The New Jewish Home

FOLLOW UP TO MY EARLIER REVIEW.
This is comical enough to write an update. After getting the runaround I finally contacted the administrator to the facility. There was nothing that would shake the assistant’s story that she mailed the glasses so I had to accept it. Since there was no tracking number we were at an impasse.
After explaining everything — see below — the über administrator said she would have another pair of glasses made at their expense which was IMHO a satisfactory outcome. (I was really beginning to think that maybe they really were mailed and if they were truly lost I can’t get mad about that… but needless to say I still had my doubts).
So, after getting the ball rolling on having the new pair made at a shop that was local to my in laws, the glasses arrived in the mail FINALLY. However get this! They did not take two weeks to arrive, they were postmarked on March 28^th… the day I started started yelling at people.
I MUST SAY I FEEL TOTALLY VINDICATED. And, now I don’t feel bad for yelling at – and writing a nasty complaining email about — that moron who not only did not send the glasses but lied about it too. What an idiot. (And I should also point out that prior to my going TOTALLY FREAKIN POSTAL on this place, my husband — who is much too polite — called them five times in the past two weeks after they made a point of telling him on the 17^th that glasses were mailed. They lied to him too. Point is: it is not an honest mistake.)
I mean, this hits my sore spot. It truly galls me when lazy, shiftless, nogoodniks like this have jobs in this rotten economy when perfectly qualified people are permanently and irrevocably unemployed. Of course this ignoramus sounds like she is in her early 20s. The items never would have been mailed if I did not complain loud and often. It’s time for companies to stop worrying about whether someone is overqualified (actually, the keyword is «old» as in over 35). Newsflash: Overqualified = Qualified and I am sick of idiots getting favorable treatment with no accountability whatsoever. That is why I feel it is my duty to completely trash companies on the internet who adhere to these hiring policies. Not sure how this woman got her job, but the entire HR department should be fired too.

Went after hospital to subacute rehab for one week after fall. Found staff to be attentive, caring — always on time with the pain medicine, which was very important to me. OT and PT staff very helpful. 3^rd floor unit newly renovated, so setting was fine. Food could be better, but you could say that about all institutional settings.

I was an intern with the CardioPulmonary Program last summer, and couldn’t have enjoyed it more. The staff I worked with was fantastic and very knowledgable. They cared for their patient exceptionally, and I really valued.
I also volunteered for New Jewish Home over winter, and even though I was with a completely different staff, and I wasn’t with the people who perform bedside care like I was during the summer, it was still a great experience. It is nice to know that they people in the offices, who you may not see so often because they aren’t around the hospital as much as the nurses and doctors, are working just as hard to keep New Jewish running at it’s highest level. Great staff and great environment overall.

I volunteer at JHL. It has always been a delight to meet and work with the residents away from their living quarters. I have become close to one, XXXX and here is my experience since XXXX (I believe) had a stroke and returned from the hospital. She was admitted so a hospice program on the residential floor where she lives.
On February 13 I sat with XXXX for 3 hours. If she is in hospice it’s completely unlike anything I have experienced with that philosophy or its implementation. My prior experience with Hospice in several situations in another city have given me
high expectations for its positive aspects and effectiveness. Palliative care and concern, dignity in dying — these are not apparent at all in what I saw on that residential floor on that day.
The nurse in charge had her own issues; she could barely walk (knees) and had other residents to administer and tend to and those are her primary responsibilities. The nurses’ aid vacillated between «sort of kind» and «Nurse Ratched» She rarely smiled and on other occasions, I’ve heard her scold residents; her functions seem to be non-​medical so perhaps «hospice care» is not in her job description or understanding.
There were several other aides of various types who friendly, said «Hi how are ya» to XXXX but are not involved in anything remotely «hospice».
XXXX sat in her wheel chair the whole time I was there. The attention to her during that time ranged from indifferent to complete disregard. She cannot articulate her needs and was clearly uncomfortable — whether because she was sliding off the wheel chair or because she was listing sideways. I know XXXX is not a complainer in any way.
When I asked for help for XXXX, I was «blown off».
When her lunch was delivered (and she has not been eating) it was meatballs and some other vegetables — which she couldn’t have eaten anyway because she was not wearing her dentures!
An Occupational Therapist arrived with a bolster for the wheel chair arm and several other OT things (exercise bands and something else I wasn’t familiar with) — apparently for later use. The OT spent about 2 minutes with her. Given the level of staff care and attentiveness, I’d say the equipment for later was a waste of effort.
This woman is dying.
This lack of attention is execrable, neither palliative or caring. This in no way resembles the Hospice I know and support.
On several occasions I have visited and a aid (I’m not sure from where) has been sitting with her (9am-​1pm); I wonder what occurs between 1pm and 9 am. Who is paying attention then?
I visited XXXX on March 27 — it’s amazing she is still alive because she apparently doesn’t eat. XXXX was in pain at least from her sounds and demeanor. She is quite thin, and her oxygen tubes kept slipping out of her nostrils and with no one to tend to her. She has sores all over her legs
I asked and no one knew where the hospice support was. I went to the Administration office and got no definitive response or information other than JHL works with two different organizations; there was no offer to find out what the problem was or really even a lot of concern. To me, this is not satisfactory. It does not address the overriding issue of the palliative care XXXX is receiving as she lays dying.
I don’t’ know this is an isolated incident or not. From the looks of this particular floor (more like a Dickens Novel) I suspect whether XXXX has kind care or not at the end of her life is not a big priority; the Cardiac Rehab floor and the Admin office floors are much nicer and more welcoming.

Do NOT send anybody you love to this hell hole. Horrible management. Horrible workers. No compassion. They almost killed my mother the first night she was there. Then she had a stoke and instead of calling 911 who would have been there in 15 minutes — they hired a private company who took more than 2 hours to get there. If she had gotten to the hospital sooner, they might have been able to stop the effects of the stroke. Horrible horrible horrible despicable place. Also my friend’s mother was there. She was smarter than me and transferred her mother out of there. When she got to the new place, it was discovered that her mother had horrible bed ores. I have only the WORSE things to say about this horrible place. A shanda and an embarrassment to have the word Jewish associate with this horrible place.

Should not give even one star. No new rehab 3^rd floor as promised. just a coat of paint. Rehab patients mixed in with nursing home. filthy dirty, rehab facilities never washed down, understaffed so you can wait forever to be attended to, inadequate medical care, and food disgusting (thank god for café shop downstairs). The pt and ot instructors were the only decent thing about the place. Shame on Mt Sinai Hospital for sending «their» patients there.
Remember it is a nursing home that is greedy for more business. Go to Rusk for rehab.

Oh my. If your social worker suggests sending you to the Jewish home on 106^th street for subacute rehab run like hell in the other direction! My dad was sent there post stroke from Columbia Presbyterian. We were fooled into thinking that a convenient location for family visits would be important but learned quickly that the most important thing is the aides and I have never seen a more miserable overworked crew of unhappy aides than the ones we met here. In a short time my dad lost 15 percent of his bodyweight and required gall bladder removal. As he writhed in agony an aide, used to disregarding cries of pain, advised him that he simply had ‘gas’ and offered him a saltine. This was consistent with the usual long delays between call button and the appearance of assistance. I honestly search for a bright spot and come up empty. Awful food. A cleaning schedule that must be on a monthly rotation. Lazy aides. Inconsistent physical therapy. No place to commune with other patients or family on your floor. Ah… i just thought of a bright spot. The backyard garden. If only you can stay out there and not have to go back inside…

I don’t know how strongly I can tell you NOT to put anyone here, but I’m gonna try:
I would NOT put my worst enemy in here. I’m not exaggerating — my mom was improving when she was admitted. SIX DAYS LATER SHE WAS ON THE VERGE OF DEATH. This is not hyperbole. I consider this review a public service message. If you care even a tiny iota about someone, please don’t put them in here. Please.
Here is what happened: My mom, like a lot of older, sick people, can be demanding and tough. You’d assume a nursing home/​long-​term care/​rehab staff is used to dealing w/​this, right? Wrong. On the very 1^st night, a nurse decided she disliked my mom and when my mom apologized for being brusque (she was extremely sick and in pain), the nurse told her «that wasn’t good enough» and she would have to «try harder!» Who knew the elderly and sick are there to impress the staff? When my mom complained to staff that her roommate was playing loud game shows and religious music, and having family get-​togethers in their room AT MIDNIGHT, they decided my mom was the problem!
The «doctor» was a woman who could not communicate — her English was incomprehensible, & she insisted that my mom did not have an infection, that her condition was «stable» from the time she was admitted — that nothing had changed from how she was upon entering the facility, coming straight from the hospital, where she’d been healing. How did she know this? Not because she examined her. No, she sent a nurse practitioner to evaluate the situation, even though my mom’s doctor at the hospital SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED THE DOCTOR DO IT.
It was pure chance/​luck I happened to be there when they were changing the dressings on my mom’s wounds. The stench filled the room! All non-​doctors present knew it was obviously a raging infection. When the «doctor’» finally examined it, she — very professionally — waved her hand in front of her nose to dramatically indicate how bad the smell was, and went, «Phew!» Very professional. The cherry on the cake of unbelievable incompetence was reassuring us again that there was no infection — her condition was the same as it was when she came from the hospital. Right. At this point, I knew we had to get my mom out of there, stat.
If we hadn’t gotten her out THAT DAY, she would have died. It was only the 6^th day she was at Jewish Home Lifecare, and she developed a raging fever, on top of the festering infection that the «doctor» was denying to our faces. Every single doctor during my mom’s illness had said, «Whatever happens, don’t let her get a fever!» When we went to pick her up to take her to the hospital, my sister asked a staff member for water for our mother. The response? «Oh, there’s water down the hall.» Thanks. My mom was so severely dehydrated by the time we rushed her back to the hospital, that, with the fever and the infection, her face went white, and she lapsed into incoherence. The doctor in the hospital we rushed her back to (a brilliant guy with a heart of gold) went as sheet-​white as my mom when he saw her and said, «She’s going to the ER — NOW.» We didn’t have much time, and she was slipping away, burning with fever, making no sense, and the infection raging. The neglect — abuse, actually — she’d been through put her on her deathbed in six days. ER transport (from within the hospital) would’ve taken too long, so the Doctor called 911. That’s how urgent my mom’ situation was. They pumped her full of fluids and somehow brought her back to life. We saved her by the skin of our teeth, and Jewish Home Lifecare almost murdered her. If we hadn’t gotten her out of that hellhole that day, we would’ve lost our mother.
Please look at other facilities. There aren’t many good ones out there, but do your research. Calvary in the Bronx is stellar, and Village Care Center looked decent, even though she didn’t wind up going there, so I can’t say for sure. No place is perfect. But Jewish Home Lifecare is hell and should be shut down. Period.

please let me say before I start this review, that I have nothing to compare this with. however since my cousin came here for sub-​acute rehab after bilateral knee replacement, we have been very unhappy with the service. let me list out some of the issues:
1. the intake was haphazard at best.
we were told one room upon entering and two other people along the way said it was wrong … obviously they didn’t read the email notifying them the room had changed
because no one had read the email, the room was unprepared
we spoke to a nurse practitioner but no one else the first day
between the first and the second day 3 – 4 people asked the same questions over and over again … do you live in an apt, do you live alone, do you have an elevator, what do you do for work … answer the same questions over and over again is annoying and a waste of time. enter it in the computer! or put it in his file! sheesh
this is day three and we just saw the social worker and still haven’t see the doctor
2. the customer service representative, while friendly, was ineffectual
we were told there was very good wifi. that’s a joke
the bed screams when trying to raise or lower it, and still hasn’t been fixed
the room is abhorrently hot, the window is broken, and we got a fan only after asking 3 times
the room has yet to be cleaned or mopped
we had to ask 3 times for a chair
3. the physical therapist we had yesterday was rude and had no idea how to communicate
repeating «you’re cheating. stop cheating» doesn’t help if you don’t know how you’re cheating. and getting irate and irritated because the patient doesn’t understand you doesn’t help either
cutting the family off of information and not directly answering questions is evasive and condescending.
4. the occupational therapist said he would be back yesterday afternoon and never showed
5. the food is abhorrent and not very balanced … grilled cheese and tater tots for dinner? are we 5?!?
6. residents are only allowed 2 showers per week and there are only 2 showers for the floor we are on.
7. the bureau is so unbalanced, that if you open one drawer the entire thing tips over
8. there’s been a pile of linen in the corner that has been there for 3 days.
overall we are not impressed to say the least

Our family’s experience during the summer of 2012 was mixed. We experienced care givers whose work and compassion deserve praise, and these people gifted us with their skill and care. On the other hand, there were basic and serious lapses in care, communication and billing that haunt us. These lapses seem to be systemic, and we question whether the organization is adequately set up to provide some of the services it advertises. We’re sharing our experience in the hope that transparency will benefit other families and the organization itself.
In addition to our 6 week experience, viewers may find this info helpful as well:
* Wall St. Journal investigative reporter Lucette Lagnado’s memoir of her father, in which «The Jewish Home and Hospital is seen as a cruel uncaring facility»
* The state of NY’s nursing home rankings:
Our family’s situation: My father entered Jewish Home Lifecare from a local hospital on June 27, 2012 with the goal of rehabilitation after he fell due to Parkinson’s Disease. Instead, his health deteriorated. We got him into hospice care on Aug. 10 at Beth Israel Hospital and he died four days later. Hospice care was amazing and we recommend that.
On the positive side, the Jewish Home was clean and the rehab floor was relatively cheerful. The therapists were excellent and my father did recover certain abilities. Also the nurses showed respect, skill and care. We are thankful for their work.
On the other hand, the following are the Jewish Home’s own standards that it publishes on its website, contrasted with our experience:
* Their promise: With the patient’s approval, the team can meet family members to coordinate care and plan transition back home.”
* Our experience: Communication was haphazard and incomplete and added enormously to our family’s stress as we scrambled to figure out how to get the care my father needed. We regularly got half answers and experienced missed appointments, which would have been alright if those were just glitches on the way to full answers and information. But they weren’t.
A specific consequence: we experienced a delay in getting our father into hospice care, and wish it had been done a week earlier; the pain and distress he experienced during that time of limbo cannot be undone. In addition, even after putting our issues in writing and trying to work the chain of command, some crucial issues remained unaddressed (See below).
* Their promise: «Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Pay options are available. Our financial administrators will work with you to identify, devise, and implement the right plan for you.»
* Our experience: The financial administrators were unable to accurately fill out basic insurance information. After numerous requests verbally and in writing, and even after our father’s death, this remains undone. The lapses are not just on skilled issues, but basic clerical ones, like putting a form in the mail (we were assured it was done and two weeks after that assurance got an email that reads verbatim «If you would like I will sent [sic] you the original form in the mail.» At over $ 500 a day for room and board, the financial costs are a significant stress factor for any family, and other families should know that the Jewish Home bills patients in advance but may not have the capacity to follow through on basic insurance claims needed by families to sustain that care.
* Their promise: «Jewish Home Lifecare’s Short Stay Rehabilitation Centers’ approach to rehabilitation focuses on the individual with a custom care plan that begins right at admission.»
* Our experience: a lot of the therapy care was excellent and the nursing staff was compassionate and skilled — but stretched too thin. We supplemented their care with individual aides especially for the overnight shift (yes, very expensive and not possible for all families, including for us over a sustained period). Two issues that we will never know the answer to occurred once his health declined irrevocably, and he stopped eating completely and his physical and emotional distress markedly increased: 1) did it make sense to continue to deliver medication orally (again, he wasn’t eating, we don’t know if the medicine was adequately swallowed) as opposed to via a patch or under the tongue, options that other providers told us was advisable 2) what difference would he have experienced if he had access to the facility’s inhouse palliative expert. We didn’t know that this person existed until told by an outside source. When we did finally consult with him, he recommended moving our father to Beth Israel Hospital’s hospice care unit. We did that same day. It was the best decision we made.
We hope this review is helpful to other families and to Jewish Home Lifecare itself. There is nothing in our experience that wasn’t first expressed directly to the home. Repeatedly.
Sincerely, Diane 503−936−6323

An awful place. My mother fell and fractured her hip and was transferred there for rehab by the hospital. The facility is depressing and dirty. The food is awful and I could see my mother wasting away. We would bring in food but it got cold by the time we got it to her. The medical staff is arrogant and absent. The doctor on the floor stands by the nurses station and does not visit patients. I once asked if he would meet my mother after she had been there for two weeks and he refused, saying he would get around to it sometime during the week. The nurses are there to administer meds and do nothing more. To be honest, some CNAs are kind and hard working (others, however, are as awful as the rest of the staff and clearly avoid doing work).
This facility lies on its website about its care for patients and the focus on family involvement. Despite repeated guarantees of «Family Meetings» no social worker/​care coordinator was ever assigned and when I complained, a stand-​in-​social worker dragged a Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist to my mom’s room to tell us how she was been doing.
Please — if you are considering care for yourself or your loved one, avoid this place. I am not quite sure how they manage to keep patients, but I transferred my mother out at the earliest possible time.

This is about the rehab side. I’m not familiar with the permanent living side.
The staff is really very nice, which is a big, important plus. There was a lot of chaos in getting things done the first few days (including several forgotten meals!), but everyone from aides to managers at least seemed genuinely to want to make things right, and ultimately managed to do so. (I can tell you from multiple experiences at several facilities: do your best to avoid having your loved one go into a rehab facility on a Friday or over the weekend, and if you can’t avoid, make sure to stick close. Very little goes right until Monday).
Medical care seems good, and is far more organized and attentive than, for instance, at Amsterdam House or Mary Manning Walsh where I found the medical care to be sub-​par. I felt confident in the doctors there, and found the nurses to be smart and on their toes. The therapists are also very nice and seem to know what they’re doing.
Administratively, at least for the floor my relative was on, things seem in good order. Every request I made was taken care of, which is definitely better than I’ve seen elsewhere.
On the down side, I did not find that they did much to make sure my relative was participating in anything beyond therapy. My relative’s stay was only three weeks, however, and I got the impression that they might have done more had the stay been longer.
The place is terribly shabby It’s not at all dirty, but it’s as if management couldn’t care less about patient environment. The rooms are really depressing – cheap, ugly décor dating back to the eighties at least, with haphazard, beaten-​up furniture, peeling wallpaper, leaky bathroom fixtures. There’s a spacious garden in the back, which is nice for getting a bit of air or sun, but here too, the furniture is broken or chewed up looking. There are two tables out there that would look right at home in a garbage dump.
The food is especially problematic. It’s simply horrible – I just read a review somewhere that patients tend lose a lot of weight there. If that’s true, this has to be why. I can tell you that my relative, who has a very health appetite, couldn’t stomach the meals. Even breakfast was disgusting. It’s shameful.
I’ve seen other rehab facilities in New York — some are prettier, some have better food. But the fact that they’re nicest here does a lot to recommend this place. And let me say this: my relative is perceptive, demanding and has no patience for people who do their jobs poorly or who are mean. She was glowing about how nice they were.
That said, as in all medical care facilities from hospitals to rehab, whether five stars or one, there IS better care for patients with advocates. Squeaky wheels DO get more grease, so no matter how good the place may be, stay involved with the care of your loved-​ones, make sure the institution knows you’re watching and that you’ll follow up. Also, get to know the upper management, and get their names and direct phone numbers.
In the meantime, HEY, JEWISH HOME, HOW ABOUT SPRUCING THE PLACE UP A LITTLE, AND GETTING THE KITCHEN A GOOD COOK BOOK??? It would make all the difference.

Good rehabiliation center, with, as usual for an instituton, mostly bad food.