Overall sentiment across the reviews is highly polarized: many families and visitors describe Fieldstone Memory Care Yakima as a clean, attractive, and well-appointed memory-care community with compassionate staff and strong programming, while a distinct subset of reviews documents significant and concerning lapses in clinical care, management, and safety. This pattern suggests inconsistent service delivery — some residents receive warm, attentive, and above-and-beyond care in a facility that feels like home, while others experience troubling deficits in dementia-specific care and oversight.
Care quality and clinical oversight: Several reviews praise the caregivers and nursing staff for providing attentive medication management, advocacy, and meaningful improvement in residents’ quality of life. Specific positive reports include staff helping with placement and transitions to memory care, accompaniment to medical appointments, and individualized attention. However, a recurring negative theme centers on inadequate dementia training for aides, uncertified caregivers, and failures to follow state guidelines. Concrete problems mentioned include delayed incontinence checks, soaked pants, poor oral hygiene monitoring, inadequate daily grooming, unattended or delayed responses to falls, and unreliable emergency pull cords. One review spelled out the facility’s licensed-nurse staffing as 1 RN and 3 LPNs, with the rest of clinical duties handled by med techs; multiple reviewers expressed concern that this level of licensed nursing coverage is insufficient for higher-acuity dementia residents and that weekend nurse-on-call arrangements have been unreliable.
Staffing, training, and safety concerns: The reviews point to conflicting impressions of staffing. Many families report a high staff-to-resident ratio, compassionate caregivers, and staff who go “above and beyond.” Conversely, other reviews document unsafe staff practices — including an allegation that COVID-19–positive staff were allowed to work — and a pattern of management decisions that appear to prioritize staffing numbers over quality or safety. Several reviewers cited poor record-keeping and multiple regulatory violations, which amplifies concerns about systemic issues rather than isolated caregiver mistakes. Reports of delayed medical attention after falls, soaked clothing and dirty bathrooms, and refusal of family visitation are serious red flags that should prompt further verification by prospective families.
Facility, amenities, dining, and activities: Nearly every positive review highlights the facility itself: newer construction, Alzheimer’s-focused design, mall-like layout, private rooms with bathrooms, pleasant public spaces (courtyard, giant rocking chairs), and abundant amenities (spa and salon services, a 50s-themed café, coffee bar, movie theater, gyms, libraries). Activities are frequently described as engaging and varied — painting, coloring, bowling, music, shows, and life-story interviews — with daily activity photos and strong socialization opportunities. Dining staff receive repeated praise for quality meals, special touches (birthday surprise meals), and an appealing variety. Many families explicitly say their loved one calls Fieldstone “home,” noting improved mood and social engagement.
Management, communication, and family experience: Experiences with administration and communication are mixed. Several reviews commend staff (including named individuals) and the administrative team for warmth, helpfulness, and practical assistance during placement and transition. These families report proactive care communication, reassurance, and a family-friendly atmosphere. By contrast, other reviewers describe unacceptable management behavior, poor communication, eviction or mismanagement episodes, and refusal to allow family visits without explanation. These divergent experiences suggest variability in how managers and teams interact with families or possible turnover that affects family relationships.
COVID-19 and infection control: Some reviewers explicitly praise the facility’s COVID-19 safety measures and reported zero cases, indicating strong infection-control practices in those instances. Yet other reviews raise a severe infection-control concern by alleging that COVID-19–positive staff worked while symptomatic or contagious. This contradiction is critical: either infection-control practices are uneven across shifts/periods or there are disagreements about what transpired. Prospective families should request up-to-date infection-control policies, staffing logs, and any public health inspection reports.
Cost and value: Perceptions of value are mixed. Multiple reviewers say Fieldstone offers excellent value given the level of amenities, activities, and caring staff. At least one review explicitly labels the price as overpriced (example cited: $6,000/month) given reported quality and safety concerns. The variance suggests that some families feel the cost is justified for the environment and staff they experienced, while others weigh the financial cost against alleged clinical and management shortcomings and find it unacceptable.
Patterns and actionable cautions: The most notable pattern is inconsistency. Many reviews are effusive about staff kindness, cleanliness, programming, and overall resident well-being. But an important minority identifies serious clinical and administrative failures — inadequate dementia training, missed personal-care tasks, falls left unattended, lax infection-control, poor record-keeping, and reported regulatory violations. These are not minor complaints and should be independently verified. Prospective residents and families should perform targeted due diligence: review recent state inspection and violation records, ask for current staffing ratios and a breakdown of licensed nurses vs. med techs, inquire about staff certification and dementia training programs, request policies and logs for falls and infection control, evaluate weekend and after-hours nursing coverage, tour during different times/days (including evenings/weekends), and seek references from current families.
Conclusion: Fieldstone Memory Care Yakima appears to offer a warm, well-equipped, and activity-rich environment that many families find comforting and effective for memory-care needs. However, the presence of multiple, specific negative reports about care omissions, safety, management, and regulatory noncompliance introduces significant risk for prospective residents — particularly those with higher-acuity dementia needs. The facility may deliver excellent care in many cases, but inconsistency and serious allegations warrant thorough, document-backed verification before placement. Families should weigh the praised social and environmental features against the documented clinical and administrative concerns and conduct in-depth checks focused on staffing, training, safety systems, and recent state inspection outcomes.
