The Cottages at Brushy Creek

I will never ever allow a family member or someone I love be admitted to Brushy Creek Rehab ever again. On Friday, Christmas evening my husband of 47 years was transferred to BCR from Laurens Hospital where he had been treated for pneumonia and Covid 19 as well as bilateral lower extremity weakness. (He wasn’t able to stand or walk without assistance.) While in the hospital his Covid diagnosis had improved and he was excited about being transferred to BCR so he could begin physical therapy and hopefully regain his mobility. Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. our son took his Dad some clothes and other items and had to leave them with someone at the front door of the Holly Cottage. They told our son he could go to his room window and talk with him. Looking through the window and talking on their cell phones our son was pleased to see his dad looking good, being very talkative and being positive about starting therapy. At 2:00 p.m. I called my husband and he sounded awful. He said he had been coughing and was having difficulty breathing. We only spoke for about a minute, when thinking he may have just been exhausted from coughing, I told him to relax and try to rest and I would call him later. He said they were giving him something for his cough. At 3:30 p.m. my husband’s brother from N. C., who works in the medical field, called me and said he had just spoke to him and something needed to be done immediately because he sounded awful and was having a problem breathing. At 3:40 p.m. I called BCR and spoke with a nurse. (I wish I had gotten her name.) I asked how my husband was doing and she said, “OH he’s doing fine.” I informed her that I had spoke to him at 2 p.m. and his brother had just called me and he didn’t sound fine that he was having a hard time breathing. She then said, “Well, he’s doing better than most or our Covid patients.” I asked if he was on oxygen and she said, “yes, he’s on 4 liters,” at which time I told her he had been getting 2 liters in the hospital. She said she was getting ready to go take him some Mucinex. I asked her to please check on him and to please call me back and let me know how he was doing. She then said, “I should call him back later because she didn’t have time to call me back as she was overseeing two cottages and had other patients to see.” I then asked her when a doctor would be in to see him and to please, please call a doctor if he was getting worse. Her reply to me was that a doctor wouldn’t be in until Monday and I didn’t understand that doctors needed days off and they weren’t like nurses who work every day. The conversation ended there. At 6:45 p.m. Saturday evening I called my husband again and he was still having difficulty breathing and coughing. He said they had just given him something for pain and something for his cough and it was just too hard for him to talk right then. This conversation lasted less than a minute. Little did I know that would be the last conversation I would ever have with my husband again. At 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning our son got a phone call from BCR stating they had found my husband, his dad unresponsive and they had tried to revive him but weren’t successful. My husband, his dad was dead!!! A few minutes later an EMT called to inform me. I asked if there was a monitor on him and he said when he got there, there was a heart monitor on him but he removed it and placed his monitor on him and he was gone. I asked the EMS person if he knew the time of death and he hesitated a second or two and said he figured he had been gone for about two hours. (If he had a heart monitor on why had he been dead for two hours before we got the call. Shouldn’t the monitor have sounded an alarm for them to respond to him when his heart stopped beating. I have to wonder if the monitor was on him at the time of his death or if one was placed on him before EMS arrived.) I feel certain my husband and our son’s dad, and our grandchildren’s papa was neglected. I know the nurse that I spoke with earlier in the day didn’t appear to care that he was in distress when I called her. Less than 2 days after entering BCR my husband was dead!! When he entered BCR he was in good spirits and stable condition. Never ever will I allow a loved one to go there again!!!!!!

mother was there for rehab, no one did what they were ask, had time getting people to answer phone very frustrating place, hardly ever the same person working, would not ever use this facility again , when you did talk to anyone they just wanted to get you off the phone.

Brushy Creek Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center has been excellent. I have no complaints about anything. They're very professional and friendly. They take care of your needs, and they anticipate your needs. It's the best I've ever had, and I've been in four different rehabs in my lifetime. I would recommend this over any place in north part of South Carolina. The food is great. The lady cooks for 40 people, and she will fix me whatever I want within reason. Everything she fixes me is within the guidelines, and it's excellent food. It's not the newest, but it's very well kept and the grounds are manicured. It's a 1-story building, and you have a window that looks out over the manicured lawns. They have a big center courtyard that you can get out and walk around in. Everybody that comes in is quarantined for 14 days. They have to get tested for the virus and come up negative, and as soon as you come in, they put you on another 14 days for lockdown in your room and you're tested after 14 days. If it's negative, then you're allowed to go outside your room. Everybody still has to eat in their room and has to wear a mask when they're outside of their room. All the doctors, nurses and workers have to wear a mask. They're pretty strict about what goes on here. Activities are minimal. We have bingo several times a week and they give prizes, and you play by walkie-talkie.

Amazing facility! Therapy and nurses also great. I would come back for future needs

The facility is beautiful and staff that i have met are very caring and try to do their best in an area of healthcare that can be difficult. Staff were always helpful and tried to accommodate if they could. We were not unreasonable and expecting 24/7 care. Enjoyed the privacy of our own room and then being able to be with others in the home as well. No place is perfect, not even in our homes, but this place worked out well.

The Cottages are fairly nice but are dirty and unkept. The Nurses are rude an incompetent! They put my mother in a room on the day she arrived and never checked on her the entire day. She was supposed to have medications daily that she never got as well as therapy. When I asked about it I was given excuses. I cannot imagine leaving a family member there to be taken care of by any of these people, the nurses are terrible. My mother was in Lilac cottage an I took her out of there on the 2nd day after she told me there was a big man that came in the middle of the night to take her to the bathroom, especially when I never saw any man there other than the physical therapist. She said she felt afraid there! If you care about your family, don't take them there as they will not get the care they need.

Stay away! My 84 year old mom was here for a week (March 16-23, 2019) after knee replacement surgery. I had to move her when I found out how they were treating her. She was supposed to get physical therapy twice a day and ice on her knee after. They only gave it once a day and not at all on weekends. No ice provided so her whole leg and foot stayed swollen. The nurses were mean to her. She would ask for help and they would ignore her or mock her. The manager there also is incompetent. When I called to make sure they had her medication prescription from the hospital they said it was going to take five hours before the meds were delivered to the facility. Instead of planning ahead to have her meds ready they waited until I complained. She was without a pain pill for that whole time and was miserable. That should have been my first clue, but I live 3 hours away so thought maybe a simple mistake. Oh no when I called to get her medical records for the new place the manager kept giving me the run around. She said I had to call another number, but it turned out to be wrong. Then had to call back and she gave me another wrong number. Finally the person at the wrong number returned my call and was able to get me to the right person to get the records. Also they only let my mom shower every other day since they did not have enough staff to supervise. Unacceptable! Please do not go here. I regret every second my mom had to be there. Her recovery is still delayed because of the poor care right after her surgery.

This place is under staffed and the CNAS sit on their butts and do nothing! It was a solid week before bed sheets were changed on my stepdad bed which had blood on it! If you have another choice of places for care, don't choose this place!