Chapters Living of San Antonio

Recently, my family made the difficult decision to move my grandmother from Phoenix to San Antonio. As I began searching for a memory care facility, Grand Brook quickly rose to the top of my list. What separated Grand Brook from the other facilities I toured was the staff. The other communities were nice, and the sales representatives were friendly, but Grand Brook stood out because of the competence, compassion, and dedication of its staff. Tracy, for example, was incredibly open about the realities of memory care. She demonstrated a genuine dedication to the residents and spent far more time with me than I expected, answering my questions and walking me through what to expect. I left knowing I wanted to come back and see the community again. When I returned, I met Fred, one of the nurses. He took the time to educate me about the clinical side of memory care and answered questions I hadn’t even thought to ask. A few days later, I met with Hailey, the Marketing Director, and she patiently helped me work through the paperwork and next steps. Elsa at reception was very helpful when I started moving things in. Housekeeping and maintenance introduced themselves and were absolutely professional. (Their names are evading me currently). Admitting that my grandmother needs additional care—and accepting that memory care is the right next step—is incredibly difficult and stressful. What has made that process easier is seeing how the staff at Grand Brook interact with the residents. They know the residents by name. They know about their lives and who they were before memory care. Most importantly, they treat each person with genuine dignity and respect. That made all the difference for me. I wasn’t just looking for a place for my grandmother to live. I was looking for a place where she would be known, cared for, and treated with respect. I also appreciate how it is a privately owned company run by a Christian family headquartered in Grapevine. Other facilities owned by private equity firms felt institutional. Grand Brook feels like family.

I’m surprised by the large number of 5 stars. I Wouldn’t say the staff is uncaring but they were unable to give my person the level of care required. The facility has planned activities, wide open spaces with lots of small meeting/relaxation areas available for residents or visitors and an enclosed courtyard for outside activities. It is setup like an extended stay hotel with mini lounges and kitchen-type spaces. Housekeeping seemed to always be making rounds so I never saw the room or spaces in any shape worse than slightly messy. The issues come with level of care and likely depends on awareness and determination of the resident. Somehow my person lost their glasses, all of their undergarments and socks, clothing, linens and bedspread, mattress protector, etc. Their personal hygiene went down hill as well, they always had an odor of one or another type of incontinence towards the end of their stay, sheets missing from the bed for multiple visits in a row (too often to be blamed on coincidence of washing laundry, especially when all other dirty laundry is still in the room), feces stains on their mattress, terrible foot odour and foot wear that stank with the insoles caked with build up somehow. Did I bring this to managements attention? No. Why not? I don’t believe it would make a difference. Why? Being aware of a resident with a heavy odor should be standard to me. A resident having their (limited) personal belongings (many of which are called out as required to be provided by the intake process) missing would raise questions. It is a memory care facility so I would expect after the first few weeks they would pick up on a residents behaviour patterns and know who needs extra guidance to ensure they shower, or have sheets on the bed versus “did you shower?”, get a “Yes” and then move on. I can’t say exactly what happened as I wasn’t there 24-7. All I know is my person started at X and when they got to Y it was time to take them out, spend a year to get their health and hygiene back up to a reasonable standard and try a new facility.