Oaklawn Health Care Center

My husband was at Oaklawn for a couple of months. There wasn’t anything I liked about it. He had a room about the size of a bathroom. The location was good, though. They did have activities, but he wouldn't do any. They could improve a lot there. Until I got mad at them, they weren’t personable at all, but then they did straighten out.

Oaklawn Health Care Center is a community where people could not care for themselves in any major capacity. It's one of those places where the staff pretty much takes care of the people in all their pursuits. They seemed to be a caring group of people. They were there, and ready to treat the individuals as a nursing-home member. They were not in tune to any independence. The staff was prepared to do everything. The rooms were small, typical of a nursing home. It was clean. They had three or four halls, and each hall was fairly long; so the distance between rooms could be sizable.

Oaklawn is an OK facility. I don't think it excels at anything. I would say the rooms are small, but there are lots of activities. The woman who is the activity director is just wonderful. She keeps everybody on their toes and moving, and there are lots of activities that appeal to a variety of clientele. The food is just ordinary, everyday stuff -- nothing exceptional -- and it is OK because the people don't really want anything out of the ordinary. Ordinary food is basically what it is. My mom is OK with it. But they are very understaffed especially in the evenings. The residents push the bell for an attendant to come and help them, and I have been there when we waited 45 minutes to an hour for that to be answered. They need to hire more help, and every time I brought this up at the care meeting, I was told that there are not enough applicants; they have no one to choose from.

My mother stayed for two months at Oaklawn after a serious hospital stay. Her doctors had suggested hospice care, but we weren't ready for that. The Oaklawn staff was very professional, competent, and accomodating. She improved greatly during her stary there, returned to her home without hospice, and is still doing well independently a year and a half later. I attribute much of this success story to Oaklawn Health Care Center.