Bethesda Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care, Fort Worth

Tom Watson, resident’s son

Our mom lived here for nearly five years. The first 1.5 years were good, but after local management turnover, things changed for the worse. Prescription management and security (jewelry stolen) were the first major issues. Never had one fire drill during her total tenure here. As long as your resident is reasonably independent, and in good health, this place is OK; but as dementia progressed and additional support required, professional care services fell below our expectation (and their promise) for these paid services. There are a handful of caregivers here who are wonderful and caring; treating our mom as their own to the last day. The rest were clock punchers. During the years we initiated regular reviews with their management resulting in no positive change. We realized then that the less than compassionate attitudes came from top down, including the president and corporate officers. Why did we stay? Honestly the location proximity to our homes was a major factor allowing us to personally oversee her care, and our concern of introducing change to mom. We had to install CCTV in her room just so we could tell if she had fallen. When mom’s PCP and HH finally recommended memory care, we moved her away despite Bethesda having a separate memory care unit but it was managed by the same inept people. Moved to a new facility and she is now showing real signs of improvement in just one week.