Sharon Bea
Aug 2026
We had my mother admitted after hospitalization. Once the Director of Admissions got us in the door, when we attempted to ask her a question, we were quickly redirected to the DON. There were a few good caregivers and nurses caring for our mother. But there were many times where our mom would press her call button and wait forever for assistance to show up. It wasn't unusual for it to take more than a half hour or more to get help. We attempted to bring our concerns to the DON, but we received a lot of promises that they would try to correct the problems.<br>During mid-May when we experienced record high temperatures around 90+ degrees, the Administration refused to turn on the air conditioning to make it more comfortable in the building. The thermometer on our mother's wall read 85 degrees. Staff stated that it was above their pay grade, and that AC likely wouldn't be turned on until after the end of May.<br>If we needed to reach a caregiver in Dogwood section of the skilled nursing facility, the phone would ring endlessly without anyone answering.<br>Caregivers would as our mom IF she wanted to take her shower, and mom would always say no. We repeatedly asked that if she refused cares, to please call the POA. They would tell the POA hours later that she refused.<br>When your loved one has dementia, the approach needs to be different. Instead of asking if she wants to take a shower, the approach should be, "it's time for your shower".<br>For skilled nursing care, getting the staff to assist our mother with putting compression socks on, and taking them off before bed was quite a challenge. Mom would wear the sane clothes for 3 or 4 days in a row because staff wouldn't even try to assist her.<br>After contacting the State of Wisconsin Quality Assurance Division and Ombudsman, we attempted to schedule a meeting with the Administrator. He sent a letter to Ombudsman who shared it with us stating he wasn't interested in meeting with us, and that we should file a grievance, or recommended two agencies to assist us in finding a different facility to care for our. Though the POA left several voicemail messages asking him to call her, he NEVER once returned her calls.<br>For the extreme cost my mother paid for care, it was substandard at best.<br>Our mom, more than once said that the staff often made her feel like she was bothering them. For a person having moderate dementia to recognize the fact that their actions made her feel this way is unacceptable. Many of the staff also were standoffish with us. We were very engaged in advocating for our mom, and that frequent interaction wasn't acceptable.<br><br>I would NEVER recommend this facility for your loved one. We moved her to a different facility after 10 weeks and her care is so much better now. Trust your gut and your instincts and avoid these communities. They were short-staffed and had turnover and it showed in their care.
