Shawn Cruze
Jul 2026
My father is currently a resident here. He stayed at this facility before and specifically asked to come back — that says something about the care he remembered. This time has been drastically different, and I'm sharing what happened so it doesn't happen to another family. My father was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, in addition to other serious health issues. He'd been scanned at Miami Valley a few days before transferring here and was still waiting on the full results. Instead of being told with any care or compassion, a nurse mentioned it to him nonchalantly — something along the lines of "oh, by the way, you have cancer." When my aunt raised concerns about how that news was delivered, the nurse's response was that it was simply how she'd been told about her own cancer diagnosis. If that had been our only concern, I wouldn't be writing this. Last night my father called my sister from his cell phone while I was on the phone with her. She conferenced the call and my father said he was frightened and didn't know what time or day it was. He didn't know what was happening to him. My sister called the facility. A man answered and she asked to speak with the nurse overseeing his care. He said he didn't know how to transfer the call. She called me, and we tried again together on a conference call — same man, same answer. I asked him to please find some way to connect us with someone, and explained that it was urgent. We were put on hold, and a few minutes later the call disconnected. My sister considered driving over, but it was after hours and the building was locked with no way to reach anyone inside. We were left with no callback, no information, and no confirmation that anyone even knew my father was in distress — let alone checking on him. For a facility caring for seriously ill, vulnerable residents, that is not acceptable. Families need a real way to reach someone when something goes wrong at night. I'm sharing this so that changes, and so no other family is left feeling this helpless while their loved one is scared and alone.
