Atria Burlingame

I am so pleased that my 94 year old grandmother resides here. The location and the grounds are beautiful. The staff genuinely cares about the people who live there and are so friendly, especially Barbara who often mans the front desk. I could not be happier knowing she is in a safe and caring environment with lots of friends and activities to keep her days full and joyous.

Phew — I have just returned from Kaiser’s emergency department dealing with yet another case of neglect concerning my lovely grandma. 5 stars certainly go to Wendy, the RN who brought my grandma’s sudden lack of eating to our attention tonight and who promptly called the ambulance for us to get her the care she needs. The day after Christmas, my grandma began to show signs of yet another bladder infection (one of many that have manifested due to Atria’s intermittent bathroom assistance care) and my mom notified Isaac immediately to take my grandma to see the doctor, though he didn’t follow up with us as promised. Tonight, we go visit her as usual and learn that she has not eaten for the past two days and Wendy, the only competent employee at Atria, was extremely concerned.
After being thoroughly evaluated by Kaiser, it’s discovered that she is not cleaned up after using the bathroom and fecal matter has gotten into several crevices including her urethra, giving her a pretty serious bladder infection. My mom was her primary caretaker after two hip replacements and a fall before her time at Atria and can verify that a thorough cleaning of her genitals involves nothing more than a moistened antibacterial wipe and not more than a few swipes in the right direction. Learning that fecal matter was caked in the folds of her skin was upsetting, unsettling, and makes us wonder if the large monthly sum spent on Atria is worth it.
The medical staff was concerned enough to bring a social worker to talk to us, who informed us that we were in the same ER around this time last year after my grandma’s neglected bladder infection went to her brain and caused a seizure at dinner. We were strongly urged to seek other assisted living centers and were told that this was certainly a case of neglected care. Had this been a one time occurrence, I would hesitate to write such a scathing review, but former employee Julie requested that I remove my previous review about a concerning fall which resulted in 18 stitches and insufficient care that concerned Kaiser enough to send their own nurse to clean and change the wound. Though I was forced to remove that review, the quality of care, it seems, has not changed at all.
Our concern is that this around the clock care is being provided by staff who don’t notice considerable changes in her mental and physical health and that it takes us, her family who visits her several times a week, to notice and push the staff to get her the care she is entitled to. I worry about the residents who don’t have family visiting frequently — what kind of underlying health problems are presenting themselves to the less visited residents who have no voice to advocate for their own right to healthcare?