The development in which I reside is Center Communities of Brookline,
which is a division of Hebrew SeniorLife. It is a cluster of three
buildings erected over forty years ago by a family who sold it to HSL
about twelve years ago at a huge profit. The buildings are terribly
constructed; any corner they could cut, anything they could skip, they
did. Hebrew SeniorLIfe has made a few improvements since they purchased
the property, but not many.
There is no insulation in the walls of my 44 year-old building and the floors are spaced more closely together than code would probably allow for today, and sound travels in a manner I’ve never seen in another apartment building. This has exacerbated the many noise issues I’ve had.
A few months ago, a young woman who lives diagonally above me began making a loud tapping sound. It begins as early as 6:00am - it’s woken me up on more than one occasion - and continues periodically throughout the day until late at night. There is also a loud “thunk” that comes from her apartment at all hours that startles the hell out of me, and I never know when it’s coming. I have no idea of what she’s doing to make either of these sounds. The head of maintenance has heard the tapping as well as he’s walked the halls in the morning, and has reported it to the management.
Recently, I complained in writing to the Director of Community Life (everyone here is a “Director”), who told me, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will share with the social service team and [the head of maintenance] to come up with a plan to speak with her.” Of course, as is typical, absolutely nothing has been done. This is how they operate; they do nothing and wait for problems to resolve themselves.
Another issue is that people are allowed to remain here far longer than they should be. There are many elderly people in advanced stages of mental and physical deterioration who belong in nursing facilities, or at the very least, assisted care facilities. I tried to discuss this with the Director of the facility last summer, when she had been here for about a year. She told me, “This is Independent Living. Independent Living means that people are allowed to make whatever decisions they wish about their own care, whether or not they are decisions with which you or I would agree.”
I told her, “That is NOT what Independent Living means. In an Independent Living facility, people are supposed to remain only as long as they can do so with relative independence. They can have help, of course, but when they require care all day every day, they’re supposed to be moved on to assisted living facilities, and when they require around-the-clock care, they’re supposed to be in nursing facilities. You are selectively interpreting the principles underlying the Independent Living model in order to rationalize your fear of confrontation.” Of course, she was having none of it. She smiled condescendingly, shook her head and said, “No, that’s what Independent Living means… .” She has absolutely no idea of what she’s talking about or what she’s doing.
Last year, I found a woman with advanced Alzheimer’s sitting in a chair on my floor in a state of confusion. She was convinced the building management had stolen her furniture and was searching for her daughter. I had to walk her back to her apartment on another floor. I got on the phone with the daughter, who told me, “They [the Social Services department] are supposed to be monitoring her.” I told her if she was waiting for the social workers here to do their jobs, she’d be waiting for a long time. She replied that she now understood as much, and would have her mother’s caretakers come in for longer hours, but the woman clearly needed to be in an Alzheimer’s facility. I told the management about it, and of course, again, they did nothing.
Apparently, doing nothing is the default state in the social services industry these days.
There is no insulation in the walls of my 44 year-old building and the floors are spaced more closely together than code would probably allow for today, and sound travels in a manner I’ve never seen in another apartment building. This has exacerbated the many noise issues I’ve had.
A few months ago, a young woman who lives diagonally above me began making a loud tapping sound. It begins as early as 6:00am - it’s woken me up on more than one occasion - and continues periodically throughout the day until late at night. There is also a loud “thunk” that comes from her apartment at all hours that startles the hell out of me, and I never know when it’s coming. I have no idea of what she’s doing to make either of these sounds. The head of maintenance has heard the tapping as well as he’s walked the halls in the morning, and has reported it to the management.
Recently, I complained in writing to the Director of Community Life (everyone here is a “Director”), who told me, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will share with the social service team and [the head of maintenance] to come up with a plan to speak with her.” Of course, as is typical, absolutely nothing has been done. This is how they operate; they do nothing and wait for problems to resolve themselves.
Another issue is that people are allowed to remain here far longer than they should be. There are many elderly people in advanced stages of mental and physical deterioration who belong in nursing facilities, or at the very least, assisted care facilities. I tried to discuss this with the Director of the facility last summer, when she had been here for about a year. She told me, “This is Independent Living. Independent Living means that people are allowed to make whatever decisions they wish about their own care, whether or not they are decisions with which you or I would agree.”
I told her, “That is NOT what Independent Living means. In an Independent Living facility, people are supposed to remain only as long as they can do so with relative independence. They can have help, of course, but when they require care all day every day, they’re supposed to be moved on to assisted living facilities, and when they require around-the-clock care, they’re supposed to be in nursing facilities. You are selectively interpreting the principles underlying the Independent Living model in order to rationalize your fear of confrontation.” Of course, she was having none of it. She smiled condescendingly, shook her head and said, “No, that’s what Independent Living means… .” She has absolutely no idea of what she’s talking about or what she’s doing.
Last year, I found a woman with advanced Alzheimer’s sitting in a chair on my floor in a state of confusion. She was convinced the building management had stolen her furniture and was searching for her daughter. I had to walk her back to her apartment on another floor. I got on the phone with the daughter, who told me, “They [the Social Services department] are supposed to be monitoring her.” I told her if she was waiting for the social workers here to do their jobs, she’d be waiting for a long time. She replied that she now understood as much, and would have her mother’s caretakers come in for longer hours, but the woman clearly needed to be in an Alzheimer’s facility. I told the management about it, and of course, again, they did nothing.
Apparently, doing nothing is the default state in the social services industry these days.
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