Regency of Whitmore Lake

Ola

Regency of Whitmore Lake was OK. They had my husband first in a locked unit for dementia and he was somewhat OK there. When they moved here to the regular nursing home population, he got along with the people better. I've met the staff a few times and they seemed to be OK, too. He started eating much better when he started living there. He even gained weight as they were giving him double portions. They do your laundry and they have quite a few activities. Things like that and he could go outside to smoke. If you were a smoking person, you could go outside and smoke.

Kevin

The staff at Regency at Whitmore Lake has been responsive. My brother approaches it from opposite ends where we're about the same distance away, about 20-25 minutes, so we get there fairly often. We're pretty active with the staff and they seem generally pretty responsive, considering that there are some staff shortages, like there are all over right now. Considering that, they listen to us and they usually try to take some action if we've got a medical concern, for instance. Both of my parents are there, my father is in a memory unit and my mother, who's not yet appropriate for the memory unit, is in a different area. The other thing that we like is that we often can wheel my father, they're both in wheelchairs, to his wife and will often have a visit that way. I think, as far as the staff overall, I think they're responsive, they listen, and they're generally competent. There are some exceptions though and probably one of my concerns is with the continuity of care because they tend to have their nurses switch areas of the building so they're not consistent with the same residents every day. Sometimes that can be confusing, I think, for the residents, especially those with memory issues. I think that's the kind of what it is, in a nutshell, as far as staffing concerns go. If we notice a concern and will bring it up, it's normally addressed right away. That could be with a social worker there or with the head nurse and the director of nursing. They'll hear our concerns and usually take action. One example with my father was, that he has double ostomies. I'm familiar with ostomy products and he's using something different there. I think he was a bit confused initially so I came in with one of the nurses. I showed a video of changing an ostomy and using the products that he had been used to using. They were open to considering those products, to order and utilize for him. I don't think it's happened yet, but at least they were considering it and they said they would do it if they were able to do it. It is a nursing home with some rehab rooms. My father could get physical therapy if it was ordered. There is a room for that. My parents have been in another facility and the social worker from there recommended this place and we followed that. Regency also fits within the price range that we were looking for because my parents don't have a lot of income left to draw from. I have not tasted the food but I know my mother has complained a lot about it. She said that sometimes it's cold and that was more true in the beginning but I think now they've made some improvements. Most of the time it's warm but they have a lot of meals to deliver to the residents too so they often come in Styrofoam containers to keep them warm. My father eats very well, he eats pretty much everything all the time and he's diabetic, so they have to gear the diet to him and they've done that very well. My mother tends to be more depressed so she doesn't eat so much. She complains a lot about food. Occasionally she'll get a good meal and eat well, but she's lost some weight there. The floor plans are good. The memory unit is locked and there is a code that one has to use to get into it. I notice that the staff makes sure that any residents that might be close to the doors when someone comes through, they usually allow the residents who were wandering, which they often do in the memory unit, to be a distance away before they will open the door. There often is a pretty strong smell of urine, pretty much anywhere in the building. The residents are there because they're not able to deal with that but that's something I often notice most of the time when I'm there. The floors are generally clean though, there are no obstructions and it's easy to get around. It's all one-story level so it's long and has different wings for the units. Most of the rooms have, at least, 2 residents per room, some 3. My father's in a room where there are 3 beds, and my mother's in a room where there are 2.

Clark762

I was a little hesitant to put my husband here because the building is pretty old but after taking a tour and seeing the renovations that have been done, I realized that it truly is a nice facility. All the staff were wonderful, the residents were so kind and it just put my mind at ease knowing he was getting the care he needed. The admissions director was so polite and able to answer all of my questions so I didn’t have to wonder what we were getting into and went out of her way to be sure things went smoothly. This was a hard decision to make as I never thought we would be needing nursing home placement, but with the caring staff, the wonderful therapy department, and awesome residents that my husband made friends with, I would definitely recommend Regency at Whitmore Lake to anyone who needs rehab or long term care. We will definitely use this facility if we need placement again!

Sandy

My dad went to the Regency of Whitmore Lake last year as skilled nursing, private pay. This place was one of the old-fashioned nursing homes. All the rooms were very small, double rooms where you got a bed and a locker. You didn’t even get a chair. If you wanted a chair, you had to bring your own. They were renovating the place bit by bit as they went along. However, the staff was wonderful and took such good care of my dad. They really loved him and he loved them. He was in there for a month and got rehab, but it wasn’t official. They had a program where a therapist will meet with him and figure out what he needs to do while he was there to keep him strong, and then they had the nurses’ aides carry out the therapy. They took him to the room, showed him what to do, and sat there with him. They kept him strong, happy, well fed, and clean. A lot of it looked very old, like the dining rooms were very old and ugly, but they fed him a lot of food, and he liked it. It was a good experience for me. I wanted to go on vacation, and he couldn’t be alone, so I put him there for a month. I found out that I didn’t need to worry when I got back. Considering everything, I give them 3 stars.