Barathaven Memory Care

Beautiful place, specializes in memory care, no smells, smaller and cozy community with large, secured outdoor areas.

I spent a year of my life at Barathaven. I began with the kitchen in shambles. It was dirty. Unorganized. The food needed huge improvements. I began ordering fresh items. Preparing honestly meals. Organizing storage. I saved the company enough on 5 months to pay half my salary finding overlooked items that weren't delivered. I had fresh foods in the staff lounge and got positive feedback from residents. I was relieved of my duties after nearly a year due to the same reason that 2 others before me were. Poor unprofessional and uneducated management. There was much potential at Barathaven. But due to the current management my job was focused more on the catering of themselves rather than for the residents. The residents deserve better. Some meals were subpar due to lack of staff training. The quality was inadequate due to time factors directly related to demands of the higher ups. My suggestions were dismissed and my decisions undermined constantly by unprofessionalism in my direct management. The residents were put second after their own personal wants. It even went as far as me being reprimanded because I spoke out against another department head writing my kitchen schedule. All the organization, leadership, and efforts that I gave ended up the exact same as the ones who went before me. They were dismissed for personal needs and wants of upper management who admitted they knew absolutely nothing about cooking. I see why the others left. It's extremely tough to care about your job and the residents when every day is a constant battle of trying to do the job one was hired for while being constantly challenged due to careless placement of close friendship in the top management positions. Unfortunately no one can change anything here until the issues are removed. The residents deserve so much better. But with only one building in Missouri corporate focuses on the many others in various states and overlooks the issues and cover ups that happened every day in order to keep the upper management happy. The staff at Barathaven, my coworkers, are amazing people. They do miracles everyday. They g out of their way to take care of the residents despite all the politics, foul practices, unfair actions, lies and daily stress thrown at them by the upper management They were the reason I never gave up. I believe in karma. And the ones that are running this place so unfairly, putting their own needs above the residents, running unfair business practices, and lieing to cover it up while watching good people who truly care get dismissed of their duties for their own agenda will definately be getting a visit from her soon. I truly hope that the residents get the attention and changes they truly need. And that this joke of a management group gets a huge eye opener on how to live a good life. They should not be managing anyone in any industry of service. I understand why the ones before me walked out And why there has been no changes that I implemented still being done. With a personal agenda ranked higher than any of the needs of the residents and a bond of friendship in all major roles of this company, I truly hope one day you are exposed. And the residents can live with everything the staff at Barathaven is truly capable of giving. It's a shame to watch so many skills of people with great intentions and a passion for what they do become so frustrated and angry at the lack of professionalism and support they need. I hope for the best for this company. And I hope that karma will be visiting soon for the sake of everyone there.

My dad has resided in Barathaven for nearly 2 1/2 years. During this time, I can say that many staff took as good of care as they could based on high turnover and constant understaffing which falls solely on the Administration. I would spend up to 8 hrs a day for up to 6 days at a time when I came in without disruption or incident. This week, I had the misfortune of meeting with Brenda, LPN. Unfortunately, the winter/spring illness swept through the facility and my dad came down with a fever and pneumonia. Because of his age, it took some time but he was finally eating. I live out of state but was getting daily updates from my brother and also spent over 8 hrs with him at Barathaven on the weekend of 5/4 & 5. I saw him eat an entire plate of food with no help swallowing fine and regaining his appetite. He also drank a 8oz beverage in it’s entirety. He was joking and laughing this weekend. However he was still weak from days in bed. Unfortunately, on 5/10, he fell getting up from a chair at lunch and had to have an hip replacement. He returned to Barathaven on 5/15. Because Barathaven is not a skilled care facility, has only LPN and not RN staff, he could not return with his feeding tube. I drove in over 400 miles from out of state to visit. I was not understanding his wife’s decision to not place him into an interim facility where he could still have an IV and feeding tube until he regained strength, could rehab, and regained his appetite for solid food. Not forever, just to recover. I know my dad has always hated going under anesthesia because he states if affects him for days. This would have been exasperated because of his weakened state. I entered his room to find my sister already pleading with his wife to give him a chance and to try to let him eat/drink. I probably should not have entered but it is hard not to after a 7 1/2 hr drive. Brenda did not allow my sister to continue to speak to my mother. It was an emotionally charged situation between family members. Although I got my mom to calm down after Brenda and a 3rd sister left the room, and the situation was de-escalated, Brenda kept inserting herself into a family matter and speaking on items that she is not qualified. Brenda did not remain neutral, was a pot stirrer and could not put her ego and meddling ways aside. When pleading for my dad, Brenda would yell from the door that my dad can not leave Barathaven “he is not going anywhere”. THAT is plain crazy. He literally was just transported to Barathaven the day before. He could just as easily be transported to an interim skilled care facility where he could have the IV and feeding tube. It is not Brenda’s place to interject. Every time my dad would start to become lucid, instead of allowing him to communicate....Brenda would encourage more sedation and Morphine. Brenda told me that my dad had not been lucid the entire time he had been in Barathaven. That is plain false. My dad regularly joked with me and the staff. Come to find out, Brenda had only worked there since 5/1- 2 wks and my dad had been recovering from pneumonia before he broke his hip. Barathaven failed my father by providing him the most heartless LPN who meddles in family matters, does not have any people skills, and aids in the separation of a resident from his children. A POA separating elderly from family members is a classic form of elder abuse and is often done for personal gain. It is so sad that during my dad’s final days Nurse Brenda is more for euthanasia than trying to get a resident to recover and facilitated this separation. It is also horrific that a son and 2 daughters, who my dad loved so much, can no longer visit their father during his final days due to the careless and not thought through decision of a 2 wk nurse; especially since I was present when my dad told the admin that he would have not appointed the POA if he could have predicted the actions. I am so sad for my dad and how his care facility has failed him in his final days. Because of this, I can not recommend Barathaven.