Franciscan Place

Franciscan Place is wonderful. We were so glad that we were able to get in last Saturday, see the facility, visit with the head nurse, and see my mother's room. They were so friendly, and they really made a special effort for us to come in and see her. They said they were going to possibly loosen some of the restrictions in the next week or so, but because we were there and we lived a good distance away, they made special arrangements for us. The facility was very clean, as well. We went there to drop off some pictures and some stuff for her, and after talking with them, the nurse said she would check with her boss to see if would there be a way that we could see her, since we live so far away. She called us back in about an hour and said, "Yeah, as long as you gown up and follow the rules."

I am giving Franciscan Place a 5 star, not because "everything" is perfect, that would be realistically impossible. However, they do take very good care of my mom and they strive to do their best. My mom has been in their care for one year. She came in on Rehab and it was determined after returning home for a very short time that she needed to be in LTC. She returned to Fran as a full time resident in May of 2018. I was hesitating whether or not to name caregivers who my mom talks about and whom I've witnessed give exceptional care, I really don't want the others to feel they are in anyway less appreciated. You all are a great team! Having said that, Cliff has been a Godsend. I work in an assisted living/memory care facility myself and I witness this young man just do so much right! He comes into her room and the 1st thing he does is get down to her level to talk to her. My mom has hallucinations and gets very scared and upset. She knows when Cliff is on, she is safe. He will take a moment to pray with her, to chase away whatever she is seeing and never ever laugh or make fun of her. ...and he always brings her fresh water (which she tell me about too). Then there is Hannah, one of her day nurses...Mom loves her "Haddie" as she calls her. "She's the only one who knows how to put my hearing aids in right" according to mom :-) And Rae, the evening nurse. When she is on, mom tells me "My Mother" is on tonight. That is not a bad thing! Mom says I can't make a move without her coming in to see if I'm alright.....Ummm, Mom, that's a good, attentive nurse. If she hears something fall she does run into the room, I've been there when she has done so. I'm convinced that woman can hear a pin drop. I also appreciate all the activity workers making sure she gets out and stays involved! So BRAVO Franciscan Place! Christine Brown

Wheaton Franciscan was nothing but positive. In fact, my brother was demanding, and they met his needs. I was amazed. They're excellent and we’ve recommended other people to go there. There was this woman who got her mother in there and she is so pleased and her mother is so happy there, so it's run very well. The staff was good and any time you needed to talk to someone, they were excellent. The rooms were always neat and clean. They were a nice size. I was very impressed. They had a beautiful outside setting. They had an all-natural beautiful waterfall and rock setting, and a huge patio with tables and umbrellas. They had beautiful flowers and my brother loved it. They also had a lot of activities like mass twice a week, and priests who would come and visit you also, which my brother loved because he's very Catholic. He could also go to confession. They took very good care of my brother. We loved the doctor who did his wound care. It was wonderful and they were so good to us when we were going through the process of my brother passing. The people there seemed very happy. My brother went into their hospice care, and they had a hospice nurse on sight which was wonderful. They were so good to us. In the end, my brother ended up in a private room because he wanted one. It was actually a double room made into a single, and he had everything he wanted in there, like certain pictures on the wall from home which he insisted on, and they made it happen. They're very accommodating there.

We would NOT recommend Fran-woods for your loved one! Our mom had dementia;fell at home and broke her leg. Had been independent eating, toileting and walking. Had hopes she would regain some if not most of abilities, but due to fall and also the horrible nursing care there she did not. After only one week, she developed a 4x8” red area on her bottom/buttocks that lasted 8weeks and gave her much pain with each diaper change. She had never been in diapers before and they obviously didn’t change her often enough-and would run out of zinc cream and take five days to replace it -or runout of wipes and use rough wash cloths which would rub skin almost raw. It took ten days before she got her first real thorough bed bath. Asked if she could be taken for a shower -they said “oh she’s on the shower schedule for Friday’s”-I said it’s been 2 months and she hasn’t had a shower yet?! She lost 45 lbs.within 3 months cuz they didn’t have the time to feed her!-they’d try a couple spoonsful and if she resisted a little they’d just leave (so I started staying days to make sure she ate something) She had rather combative dementia and needed her seroquel every six hours regularly to keep her behavior controlled and her spirits calm; but they often did Not give her meds at the time they were due— they give themselves 2hour leeway!(or more) For example, her 8am dose was sometimes given at 10 and then her 2pm dose given at 1? Which was not good for mom-then if she resisted her med, instead of trying til they got it in like we did at home, they’d say”patient refused” and “we don’t have time for this” and toss it in the trash! Then later they’d complain and wonder why she was so bad and even more combative!? Mom also had been on a prophylactic antibiotic to prevent bladder infections at home but they insisted on taking her off of it cuz “we’re a long-term medical facility and we don’t allow that here”- I practically begged them not to take her off it cuz mom was prone to frequent infections. BUT they did and literally about 2-3 days later mom was worse and they wanted to put her in hospice. We asked for some further tests and sure enough she had a bladder infection! The nurse also pushed to put mom on a different laxative than what she used at home -it ended up being too harsh and giving mom cramps where she’d cry almost every day-asked the nurse to stop giving it-3 weeks later mom was still having cramps so I checked and the nurse said “oh, my bad! I forgot to take it off on her chart.” We also hired an agency to babysit the first week at nites cuz no side rails are allowed due to a state ban after a lawsuit-but mom was a legitimate exception due to her confusion and also temporary medical problem. But head nurse still refused saying I wouldn’t understand but “the patient has the ‘right’ to fall”!? I didn’t understand that! Then got a couple of bad reports from the agency that no one came in on the night shift even when they called for a nurse cuz mom was moaning/ agitated; or it took 3 hours just to get a Tylenol for her. So we paid $11k for nursing care and $5K for ‘babysitter’, per month. Lastly even the food staff was sullen and unfriendly. Even though I was the only family there to help feed mom most days , they’d make me wait to get her tray last— and said how ‘irritating’ it was to them for me to stand there waiting for it?! All of these things and more made this a miserable experience!!! (There were a couple of nice aides-Lucy and Laura especially- who were a bright spot.) But Seeing your loved one go downhill is hard enough and then knowing they helped make the situation worse all the way around was awful!

Inattentive to patients needs...left my mom on a toilet unattended to for over an hour...nothing in front of her in case she fell...she passed out asleep on toilet because of massive overdosing of meds...called for help aids came and left.....aweful.....pills constantly on the floor......sad, sad, sad and outright scary for a CATHOLIC place.....and I ain't even going to touch all the other horrible things. Friend of mine heard from a former patient's family...their mother developed a bedsore there in June of 2018. Was not treated and ended up having her leg amputated! Good Lord! Was moved out asap. And this is considered a pretty good facility. Find another alternative for those reading this....and what is going to happen to us baby boomers if this is standard "good" care.

My mother went here after a shoulder replacement. We had a meeting - called by the staff - to discuss here release date after being there 9 days. No one had read the summary from her doctor, no therapists that worked with my mom were there. We found out that my mother had NOT BEEN BATHED for 9 days. Not even a sponge bath. Staff was too busy she was told. This after surgery! I would not recommend this place to anyone.

My mother was transferred here after a fall. Some of the staff wete wonderful, some were terrible. While there she was a patient, she complained that some of the staff was rough and mean to her. She had bruises, on her arms, developed a staff infection (where proper infection protocol was not followed and "mysteriously" had a tibia, and fibia break that no one knows how it happened. ( she could not walk on her own and did not fall). I would not put anyone here whom I loved.

I would select 0 stars if I could. My grandmother was transferred Froedtert after a head trama for short-term rehab. As our liason, the social worker was completely incompetent and we've spent 7 days hearing conflicting information. Would leave messages that Grandma will have a doctor appointment "tomorrow" and we'd get a call that she was ready for pick-up today/wrong day. Then visit tomorrow, and she's in bed. She's making progress on physical & occ therapy, but they want to discharge her FAST because she's not making progress on speech (she had a head trauma!). This has been an awful experience! I'm so disappointed that this place is affiliated with Wheaton because I had high hopes, but this is a nightmare. I feel bad for any admitted resident that doesn't have family members to advocate for them.