Lifespark — Local services in Saint Louis Park

Just a candid warning to any nurse considering applying here.

I believe Joel had an incredible vision when he founded Lifespark—“Age Magnificently” is truly inspiring! The concept of helping seniors stay in their homes and having services brought directly to them is outstanding. However, working as a skilled nurse here often falls short of that ideal.

For nurses who have been with the company long enough to establish a consistent schedule, it can be manageable. But the expectation at Lifespark is that each nurse completes six visits a day. If you find out on the day of that you won’t be seeing a client—perhaps due to an appointment—you’re required to inform staffing by noon. After that, they will reassign you to any client in any territory, and you must adapt accordingly. For example, if you’re seeing five clients in Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and Hopkins, you might be assigned a sixth client in Hugo, Woodbury, or St. Francis—clients that you don’t get to choose—and that client might want a visit scheduled at a specific time. You’ll need to adjust your schedule on the fly and notify your already scheduled clients of the changes.

Another issue is the requirement to notify clients the day before about their visit times. While I tried to do this consistently, there were times when a case manager would remove someone from my schedule and assign me someone else without any notice. Scheduling overall is chaotic, and support from management is none.

Speaking of management, the nurse managers and directors are a group of micromanagers who have forgotten what it’s like to work in the field and why they chose this profession. They treat staff like children, ignoring input and valuing little of our experience.

Lastly, although Lifespark was built on noble ideas, it has shifted into a profit-driven company heavily focused on Medicare reimbursements. They tend to admit patients with easy-to-manage conditions like CHF or those likely to have a quick turnaround, as that maximizes profit. They often send out an admitting nurse, followed by a skilled nurse for a few visits, and then discharge the patient—sometimes even before the case manager has seen the client. While they do accept some Medicare Advantage clients due to requirements, the core focus seems to be on lucrative Medicare cases. Despite Joel’s claims of a noble vision, their primary motivation appears to be profit.

In conclusion, if you’re a nurse committed to providing quality, compassionate care, this may not be the right place for you. I would strongly recommend exploring other...

Just thought I’d let everyone know our dad passed in two weeks! Admitted to the hospital on an emergency basis (Not at the direction of his Lifespark medical staff) put into hospice a week later gone a week after that! He was well cared for in those last two weeks and not one reach out from his care team at lifespark! I did talk to a manager and hopefully got my points across for better communication all around! This is a very sad situation to say the least! Very sad situation for our dad, terrible situation for us as a family and not a word from a supervisor to offer an apology or even a sympathetic ear! Please if you use their services for your loved ones make sure you stay on top of them! Major symptoms missed by RN’s and NP’s and because of that we are faced with a hospice situation and watching our dad find out he is dying! Nothing else can be done for him! All I asked for was some sort of explanation of what was going on and why things were not addressed on an emergent level! Our dad suffered 5 falls in 6 months under their care! More should have been done!! Turns out congestive heart failure was flaring up and the extra water pills given caused worsening kidney failure but was not watched or monitored or even suggested he should been seen in the ER! On top of those mistakes he was over oxygenated! Did not even know that was a thing! Sad reality of this whole situation he said to us “I thought I had friends at lifespark” he trusted the lifespark care team and praised them for saving his life- turns out they helped end it quicker. His care team has not reached out to see if they could see him or even bother to offer any other explanation or support for what is happening! What would have been the proper thing to do is to have a supervisor call me back like I requested when I called in my complaint! Do the right thing lifespark! Make me understand this was some how NOT your responsibility! Also everyone do not allow this company to tell you that you must private pay for extra services such as bathing and meal prep, get a social worker ask for help there are many things paid for by insurance! Check...

ETA: I left Molly at Lifespark a voicemail a week ago and have not heard back from her. I'm very interested in knowing who they investigated, as I did not mention my grandma's name and my name isn't on the patient file (as they mentioned).

I feel it’s necessary I share my experience with Woodbury Care Center (WCC), a member of Lifespark Living, as it is a place I would not want my worst enemy to have to live in. My grandma was sent to WCC for transitional care, and then moved to the second floor for long term care, eventually receiving hospice care. Hospice care was retained through Healthpartners, their nurses provided compassionate and excellent care to both my grandma and my family.

The problems we witnessed at WCC were vast, they included, but are not limited to, overall incompetency of staff, lack of training, hazardous and unethical practices, lack of communication, HIPAA violations, etc.

The most grievous error made was on my grandma’s last day at WCC. The hospice RN was present and stated that my grandma could no longer swallow, so the dissolvable morphine and Ativan should no longer be dissolved in water and injected into her mouth, as she would not be able to swallow it.

The on-staff LPN, we'll call her T, was instructed by the hospice RN to stop administering any fluids. In front of my family, T proceeded to argue with the RN, claiming to know better. Then against written orders and direct orders from an RN, T pushed fluids which ultimately caused an agonizing death for my grandma, which was witnessed by her four children.

If orders had been followed, my grandma could have passed much more peacefully, that was what she and we wanted, instead it was a traumatic experience.

At a time when a family should be spending peaceful moments with their loved one, we were instead constantly having to remind staff, correct errors, find help, etc. This facility cuts any corner available, they are grossly (potentially illegally) understaffed, and I worry for the residents who don’t have family that can fight for them.

CEO Joel Theisen should be ashamed of how his facilities...