My mother spent the last weeks of her life with Heartland. The staff were wonderful. They treated my mother and my whole family with love and support. They answered her call light promptly and she called them her friends. I would recommend this group to anyone looking for a place full of loving staff.

Consistently understaffed. Told me they meet state guidelines, and they may, but legal guidelines are not the same as ethical guidelines. I was there when state inspectors showed up for a surprise visit. Nursing staff that you never see out of their offices were quickly notified and were on the floor pretending to be part of the staff within minutes! Normally, there is a single nurse responsible for 40+ patients. Secondly, it is so hot inside during the summer, it can be as high as 85°F in the hallways. Maintenance says this, too, is within guidelines. He has an air conditioned office & I'm sure has a different set of "guidelines" for himself. One, hot, summer day, a group of residents were in wheelchairs lining both sides of the cramped hallway. I watched as the activities department passed out a few dry washcloths and some old dish towels for them to fold. Others were provided a single balloon to bat in the air. This was called an "activity". My loved one was not unhappy there, but had she been more cognizant of her surroundings, no doubt she would have been.

I took the word of a friend whose mother had been at Lakeshore Heartland 6 years before. Evidently, a lot of changes happened in those 6 years. My mother has dementia. I mentioned to them probably 10 times that she's going to try to leave when she gets agitated. They said it's fine, they'll put a Wanderguard on her leg and we won't have any problems. 10 days later they called me and said she got out, got to the street, out in cold weather, fell, and couldn't get up. They never put the Wanderguard on her leg. They never knew she was missing. I had to take her out. When I took her back, they argued with me that they couldn't put a Wanderguard on her leg because she didn't have a doctor's order. And then after that, she started having seizures, lost any cognitive ability, and it was like day and night. The facility is in a very old building. It wasn't cleanest in the world, but it wasn't filthy. It looked like an old nursing home. Mom was only there for two weeks. They took the deposit, everything, and then they never even said "I'm sorry, we messed up." She was in a very small semi-private room with old, deteriorating beds. I'm just sorry it took me that long to get her out. She would not eat. She was on a special diet. She went from a size 16 to size 12 in one month. Her leg started swelling up, and she had blood clots. They said they couldn't get her to eat.

The care that they gave to my mother in this facility was wonderful. I was able to speak with a doctor when I needed to find out about her care and what the plan was to improve her quality of life. She was able to really enjoy the rest of the time she had left, and we were all able to join in because they worked so hard to keep her active. The nurses are very knowledgeable and able to explain complex procedures and illnesses to us in a way that we could all grasp.

This facility is not the biggest or the newest, but it is a place that took great care of my mother when she was a resident. The nurses were all so friendly and they always came into mom's room with a smile. When mom pushed the call light, someone came to her room within a minute. They kept her bed dry and clean, kept her adult diaper changed, and spent time to actually talk to us. I was very happy with the treatment our family received at Lakeshore.