Good Samaritan Society - Mountain Home

Good Samaritan Society - Mountain Home is absolutely wonderful and my mom loves it. It's just small little apartments with three rooms. They have a facility with a pool and a treadmill, and a wait room where they get fitted with a bracelet so any machine they go to will automatically adjust to that person. They have cafeteria, a chapel, and a lovely little Laundromat. It's a perfect place.

My folks moved into Good Samaritan two weeks ago, and so far, they're very happy there. They offer activities, but my folks have not yet to take them up. My dad went to church service last Sunday. It's affordable.

I was in a nursing home at Good Samaritan Society - Mountain Home. It was a continuing care retirement community that had independent living, assisted living, and a nursing home. Their nursing staff was overworked and confused. The menu was despicable. Prisoners eat better than those people. The assisted living people who took their meals ate with us in the same dining room. I was there for over a year and it was awful. It was a fairly large endeavor, but it's run on a shoestring budget. I wouldn't recommend it to my biggest enemy. I was on the recuperative ward in a private room. The housekeeping staff was wonderful, nursing was horrid, and the food service was despicable. I'd give the housekeeping staff a five, food service a one, and nursing a two. Activities, they tried hard. They had separate buildings for assisted living. Part of my issue with them is they were on Medicare and they were in my managed care plan and in spite of that, they tried to balance bill me which is outside their contract.

This facility came as the highest recommended facility in Mountain Home, especially when it came time for my father to move from assisted living to full nursing care as he transitioned to Stage 3 dementia. Since I live 9 hours away, I had come in for the weekend to visit my dad and help my 86 year old mother who was cracking under the weight of much caregiving while also moving from her home of 20 years into an apartment and clearing the old house to be able to sell it. My father's sudden decline made a move imperative, yet somewhat unexpected that weekend. We visited Good Samaritan late on that same Friday, and were very generously given a tour. We were told that there was one spot availalbe for a male in the Glen, the special care unit. We were shown the unit and introduced to the man that would be my dad's roommate. In conversation with both of the people giving us the tour, I made it clear that my father was on Seroquel, an antipsychotic. While meaningful glances were exchanged, I was clear that we were open to transitioning him off of that med onto another with their help, as I felt that part of the problem may have been over-medicating. We were asked to wait the weekend and bring in medical records on Monday. I took an extra day off of work to help with this on Monday. We were told that a decision would be made later that week. As I was walking up to say goodbye to my dad on Tuesday, I rec'd a call saying they "couldn't accept my father at Good Samaritan". When I asked why, I was told that there was not a spot for him. When I replied that I had seen the room and met the roommate, I was told that it was a mistake - that the man had the flu and that's why he was in a separate room. They flat out LIED to me - I met the man, and he did not have the flu. I was then additionally and quite flippantly told that there were some other notes from the Physician's Assistant that had reviewed the application, but he was unable to read her writing...but regardless, they were declining him. When I pushed for further clarification, he said it might say "complication" or "medication" - so I asked about the Seroquel. "OH! This doctor NEVER accepts residents on Seraquil!" UNBELIEVABLE! Could they have told me that on Friday when we had the very first conversation? Or Monday when I took the records over? As someone who was just coming to terms with the fact that my dad possibly has only months to live, and having just done all the things one does when a parent passes away - taking his beautiful suits to Goodwill, emptying his office and beloved workshop, accepting that he no longer knew me....I was raw with emotion. To be treated so callously, with such indifference, was appalling to me! We were even going to find a way to pay the ridiculously high daily cost. We were even prepared to accept the 2-page, single-spaced itemized list of everything they charge on top of the $232/day - including .17 for a band-aid. But, this is the state of affairs in this small community. They know they have a list a mile long of people just like us - willing to pay the big bucks to allow our loved ones the "best" care. I am willing to accept that they have to make choices and do not wish to deal with the hassle of transitioning meds. But they could have told me on the spot, and I would have been able to utilize the precious few days I had there to move my dad with grace and compassion. Instead, Good Samaritan's administrative staff chose to waste my time, and trample my emotions with their cold indifference. I did call and leave messages for two people to try to better understand what had happened, but no one bothered to return my call. I guess maybe one of the reasons they have such a high rating is because they turn away people on anti-psychotics so their precious 5-star rating doesn't get dinged. Well, I am giving them the lowest rating for lying, wasting precious time I could have spent with Dad, and for being callous and indifferent to the very families they profess to help.