The Park Lane

The Park Lane is quite a nice place to reside, visit and in my case audit the processes in place to provide quality care at a professional level.
Entry — nicely furnished with lots of activity especially the free wifi and computers in the Internet café. Front desk people forward and welcoming.
Offices — nicely appointed with well presented personnel and clear organization.
AL — activity present with good resident interaction, clean dining room.
Common Areas — well appointed, nice furnishings, clean and dust free.
MC — Clean, care staff present, active and aware. Dining and kitchen beyond clean and organized.
IL — entertainment, socialization, lots of interactions with beyond positive responses.
Dining Room — beautiful space with tons of natural light from beautiful lush landscaping. Food selection — better than any other senior living I have visited.
Vista Room — WOW what a view for yoga class, the entire Monterey Bay!
Read about the elevators on Unilocal!,but on this date, rode all without issue. Isolated, maybe. Certificates valid.
Grounds — what else can you say about Monterrey, CA. It is lush and green with lots of areas to walk and take it in.

The Park Lane is great as a retirement place if the resident does not have medical problems beyond a certain level. The cost is pricey but not as pricey as some other comparable facilities on the Peninsula.
The food is very good, there is a physician available, there are entertainment rides, a spa and exercise room, good basic house cleaning and laundry, and outside entertainment is available at least weekly plus other venues. A number of activities are scheduled to help keep one from becoming bored.
For residents in assisted living medications are given. The memory care unit has its own dining room.
The assisted living and memory care units are ok. if one’s medical needs do not go beyond the minimal. Residents who become a problem are quickly evicted as what happened to a friend. They just do not have the right staff to deal with residents who have any form of dementia.

As an eldercare professional, it is a privilege to write a review for The Park Lane community. The new management team which includes an Executive Director who is also a gerontologist, and licensed vocational nurses who oversee the Memory Care and Assisted Living units are doing a wonderful job with overseeing the community.
The Executive Director and his team appreciate open communication, constructive criticism, follow up on concerns and complaints, and are constantly looking for ways to train the facility staff to make certain that the residents and their families needs are being met.
As an eldercare professional, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Residential Care administrator, I am in all of the Residential Care, Assisted Living and skilled nursing facilities in the Monterey and San Benito counties. It is with pleasure that I recommend families and potential residents to The Park Lane.

Yay, the elevators are all working.
The food is fantastic, the staff friendly, and the apartments are nice and larger than most I’ve seen. My Father likes it there, one does need to be proactive though to get what you want done. Once they get to know you, they will go out of their way to help.
The grounds are exceptional and green, live music every day, exercise classes, and daily bus rides.

My mother entered Park Lane’s independent living during the Hyatt’s last month. No mention was made that they were changing management. The wonderful director left as did others from the staff.
As long as you are an outgoing senior living independently, life at Park Lane would have been pleasant at that time – nice grounds, good food, great amenities, and upbeat activities and entertainment. But if you’re an independent senior that needs introductions and encouragement to participate – forget it!
After living there a little over a year, my mother’s health and dementia reached the point where the doctor wanted her in an assisted living facility. I was happy when Park Lane said that they were opening up an assisted living wing on her floor, and that she could stay in her current apartment and receive services. I thought that moving her to another facility would be further detrimental to her health, so we opted to stay at Park Lane.
Then the nightmare began.
* They left her in her apartment to herself. She often stayed in her night clothes all day and ate in her room unattended. At times she was told about activities but never coaxed into participating.
* Often times the food arrived cold, and on several occasions – never arrived at all! This was problematic since my mother is diabetic.
* Once I turned over medications to Park Lane, we had missing meds and a missing hearing aide and supplies. On one occasion I found her in pain when I arrived — she had not been receiving her pain medication!
* After missing and ill done laundry, I took Mom’s home to do (I would often see others’ family members in the elevator doing the same).
* Several times I found Mom listless in her apt. with the heat turned way up. I attributed this to her turning the thermostat up too high, «dismantled», it continued to happen.
* Mom’s door was always left unlocked, and sometimes left wide open leaving her vulnerable to theft (yes it happened) and a lack of privacy.
* The bill was rarely correct, so I had to review it carefully each month and report incorrect billing.
* Fire drills – I was there for a few, and shudder at the thought that there should ever be a real fire!
I communicated through e-​mails and met with the director and the head of assisted care nurse on several occasions. Their communications were late or not at all. On a few occasions I got corrective actions but they were followed by more problems.
As a whole, it is my opinion that the Park Lane lacks an experienced and trained staff, a proper procedural system, good communication skills, safety, and security.
I am happy to report that I moved my mother to Sunrise of Monterey in April of 2013 where she is thriving at 91 – soon to be 92!

If you are thinking about this place, be aware that all staff have keys to your loved one’s space and enter whenever they like. My mother has had many things stolen: jewelry, a favorite scarf, stamps, even a soap dish for heaven’s sake. Almost all residents complain about this, but it is totally ignored by the management. Calls are never returned, staff is indifferent and imply that the «old folks» just «lose things.» The food is positively inedible, disgusting and insufficient. The first thing SRG did when they took over was fire the security staff, so anyone can walk inside at any time, as exterior doors are often just left propped open day and night. The drivers were also fired, so the «complimentary driving» angle went south. The worst thing about the facility is that management is so unresponsive. It is absolutely obvious the only thing that matters to them is the bottom line, to the resident’s detriment. It was better when the Hyatt owned and managed it but now it has gone totally downhill. Their ads are very deceiving and I would encourage anyone considering this place to chat with the existing residents before making a decision. It’s extremely expensive and if there was anyplace I could move my mom where she would get better care, I would certainly do it.

My grandmother has lived in Park Lane for 5 years since 2009. It has been wonderful in every way. The fees are very moderate and they don’t require a large lump sum deposit which is unusual of Independent Living homes of this quality. I feel like I am at a 5 star hotel in many ways. My grandmother lives in the chalets which are little cottages away from the main building. She has a dog and has to walk through the rose gardens daily which provides ample exercise.
The food in the dining room is gourmet for a retirement home but not quite as upscale as restaurant. They often feature rack of lamb, pork chops, salmon etc. They have great desserts such as homemade ice cream, cookies, cakes, and milkshakes. Also, if you leave town over a certain amount of time they credit you back for some meals which is handy if you have a second home or take month+ long vacations.

My relative has been at The Park Lane for one year. The accommodations are good for someone who is healthy and social. I would not recommend for someone who needs more than light care with assisted living and certainly not for someone with dementia or incontinence. The staffing is sparse and there is very little flexibility for individual care plan. They lure you in with promises of great services and then nickel and dime for each need and ask like having having your meal (included in cost) brought to your room.