Some specific facts:
(1) This is the *most* expensive place in St. Louis for this type of care.
(2) When a resident pressed a button to get help from one of the aides, it is highly likely, that he/she will wait at least 20 minutes. Apparently, the state guideline is 10 minutes (I think the guideline should be less than 1 minute). When I asked the head administrator how she felt about being the most expensive place in town, while having an average wait time that was so far beyond the guideline, she had little comment. She didn't deny the facts. She simply said something like, "Well, that isn't what we strive for..."
(3) The food is terrible.
(4) No snack foods are offered to residents. Want an apple mid-afternoon? Too bad! You didn't ask at lunch time. In fairness, there are often afternoon wine and cheeses, but I think a place that charges this much should have snack food available around the clock.
(5) This place is terribly unapologetic when they do not meet their promises in terms of quality of care. If a resident is not up, bathed, and dressed in time to get to an important doctor's appointment, instead of saying something like, "Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that we messed this up, we are profusely sorry," the resident might hear, "We all try our best now. Let's not get too angry."
(6) This place makes billing "errors", and it's not clear to me that it is not purposeful. There is a high population of fairly demented people residing there, and my guess is that b/c the daily rate is so high, that people do not always notice when there are "accidental" $75 charges here and there. They could be "accidental," but again, I'm not so sure.
(7) This place is a SKILLED NURSING FACILITY and owns NO WHEELCHAIR VAN. This means if a resident is wheelchair-bound (as many to most SNF residents are!), there is no method of getting them to the doctor or hospital. Furthermore, the staff there is not even well-versed on how to get these residents to the hospital. If a resident's family does not stop them, they are very apt to call an ambulance for a simple doctor's appointment! Until I explained it to them, they had no idea that wheel-chair taxis existed. Note; a wheelchair taxi ride to the hopsital might run a resident $20. A ride in an ambulance would usually come to close to $1,000. The people who run that place simply don't care about these issues.
(8) I have personally spoken with the owner on the phone about several of my complaints. He has not done anything to address any of my concerns, and I am left to believe that he does not care about the plight of the elderly and sick.
(9) My mother lives there. She is incredibly helpless. She is completely wheelchair bound due to severely advanced Multiple Sclerosis. She has regularly experienced petty cash thefts. Again, the staff is unabashedly unapologetic. It's mind-boggling to me that they don't take any responsibility for anything.
(10) This facility is an arm of the Gatesworth retirment community. My understanding is that the Gatesworth has *excellent* food for its residents. Yet, the food served at McKnight Place is beyond terrible. To me, here again, there is an unkindness involved. Clearly, the owner is capable of finding and hiring a highly-trained chef who can order high-quality ingredients to create palatable foods for the residents. But, I would guess that preparing less appealing food is cheaper for the bottom line, and since this facility contains mostly people who can't speak up for themselves and register complaints, the owner has found a way to make the place more profitable. Actually caring about the happiness and quality of life of the residents is not an interest of this owner. He made that pretty clear to me when he spoke t me on the phone.
Now, all of this may beg the question of why my mother still lives there. Here is what is good:
1) The therapy (occupational and physical) is excellent. They have both excellent equipment and very highly-trained and caring therapists.
2) The location happens to be very good for my family.
3) The facility is kept very clean and warm for visiting family members, possibly, the main reason why people choose it.
4) the actual CNAs who take care of my mom are generally very sweet, well-meaning people. In fact, these CNAs are not treated that well by the administration.
Overall, when you get to know this place, it makes the ideas of capitalism sicken you. Basically, the business plan seems to involve taking advantage of the old and helpless. If you're looking for a place for your loved one, please look elsewhere. read more
