My grandfather passed away yesterday December 30th. Let me start off my saying, the caregivers, the manager have been EXCELLENT to my family and I. They love their job, and respect the families and their loved ones they care for. It's unique individuals like them that make their lives so much better than they would be other wise.
Our experience yesterday with the "Owner" miss Pat. Maybe 20 minutes following my grandfathers passing she lets us know that we have 2 hours until they come pick up his body. I thought, insensitive yes, but maybe that's a formality thing. My uncle who is disabled lives 25mins from the home my grandfather stayed at. It was going to take 2 hours to get him back to Lightheart for him to have his moment with his father (he's paralyzed on one side, and unable to speak, a long transport process as you could imagine). I ask Miss Pat if we could have more time so he could be with his father for a short while, she says "I have a facility to run, and i need to keep a normal routine going for the other residents", to that I say "number 1 today's not a 'NORMAL' day my grandfather just passed and it'd be nice if we could get my uncle so he could see his father one last time' ". To which she replies "I've been in business over 20 years and I've never had a request like this, I have a business to run". I ask her "is it for legal reasons that there a 2 hour time limit, if so I would understand that." She states " I've been in business 20years and never had a request like that" To which I say "well if you've been in business for 20 years you of all people know how difficult it is for the family of a loved one who has passed, so all I'm asking for is for my uncle to be able to see his father again and have a moment with him." She says "you have 2 hours and that's it!" (I have record of this conversation and 3 witnesses to corroborate this). ....so we hurried up and got into the car to go get my uncle. We returned 2 hours later with him and we find out the funeral home wasn't going to be able to pick my grandfathers body up for another 3 hours.
So what was the point of that confrontation, the lack of compassion and the lack for professionalism. You don't treat the family like that in their time of distress! What separates this facility from all others (we had tried many other assisted living facilities), was their caregivers and The general manager and their LOVE and compassion for their patients (really their new family members they care for).
The Thousands of dollars one spends at a facility like this should have equaled a little bit more time with our loved one. Thank you to the staff, we have so much love for y'all. YOU GUYS are what makes Lightheart what it is, not the owner. read more