Flagship Healthcare Center

I would like to share with you, my recent experience with Flagship Healthcare Center in Newport Beach, Ca. My brother has been there since February 2016, Due to the end of life complications.
I am so grateful to the Nurses and staff that worked overtime with us and gave us the best assistance and care for my brother who is not an easy patient .
unfortunately He is extremely difficult.
I want to give a shout out to Remon Alexander, who is the customer service director, in a time where customer service is unheard of … Redmond visited my brother every day and took it upon himself to be a kind face in the time my brother was confused and hurting .
He listened to my brother and to the family concerns.
and I saw him assist and care for those who are at flagship with smiling and with answers to many questions in an efficient and timely order. . I am so grateful Remon.

My Dad was admitted into Flagship 9 months ago with dementia and unfortunately passed away there on January 6^th, 2016.
The relationship with Flagship has been a constant battle and I have seen first hand the lack of management and customer service.
I will mention that there are a few great employees. Whether they are nurses, aids or in the business department. However majority of the staff is mediocre at best.
My advice to anyone with a loved one at Flagship:
1. take them somewhere else or.
2. go as often as you can. they will not give the care your loved one needs unless you are there watching them and correcting them. Trust me when I say this, majority of the workers DO NOT CARE ENOUGH unless they know you are watching them.
Also, please take a look at their public inspection log book. They have it in the front and it states all of the bad incidents that have happened. It’s pretty bad along with their homecare rating. (2 out of 5).
After 9 months, I can confidently say that this place lacks management. VERY high turn over rate in the management office. Not once did I ever meet someone with high authority that could take care of things right away. We continuously felt alone and frustrated. I get angry thinking that my Dad had to spend 9 months in a horrible place like Flagship.
Please feel free to message me with any questions and I hope your loved one does not have to stay here!

So if i could give this place 0 stars… i would.
They have some soet of epidemic going on in there. They will not let us see our loved ones. The disconnected the phone and say we can not go in until friday. Mind you its been 2 weeks since we last saw my aunt who has pancreatic cancer… so we can not communicate or see her. We don’t have too mich time together and they do this to us. Really? Horrible place just horrible.

My apologies if you booked a loved one into a stay here within the past two months. I could’ve warned you off of it but I was too busy trying to make sure I had everything I needed from them before I began burning bridges.
Where to begin?
First, Unilocal is but one source from which to review a skilled nursing facility (SNIF). I once read a Unilocal review of a particular college which said, in essence, «surely you aren’t going to select your college based on Unilocal reviews…» and the same theory applies here. If you’re able, go visit as many places as you can bear to before making a decision on where to place a loved one. Also, check this excellent site before making a decision:
*
.
If you stop reading now and go to that web site this review was worth it.
It’s at that web site that you’ll learn that Flagshi* (my pet name for them) is rated below average in their health inspection (2 stars out of 5) and much below average in staffing (1 star out of 5). If you think that «much below average» is a good way to staff a SNIF I invite you to press the call button in the middle of the night when you require care. If you pressed it in September you might still be awaiting a response.
Medicare has somehow rated this facility 5 stars on «quality measures» which I boil down to «you bought the books for the class even though you failed to crack them and flunked all of the assignments».
Unless you’re going to buy me a few drinks I’ll refrain from telling you my whole Flagshi* story but I’ll boil it down to the essentials:
* With few exceptions, staff here will not look at you, initiate a conversation with you, or offer to help in any way. Every single time I needed to speak to a nurse I went to the nurse’s station where those who were there ignored me completely until I interrupted their computer time to ask if they could help with something my mother required. In almost every instance they passed my request onto someone else, frequently after a 15+ minute wait.
* During the entirety of my visits I never once saw a doctor or saw a doctor interacting with my mother. Neither did my family ever speak to a doctor via phone. We did speak to a «Physician’s Assistant» leading me to question just who she was assisting. From where my family and I sat she appeared to be running the show, ineffectively and beyond the bounds of her credentials. Where is the doctor? Who knows.
* Pressing the «call button» and receiving no response is one thing. Me going to find someone and ask directly for assistance is another. On a weekend afternoon my mother needed to use the bathroom, something for which she required significant assistance. Not only was there no response to the call button but I could find nobody on staff to help. Not a soul. I finally asked a nurse who passed my request off to another nurse who came in after 10 minutes of my pleading only to look at my mother and say he couldn’t help.
* Staff here failed to accurately book followup appointments for my mom resulting in her being discharged having seen neither her Orthopedist or a Pain Management doctor at any time during her 6 week stay. Following her release we got her to her Orthopedist only to learn that the screws that were supposed to hold together her broken femur had fallen out. The extent of what my family was told during her stay was in week 5 when we were informed that an X-​Ray showed that her break «isn’t healing».
* Obviously, with a broken, unset femur and various detached hardware inside her, Mom was doing horribly. Her pain level was life-​altering. Instead of escalating that observation PTs went about their work with her, resulting in their determination that she was not progressing. No sh*t, Sherlock. You try standing and walking with a broken femur. Their observations, if voiced, should’ve gotten my mom seen by an Orthopedist stat.
Do you need me to go on here? I could. Horribly messed up paperwork resulting in unprofessional discharge proceedings, case managers who are halfway out the door while you still have questions and concerns… the list goes on ad inifinitum.
I’ve now seen how a functional, caring, adequately staffed SNIF runs and Flagshi* is the polar opposite of that. It is not hyperbole to say that my Mom’s life was shortened by the lack of care she received from this place. I don’t have a worst enemy but if I did? Even I wouldn’t send them here.

Elderly man found sitting at Newport medical center, lost and confused. He couldn’t tell us anything more than his name. When the police and local security showed up they called some health care homes in the area. Come to find out he is a resident of Flagship Healthcare Center. He obviously had Alzheimer’s and was wearing a security bracelet with no ID & a ‘fall risk arm tag’. Flagship had no idea he had left the Center! If you are looking for a SAFE place for a loved one, choose elsewhere. Or be prepared to find them wondering the streets alone.

Very discouraging experience.
Although some staff such as Sabrina, one of the day nurses, was exemplary, overall, the level of care was lacking. Particularly, the social worker Brenda, seemed inept. Questions were never answered or fobbed off– the business office seemed the same. I would never recommend this facility to anyone. It is simply not at the level of professional expertise that one would expect of a facility so close to Hoag hospital.

Everything mentioned in other reviews is spot on. Nurse Kathy is great, case and social workers were helpful. But it could use a good cleaning. The front lobby during the day has a receptionist that loves to offer cookies, but she has dead and wilting flowers a foot away. Used coffee mugs and spilled sugar at the coffee station at 2:00in the afternoon, perhaps she could move from around the desk and see what the rest of us see when we walk in. When the meal tray was delivered no smile or hello,…perhaps they should get a job they enjoy. Little things go a long way. We are visiting an ill loved one, we would like the staff to treat them the way they would their own loved one. I hope I will be able to care for my family the next time. We did remove her from here as soon as we could. This could be made in to a wonderful facility… but staff need to motivated, or love their job more. Sorry.

J.C.
My mother (86yrs) was in Hoag Hospital for dehydration & malnutrition, she lived alone took care of herself 4 lovebirds & 3 small dogs, I call her every morning to check on her n would hear her cough gag n throw up… hence ending up in Hoag, she was placed on a liquid supplement (called a T.P.N.) with vitamins thru an I.V. called a pik line. Once Hoag (that’s another review) decided they couldn’t find the source of her obstruction causing her throwing up leading to her dehydration & malnutrition they sent us here to Flagship as they r the only nursing facility that will take the T.P.N. supplement patients. things went well, with a few minor bumps, no one answering the call button for very long periods of time, meds not ordered, special bed not ordered, treatments not given the first 2 days, after that things went more smoothly till mom started throwing up again on the 9^th day… forcing us back to Hoag. round two! Mom ended up with a gastric bypass instead of surgery to find the problem in her abdominal area! then to another hospital (another review) called kindred (see my daughters review under jasmine kat)…back to Hoag throwing up again… 2 days later back to Flagship only this time I requested we come here cuz the first time was really not so bad considering what we have been thru since the first time here! This time mom also has a feeding tube for nutrients supplements, the plan is to supplement her T.P.N. In her veins with the feeding supplements directly into her stomach thru the feeding tube, which r to supplement her by mouth meals, the by mouth meals r to be her main source of nutrition, the feeding tube secondary n the T.P.N. was to be weaned off… Now here we go! The first 24 hrs here arriving at 8 pm we found the air conditioning on full blast her room was freezing! We asked to have it turned off & was told it would be, NOT EVEN! We froze the first night! All mom had was a sheet n the bedspread no blanket/​s… i had nuthing n had to sit on a round 4 wheel stool all night as I was told they did not have anything for me to sleep on (last time here there was a couch in the room that I used).morning came I had to leave to care for our animals, mom has C.O.P.D. & compromised swallowing from being intabeted several times for the various procedures at Hoag, so she cannot be completely layer down she will cough up flem n aspirate it if she is left down n she can no longer to locate thin liquids so she needs thickened liquids! I came in after caring for the animals to find icewater on her tray with a straw within reach n she must be kept up right at at least a 40° angle! She was almost flat n choking on her own flem! I had to pull her up n pat her back to break up the flem! Now she is compromised mentally & believes she back in 1974 instead of 2014! We have been here 3 day’s n she still doesn’t have her air matress! Her rear is so sore she has gotten a stage1– 2 on her rear from not being turned every 2 hrs in this bed, no one has come in just to turn her they come once in a while usually either begining or end of shift n turn her then but not during the rest of the day or night! what they do do is come in flicking on bright lights striping off her blankets n telling her they need to check her diaper then they leave her uncovered while they go get water in a basin or wet washcloths n squeeze cold water over her genital area n when she less it cold they just tell her it’s only for a min till they clean her! They always forget to bring in the proper equipment n leave to either get a new pad, gown, sheet or worse leave her wet to go get towels with the air conditioning blowing down on her freezing her more! Never have I ever seen such lack of concern for another human being from a supposedly caring nursing staff n admistration! There r a few jewels here tho Vu a C.N.A, Espie C.N.A, Ehpi C.N.A, Kathy R.N. Stephanie intake, all deserve raises! They all go above & beyond to see to the comfort of their patients!

The facility is in a nice location in-​between Hoag Newport Hospital and a couple of their medical offices, which helps if the person staying here has appointments with any of the Hoag NB locations which are just blocks away. The facility is newer looking than a few in Irvine, Lake Forest we visited with a more bright and open Halls and rooms with windows.
Tour staff was nice, along with direct phones (no extra charge) for rooms. Downsides are staff responses to the rooms are sometimes slow and air conditioning for the rooms are not strong. There were some very helpful nurses during the stay, but check-​out help and post-​recovery follow-​up were non-​existent.
So positives were good location and nice rooms. Negatives were slow staff responses, humid-​in-​summer rooms, and needing better follow-​up.

I can not wait to find a better place for my grandmother to stay. Wow what a disappointment I came here for the first time to visit my grandmother last Saturday ! I was actually really excited to see the place because of the area I guess I assumed (should know better) that this place would be nice. Well when I got here there was NOBODY at the front desk which is slightly concerning considering the type of care facility I guess anyone can just walk in and out of. Well after wondering the halls for about five mins I managed to find a nurses station where I asked a young nurse charting if she could help me find my grandmothers room. Without even looking up at me Leslie said «ya, station B». Okay well since I didn’t know what station «b» or where station «b» was I asked her «where can I find station b «, well I think I really upset her because in complete exasperation she stopped charting looked up at me and told me «down the hall». Okay … Well did I mention I was at three way intersection of halls. So I tried again «Excuse me, what hallway would that be down «. Well now I had really gone and done it because Leslie rolled her eyes looked at me and said «that hall» and now feeling frustrated I said to dear sweet Leslie «excuse me but do you think you could take me there because I have never been here before and I don’t really know where I am going «so she ever so kindly got up and walked me down the hall to Raul the «nurse manager». So I kindly thanked her for showing me where to go and I asked Raul where I could find my grandmother and he kindly replied room _​_​. At this point I am beginning to pick up a common theme here … Okay I said «where might room _​_​be «and as you probably guessed, yes … DOWN THE HALL. So I asked dear sweat Raul to please show me the room. I visited my grandma and for the most part things were fine. The staff was unfriendly not a single person said hello to me. There is no way to distinguish visitors (ie badges) which I think would aid to identify persons to which staff should offer a hello to or assistance finding residents. The halls where very cluttered with carts making it difficult for persons in wheelchairs to maneuver around. Several employees shouting down the halls to communicate and often in foreign language which is fine for home but in a nursing home I would like to see «inside «voice levels, and general English unless helping a patient who needs language alterations. I actually herd two patients complaining later at lunch about the language issue which is why I bring it up. The bathrooms where littered and had wet floors … Granted I did see the housekeeping check them after my use. On my way out I did see a receptionist eating and texting on her phone (Dannielle).
On my second visit I did check in but the receptionist did not even acknowledge me presence. Again not a single staff member said hello or smiled. I stopped at the nurses station to ask when Bingo was over after finding my grandma playing (I didn’t want to interrupt) and with a mouth half full of Ruffels potato chips Ross told me it started at 2:00 … And agin I asked when was it over … «3:00». Sorry to disturb your lunch Ross but usually eating in a clinical area is not the norm. I guess it is here because two other employees where eating chips and another a banana. For those of you that work in healthcare THIS IS NOT THE NORM! Okay so I went to the front to wait and among the napkins on the floor and chatty desk workers complaining about hating certain medical providers I wrote this review. Of course it is then that the Administrator Chris came in picked up the napkins and said Hello (almost died first person to say hello !!) I was even offered a water … Unfortunately Chris I don’t want a water because I’m scared to use the bathroom !!!
Okay so over all… they really need to work on the way they treat their visitors and give directions and understand if someone is not familiar with their facility they need to use better directional words. Providing visitor badges would be nice for both staff and visitors so that everyone knows who is who. That with the combination of the front not being well monitored didn’t make me feel that great I feel like anyone could just walk in and wander around /​vice Versa .
This place has a lot of room to improve !!!
A LOT !!!