hurricane lorraine
Feb 2026
This facility is understaffed. That being said, the nurses, aides, PT/OT, dining room staff, maintenance workers, housekeeping and activities director have been very friendly, attentive and caring. Unfortunately, administration is a nightmare! The building and resident rooms are old, dreary and in disrepair. My sister had no heat for over a week during the very frigid single digit and below freezing temperatures we're experiencing in January 2026. She reported the lack of heat more than once but was dismissed each time. We brought this up at a meeting with 3 admin members, my sister, myself, another sister and the county ombudswoman. At that point, Rebekah (assistant DON in PCU) left the meeting, returned a few minutes later and reported that the air blowing out of the heater was 97°!!! This ridiculous statement was an obvious attempt to embarrass my sister. After the meeting, my sisters & I returned to her room... it was not 97°, it wasn't 87°, it wasn't even 77° or 67°. It may have been 57°. There seems to a general consensus among admin that my sister is so cognitively impaired that she's can't possibly know what she's feeling or talking about. Yesterday, my sister told me she had been sleeping in several layers of clothing including her coat along with several blankets and 2 heating pads, I promptly reported this to the county ombudswoman who had been helping us with other issues with this dreadful place. She was furious and emailed the administrator demanding that something be done immediately. The heater in my sister's room was replaced that evening. Her room is finally warm but there's no way to control the temperature herself. Another reason we're leaving SMM is our dispute about the Level of Care they insist my sister needs. Their original reason for her needing Level III care was her being dependent on insulin. However, even after my sister's private PCP ordered her off insulin because her bloodwork indicated it wasn't necessary, Rebekah found other reasons to keep her at level III. AND they didn't follow the private PCP's order to stop the insulin until I brought in a county ombudswoman. It was stopped within hours of that meeting. They resented that we didn't use their in house provider. Unfortunately, their provider offers no real care. If we left my sister at SMM, she would surely never improve. IMO, SMM is holding her back for their own selfish reason; $$$. SMM is dark and dreary and the food is far from nutritious. We had to push for fresh fruit and salads and even then, her getting either was spotty. And once, she was served a partially frozen hamburger! Please pay attention to the many low ratings of this place and do not allow anyone you care about live here. I'm very outspoken when it comes to a loved one being mistreated and I don't let things go. No one deserves the disrespect and dismissiveness my sister has experienced at SMM and the gaslighting is entirely unacceptable. My heart breaks for the residents who have no one to advocate for them. I have no doubt admin is very happy to see us go but nowhere near as happy as we are to leave. The plan is in motion. Thankfully, my sister will be in a much better place within the next few weeks.
