From Cherished Mementos to Chaos: Jeanne’s Brookdale Story

Meet my mom Jeanne.

Here she is in her small Assisted Living studio apartment.

And here she is sitting on her couch.

Anyone visiting room 232 in Brookdale Folsom Assisted Living facility would find a neat, tidy room filled with mementos from Jeanne’s 92 years. They would find her cherished wedding picture, artwork from my dad, and family pictures of her children and grandchildren. Her legacy includes 3 children, 8 grandchildren, 18 great grand children, and 65 years of marriage. There were memories of all of this in her Brookdale Studio Apartment.

Note the items on top of the file cabinet in the picture below. It holds more mementos. Most notably is the white cardboard stand that holds a picture of my late father. Jeanne made the stand with cardboard that she cut and folded in thirds. She then printed a picture of my dad and attached it to her cardboard stand with a clip. A casual observer might not understand the significance of the paper memento. But to Jeanne it was everything. The simple object served as a symbol of her loving protector providing a presence in her room. The silver tree lamp provided calming lights that gave just the right amount of light during the sleeping hours and provided a glow to her cherished picture of the love of her life.

Here’s Jeanne’s cherished silver tree lamp and cardboard stand 2 weeks later.

This picture was taken by me after entering her room in late June.

Look close at the zoomed-out picture below to see that this is the part of Jeanne’s apartment where her pretty couch was previously. The area now contains a chaotic mix of filled trash bags and abused furniture.

The bedroom area of her small studio used to look like this.

2 weeks later it looked like this.

Her small table and upholstered chair that used to look like this.

Now looked like this.

Wait. There’s more.

Here’s her closet.

And here’s her bathroom.

Why? You might ask.

Why would a perfectly nice assisted living room look like a warzone?

Who did it?

BROOKDALE FOLSOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll continue the story tomorrow.

---

Note: This site is usually dedicated to telling the story women in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

This week I am using the website to attempt to right a wrong. I want to draw attention to the Brookdale Assisted Living company who did a horrible job managing a bedbug infestation that entered my mom’s room from a neighbor. This multi-post series will provide lessons learned that I hope will be helpful for those of us who advocate for the safety and well-being of our aging parents.