Harmony at West Shore

My mom and stepfather moved into Harmony at West Shore. My mom is in memory care. It's wonderful as far as memory care goes, it's very nice. The staff is what makes it wonderful. They're very friendly; outgoing. They watch closely to make sure that there aren't any issues. The place is very, very clean, and the food is wonderful. My sister has eaten there several times and I've seen the food. It looks delicious and everybody's inhaling it like it must be good. She's looking forward to this weekend. They have a garden where the memory care is actually allowed to go outside. It is a fenced-in area with bird feeders and benches. They have an above-ground area like waist length flower gardens where they can plant flowers. And so, this coming Sunday, we're going to be there with Mom planting some flowers. They have some activities like that. It's just fun and there's puzzles and games, they have a live-in rabbit that stays there, they have pets that come and go. On the day after my stepfather died, they brought two different therapy dogs into my mom 'cause she loves dogs. They also take care of their hair, not only to to schedule for the beauty salon, but they have volunteers that will come in and help, so they're very good.

My mom stayed at Harmony at West Shore and was there for 3 months. She started first in the personal care level. Then during her last month, she was moved to the memory care (per their recommendation). What I can say about that place is that it is horrible. I would not recommend it at all, especially memory care. The staffing is low. The actual caretakers I didn't have an issue with, but the program is like a prison for the elderly. They're sitting around hunched in their wheelchair watching TV. It's a terrible place, which is why I moved my mom to a different place. The facility itself was nice and fairly new, but the care itself was just terrible. I would not wish it on anyone, especially the memory care. I'd hate for anyone to bring their loved ones in there. When I made a suggestion to the person I was dealing with, I got the silent treatment. It got so bad with my mom. It's a large facility. It's like a hotel. Even though they had the space, they had my mom out in the very back. We asked for my mom to be in the empty rooms closer to where the people are, so she didn't feel so isolated. They said they couldn't do that because they didn't have the staff to help move her stuff. It's only basically a bedroom and a table; that was it. It got so bad that, because I live close by, I would just pick up my mom at night and then bring her back in the morning because I had to work. The staff were good people, as far as the actual people serving her. My mom complained about the food though, especially in the memory care. It was very basic for breakfast. There's one piece of bacon and an egg. It's nothing fancy. It's fairly new, but there are no grounds in the area. There's no space for shade or just a good place where there's maybe a grassy area. It's all just concrete. The inside was nice, but there's no outside area to hang out. The activities were far and few in between. It's different with memory care and personal care. With personal care, they had a little bit more; but with the memory care, there was very little to speak of. They're like prisoners. They don't even take them out. They're locked in. I had to take my mom home every night in order for her to feel like she's being taken care of. Her room there was always messy. That experience was so different compared to the new place I have her in. No one was paying attention to her in Harmony. Everyone else around there in the memory care were just sitting there around the television slumped over. It wasn't even a money thing. There was just no value to it. It's just that my mom did not have the care. I just feel sorry for all the others with no family members visiting them because then they have no idea.

I went to see Harmony at West Shore in Mechanicsburg and it was awful. It wasn't good at all. It's another one that I thought wasn't specifically designed for memory care. It was very dark. The facility was an L layout. I think I saw 2 staff the whole time I was there and they weren't happy or even said hi. The guide I had didn't even know how to interact with someone who needs memory care. She ignored them. I feel like not all the staff at that location had the training to work with dementia patients and it was very obvious. Also, what was bad about it was, they say they have activities, but the activities are not within the memory care center. The memory care was a secure unit so I asked, "Well, what if someone wants to do that there?" and the guide said, "Well if we have extra staff from assisted living, they would come over and escort them." I wonder if that would ever happen. Plus, they're not trained so it just seemed like a very poor setup. It was dark and I think they had an activity center, but it looked old and unused. When I walked into the cafeteria area, there were 4 women slumped over and asleep. That's about it for residents that I saw so I guess they were mainly in their rooms. I saw one staff member at the turn, the 90-degree angle there, and that person was behind a desk, totally ignoring me and the tour guide. Sometimes when you're in a hospital, you feel kind of like that but she wasn't out and involved. She wasn't friendly and didn't look like she wanted to be there either.

We visited Harmony at West Shore. Everything was nice, but my father was too far gone for them. They kind of built our hopes up that they could take him, but they never would, and that was so disappointing. It's brand new, and it's beautiful. The staff was very good, but they kind of led us on.