For the good part...the first few months of a family member's stay, this place was acceptable. it's…read morevery clean, tidy and kept up. The grounds are meticulously cared for. The housekeeping staff does a great job and are very friendly. Especially Trish. She's very pleasant and social. Always striking up a conversation with our family member. She kept our family members private room clean at all times.
The activities team, Valerie and Stacey go out of their way to make sure residents participate and have a good time. They also are very friendly and personable.I was very impressed with them.
Chris the maintenance guy is very prompt when something needs attention. Also a very nice guy. Bob, the project manager, I believe, also very caring and understanding. One time He went out of his way to bring our family member to an eye appointment when transport and family members couldn't.
Now the not so good. I won't name any names, but will mention their title. The nursing coordinator was fairly nice for first few months. But when our family member left his medical appointment in Boston (not a good choice to do) before his transport arrived, she turned not so nice. It's understandable of her concern and her duty to be sure residents are always safe. But we feel he was being continuously penalized for his wrong doing. The day after this incident (he went missing for several hours) she put him in a cramped room Way down the other end of the hall. She said it was for his safety sake because his private room was too small for him..that made no sense because the room they transferred him to, had 2 beds, one not being used, and just about the same size as his private room. Also, she would not allow him to venture out for a day with his sister, who did it weekly Up until this incident. She claimed he was an escape risk. He spent his Father's Day in the facility. This was his first Father's Day without his daughter, who had passed a few months earlier. His sister planned on a family day for him at her home, to help him from the pain of not having his daughter on this special day. This shows NO COMPASSION.also, She would not allow him to use transport for his medical appointments, even tho a family member would be meeting him when transport would arrive at the appointment. This is something that has been done since his admission here. A few times she raised her voice at his sister, when discussing certain matters. This is very unprofessional.
The social worker is extremely condescending. She lacks people skills. And shows no empathy. I've dealt with many social workers, With my profession, so I am familiar with thier roles and the manners they should have. This one lacks manners. If she hadn't continued telling us and our family member that "he is his own person and can make his own decisions", he probably wouldn't have decided to leave his appointment before transport came and got lost in Boston! There have been several disagreements between her and our family members sister. She had an obvious dislike for his sister.
one one of his final days there, Our family member's sister was sitting on the spare bed going through her phone while the doctor was behind curtains, tending to his wounds. he came from behind the curtain to discuss his condition, when all of a sudden He started saying she was unethical in recording him! She told him she was not recording him and was just checking her messages while she was waiting. she showed him her phone. He left our family member, without covering his wound and went to get the nursing coordinator, who then came into the room and scolded his sister, like a child. somehow the social worker became involved and refused to hear the whole story. His wound was not properly dressed until later that day.
The next couple of days, our family member kept complaining of pain around his wound and was not feeling well in general. He asked to be transported to the closest hospital. I'm not sure who, but he was told he was fine and that he didn't need to go. 2 days later, his sister went to visit him and immediately saw that he had a fever and looked very I'll. He needed to go to an emergency room. She took him there herself. But before being able to leave the building, the nurse coordinator stepped in and made things difficult, wasting the time he should have been at the hospital.
At the emergency room, it was determined he had a seriously bad infection, his wound was a stage 3 wound (stage 4 is the worst) and he could have died if he was not seen when he was. Needless to say, we removed him from Pine Knoll.
