St. Johnland Nursing Home

My daughter was a patient last year and it was a terrible experience for her and myself. She had to endure the much much less then mediocre care. Like the aids not answering her call for help and or assistance. And when they did show up it was not minutes but more then acceptable time. I timed them almost every time she needed them. Many times it was past 30 minutes. It was a standing occurrence. One time when I wasn’t there an aid was called because she soiled her adult diaper the aid said «no your alright «and left my daughter dumbfounded!!! And a doctor openly was critical of me (because I was always reporting these situations) and said an insulting remark in front of the people in the rehabilitation room! Really? These were among many, many other unforgivable situations and many times I had to report these situations just purely for principle ! I would never choose this facility again. There is no excuse for this. And if I could have chosen no stars that would have been my real feelings. I was at my daughters side everyday to experience this. These are just a few of daily situations that happened everyday. And of course there were a few good ones among the really bad so called professionals. But the care here was well below par.

I will make this short. This place has a reputation for being the best for head trauma, including strokes. My mother was placed here and she caught things she never had before. They were adding loads of unnecessary medications to her, against my authority. She ended up having seizures, which she never had before, and subsequently she passed.
They call themselves experts?

Since there are only two reviews about St. Johnland and they range from extremely dissatisfied to very satisfied, I thought I’d add my $.02. My brother-​in-​law sustained a severe traumatic brain injury 5 months ago. Like Jess’ brother, he was in the ICU for several weeks, after which he went to Helen Hayes Hospital (an acute rehab center in a hospital setting), where he remained for two months until all of his medical issues resolved and he was ready for sub-​actue care. We selected Saint Johnland, despite the fact that it is over an hour drive from NYC, as we considered it to be the best option available. Their Head Injury Unit is small (20 beds) and both the therapists and the nurses are quite good. My brother receives 3 hours of therapy per day (standard in a brain injury sub-​actue setting of which there are very few in the NY metropolitan area and the ones that we looked at in the city are overcrowded and much less pleasant than Saint Johnland) .
I, too, am very sorry about Jess’ friend, but I suspect that after having been in the ICU for several weeks following a brain injury, he needed to be in an acute rehab center in a hospital setting rather than in a sub-​acute rehab setting in a nursing home. Whichever hospital released him from the ICU and placed him in a sub-​acute setting like St. Johnland, rather than an acute setting like Helen Hayes. made a very poor call. If his vitals crashed after a few hours he obviously still had some acute medical issues and surely was not ready for sub-​acute care.
While not perfect, Saint Johnland has competent staff, is relatively pleasant (it *is* a nursing home, so it’s not going to be The Ritz), and is taking pretty good care of my brother-​in-​law.

I’m sorry about your friend in the last review and I’m glad he’s doing well elsewhere. I didn’t plan to write a review of St. Johnland’s; I was just looking for their phone number to call my father who has been there for two weeks. At 83 years old, he needed a nursing center to rehab in after a bad break to his leg. The staff at St. Johnland’s was very professional. He received physical therapy every day, and I know other therapies are offered to those who need them. The idea is for the people there to get better to return home. They are taking excellent care of my father, and every day he gets stronger and stronger. The physical therapist working with him is excellent. He talks to him as a partner in his rehabilitation. He makes this crotchety old man work hard every day to return to his former self so he can get home. The rest of the staff is also professional, courteous, and caring. I’m sorry that last person had a bad experience, but it sounds like his friend was only there for a matter of hours and that’s just not enough to judge a place. Our dad has been there for a few weeks, and he’s ready to come home soon thanks to the hardworking staff there. It’s also a beautiful place with large rooms. AND it doesn’t smell like a hospital!!!

I think the main problem is that this is a nursing home, not a rehab center. They don’t put forth a huge effort to help you get better, they simply take care of you as you are. And by take care of you I use that term loosely.
A friend of mine was in a serious car accident and after many weeks in the ICU he was finally ready to go to a rehab center. His parents made the awful mistake of sending him to St. Johnland. He was there for only a few hours before his vitals crashed and he nearly died. That set him back a few weeks and he had to go back to the ICU for a long period of time.
When the doctors decided he was healthy enough to try it again, there was NO way his family was sending him back to St. Johnland. Please refer to my review of Helen Hayes to see how he is doing now under their amazing care.