personally think that management didn’t want me to scrutinize or question any of their operations. It is truly unfortunate that a family member cannot be an advocate for their loved ones without facing these types of consequences.