The Landmark of Fridley

Our mom went to hospital few weeks ago and was abruptly diagnosed with a terminal disease. Mindful that Landmark of Fridley would offer no exception to its visitor ban during pandemic, we scrambled to remove mom from the facility and divided caregiving for her, so that she could see her family. That meant a sudden leave from jobs in the midst of an economic collapse. I sent a letter to Landmark, seeking to appeal to their compassion and high ethics, asking for a credit for final month’s rent when they provided us no service, for our family that has been ravaged by illness and financial distress. After a delay, Landmark’s executive director told me she was working on “financial piece” with my mom’s power of attorney, suggesting a credit was imminent. In truth, no credit was even offered, and executive director callously mislead me so that she didn’t need to directly refuse my appeal for help. Landmark had opportunity to step forward with kindness and professional decency - and instead ran away and hid, then made a heartless money grab from a family in crisis.

My mom, a Landmark resident, was rushed to hospital with sudden illness and didn’t return for several weeks. During that time, no employee reached out to her or family: NO card, NO phone call, NO e-mail, NO visit (contrary to what we were told). Two days after she returned, I spoke for ten minutes to executive director seeking info on outside assistance options. She uttered not one supportive or empathetic statement during the call – indeed, she didn’t even mention my mom’s name. I asked her if we could negotiate a small rent credit to offset the meals, daily checks and cleaning that her facility need NOT provide during my mom’s absence. The executive director curtly replied that their policy didn’t allow it. Landmark’s insensitivity and inflexibility during a family crisis – which is common in their industry – is only one of our concerns with this facility. The food is below-average, call response times can be problematic and they often fail to heed our requests, even after we repeat them. On five occasions, I requested by e-mail that the executive director arrange daily checks not to be done at certain times of day. Our request still has not been honored. To be fair, residents are terrific, facility is cozy and staffers properly identified the need for help during emergency, and sought it. Still, overall: a Disappointment – and Landmark would benefit from caring and responsive leadership at the top.