ManorCare Health Services – Hinsdale

ManorCare Hinsdale will not give good care as a default, you need to FORCE them to do it. Here are some helpful tips in getting what you or your loved one *SHOULD* get without asking, but unfortunately you are forced to make happen.
Before they even stay here, you should get ManorCare to agree to provide the following things, UP FRONT. Call ONE WEEK ahead, if possible. And hold them to what they agree to. Do know that the people who I interacted with were prone to LIE to our face, just to appease us, so you need to stay on them, if they do not deliver.
The things to DEMAND:
1. The type of ROOM is all-​important:
* A private room. Most folks get a «shared» room by default — and it’s a horrible experience.
* That room should be on the first floor (easier access to PT, as the elevators are slow and crowded). The rooms on first floor are also cleaner, nicer, and better cared for.
* The rooms at the ends of the hallways have less traffic.
* AVOID being near a nursing station — they sell it as «a plus,» but it really means you’ll be hearing beeping and commotion all the time, and no better access to any nursing care.
4. A DAILY shower /​bath.
5. EARLY (e.g., «on time») Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinners.
6. A couch, ample tables, and decent furnishings for visitors.
If you or your loved one have already been put here — or if they misled you, or lied about providing any of the above — it’s still fixable.
Just know that this place puts a priority on their INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT. Moving someone out before their rehab is complete negatively affects their rating with insurance companies and /​or keeping their individual jobs, so DO use the THREAT of moving your loved one elsewhere to get the things they deserve /​what MC agreed to. It gets their attention! Be prepared to truly act on this (don’t use it as a bluff), with the social worker and head of nursing in your area.
Overall quality assessment:
The Good:
* Physical and Occupational Therapy Staff — this place’s whole priority is around rehabilitation — everything else is secondary: nursing /​facilities /​food. The PT and OT staff where responsive, happy, professional, and caring — you’d think they worked at a different place.
* First Floor vibe and facilities (where rehab is).
The Bad:
* The Second Floor («Mezzanine Level»?) vibe and facilities.
* Inconsistent nursing — sometimes caring, sometimes indifferent, sometimes incompetent.
* The Food is some of the worst food I’ve ever seen — worse than prison food.
* Poor /​slow snow and ice removal during winter months. Seriously dangerous parking lot.
We basically had to COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN to get just basic human care for our loved one. It wore us out, all the constant work we had to do just to get somewhat decent care.
If you must go here, be prepared to fight for what’s yours — they won’t give it to you without lots of work on your part.

When I first saw the reviews on Manor Care/​Hinsdale, I immediately formed a bad impression and felt I needed to look elsewhere. Yet we had a neighbor that was there and I didn’t recall anything negative about her stay. So I thought it would be worthwhile to a take a first hand look.
That was an eye opener. It’s a very nice place… certainly a cut well above your standard nursing home. Pat showed me around and assured me that the reviews didn’t do justice to what they are and the care they provide. He sold me on Manor Care Hinsdale and it truly was the best decision for my wife’s care.
There is a certain ambience in the facilities. There’s several nice outdoor areas that can be accessed by patients as well as several interior areas that look onto a glass lined inner courtyard. A pleasant and accommodating physical layout.
The food is OK and pretty much institutional.
The staff is excellent. They are caring and considerate despite a very difficult job. The physical therapy is top notch. Jacko and Gina are great therapists.
I plan on having knee surgery and won’t hesitate to go there after my hospital stay.
It probably doesn’t get any better than this.

As a health care professional, I found this facility unacceptable.
We stopped to visit a very dear friend. Within seconds of entering the room, I knew he needed to get to the ER. Now, the nurse must have been new to the facility because she was not sure how to handle the situation. However, that should have been her assessment, not mine. She had been there for hours and her excuse was, «I have never cared for him before.» The lab values we were given were not close to what the EMT’s reported once he was in the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. So, take note of that administration. Either your equipment is faulty or operator error and maybe an in-​service is needed. And, family is responsible for bathing patients. That question is new to my list of things to ask when touring facilities, «Who is responsible for activities of daily living?» This could be a real problem for someone who is bedridden and wants to bathe or brush their teeth. Finally, I can see that bedsores must develop quickly, you, as the family, have to ask for an air mattress of whatever equipment they use to prevent that complication.
Bottom line: Put it in your living will NOW, that you NEVER want to be admitted to this facility.

I had the great fortune of having both my Mother and my Father in Law in this facility on numerous occasions and I could not have had a better experience! The nurses delivered medications on time and actually convinced my Mother to take them, which was no easy task, and the Physical Therapy team were kind enough to schedule Mom’s therapy around her favorite sports events and soap operas. My Father in Law was a medical professional himself, and raved about the knowledge of the staff. He loved his CNA Bea so much that he wrote a poem about her! Manor Care Hinsdale went above and beyond to meet the needs of both of my family members and eased the burden on my family during these trying times. I have been in many Nursing facilities to visit friends and family and Manor Care Hinsdale by far outshined them all. There is no perfect facility, but as I stated, Manor Care Hinsdale was the best I’ve been in.

Horrible! The one star is for the physical therapist working with our father, who was good. We were horrified by the incompetence and/​or laziness of the nursing staff and the lack of concern about it on the part of the administrators. We finally took our dad out of the place when, after a day of him not feeling well, they left him alone in his room, failed to give him any of his medications and failed to test his blood sugar (he is diabetic). He was taken to Hinsdale Hospital that night with pneumonia and a blood sugar reading of 43, which could have killed him. If you care about your elderly parents, do not subject them to this place. The elderly deserve to be treated better.

The two stars are for the administrators, the nurses and the physical therapists. If I could give a negative to the nursing managers and the nursing assistants, I would do so. The nursing assistants here are the most lazy, uncaring I have ever run across. My mom just spent two and a half months there and I felt like she was in a prison with the way they treated her. With all the unemployed people out there looking for work, why would they keep such uncaring, lazy people employed here, and it looked as though the nurses and management was afraid to say anything to the assistants for some reason. The lights would be lit up and down the hall ways and the nursing assistants would just stand around at the nurses station and pretend the lights weren’t even on. How can anyone, who takes care of people for a living ever treat anyone like that. There were times when my brother and I had to help some of the guests because no one would help them even after they asked.
The only reason I gave them the two stars is because of the physical therapists and the administration people were very nice and very helpful. If my mom ever has to go into one of these places again, it definitely won’t be this one.

Day 3 of my Dad’s stay. Out of all of the skilled nursing facilities, this one came as a blessing in disguise. EVERY person we’ve met has been so nice and welcoming. And my dad has said nothing but good things about everyone so far. So that deserves a good review in my book. I’ll report back when he goes home.

My father spent 3 months in Manorcare during the summer of 2012. Overall, I would not recommend this facility to anyone I cared about; there are far better alternatives available.
I’ll start with the good — David, my dad’s physical therapist, was EXCELLENT. He is the only reason we kept my father there. David worked very hard with my father and provided extra work (my father was a very motivated patient). The rest of the PT staff was okay, but we were luck to have David most days.
The only reason I gave this place two stars is because of David. PT aside, the place is a pit. Here’s a short list:
1) Several of the nurses were verbally rude to patients who caused «trouble». Unless you were meek and didn’t make any requests, you got lip from the nurses. We heard this many, many times. At least a third of the nurses clearly didn’t give a crap about their jobs. Any modest requests were met with a weary sigh and slow accommodation.
2) Many of the nurses didn’t give a rat’s @ss about patient comfort. On a couple occasions, my father (who had mobility issues and couldn’t walk easily) was transferred from his wheelchair to the toilet with a harness/​crane contraption that caused him extreme pain. There was an alternative device capable of doing the job, but the facility only had one and it was often on a different floor. The nurses couldn’t be bothered to get it when my father needed it, and were not the least bit bothered by my father’s howls of pain when they used it on him. Only when we made a MAJOR stink did they stop using this device on my father.
3) An elderly lady with memory loss issues was allowed to roam the facility at will. There were many times she would walk into patients’ rooms, clearly confused. Sometimes she would scream loudly. She often did this at night. The staff usually did nothing.
4) The administration only cared about the bottom line and didn’t even pretend to care otherwise. The social services worker was a nice enough young lady, but clearly way overloaded and immersed in a culture that emphasized maximizing profits. She was a recent college graduate, and I could see her youthful idealism getting squeezed out of her.
5) Related to 4 above, we were constantly fighting bogus charges — they charged us for numerous medications that my father was never prescribed nor given. We had to fight them on several occasions to reverse bogus charges. Anytime we tried to be proactive in addressing charges for upcoming services, we were always surprised by extra charges that worked their way in.
6) The food sucks. I mean really sucks. It’s a step above cold, thin, watery gruel, but not a big step.
In short, this place is the epitome of the nursing home hell-​hole. One has to be a full time advocate for your loved one, and stop by regularly at all times of the day to check on things. If you make enough of a stink after each and every negative experience, they will treat your loved one tolerably. If not, your loved one will be treated worse than a shelter animal.
P. S. for those wondering why we let my father go there in the first place: my father had a medical accident and needed rehab to regain mobility so he could return home. The folks at the hospital recommended ManorCare. Lesson learned — if you have elderly loved ones, find out all you can about local nursing homes/​rehab centers BEFORE you need them. Alternatively, find friends/​neighbors with experience you can rely on. And don’t be naïve. Even with all the regulations governing nursing homes/​rehab centers, there are still sh! tholes out there operating just above the threshold where they’ll be shut down.

It is a toilette and you should be VERY afraid to allow your loved ones to be alone here. My mother was brought into Hinsdale Hospital Emergency and once in Intensive Care the staff was appalled at the condition when inserting a foley «the pus poured out» and her urine indicated she was also dehydrated. I am VERY bitter and feel the only fair punishment is to have every member responsible temporarily incapacitated while they endure what my mother did. They should be ashamed and the administration should remove their blinders.