The Abbey at Westminster Plaza

Karol Deem

My sister was at The Abbey. Staff was attentive, the environment was clean and smelled great, they have great activities and outing trips. Very positive experience.

Ona Rae Lazarine

There are many highly rated senior living communities in the Houston area, but I would like to share the wonderful experience we have had at The Abbey at Westminster Plaza and believe it is one of the greater communities in our area. My Dad moved into the Assisted Living community of The Abbey in Apr 2021 after living at the Indep Living community at The Abbey since Mar 2016. The dedicated and caring staff at the Assisted Living community took the time and made my Dad so comfortable in the transition to Assisted Living. I found comfort and peace of mind knowing my Dad was being well cared for and his needs were being met. The kindness and respect from the staff was shown by all, the caregivers, nursing, dining, recreational and housekeeping. My Dad and I have always been pleased with the accommodations, communication, nursing, security and the food, especially the food, at both communities are our reasons why The Abbey is one of the greater senior living communities in Houston.

Kimberly Kennedy

Our father was a resident at The Abbey’s Assisted Living until he died after contracting Covid at the facility. The Abbey, under the direction of their Wellness Director Audra Thomas, committed highly dangerous errors with his medication. Audra is The Abbey’s most senior medical professional and she’s not a Registered Nurse but rather a Licensed Vocational Nurse. According to the Nurse Registry, “working as a Licensed Vocational Nurse requires doing so under the supervision of either a doctor or Registered Nurse.” To our knowledge, there is no Registered Nurse or doctor on staff at The Abbey. Audra reports to Assisted Living Manager Steve Chapman. A hospice nurse (an RN) from an outside agency who cared for Dad discovered that he was being overdosed with opioids, receiving 3 times his prescribed dose. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse, "Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent" -see photos. She brought the overdose to Audra’s attention and was ignored, so she alerted Steve Chapman and was again ignored. The abuse went on for weeks - all evidenced by the text message she sent to Steve -see photo. Audra placed blame for the abuse on a med aide, although as Wellness Director the dispensing of medication is her responsibility, and The Abbey is required to have strict protocols in place which adhere to the Texas Controlled Substances Act. Ironically, the med aide was placed on suspension, however Audra and Steve are still serving as Wellness Director and Assisted Living Manager. This is from an email from Jeny Knight, Executive Director regarding the incident: “The med aid was a long-term employee who was consequently counseled and suspended during the investigation, after which time she decided to leave to pursue her nursing degree after feeling she was wrongfully accused.” Dad was not only overdosed with opioids; he was also overdosed with antidepressants/sedatives. The hospice doctor prescribed him Trazodone in a 50 mg dose. Audra filled the prescription for double the amount -100 mg for over 6 months until again, the error was discovered by an outside party, the hospice nurse -see photos. In addition to overdosing our father, Audra also retaliated against the hospice nurse who brought the abuse to our attention. She called the Hospice Agency and told them that she’d no longer give them business from The Abbey unless our hospice nurse was removed. There are supposed to be legal protections in place for “whistleblowers” so that dangerous, unethical and criminal behavior can be exposed without fear. Such was not the case for our hospice nurse. She was extremely good to Dad and losing her broke his heart. We would have moved him, but he was too frail and a few months later he contracted Covid and died. The Abbey overdosed our father with very powerful controlled substances and the abuse continued until an outside party intervened (the hospice nurse said she witnessed medication errors with other residents as well). So one must wonder, were the medication errors a result of gross incompetence and negligence, or intentional because an over drugged resident was easier to deal with? Jeny Knight, Executive Director, was aware of the medication abuse. The issue was also brought to the attention of Ashley Bulman, Regional Director of the company that owns The Abbey, who reports directly to owner David Lake of Tyler, Texas. As far as we know, no one has been terminated as a result of this abuse. We have reported The Abbey to The Texas Department Of Health and Human Services which is the state agency which governs nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Based on our report, Audra is under investigation by The Texas Board of Nursing.

Blake Maxson

Caring and responsive staff and management. They go above and beyond to take care of their community and residents. Highly recommended!