Bridges by Epoch at Sudbury

My partner spent a little over 3 years at Bridges of Sudbury and it was a wonderful experience. He was suffering from Alzheimer’s and needed Memory Care. I had no longer been able to care for him at home. After a few months of adjustment he began to enjoy it very much. It is divided into 3 neighborhoods and each neighborhood eats in the dining room at various tables together! The food is very good! We were able to walk outdoors for the first 2 years and the last year we did it by wheelchair! There are great activities in the community room for all 3 neighborhoods 2 times a day and they often have live music! Everyone addresses each resident in passing so there is a very good feeling of community!

After personal experiences have been shared with me, I cannot recommend this facility for their loved ones.

While my mother lived here we experienced multiple failures over many months in which her medical device was being used inappropriately despite our paying an extra $1200 per month for enhanced nursing / medication management services. There was poor communication with Bridges around their reasonable capabilities and ultimately the family decided the medical device could not be managed safely by Bridges, so we made the choice on our own to discontinue it. I also discovered an unattended, unlabeled urine collection sample sitting next to my mother's bathroom sink by her toothbrush that had been taken days earlier and just left there when she had a suspected UTI. It delayed her testing and treatment by a week, and she was washing her hands and brushing her teeth next to that cup of urine. Staffing shortages/turnover are a chronic issue, a symptom I suspect of the poor management. My mother stayed at Bridges through hospice and the EOL stage. I learned the hard way that unlike my mother's previous long-term care facilities, which were month-to-month, Bridges requires 30 day notice for move-out. When we moved my mother in, it was essentially following an acute crisis after she left a rehab facility and we were scrambling to find a memory care that would take her since her previous one would not let her come back. The move-in paperwork and resident agreement stack was prodigious to say the least - dozens and dozens of pages requiring a binder clip. I recall monthly rent being explained, and the 30 day notice was surely in there but it was not clearly explained. Sadly, during the 2 months my mother spent on hospice, nobody from the administration spoke to our family about the 30 day notice policy or what would happen following her passing. When she began transitioning and the hospice nurse shared with myself and the Bridges nursing team that she only has days left, a couple weeks at most, again nobody from Bridges administration communicated their policies or even shared condolences. (At this point I will say the nurses and the direct care staff were fantastic, highly compassionate, and basically angels on earth. As were the dining staff who went out of their way to provide what my mother was willing and capable of eating and even fed our family too! My complaint is regarding the ADMINISTRATION only, not the employees who provide care and interact with the residents.) The day my mother left us, again nobody from the administration checked in and explained what would happen. It was the end of the month, so we assumed we had to clear out her room before the 1st. I emailed the front desk and CC'd the director with our moving truck date, and only got a confirmation from the front desk, nobody from the administration even replied. After the moving truck finished loading and we were ready to leave, I checked in with the front desk to ask what else we needed to do, was there anything else? They said no. I happened to bump into the director as I walked out the front door for the last time. She shared condolences, but said nothing else. To say I was shocked when a few weeks later I got a $12000 bill for the next months rent is an understatement. A phone call to the billing department explained the 30 day notice policy. Instead of clearly communicating it and giving the family the opportunity to provide notice when their loved one is on hospice, it is poorly communicated and left as a nasty surprise for grieving loved ones to get in the mail. After learning this I emailed the director to share my surprise and confusion, and got no reply. The only response was a second billing notice sent a few weeks later, with the total circled in red. It is very clear that to the administration, this is just a rental business. They don't care about the people. The care staff are the only reason I don't regret moving my mother here. If you send your loved one here, read the resident agreement carefully, and be prepared to advocate for your vulnerable loved one because the communication with management is very poor when there are problems.

My Father lives here at Epoch in Sudbury. He seems happy there and I met one of his friends there who seemed very nice. Our family just wanted to make sure he was in a safe place! My Father thoroughly enjoyed his time at Bridges by Epoch in Sudbury, MA! I just wanted to thank everyone there for keeping him safe and healthy during his time there! May you always have wonderful programs and projects for your amazing patients!