Daniel Pena
May 2026
My name is Rachel and I'm also a healthcare provider with over 20 years of experience. Luckily, I was able to transfer my mother to another facility earlier this year. This place is not the same after Genesis sold it to new owners a few years ago. My mother is nonverbal and has dementia. There were constant issues with mistakes related to the kitchen serving her milk- based yogurt,ice cream and whole milk despite her known lactose allergies. On a few occasions her food was not pureed as ordered. She was served on her tray a sandwich one day, a regular consistency meal on two different occasions and I found a small piece of plastic in her food-which one of the nurses and a CNA noted this on her meal tray. Another evening, I came a little later than usual and found my mother in bed for dinner and was told she was fed food but she refused to eat. I checked her tray on the foodcart and both spoons were clean and clearly they did not try to feed her at all. My mother had an excellent appetite and ate 100% of her meals. I fed her that evening, and she ate all her dinner and was hungry. I reported this to the former nursing director and was given excuses. Shortly after, I was banned by the former nursing director Jen (now Regional Director) and former Administrator Kaile from visiting my mother on the 1st floor. They said there were many complaints from staff. Two of the staff commented to me privately, that the DON/Administrator felt threatened by me because I advocated for my mother and would not hesitate to email my concerns to them. This made them very uneasy. My visits were initially restricted to once a week in the sitting room/conference room on the ground floor and this lasted for almost a year. This was cruel and unacceptable and I had done nothing wrong to deserve this. In addition, this impacted my mothers' care as I was my mothers primary visitor and she was unable to verbalize her own needs due to her condition. Her weight dropped during this time significantly from 100's range down to 80's. The mistakes related to her diet/allergies continued even during this restricted period. During one evening visit, I noticed my mother smelled strongly of urine and after checking her she had two diapers on. The receptionist presently working was a witness to this. Andover Forest were consitently experiencing issues with low staffing, inconsistent food quality and portions, elevator failures or often only one elevator functioning, and dysfunctional laundry services where loss of resident's clothing were common occurrences. Not to mention, the majority of CNA staff which remained that were not fired or quit were on edge and were frequently heard complaining about management. Upper management (DON/Administrator) did not have an open door policy at all- they were just defensive. There was a revolving door of nursing managers on the 1st floor and nursing directors who seen the red flags and left shortly after starting. The new administrator Yves is a nice man, not sure how long he will stay. The facility is older but appears nice when entering, but beware as looks are deceiving. If you decide that your loved one will live here, be vigilant and advocate on their behalf.
