My mom is in Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home. It's a nursing home and the upper staff is nice and they say the right things. However, the aides who do the actual work with the patients are neglectful and spiteful. I realize there's trouble in hiring, however, human compassion is totally vacant. The facility is great, the upper echelon is great, it's the aides that are just not good, and they are the ones that interact with the patients, so that's all my mother sees. It's not everybody in the facility though. We've never been allowed to go in the facility. My mother is in a wheelchair and she can do nothing for herself except feed herself.

My husband is going to Southwest Louisiana War Veterans Home next Friday. The place is fabulous and relatively new. It is a huge expanse of property with lots of open land bordered with trees and a big lake. The people seem very friendly; the camaraderie of veterans helps, also. I know two other people who have relatives there who are quite pleased. The rooms are nice and probably 1½ times the size of normal nursing home rooms with more room for personal belongings such as lift chairs. They have a huge board that tells everything that’s scheduled for each month, like people coming in to visit, play bingo, movie times, and different things. They have physical therapy on-site every day and a lot of good facilities. The look alone was worth it but the caring people inside were much better. They have a common dining room and a special dining room for those that need more assistance with eating. It’s quite spacious and has lots of paths for taking your wheelchairs outside and around. They have a physician and an RN on duty all the time and others as well, so the ratio to patients is good. They have four different wings for different amounts of care, so those that are more independent are on one wing and those that need more help are on a different wing.