Nursing Home Communities in Deland, FL

"We toured Blue Palms Senior Living of Deland. I liked that we met somebody. They showed all the things that were there. There's a cafeteria you can go to, a little gym, and a library. There is independent living here, and assisted living, and there are different steps right there. It was close to downtown. I thought it was great. The person who gave us the tour was a nice lady who was very positive, listened to us, and showed us some different options."

"My wife was at Parkside Health and Rehabilitation. She was there for an extended time when she was rehabbed. They offer long-time there as well. The place was a lot cleaner. They have activities the same as the other place. You go to their main dining room and there would be 6 or 8 people sitting around coloring pictures and that sort of thing. There was a person that read stories to them every day, which I thought was kind of nice. The rooms were clean. Most of the time, you could find a nurse. The CNAs were pretty good there as far as keeping the room up and keeping the patients up. I think they were better than the other place. With regard to food, they seemed to take more care in their preparation. The place was nice and clean, too."

"My mom moved to Villa Health and Rehab Center. She went there initially after getting out of the hospital for a three-week rehabilitation period, during which time it was extended for about another three weeks, and then they had a bed become available at the long-term part of the facility. They did such a great job with her rehabilitation and her legs. It has a five-star rating, so I just decided to keep her there since they had availability and they offered me the spot. They've been outstanding. The staff has been very attentive and taking care of everything. So far, she's liking the food that she's got. She's not very keen on vegetables, but she never has been a big vegetable eater. They've helped with her weight control, though. The serving sizes seem to be perfect for her. She eats about 80 to 90% of all her food, except if it's vegetables. She eats the rest of it and seems to be satisfied with it. They've gotten her weight down by about 50 pounds with a healthy weight loss. They got her badly swollen legs practically back to normal size again. They are still working on the swelling in her feet a little bit, but I'm confident that they'll probably get that under control too. They are making sure she gets her medications. She was having issues with hearing audible hallucinations at night, and that has stopped. The psychiatrist on staff prescribed her some medication to help with that, and so that has completely abated. She seems more alert now, so I'm very pleased with the care that she's received so far there. The cleanliness is good. The structure, I think, they could do a little bit more in their courtyard in the center, but it's not bad. I just think they need more shaded areas to make better use of their courtyard because it's in the center, but there are no mature trees in there. There's some smaller ones that may offer just exactly what they need in 20 or 30 years, so maybe some temporary covering will be good. Maybe like those sunshade awnings that don't block it out but just shade an area. I would like to see them put some of that up to kind of give the residents an opportunity to be outside, but not be in the sunlight. They have plenty of sidewalks on their entries and exits, which makes it very easy to transit the area in a wheelchair to get out there. It's just that once you're out there, you're in the sun, and there's no good shaded spot to take advantage of the outdoors. In Florida, that's kind of a necessity, although early in the morning and maybe late in the evening are just fine. That would be my only drawback to the place, about the structure of the building. The cleanliness is fine. They take very good care of the flooring. It looks like they're on top of maintenance all the time and you don't get the impression when you come in that it's an old, worn-out building. I know it's been around a while, but they have made a pretty good attempt to maintain it. I don't know that much about how organized the activities are yet. My mom was a little reluctant about going at first, but I came in a couple of days ago, and they had everybody outside. They were having a barbecue for everybody, and they brought in some tents and covers so that they could line them up on the sidewalk with the table and feed them there. They also had some games that they played earlier that my mother told me about. Since they're accepting her Medicare and Medicaid as payment, I would say it's a great value for what she gets. It's a two-person room that she's in, but now that she is being moved to the extended care section, they will allow her to have more personal items in there. She can have plants or a few things. Not a lot since there are still some guidelines like they can't have a mini fridge or heated blankets, or anything like that, because of electrical issues. It's a fire concern for them. They'll let them have a small furniture piece, but nothing big, because they have to keep access to be able to get emergency equipment in there if a resident needs it, so it can't be cluttered."

"Hands down the best nursing facility mom has ever been to. She went to a couple others over the years and had mixed outcomes but she has been to Ridgecrest twice now and we will never send her anyplace else again. Staff is busy but caring and mom loved her nurses. Therapy is amazing. Facility is clean and smells good and always has some type of activity going on to keep mom busy. Staff answered any questions we had and we had the option to go to meetings to talk about plans and goals during her stay. She came home and is doing well. We recommend Ridgecrest 5 stars to anyone looking for a good place for loved ones to rehab!!"

"John Knox Village Medical Center was very nice. They had everything you need. The staff was absolutely great. "

"I can’t say enough about the staff at Orange City Rehab/Nursing Home. Everyone treated my husband with kindness & respect. I’m forever grateful & thankful to them for their patience & professionalism. It’s a clean environment. For fear of of omitting a name, I just want to say thank you to EVERYONE. God bless each and everyone of you. Gerri & Ron S."