Now that I have a chance to catch my breath--my spouse was very sick for 9 months--I want to share a few things so that people considering this place will be prepared.
First, note that when my husband was in Providence Hospital, the social worker was quite surprised that I wanted to choose the rehab my husband went to. She explained, and I understood, that beds during the latter stages of the pandemic (this was late 2021 and early 2022) were scarce. She gave me a 'choice' of two places. I looked into them both and was not impressed. One of the two would not allow visits, even though my husband didn't have covid at any time during his health challenges. So I opted for Village, but only because of the pressure--oh, he has to be out by tomorrow, oh, we usually don't give anyone a choice, oh, you have to choose in the next 20 minutes or "lose the bed," blah, blah, blah. Well, his hospital stay was covered after four days--they wanted him out on the fifth, of course!--but I came to find out they would have had to keep him if I insisted on finding a rehab myself. When you're upset, it's easy to get pressured.
The broker--yes, she is JUST a broker, but acts like she works THERE--was all sweet on the phone, call me anytime, etc. But as soon as he was in, I couldn't reach her by phone or email, and when I did, she practically yelled at me. Don't you know I'm not on site? What she really wanted to say was, "Don't you know I get paid to slot people into beds and then I don't give a hoot about them?" No, I didn't know that because she represented herself as caring, supervisory staff at Village, so how WOULD I know?
During the 14 days my husband was at Village, he lost ten pounds. On the very day he was due to be moved by ambulance, Providence gave him a laxative and he had an accident in the ambulance--how humiliating, and how predictable if Providence had used any one of their heads. Once there, the diarrhea never abated, nor was it treated despite my suggestions and demands. He had diarrhea for two more weeks after coming home, but as soon as I gave him decent food and used the BRAT diet, he rapidly improved and recovered. The food at Village was horrible. He could rarely eat anything. They have a full kitchen on site, but apparently never cook anything. I suspect they use meals on wheels or some equally execrable service. Meanwhile charging Medicare an arm and a leg.
I'm reporting all this so naive people like myself with sick loved ones don't get blindsided. Village is clean and the staff seemed pleasant enough, but my husband, who is far from a crybaby, was deeply unhappy there and felt the staff was careless, uninterested, and--except for the nurses--incompetent. He was treated as an unwanted object, not a human being with dignity and free will. I think if I had not come in every other day and emailed daily, it would have been FAR worse. I'm rather suspicious of the five star reviews here on Yelp. They seem rather short and that is always interesting to me, since a genuine review, like this one, is usually long! When I see a preponderance of one stars and five stars, I take notice.
As for physical therapy it was minimal, but some relief from the mostly unprofessional demeanor of basic staff. However, although I was assured my husband was "ready to come home," in reality they had never let him stand, move or go to the bathroom on his own. He came home very week and if it hadn't been for Signature Health (wonderful people) he (and I) would have been up the proverbial creek.
I would never let my husband be put there again if I had any choice at all. But when you are not rich, most healthcare entities make it clear to you that they don't think you deserve a choice. Perhaps I should have been a stockbroker instead a teacher for underprivileged kids. read more