Willow Brook Christian Village

This is a terrible place with absolutely excellent food. I was there for a short stay following hip replacement surgery and was treated well by the hands-on staff, miserably by the higher level staff...some of whom decided at one point that I was 'not receiving the menal support" I needed and moved behind my back (and my family's) to have me committed. It took my surgeon's office and a psychiatric nurse to pronounce me stressed but very very sane. And in this process, and in the process of my difficult recovery from surgery, I was treated condescendingly (I am a college professor) and generally disrespectfully. Except for an exceptional dietitian and, as I said, hands-on-caregivers, management decision makers assumd that i was brainless rather than trying to help me with the extraordinary level of my pain. It took me a while to learn that the physical therapists were in control (actually I was told this by the physician in charge) and that my best chances for decent treatment was to 'do what they said." I tried, and it worked eventually, but never very well (and why was mindless TV running the whole time in the physical therapy room...distracting and intellectually insulting, it seemed to me). I am sorry to write this in case it hurts those few amazing caregivers who treated me so well. But I sure would like to see the kindness, compassion, and consideration implied by the word "Christian" more at work at this institution...then perhaps the outside (the entrance features an absolutely stunning photography exhibit, and the view from most windows is very healing) might match the inside.

My parents live here and receive the best of care. My father is in the Alzheimer's wing now. Everyday, by every person, he is treated with dignity and respect. The nurses and aids deal with the same things over and over, but they do not lose patience. They continue to speak calmly and carefully to each resident. It is a comfort to know that even when I am not there that my father is receiving the care that he needs with the respect he deserves.