North Lake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

I am/was a resident of this facility

The physical therapist was patient, kind, qualified, skilled, and physically strong; I was well taken care of for one hour a day. The rest of the place was terrible, however. It was a depressing place. In my six weeks there I had two different roommates, both of whom transferred out likely because of my many visitors. The rooms were not equipped with telephones, data ports or televisions, although a coaxial cable connection was available for residents who wanted to bring in their own television sets (standard definition only at the time). The place smelled of feces and urine and I frequently received urine-stained sheets. The food was nearly inedible, and I was relying on parcels from my mother for a good meal. The best thing I could count on from the kitchen was cold cereal with milk, and I doubled-up on those portions at breakfast. The staff were poorly trained in matters of hygiene and wound care, and my bandages would go unchanged for as many as two days at a time (changing on the third day). When I finally left, I had developed a post-operative ulcerative infection which nearly cost me the rest of my leg; I had to undergo a month of intravenous antibiotics twice daily along with painful wound cleaning, packing, and filling before it cleared up.