Nursing Home Communities in Howell, MI

"I visited the Caretel Inns of Brighton recently to see my friend's Mother who was recently moved there. It's been a rough couple of weeks for their family, but having visited their Mother , I must say, I am a little bit more at ease. Caretel Inns is situated in a great city, near the main drag, which runs through the entire heart of Brighton. I thought the facilities were very tidy and the place looked rather new. I didn't ask how old the building itself was, but I would guess that it has been built within the last decade. It still has that new look to it. My friend's Mother seemed to be in good spirits. She is usually off making merry anyhow, but having to move into another home was tough on her. From the short stay she has had, she doesn't have any complaints other than she feels her living space is too big for her. I suppose this is better than being too small. The staff has taken good care of her and the area is about as safe as you can hope for. I highly recommend the Brighton area and this home. "

"My husband moved into WellBridge of Pinckney just before the holidays. The building looks new and attractive. He's getting very good care and the people that work there seem quite committed to doing the best for the residents. He has a private room. They have the housekeeping people come in every day to clean up his room. The food is good. The staff is very friendly and helpful. If I need something or want something, they make sure that I get it or they help me take care of it. I would recommend them. Over the holidays, they didn't have the full staff because people have days off and weekends. So it was kind of the worst time, but all in all, everybody did as much as they could to make everything OK."

"The doctor, nurses, aides and all of the staff at West Hickory Haven provided my husband with not only excellent care but compassion and caring not only to him but to our family as we visited him. When there we noted the care and kindness and caring that they showed to other patients as well. They are an excellent facility with a wonderful, caring staff. "

"Everything had a time set to it. They were all very scheduled. There was rest time but there was also activity time. When there was activity to do, they wanted you up doing their activities. They also had people from a hair saloon come in two days a week and get their hair done. My sister participated in some of those activities. She also had great physical therapy. Personnel wise, they keep the residents in good spirit. If there are aggressive people, they would stop them right then and there. With regard to food, my sister raved that she really liked their food. Everyday they got soup at lunch and a different soup in the evening. She really looked forward to that."

"My sister is in a Medicaid facility called Medilodge of Milford. She has been there for 8 months now. The facility appears clean and well-staffed. Our family members are well taken care of and the expense is reasonable. They had a fair amount of Medicaid beds when we were looking. The room has to be shared and I would call it a hospital-like setting, for lack of a better word. They have physicians and nurses on-call and on staff. They also have physical therapy. They have activities but nothing major. My sister is not an active person so they may have other activities that I'm not aware of. They have a couple of common areas with television and movies and a couple of reasonably large activity areas. It's a fairly large place, one story, and they seem to have the right amount and the right type of equipment to handle an individual who needs an awful lot of assistance. Their billing has been pretty spot-on, too. It gets a little confusing with Medicaid but nothing major. The staff is very accommodating, too."

"The staff at Regency at Whitmore Lake has been responsive. My brother approaches it from opposite ends where we're about the same distance away, about 20-25 minutes, so we get there fairly often. We're pretty active with the staff and they seem generally pretty responsive, considering that there are some staff shortages, like there are all over right now. Considering that, they listen to us and they usually try to take some action if we've got a medical concern, for instance. Both of my parents are there, my father is in a memory unit and my mother, who's not yet appropriate for the memory unit, is in a different area. The other thing that we like is that we often can wheel my father, they're both in wheelchairs, to his wife and will often have a visit that way. I think, as far as the staff overall, I think they're responsive, they listen, and they're generally competent. There are some exceptions though and probably one of my concerns is with the continuity of care because they tend to have their nurses switch areas of the building so they're not consistent with the same residents every day. Sometimes that can be confusing, I think, for the residents, especially those with memory issues. I think that's the kind of what it is, in a nutshell, as far as staffing concerns go. If we notice a concern and will bring it up, it's normally addressed right away. That could be with a social worker there or with the head nurse and the director of nursing. They'll hear our concerns and usually take action. One example with my father was, that he has double ostomies. I'm familiar with ostomy products and he's using something different there. I think he was a bit confused initially so I came in with one of the nurses. I showed a video of changing an ostomy and using the products that he had been used to using. They were open to considering those products, to order and utilize for him. I don't think it's happened yet, but at least they were considering it and they said they would do it if they were able to do it. It is a nursing home with some rehab rooms. My father could get physical therapy if it was ordered. There is a room for that. My parents have been in another facility and the social worker from there recommended this place and we followed that. Regency also fits within the price range that we were looking for because my parents don't have a lot of income left to draw from. I have not tasted the food but I know my mother has complained a lot about it. She said that sometimes it's cold and that was more true in the beginning but I think now they've made some improvements. Most of the time it's warm but they have a lot of meals to deliver to the residents too so they often come in Styrofoam containers to keep them warm. My father eats very well, he eats pretty much everything all the time and he's diabetic, so they have to gear the diet to him and they've done that very well. My mother tends to be more depressed so she doesn't eat so much. She complains a lot about food. Occasionally she'll get a good meal and eat well, but she's lost some weight there. The floor plans are good. The memory unit is locked and there is a code that one has to use to get into it. I notice that the staff makes sure that any residents that might be close to the doors when someone comes through, they usually allow the residents who were wandering, which they often do in the memory unit, to be a distance away before they will open the door. There often is a pretty strong smell of urine, pretty much anywhere in the building. The residents are there because they're not able to deal with that but that's something I often notice most of the time when I'm there. The floors are generally clean though, there are no obstructions and it's easy to get around. It's all one-story level so it's long and has different wings for the units. Most of the rooms have, at least, 2 residents per room, some 3. My father's in a room where there are 3 beds, and my mother's in a room where there are 2."

"After making the decision on my mothers behalf, I placed her in a facility. They talked a good game but in end of the day, the had her so over medicated that she had no idea who, where, why, nothing at all. She became lifeless and stopped moving which was what they wanted. A blister on her heal ended up with a leg amputation because of lack of care. I ended up moving her to Fenton Health Care. She is now on 1/3 the medication from the "other place". We have had video chats twice a week since Covid, and I am beyond shocked at her attitude, spiritedness, etc. She laughs, tells stories, and we have some of the most pleasant talks that we've had in years. I get a weekly call from her attending nurse to discuss her medical situation, and two weekly videos with mom where we share talks of life. She is so happy, and so am I. Making this decision was difficult, but the care she is receiving makes it feel like I did the right thing. Thank you Fenton Health Care!"

"I visited the South Lyon Gardens Nursing Home three times while in high school. My church sponsored a pumpkin painting event with the elderly residents and the students involved in the churches "youth group". While there, the patients in the home were very kind and welcoming to the foreigners in their abode. They greeted us with open arms, and seemed happy with where they were. We were given the opportunity to see where they resided at night, and the rooms seemed spacious and well- equipped for living. They featured satellite television in nearly every room, along with an adjustable bed, and a window with working blinds. Their beds had small, plastic, tables attached, so that the patients could eat while relaxing. All medical necessities, such as IVs and oxygen tanks, were accessible to the owner of the room, as well as the nurses that operated them. The staff was welcoming as well, and seemed to have friendly relationships with most of their colleagues and patients. I was surprised at the very small number of the elderly population stayed in their room, as I had wondered whether there would be a sense of reluctance to see a great number of teenagers. Their voluntary participation could very well have represented their level of comfort in the South Lyon Gardens Nursing Home. Happiness was abundant, rooms and general areas clean and equipped, and the staff and residents very friendly. This establishment gives a good name to assisted living and nursing homes. "

"My in-laws are residents of Mission Point of Holly and we liked it. It's a small place and brand-new, they recently rebuilt it. It has 66 beds and only 22 are occupied right now. The staff is friendly and helpful, and they offer activities to the residents."

"Durand Senior Care was close to my home. It was equal to the other facility I visited in every way except that the rooms were a little bit smaller. The activities were also the same. The only thing that I would prefer was for it to have larger rooms. They were pretty old, but well maintained, and they were making updates indoors. What impressed me with this facility was that they had about 85% to 90% success rate in sending their rehab patients home. "

"I was an in-patient at Westlake Health Campus. I was there twice; the first time, I was there for four weeks and the second time for 6 weeks. I was in a very nice, large, and comfortable room. The staff was amazing. They all had smiles on their faces, they were happy, they like their job, and they like taking care of people, and when they are happy, it makes our healing go much faster. The food was delicious. I didn't see a lot of the other patients because I was in therapy a lot, but they were all very friendly and looking to get better, but at meals we got to talk quite a bit and they were very nice. They had the same opinion that I did about the staff and how much they help us to get well. I only had one major problem with Westlake and that was the medications. The medications are not easily come by, they bring them in from Ohio, and I went three days without one of my medications and I was just glad that it was not something that could have been life threatening. I wasn't unhappy with it. It is a very nice facility. "

"My experience with the Chelsea Retirement center was overall positive. The staff was friendly and helpful, and willing to assist my great-grandmother whenever it was necessary. The only thing that I was a little dissappointed with was the atmosphere of the center. The overall atmoshpere is rather depressing. I feel like the residents here know that this will be the last place they will reside in their lifetime. Lots of the residents seem to be sad, lonely, or afraid. The attitudes of the residents can be contagious. Many don't have friends or families that come to visit, so I always end up socializing more than I expected to. The food at Chelsea retirement center could also be improved. That seems to be a chief complaint amongst the residents. They refer to it as "hospital food". A higher quality menu would be a nice idea! Personally, I would recommend Chelsea Retirement center to anyone looking for a place to retire, if they are able to get used to the saddened atmosphere. "

"My mother was at Wellbridge for 15 months. The nursing staff was kind and attentive. Food was good, always lots of activities and some of the staff even went out of their way to assure us she was in good hands. We were always greeted warmly when we arrived. Totally changed our minds about what a long term care facility could be."

"My mom stayed for about a month at this rehab facility & overall she was comfortable during her stay. The staff was professional and accommodating. Please try to have staff in the future with multilingual capabilities."