The Hebrew Home At Riverdale

My Mom had 2 stays at the Hebrew Home for rehab. She, and we her family could not be more grateful for the quality of care and the dedicated staff, not to mention the incredible facility. The services they provide are so important and they treat what they do as a calling, not a job. We heartily give the place and the people our unqualified highest recommendation.

My mom who is 74yrs old entered this nursing home /​rehab facility 2 weeks ago to arrive to her own private room and bathroom, everything has been nice and no foreseen problems, she just had a room change to a semi-​private still not bad and a assessment meeting with the both of us as it pertains to her after care, my mom has told me she would like to stay longer if her insurance would allow, she has had shoulder surgery and rehab 3 times a day is a plus making sure all medications and food are taken on time everyday has been a tremendous help to her, the staff is mostly friendly and competent and as well as her doctor, I have nothing bad to say other than they have fish often so I bring my mom soul food sometimes I don’t want to interfere with her diet .lol

Although located in a very lovely area, as with every nursing home. family members need to exercise vigilance over the care of their loved ones and be ready to adamantly intercede on their behalf when required. Although this nursing home represents itself as being on a higher plain than others, which in some aspects may be factual, in fact the overall standard of care, food and level of activities leave much to be desired and have significant room for improvement.

If you’re at all concerned about security, and anyone considering the Hebrew Home or similar type facility for a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s should be, then forget about this place. They will put a security device called wanderguard on their wrist. Unfortunately it is easily removable for a person who is in early stage, And today my wife escaped. Today like every other holiday or weekend staffing is even lower than normal. And their attention to patients is even less.
And unfortunately, I would have to agree with the staff assessments that others have made. The management touts their many years of experience. It sure doesn’t show in any positive manner.
I personally visited no less than 10 other facilities in the NY metro area. And as others have said, this is the best of a lot of bad choices.

You will hear that this is the best nursing home/​rehab center in NYC. If that’s true, I plan to lobby for legalizing assisted suicide before I’m old enough to wind up someplace similar.
A family member was admitted here for sub-​acute rehab. This period was a living hell, unbelievably stressful for the family, and near-​disastrous medically for her.
A couple of aides were wonderful, caring, almost saintly. But they were the exception, and HH is chronically understaffed. Long, long waits for help with toilet, personal care, and pain meds. We had to hire an outside aide (at great cost) to stay with her overnight; otherwise, she was receiving almost no care at night. She was not the only patient with a paid aide. If you ever had to comfort an elderly person – diapered, ignored, and in unrelieved pain – you would do the same, no matter how much it cost.
Nursing staff is mixed, with some responsive, some clueless, and one who was so cruel that we had her barred from contact with the patient. The computerized medication system is byzantine, and I saw many mistakes made in that area.
There were two doctors for the whole unit, and neither were accessible, sympathetic, or even familiar with the patients. They minimized or actively dismissed every concern. The social worker never answered her phone, never returned messages, and met with the family only upon discharge. No one ever, EVER, answered the phone at the nurses’ station.
Physical and occupational therapy were bright spots. The PTs and OTs were excellent, almost across the board.
The food is bland and sad, with a dearth of fresh fruits and vegetables. (Except for one memorable period right before a government inspection: Then, suddenly, the food director was running around distributing strawberries – my God, strawberries! – and listening to residents’ suggestions. After the inspection, it went back to normal, as did the staffing levels, which had been briefly improved.)
Part of the problem is organizational: No one seems to be in charge. The patient was ignored upon admission, with neither medicine nor food/​water for many hours until we complained. It took days and days to be evaluated for PT and OT, and she was confined to wheelchair/​bed until then. Had to wait for days for the most basic things: a diabetic menu, a walker, an air mattress (she left with more bedsores than she arrived with), diabetic foot care (that one took weeks and had serious, long-​lasting effects). The level of red tape at every level fills me with rage, just thinking about it.
You may think I’m exaggerating, but I have pages of detailed notes from every day of her stay. I don’t know how Hebrew Home has maintained such a great reputation, except that there are other units there, some for assisted living, that are quite luxurious. Oh, and the grounds are beautiful. Ironic, isn’t it, that they seem to lavish more care on the trees than on the humans inside?

I wish I was able to dispute what the other reviewers said. My mother is a resident of the Hebrew home. I selected it because it is known as the best facility in New York City. Frankly, I’m afraid to move her as I fear every place else will be even worse. I visit frequently in the hopes that my presence will encourage the staff to treat her better.
My mother needs help to go to the bathroom. It is clear that the staff would rather have her sit in a dirty diaper then take her to the bathroom. Once when I was there, I asked them to take her to the bathroom. I was told that they had just taken her. i told them that it was pretty clear to me that she needed to go. The aide asked me if I had checked to see if her diaper was dirty before she begrudgingly took her to the bathroom. I’ve seen the way that several of the aides work with her. And some are very rough and uncaring.
For people paying privately, the cost of the Hebrew home runs somewhere between $ 23,000 and $ 25,000 per month. Let me repeat that — this is per month. Medicaid reimbursement rates are at the very top of the range. At that rate, you’d think that they would be able to take the people to the bathroom and hire staff that was caring and kind.
When she entered the Hebrew home, I was told that we would have frequent meetings with the staff to discuss her care plan. We had one meeting since she moved to a permanent placement. I have not heard from anyone since even though I am there frequently. It seems that the staff has a very high turnover rate. I was also given everybody’s direct telephone number. I thought that was pretty excellent. However, not once has any of those numbers ever been answered. And, when I call her floor, no one has ever called me back even when I’ve left messages and requested a callback.
Normally, I would go to the administration at the Hebrew home to discuss these issues. However, when I raised one issue several months ago, I felt pretty strongly that they had taken it out on my mother. As I said earlier, I would move her, however, I’m told everyplace else is even worse.

The other reviews are exactly correct. The level of neglect from the medical and managing staff is horrendous. Please don’t let yourself be fooled by the beautiful surroundings for your loved ones sake. It was my mom’s first experience in a home and it was a huge disappointment. I am happy she is safely away. I don’t know where they found the doctors on staff but a family member needs to question everything and if possible be there daily until you can move your parent away. What was supposed to be a better standard of living for my mom became quickly a nightmare and I regret choosing the Hebrew Home. Hopefully soon the state will throughly investigate and lower their rating significantly.

They take you on the grand tour and everything looks great. Art on the walls, music, art classes, library, dining room, performances, etc. What they do not show you is the actual floors where a person in a nursing home would live if they had difficulty getting around, like my mother. First off, the staff is mostly rude and unresponsive. The ward had an odor of urine and poop from the poorly-​cared for residents who were forced to wear diapers because the understaffed nurses and aides claimed they did not have enough help to allow the residents regular use of the bathroom facilities. Elderly wheel chair-​bound residents were allowed a bathroom visit once in the morning and once at night. Otherwise you just had to sit with dirty diapers all day. The halls are lined with residents parked in chairs who just sit there all day. We bought our Mother an iPad so she could keep in touch and read books. There was no w-​fi to speak of, so we had to buy one of the more expensive models with cellular data access. After about three weeks of her arrival the iPad was stolen by one of the staff from her bedside stand in the middle of the night while she slept. As far as we know there was never a formal investigation. The management claimed that there were no security cameras at that part of the hallway. Because many residents are Medicaid patients they are at their mercy. My mom underwent a few weeks of physical therapy when she first arrived and was told there was nothing more they could do for her. In reality Medicaid would not pay for any additional work. Worse, other possessions were regularly missing from my mom’s room. At one point some new clothes I bought for her disappeared and my mom claims she saw a nurse wearing an item of hers. The food is bad. The «dining room» looks like a junior high school Rec room. The medical coverage is even more questionable. There is one Physician for a large number of elderly residents, who basically passes everything off to a Physicians assistant who is 26 years old and totally inexperienced in elder care. My mom found herself at Hebrew Home after a stay in the hospital from previously-​named Hyatt Classic Residence up the street (now Five Star), where she had a nice apartment in the assisted living section. All the staff there were wonderful, warm and super helpful and attentive. The exact opposite of what Hebrew Home offered.