Yesterday I told the story of my mom’s Brookdale Assisted Living apartment. What started as a perfectly lovely space to live, ended looking like a war zone filled with plastic garbage bags, toxic chemical dust, and overturned furniture. Check out the first part of Jeanne’s Brookdale Bedbug story here:
Here’s the before and after of Jeanne’s Brookdale room in June 2026.
Before
I took this picture when in preparation to sell the bed in early June.
After
This is the back wall in apt 232. The photo was taken the last week of June. The green and black boxes placed on the floor are bug traps. If you see one of these green and black boxes, beware. They are used by pest control professionals to deal with bug infestations. The powder you see? It’s chemical dust.
Bedbug Treatments in 232
Jeanne’s war zone apartment included garbage bags full of her clothing and personal items, disrespected furniture, sticky pest strips, and bedbug treatment pads. As you can see from the picture below, room 232 had what appeared to be a cardboard box full of “treatment pads”. This picture was taken on June 29.
Here’s a close up of the pest strip package.
I learned that these Terramera Treatment Pads are used to eliminate bedbugs.
I knew room 232 had a problem with bedbugs on June 29. In fact bedbugs were positively identified in the room on June 12. However, we would not be told about the bedbug infestation until June 18.
Jeanne Gives 30 Day Notice
Four weeks earlier, Jeanne had left Brookdale. She had the opportunity to live with my sister out of state. The high costs associated with Brookdale were becoming a problem. Although she hated to leave her friends in California and those living at Brookdale, she welcomed the chance to spend time with my sister in her beautiful home. Her last day at Brookdale was May 14.
I was tasked with clearing out her room at Brookdale. Due to the timing, rent was paid through June 30. The plan was for me to sell her furniture, send her clothing and personal belongs to her new home, and put her remaining items in storage.
June 16 – Room in Shambles
I opened the door to apt 232 June 16 to sell her couch and this is what I saw.
Here’s another look.
The shock of seeing her overturned couch lead me to wonder if my mom’s room had been vandalized.
As I looked around the room, I saw some strange boxes on the floor. Here’s one I photographed next to the thrown couch cushion. We know now that these are bug traps.
An interesting conversation with Brookdale’s Director
After seeing what looked like a vandalized room, I had an interesting conversation with Brookdale’s director who I will simply call S.
She told me that the room had not been vandalized. Rather, a few days earlier, she had unlocked my mom’s Brookdale room while accompanied by a pest control inspector from the EcoLab company. I was told that it was the inspector who left the room in shambles. During the inspection of room 232, he inspected the baseboards and found a bug infestation.
By that time the buyer of the couch arrived in room 232. I introducer her to S and helped her move the couch out of the room.
Later that day I questioned S. “Why was I not notified about the pest inspection?” She said nothing, but offered me $500 for the mistreatment of the couch and other property that was left in shambles. The $500 would be sent to my address and issued by Brookdale’s corporate office later in the month. You will likely not be surprised that as of today, July 10, I have not received a check for $500.
As for the “infestation” found by the pest control person . . . the room would be fumigated. Apparently the rooms on the right and left of 232 were also inspected. That is all I was told. At the time, I still trusted S. I foolishly thought that if I needed to know more, she would tell me.
S asked what I would be doing with the bed. I told her I planned to sell it.
Still in the Dark
Still in the dark about bedbugs in room 232, I went home the night of June 16, opened my laptop and inquired about what kind of bug infestation might be in my mom’s overpriced Brookdale Assisted Living Studio Apartment.
What did I learn? The problem was more than likely BEDBUGS!
Here’s an excerpt from the conversation I had with Google’s AI Gemini.
Can Brookdale be Trusted?
Let’s review. Yesterday I detailed how my mom’s property was completely mistreated. Her once tidy room was now a complete disaster. Her carefully-kept keepsakes? They were tossed in the trash. Who was responsible for this heartbreaking turn of events? BROOKDALE FOLSOM!
Jeanne’s last day at Brookdale was May 14. However, she was still paying Brookdale’s high rent through June 30. This was based on Brookdale’s contractual 30 day notice requirement. However, on June 12 a bedbug infestation was discovered, but not disclosed to us.
On June 16, I asked myself the question, “Can Brookdale be Trusted?”
The answer was NO!
But wait. Things will get worse. Tomorrow I’ll share more details about Jeanne’s Brookdale Bedbug hell.
Note: This site is usually dedicated to telling the story of 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.
Mid-Century Page 
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