Starkville Manor

Helensue

We went to visit a friend at Starkville Manor Health Care and Rehab. All they have is nursing care. I also took a friend to look at it for her mother. She and I decided that it's not as clean as it should be. One of the things that frustrated me was they have a smoking area. The nurses will go and then they have a certain time of day that the residents can go and smoke there. I think that's a bad idea. We should help them kick the habit. The facility is old and needs a lot of work and upgrades. I've had friends that have had families there and they've moved them out of there because they haven't been happy. It's not any place I would consider going to. The location is good, it's right across the street from the hospital. I understand that my friend hasn't used it, but they have a very good physical therapy program. I just don't think it's up to today's standards that I would expect at a nursing home. They could improve on the staffing but the problem is they don't pay very much so you attract a clientele that is used to having low-paying jobs, which is unfortunate, and you get what you pay for. The staff is doing the best they can with what they got through. They have different groups that come in and do things. I'm not sure what, but some come in and hand out instruments and have them pretend they're playing in a band. They have church groups come in too but other than that, I don't know what else they do.