We didn't look on Yelp before finding a home for my mother-in-law when she could not take care of…read moreherself anymore. There was no listing for Palmera, but hopefully you read this before considering them for your loved one...or mother-in-law... :)
First the good: The house is very nice, and located in a very nice neighborhood in Antelope. Unfortunately, that's the end of the "good."
I met with Maria, one of the owners at another one of her board and care facilities. My wife was sick and could not meet with her, but gave me the information. Maria showed up 15 minutes late, and proceeded to advise me that my wife was wrong and told her the meeting was at a different time, and at the other location (where we ended up.)
Followed her to the other facility (Palmera) and was initially impressed with the house and neighborhood (see above)
They were a little outside of our budget, at $2700 per month, but went down to $2200 when I advised them that that was what we could afford. They had spots for 5-6 residents, but only had 2 at the time, so they were flexible.
After moving in, my mother-in-law (who can be a little hard to deal with, herself) started making claims that Maria was "nasty" to her and would yell and call her names. There was no interaction or activities with other residents except at meal time, despite what their ad says. She also mentioned that Maria had pushed her. Her doctor advised that we confront Maria, which we did, and she brushed it off as an exaggeration, which we believed at the time. But after sitting down with Maria and her husband, Andre, and seeing how they interacted with my mother-in-law, it was obvious that they had no business running a care facility. My mother-in-law came out of her room to apologize for her behavior, and their reply was, "we accept your apology, but you need to stop acting bad." That is NOT how you diffuse a situation with an 80 year old woman with early onset dementia.
Since then, they claimed that she was throwing things, assaulting them, and even bit Maria. How my 80 year old mother-in-law who uses a walker somehow overpowered her was not made clear.
We were given a 30 day notice verbally (no written notice of any kind) We found out then that they were at capacity, so my opinion is that they felt they could get a new tenant for a higher price. But I reiterate, that's only my opinion.
Since then, we get almost daily calls asking when we are moving her out (only three weeks after our verbal notice) and then she changed her story, claiming that she actually gave 3 days notice instead of 30. When we stopped answering her calls, she stole my mother-in-law's phone to call us from that number.
In conclusion...I know it's almost a cliche' on Yelp, but if I could have given them 0 stars, I would. I just hope we can prevent other people from making the same mistake that we did. Finding a home for seniors when the need assistance is a desperate time, and unfortunately, Palmera Home Care is there to prey on them. We are filing a complaint with Social Services as well.
