FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Residents at a Fort Lauderdale senior living facility say they were blindsided by an “emergency meeting” in early March, where management told them they had to pack up and leave.
Moving trucks and vans filled the parking lot of Oasis Living Quarters on Tuesday as families scrambled to relocate their loved ones.
Several families expressed “disgust” over how the announcement was handled.
“They were in essence evicting all of the tenants that are here that live in the assisted living facility,” said David Comrass, whose aunt, Rema, has lived at Oasis, located at 2855 W. Commercial Blvd., for several years.
Comrass said Rema first moved into another part of the complex, the independent living building, which has since been remodeled into luxury rental apartments for families while still remaining connected to the senior center complex.
The second half of the complex, designated for Oasis residents, prominently advertises senior living, assisted living and memory care.
Families of residents — some unwilling to speak on camera — said they were given just over a month to uproot their loved ones’ lives to make way for new apartments.
“I can see it in the look in her eyes,” said Comrass about his aunt. “I can see the worry because how am I going to move, how am I going to get all of my items out? Where am I going to go?”
“I would have sent a letter first, let people digest it,” said Milton Amengual, who was in the middle of moving his 94-year-old mother. “Then have a meeting to discuss that letter.”
Amengual said his mother had only moved in three months earlier. He fears the closure was already planned when she was accepted and claims he has yet to receive official written notice.
“No. To this day, they don’t have that letter, and the answer that this guy gave, who had no empathy whatsoever with the people, was, ‘the lawyers were working on that,’” he said.
He continued, “My mother is nervous. She hasn’t slept in a few days just thinking about the fact that she has to move. She at first thought she did something wrong - but I said, no you didn’t do anything wrong.”
He joins three other families, who were given no written notice and are more confusion than answers.
The facility appears to have already shut down some operations.
Management first told Local 10 News they were not obligated to give 45 days’ notice to all of the residents.
Officials with the facility later approached Local10 to say that their “comment is ‘no comment.’”