Willamette View

My sister was a resident of the Willamette View Health center in Milwaukee, Portland, OR
for several months before her death. She had enjoyed living in the independent level (Manor) for six years before her move to the Health Center. We were impressed with the Manor staff and were hoping for a similar quality of care in the Health Center but were disappointed, especially with the lack of licensed or registered nurses. The Health Center has 4 ‘units’ or neighborhoods, each with about 15 residents. On day shifts, there is a Registered Nurse on duty but she is in charge of two units and also has managerial responsibilities, so has little time doing direct nursing care or assessment. Frequently the nurses on duty were from a temp agency and not familiar with the residents. On some evening shifts, a remarkable LPN named Barbara is present but she has to divide her time between two units. During some evening shifts and most night shifts, there were only nurse’s aides on duty — no LPNs or RNs. Medications (including narcotics such as morphine) were usually administered by nurse’s aides even during day shifts. In the last weeks of my sister’s life, she often needed her scheduled medication to be ‘held’ (not given) due to risk of oversedation. This is a nursing decision which nurse’s aides are not trained for. In the last week of my sister’s life she was not fully conscious and her level of conciousness was decreasing daily. She was being given sips of water and liquid morphine but as her level of conciousness deepened I noticed that she began to aspirate on any liquid and was showing symptoms of pneumonia. She needed a nursing assessment to be made about whether to continue medication and in what form to give it. However that evening there were no nurses on duty — only nurse’s aides. As an RN, I was surprised at the lack of nursing presence on the units. Often the nurse’s aides seemed to lack the leadership and direction that would typically come from an LPN or RN in charge. In the evening or night they would spend quite a bit of time sitting, chatting together or on their phones. My recommendation would be to hire more LPNs with training or experience in geriatric and end-​of-​life care and replace one nurses aide on each shift with an LPN, so that every shift there is a licensed nurse to give medications, do assessment, make nursing diagnoses and decisions, and give leadership and direction to the nurses aides.

See my previous reviews. I have been back here since my other reviews. Willamette View continues to provide excellent care to my grandmother. They continue to maintain their buildings and grounds so they are in top and safe condition. Their skilled nursing unit is one of the best I’ve seen. The staff there take the time to know the residents personally and care for each resident as if they were their own family. As I stated previously if you can afford to live here it is well worth it.

Something has changed at Willamette View.
Up until a year ago I would have agreed with Joe W.‘s 5 star review. My grandmother lived in the independent living area for over 10 years and it was, though not perfect, very good, and she was happy and constantly commented on how well everyone «looked after» her.
My grandfather ended up in the Alzheimer’s wing about ⁵⁄₆ years ago and the care he received was amazing.
Something has changed at Willamette View.
Once my grandmother moved from independent living into assisted and then full time care, once she had paid up towards $ 500,000 to Willamette View, and going anywhere else would have been too traumatic, the care ranged from apathetic to adequate. She was 100 years old at this time.
Just a few examples:
She was approved to move into the assisted living area, and once there we were constantly told she required more care than they offered (why did they say she could move there?). Fees kept getting added for the «extra» things she required, and the attitude of some of the staff about doing those extra things could be described as less than willing, enthusiastic, kind.
Her laundry wasn’t getting done. We found out this was because her dirty clothes were being put into the laundry basket, not the laundry bag. WHICH WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE LAUNDRY BASKET. It was the staff that put the dirty clothes in the basket not the bag. S E R I O U S L Y. That is the kind of attitude some of the staff had.*
Once it was clear she actually needed to be in the full time care section, it was actually suggested that they might not have room for her and they’d have to review her case (they could choose to give the room to someone who didn’t even currently live at Willamette View). While this happened, she paid for full time private care, by the hour (required by Willamette View, not optional), costing her twice as much as if they would have her in the full time care section. About $ 20,000/month vs $ 10,000/month. I believe Willamette View made some sort of profit on this extra care, but I’m not 100% sure of that.
Often care giving staff either wasn’t informed of her current conditions at shift changes or didn’t bother reading/​comprehending orders/​instructions for her. It got so that, in the last few weeks of her life, family members would make it a point to be there at shifts changes so we could personally look staff in the eye and give instructions.
I could go on. These are the highlights.
I think many people choose Willamette View based on their hopes/​fears of future end of life care, when they are most vulnerable. I’m disgusted at how far short Willamette View fell of their perceived promises of how that would play out. If my grandmother were to have died in her sleep while in independent living, I would be writing a whole different review.
Fortunately my grandmother had family here and present to advocate for the kind of care she deserved, and for the most part I don’t think she understood what was going on behind the scenes, but it makes me sad for those who don’t have family/​friends to be there with them.
*I believe this attitude comes down from the top. The caregivers at Willamette View seem understaffed, overworked, and poorly managed. Enough of them seem unhappy, unengaged, and apathetic that I have to think it is not a good place to work and they do not pay their caregivers adequately. There were lots of temps and part time people. I’d say ½ — ²⁄₃ of the caregivers were really good at what they did. That’s not enough. I know how these things work. It’s not their fault. Something is broken at Willamette View.
There are many of the staff at Willamette View that were very kind, smart, engaged, and I am so grateful for them. This is not a review of those people, but there’s not enough of them for me to ever recommend Willamette View, and they deserve a better place to work.

This review is on the basis of working some locum shifts there, and not as a resident or family member, thereof. If you operate from the base assumption — as I tend to, for better or worse— that it is a damning indictment of our culture that we warehouse our seniors, then you’re always going to be at least a little ill-​at-​ease about such facilities.
Willamette View does make it easier to stomach. These are some really nice grounds, and they run the gamut from independent living w/​plentiful activities for the residents, all the way to geri-​psych lock down and hospice care for end-​of-​lifers. I found the staff there to be devoted and genuinely invested in the well-​being of their residents. The «patients» or «clients» are far more like family here.
I’ll do everything I can to ensure my parents live with me (if they so choose) when they reach the point of being unable to care for themselves. But for those w/​o the resources or latitude to do so for their own beloved seniors, they may be assured there are some high quality places like Willamette View available.