5 Star User Review
I was appalled when I saw the facility my wife was being admitted to. Unlike the Heartland Troy facility she was in a month ago, the room and the entire building looked old, dingy, dark and tired with a urine smell. My friends and relatives voted to get her out of here ASAP.
But I saw how the staff followed and shared all of the medical notes from the hospital with me on arrival. This transparency continued through the other shifts. I became on a first name basis with many of the staff including the social workers, the admittance and the doctor and Nurse practitioners.
The social worker comforted us and helped with all of our insurance , hospice and funeral arrangements as my wife's condition naturally progressed. Although we brought her here with the initial idea for therapy, when it became apparent that she was not responding the therapy staff did not coerce her to participate and hurt her like the Troy facility did.
Again in comparison she never complained about being mistreated like in Troy. Rather I saw that they changed her bandages daily(with dates on them), applied salves and ointments regularly and rotated her position from one side to the other several times during the day to avoid the bed sores she may have got in Troy. They did this gently and professionally. They were strict about us wearing gloves so that we didn't transmit infections when we touched her.
The nurses knew my correct cell phone number and called me when they observed changes in her condition. When I came in they would tell me about medication corrections and test results without me asking. At Troy Heartland it was sometimes difficult to find this out and I felt like a stranger there.
When it became necessary to change to hospice mode we had the full hospice level at our disposal and ready, but it wasn't necessary because the staff switched to comfort medications that kept my wife from suffering and adjusted them accordingly so that we could say our farewells in this difficult time. This place truly has Heart and the staff could not be more compassionate. We felt like our loved one was cared for by friends. When my wife passed the nurse went in and cleaned her up and gave her a dignified last pose and then everyone hugged us.
You certainly can't judge a book by its cover.