ManorCare Health Services – Wheaton

I have been recovering here after a hip replacement surgery. I can’t give this place the one-​star review that one person did, and I certainly can’t compare it with other rehabilitation facilities, but there are certainly a lot of negatives, and three stars are about right.
The place suffers from a great deal of disorganization. Shortly after I was admitted, my room was visited by a dietitian, who inquired about foods I dislike, and I was favorably inclined because of this. However, while frequently my requests are honored, there have been enough instances of me being served something I specifically excluded that I wonder whether everyone in charge of preparing my meals reads that list of dislikes. (And even that was gotten wrong, slightly. I had said «oranges.» I was asked «Orange juice?» and responded «Orange _anything._» Yet it seems to have been recorded as «orange juice» and I have been served orange sherbet, orange slices, and even with that notation, at least once even orange juice!) Tonight I was served coffee and milk as beverages with my dinner, despite telling them that I do not drink either. (A nurse’s aide got me some hot water and a tea bag, so I could replace the coffee.)
Other evidence of the disorganization: I was originally given one date for my release. Two days before that date, a physical therapist casually remarked my stay had been extended a week. But nobody had told me this! And if it hadn’t come up when talking to the PT person, I might never have been told it until too late to tell people who needed to know.
The call bells are extraordinarily sensitive, and unlike the ones in the hospital they do not light up or give any indication they’ve been pressed. So I’ve had nurse aides come when I didn’t intend to call anyone, while on the other hand when I really wanted one it is often a long wait. And some of the nurse aides are very helpful while others are totally indifferent: I’ve often been served insufficient meals and gotten hungry 2 or 3 hours later. Sometimes a nurse aide will find a snack, and others will simply say «There’s nothing I can do.»
When I came in, I tried to find out whether there were any computers available and was told no, but they had WiFi — something useless to me because I had no way to bring in my own computer. A few days later, I saw a sheet referring to the «internet café» and asked about it, and someone showed me a room with two computers — which is quite enough, as there aren’t a lot of people in here who want to go online, so I’ve never had to wait for one to become available. Again, disorganization — why didn’t the first person I asked know they were just down the hall from my room?
The reviewer who gave a positive rating to the physical therapists is right on, though I would also include the occupational therapists as well.
The food, unlike what one reviewer said, is not uniformly bad. However it is very uneven. One meal can be as good as anything I might get in a restaurant (except for the tea, which is super-​low in quality); the next meal might be almost inedible.

I stayed at Manorcare Wheaton in July 2014 while recuperating/​rehabbing from a total knee replacement. The experience was horrific; I’m still having nightmares.
Indifferent, ill-​trained & insufficient staff: nurses ignored the call bell (essential for post-​surgery bathroom use) & carried on so loudly at the nurses desk it was hard to sleep. Aides dropped sheets on floor and continued to put the same sheets on the bed. Attempts to address/​correct with supervisors failed to remediate. Nurses so beligerant when reported for not responding to call bell, meds or other issues that my daughter and friend stayed with me while I was waiting for transfer to another rehab faciltity. Athough transportation & bed available at other rehab facility, transfer request deliberately delayed for a day & night by Manorcare Wheaton «social worker» (an oxymoron if ever there was — when I telephoned her to inquire into the delay in processing the transfer papers to other rehab center — required for insurance reimbursement — she upbraided me for contacting her, asked how I got her number & hung up).
Equipment was broken: bedside swinging table tilted so badly that food & vase slid off on the floor & bed. Not one wheelchair had complete parts; no size-​appropriate wheelchair was available.
Filthy dirty and unsafe: staff threw sheet over water that spilt on floor next to bed (getting out bed after knee surgery is precarious under the best of circumstances); broken toilet which backed up & overflowed repeatedly — at one point sheet was thrown over muck on floor & left for hours (multiple requests to clean only successful when husband arrived for visit); aide attempted to use feces-​encrusted washcloth to wash (totally oblivious); communal shower room again with limited/​broken equipment (and that only if you could hunt down an aide and plead with her to shower you). And the smell. Unbelievable. Indescribable. Makes port-​a-​potties smell like roses. I was afraid I would get an infection and/​or fall & damage my knee the entire 4 days I was there.
Issue with obtaining the correct medicines: never got all my meds in the 4 days I was there. Never got pain meds before PT (critical for success of PT). Never got correct thyroid meds. Roomed first night with psych patient who screamed from midnight to 6:30 a.m. because she too did not have access to her meds — totally inappropriate for someone needing sleep to recuperate from the trauma of surgery.
PT erratic, crowded, and room very limited in functioning PT equipment: patients stacked in wheelchairs waiting for PT, total time waiting counted as PT. Junk stacked up on flat «bed» so not accessible for heel slides, leg lifts, and other essential exercises. Total chaos, little supervision: rehab as an after-​thought. Obstructions in hallway to PT room from construction work in progress — pieces of carpet thrown over trough cut into floor — safety issue for walker users in this alleged center for rehab.
Food totally unrecognizable — even the oatmeal was inedibile, something out of Oliver Twist. Subsisted on packaged yogurt, Raisin Bran, and milk or stuff family brought.
I reported Manorcare Wheaton to the State of Maryland Office of Health Care Quality; only got decision on lack of correct meds & failure to give pain medicine before PT because that could be «quantified» in the record. Thus, friends, have family take pictures and bring a notebook to document as you go, even though you may be in agony after surgery. The state gives nursing homes/​rehab centers advance notice of inspection period, so you can figure how well that works for patient advocacy. The second rehab center to which I went, Sanctuary at Holy Cross, was heaven in comparison — clean facility; edible albeit institutional food; caring well-​trained & supervised staff; timely & correct meds; organized rehab with plenty of access, working equipment & staff; handicap shower/​bathroom for each room. What a difference. So, please, do your research on facilities before surgery; after surgery you will be totally incapacitated and at the mercies of monsters at places like Manorcare Wheaton, truly one of the ninth rungs of hell. It is several months after this experience that I can write about it – it was that awful.
I have full use of my wits, and other than the disability from the knee replacement, am fully functioning. I shudder to think what a vulnerable person — someone who can’t speak up for themselves or doesn’t have family as advocates — would experience in this facility.

1) Nurses are give and take, they are friendly, and for the most part helpful.
Not so much at the nursing stations, they are too busy on their phones for you.
2) The smell of Piss is overwhelming.
3) Be thankful for the PT. They are the best part of this place.
4) It is quite a bit on the ghetto side. Do try elsewhere first. Use this as your last resort!
I, Personally would rather be given a bottle, and leaned up against a gutter.