Willows at Bellevue

Our grandmother moved to The Willows about a month ago, and although it was a major life transition for her and our family, the experience has been nothing short of wonderful. The care and support she has received from the staff has exceeded all of our expectations. Every single team member—from the nurses to the dining staff to the activities coordinators—has been incredibly kind, patient, and compassionate. They’ve made her feel safe, cared for, and genuinely valued. What really stands out is how welcoming they are to our whole family when we visit. We never feel like outsiders—they make us feel right at home every time we walk through the doors. Seeing my grandmother thrive in a warm, friendly, and caring environment has brought us so much peace. We are truly grateful for the amazing people at The Willows who treat her like family.

I truly wish that I could leave a good review, that I had some good things to say about Willows however mine is not that type of story. My mom went to Willows for physical therapy following a brief stay in the hospital while she was battling a number of health conditions. From the onset she had issues with some of the staff. While some were great, she encountered significant issues with some of the staff (particularly the night shift). At first the issues revolved around them not listening to her or taking her requests into consideration. Then on night, while using a transfer process that she (and I separately) expressly told them she didn't want them to use that method because it caused her significant back pain the night nursing staff dropped her a short distance cutting her leg on the bed-frame. While the transfer method is authorized it is inherently less stable than other methods which my mom preferred. The reason they did it that night was because it was faster didn't require lift equipment. It was an unnecessary short-cut that resulted in her injury and a trip to the ER. Being out of state, when I heard what happened I called Willows and actually talked to the staff involved and after hearing their version I told them that my mom had asked them not to do it that way and they ignored her and that I needed them to start listening to what she was saying, so long as they could legally do what she asked. I found out later that when my mom returned to Willows are the ER trip, where she got stitches that the nurse I had talked to yelled at her and then proceeded to undo the dressing that the Dr had personally applied at the ER because "we have to make sure the Dr did it right". That injury resulted in her not being able to do physical therapy for a while, which was aggravated by the fact that the nursing staff withheld her prescribed pain medicine (up to 6 times daily) and instead only provided 1-2 times per day of substituted with OTC Tylenol. Because of the pain she was in she wasn't able to go to physical therapy for several weeks. It took my dad demanding that they give her the prescribed pain meds before they checked her medical record and realized that they were giving her the wrong meds and not enough for a week. In fact the doctor had to call them and direct them to follow his prescription for pain meds and stop withholding them. Unfortunately, a short time after that my mom had some BP issues and had to be taken back to the ER where she was admitted and treated for a number of issues, included severe bed sores on her back that had become infected. It took the Doctors over a week to stabilize her effort to head to a specialty care facility but unfortunately they weren't able to get the infection completely under control and she passed away on Sept 25th. I am now going through the process of making a formal report to the State for elder abuse. I would not recommend Willows for elder care. I am sure they have some great staff but it isn't worth risking it.

My grandma recently moved to The Willows, and she absolutely loves it. The care she’s receiving is top-notch, and she’s always telling us how much she enjoys the activities and the friendly staff. It’s a huge relief knowing she’s happy, engaged, and so well cared for. Couldn’t ask for a better place for her!

The willows is a wonderful place that feels like home! We had the best care! The staff are so caring and attentive and treated my family like we were a part of theirs! I never had to worry & that’s huge! And there are so many activities it was hard to keep up! They even have activities that included us too which was so much fun! I can’t say enough how great this place was to us!

Communication is NOT their strong suit, which makes for an absolute difficult time to keep things straight with your loved ones. It always seems like nobody quite knows what is going on. They do not make calls when they should. They lose clothing and other things faster than you can keep your loved one supplied. They keep you on the phone waiting 20-30 minutes or may not even return your phone call at all. They move your loved one with no communication at all. The list could go on, unfortunately. The continuous and repetitive cycle on blatant miscommunication or lack of proper communication is disheartening. The facility is kept clean and people are mostly nice, but they need to have someone from the outside come in and work with them on communication strategies and documentation handoffs that would relieve the stress and burden of families having to guess if their loved ones will get the best care or not. If you plan on having your loved one admitted there, stay on top of everything and do not trust their communication process as it does not work.