Alaris Health at Belgrove

Stay_Away

I dont know how the state can give this facility a 5 Star Rating!!! My mother has been at Alaris at Belgrove for 2 years and 8 months. In the beginning the place was great. As time went on, it constantly went downhill. Latest problem is health care of my mother. Within the past 15 days, she has suffered two "skin tears" more like open wounds, one was not treated for 6 days. Nobody knows what happened. The nurses stare at you like deer caught in the headlights. Windows in the dinning/recreation room do not open. The AC works on and off. Elevators (at least one) don't work on a regular basis. Staff calls out whenever they want, always short staffed. I thought there was a law about staff/patient ratio. The parking lot has been reduced to 1/3 for well over a year. Staff has been told not to park there, they were given letters. Some, totally disreguard and parking for family and visitors is impossible. Managment does nothing! The Recreation staff cares and looks after the residents more than the nursing staff. Sad state of affairs. Wake Up DOH!!! Try surprise visits.

rjq

I toured this location a few times, I did not meet the entire staff but those who I did meet were very nice and seemed very professional, all my questions were answered

maru1966

This facility needs a big overhaul. It is outdated. My father was there in the summer and the air conditioning on worked in some rooms. My father was there until October and we had to complain constantly. They were not keeping him clean. He developed a very bad rash. His food was dropped off in his room but no one checked to see if he was eating. He has dementia. We had to hunt down nurses and aides to get him changed. There were a handful of staff members who really cared but very few.

Based in fact

This facility apparently has no guide line for visiting. If there are they are not inforced. While we limit our family and friends to two people in the room our roommate would have up to five. It's not just their family was inconsiderate but the staff fails to control the healing environment. This is not limited to in-room noise but also the staff and patients that congregate at the nurses station (which features a sign reminding staff to be mindful of the noise level) which is adjacent to patient rooms. Regardless of extra cost, a single room is the best way minimize in-room noise. In other postings CNA's were singled out as non-responsive and detracted by need to descuss their social lives and attend to their cell phones. This is not one hundred percent true but if you hit the call bell and get no response and have to give a CNA a dirty look to get her to put down her cell phone to give a patient attention than there might be a problem. The first sentence on their website is "Founded on a tradition of health care excellence ...". Sadly it should read 'maintaining excellence is too expensive and much work so be prepared for mediocrity in healthcare.'

LadyDi63

I am a current 53 year old patient @ Alaris Health @ Belgrove. The only reason I came back here again is because of the location. The best part of this facility is Physical Therapy! A lot of the staff are good at what they do except when it comes to the CNA's who do the late night shift starting at 11 pm. I had to have my knee replacement removed because of infection, so now I just have an Antibotic Cement Spacer in my leg. I can walk a walker but I can only put minimum pressure on my leg but I need assistance getting in and out of bed. I pushed for assistance on three different occasions and here is the outcome: The first night that I got here was a Sunday evening. I needed assistance to get out of bed to go to the bathroom . The CNA that came to my room was a young lady. I had to tell her that she has to hold my leg to help glide it from the bed to the floor. She looked at me like I was crazy and then reluctantly put gloves on. She was going to let go of my leg before it touched the floor. Coming back to the bed was worst, I had to again tell her that she had to assist in getting my leg back on the bed also. It was so painful when that was being done. On this other occasion when I needed assistance , the CNA that came in was of the age where they should be retired. I pushed the button for assistance and when she came in I was shocked. I again had to let the 'trained CNA' know that she had to hold my leg to glide it off the the bed. To the floor. She barely made it and that too was a painful experience for me and I think for her too! The following late night experience was by far my worst so far! I pushed the button for bathroom assistance again and low and behold it was the same person from the night before! I again had to let her know that she had to hold my leg to glide it to the floor.That was very painful! Upon my completion in the bathroom I again needed help to get back into bed. I sat on the bed and was waiting for the necessary help to get in bed from the CNA and she's just standing there looking at me! It's now getting very painful for me with my leg down waiting for help and she still just standing there looking at me. I think that she was waiting for me to do it myself! By now it's so painful that I screamed for the nurse to help me and you would think that it being a licensed nurse coming to your aide that it would be alright...WRONG! The nurse lifted my leg so fast to put it on the bed that I literally screamed from the pain! After that I just wanted my pain med shot to ease the pain and I wanted the both of them to get out of my room ASAP! The nurse left and came back fast with my pain med and was about to administer the shot in the wrong location! I being the patient had to tell him, the licensed nurse that they don't administer my pain med through the IV anymore. He went back out I guess to check and when he came back he asked ME where did I want the shot! Mind you I'm in way too much pain by now!

T341771

Right now, my sister-in-law is in Clara Maass Continuing Care. I had to get an attorney because she was diagnosed with dementia, and they’re not treating her properly. They want to send her home, but she’s unstable on her legs and lives on the second floor. They just told us last night that she has to pack up and go, and she didn’t have a ride home, so at least she’s still there right now. They told us she had to leave at 11:00 at night, which is crazy. The facility itself when she first went in was OK. But now, she’s calling me up crying all the time. I think that the staff should be friendlier to them. They could be very rude, and it’s horrible. I bring her some personal belongings and other people take them, and I’m aggravated about that.

christinehunkele

his place is the worst! My grandfather was here twice and the care went from poor, the first time, to absolutely atrocious the second time. The nurses and aides were inattentive (always on their cell phones) and anytime I asked them to do something for him, they made it seem like I was inconveniencing them. When I would ask questions about why there were doing something (the place got his diet wrong so many times I lost count) - they would tell me not to worry. Uhh hello, yes I'm worried, you guys make far too many mistakes! There is a complete and utter lack of communication with patients and family. It's disgusting. My grandfather, who is of sound mind, started having random bruises and contusions that appeared on his arms and legs, and no one could tell us where they were from, not even him. And the place is dirty, like very dirty. The bathrooms that visitors are allowed to use are rarely cleaned, and the pantry - vom. I visited on a regular basis and the same poop on the floor that I notified staff about had not been cleaned. I was told that the cleaning service had off so it would have to wait. DO NOT SEND YOUR RELATIVES HERE. I am so glad we got my grandfather out and will not be sending him back. It's sad because Alaris has a good reputation, just not this one! I will say that I have only heard good things about the physical therapists, and have seen first hand them being kind and patient with my grandfather. Too bad they couldn't be there 24/7 for him and forgo the awful nursing and aide staff!

calp

I believe that the patients are getting adequate care. Some of the nurses are wonderful; others are just pill pushers. The aides are good and help in many ways. The rehab area is diligent in their work and always pleasant and helpful. The social worker is lacking many skills. She does not return calls promptly and confuses things all the time. She is no help at all. She should be the "middle man" between the patient and their families and only calls when she needs information. Alaris needs a new social worker to help the families not confuse them. She works on her own schedule not with families trying to balance home/work/Alaris/sick family members.

home32

The lack of communication between Alaris and the family is very disturbing! They were giving my brother the wrong medications and it took them 3 weeks to FINALLY have a meeting about his therapy program. The only dept. that seems to know what's going on is therapy. The social worker and admin staff do not speak to each other, let alone family. This place also doesn't know how to care for a special needs adult. The aide's and nurse's just leave you in your room and hardly check in on you. Or they wheel you out into the common room and let you sit there all day to make their jobs easier. This place needs a complete over haul of policies and personnel. They need to learn to communicate with families much much more than they currently do. I gave 3 stars b/c the therapy group is the only group doing an outstanding job!

Caring83991650

My dad and my aunt were at Alaris Health at Belgrove. It seemed like the social worker is doing wonderful work. The nurses are very nice and did their job as much as they can, so I have no complaints, but the doctor was terrible. I think they need to improve the visitation of the doctors. They have to pay attention and be aware of what's going on with the patient, examine the complete body of the person who is sick, according to what is the situation.

Geralynn00

I was very impressed with the staff there. They treated the patients like family. They always had smiles on their faces and they never made you feel like they were rushed if you inquired about a patient.