Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation – Outpatient

I’ve been going here for 3 weeks because of shoulder surgery. So far I’ve had 2 different aids working with me and they do great work. My shoulder has been moving and feeling a lot a better. They always keep the place very neat and clean. Only problem is the appointment schedule, it’s hard to get appointments there.

I was here for about 4 months after my TBI. I don’t remember the beginning but from what I remember it’s a big love-​hate deal.
The rehab team is amazing. PT, OT, and Speech were just great. They knew what was up and what to do.
However, the nursing and aides were very subpar. Especially when it comes down to brain injuries… come on, you can’t be stupid working with these kinds of injuries. My mom told me stories which I don’t recall, but apparently a nurse broke my PEG Tube and I then needed to be sent out to get a new one. It was ridiculous. From what I remember, I only liked a couple of nurses.
Aides: Ugh don’t get me started. I remember one time when they were getting me ready to take a shower, I was like sitting on the toilet and was basically naked and this random aide comes in and just watches. I’m like wtf and told her to «f» off. Half the time I didn’t know wtf they were saying because they had accents from the Islands.
I can agree with everyone that they really didn’t pass well on the actual medical aspects there. I was sent out so many times for getting sick. I got C-​Diff there and it was horrible haha they really didn’t know what to do. The doctors were really nice and good but they just seemed a little uncomfortable when it came to actual medical issues.
Outpatient is where you need to be. They are freaking awesome. Out of all 3 hospitals, Chester, West Orange, and Saddle Brook… Saddle Brook has the best outpatient by far.

My father stayed at Kessler for close to three weeks after suffering from an ischemic stroke. A member of our family stayed with my father from 8am-8:30pm every day in order to motivate and care for him although he was assigned a 1:2 aid. I have mixed reactions to this center:
— the therapists, aids, nurses, and doctors were positive and encouraging.
— we are indebted to his therapists OT (Lauren), PT (Abby) & Speech (Sara).
— most of the nurse aids wanted to be there and wanted to truly care and encourage my father
— overall the nurses were largely incompetent
— the rooms were continuously kept clean and the food had daily menus that we could choose his meals from
— overall its focus is on rehab and lacks in medicinal care. There were occasions where we had to advocate that my father was hooked to fluids because he was clearly dehydrated or other times when we had to double check his meds
— the weekend staff was beyond incompetent! Particularly the nurse AIDS who were clearly just there as a weekend gig. Therapy on the weekend only happens for 45 min total once a weekend. It’s a bit pathetic
— we didn’t get an orientation on what to expect when we arrived, again perhaps because we came on a weekend. It took 15 – 20 min of my half conscious father uncomfortably slumped in the car after being in the icu for 90 min for someone to finally come with a wheel chair.
— advocate for a window bed.
— there are unfortunately no single rooms which means your patient can get stuck with a roommate who turns their tv up loud all day and night. Thankfully we were able to advocate for my father to get a room switch so he could rest. I appreciated their willingness to try to accommodate our requests like this
Bottom line, don’t make any assumptions and try to be present as much as possible and involved particularly when it comes to the medicinal care and on the weekends.

My family friend suffered a brain aneurysm, and was transferred here to the Traumatic Brain Injury ward. The staff, therapists, nurses are absolutely amazing. They’re sweet, caring, and they do everything right. The nurses at the previous hospital she was in were rude, due to her not having any speech ability. Kessler takes the time to help her and understand her situation. Bless everyone that works here!

I have no idea why this place gets only two Unilocal stars? First of all the staff here are all wonderful. I did not meet anyone who had that ‘I freaking hate working with people’ attitude you get at many doctors/​hospitals. They were kind, patient and funny. Seriously some of those nurses should do stand up. Attitude makes all the difference in patient care.
The place is spotless. I don’t what happened to those other people, but seriously you could eat off the floors.
The PT staff is really amazing. They got my mother back on her feet and home with no issues at all. Not only do they care, but they are consummate professionals.

This place staff is a love hate relationship. mostly hate

I would agree with Carolyn. In my opinion and based on my experience alone; this facility is a finger pointing facility with no real direction from a medical stand point. The PT staff is very good but if you are concerned about medical care for your loved ones DO NOT consider this facility. Within 4 days of being in this there the nurses and doctors did not recognized my Mother had become severely dehydrated and had a UTI infection which as a resulted landed her back into the hospital. It was not until we brought it to their attention that they checked on this and sure enough we had an issue. They refused to recognize that she needed medical attention and we had to tell them she needs to go to the hospital. The medical situation they put her in was beyond incomprehensible. When we discussed with the medical team each one blamed the other an had no answers for us on how this could happen.
Doctors are always changing with the who’s covering for who, nurses change constantly and you get the run around when you’re trying to have a doctor come in or ask questions. No one is on the same page or consulting with each other on the plan for your loved one. This cookie cutter approach they use does not work for everyone especially if you have someone who is disabled enter this facility. The point is they are disabled and trying to get well hence why we say «Recovery/​Rehabilitation». We are so sorry we brought my Mom to this facility and will never recommend this center to anyone who is not capable of taking care of their own health. The PT team is very good so as an outpatient i would recommend the facility.

We brought my father there for stroke rehab. I used the bathroom in the lobby and there was a huge puddle if urine on the floor. I told the admissions woman; she didn’t call anyone.
Then we all went up to where his room was supposed to be. They began to move him into a room where there were signs on the door about how you had to wear mask and gloves entering the room. I peeked my head in-​and there was vomit in the ceiling. They wanted to put my father, 10 days after a major stroke, into a room with a man who was projectile vomiting onto the ceiling.
The hallways were dirty and the place is really depressing looking.
They had no explanation about why they would move him into this room. Or anything else. Everything is someone else’s fault, someone else’s job, etc.
I don’t know how the aides were because we didn’t let him stay but the place is very poorly run and the nurse we met only cared about filling a room and covering her ass. She wouldn’t even give me an alcohol swab.
My friend was there a few years ago after knee replacement. He said the pt was bad, that they kept forcing him to do exercises the surgeon said he shouldn’t do, both of his knees got infected, etc. I should have listened to him but for some reason other people say nice things about this place. Maybe they don’t know any better. I don’t know. It was dirty and depressing.

I mixed feelings regarding the facility and the staff. The staff definitely makes this place.
Let’s start w/​the facility:
This place, from what I’ve heard, used to be a hospital. Not only does that paint a certain mood/​picture when you arrive, but that also means it’s not designed to be efficient for physical therapy. The rooms are too narrow and small to move wheel chairs around. The elevators are too small to transport patients to their PT rooms. The elevators are therefore locked at certain half hour increments to allow time to bring patients to their PT floors. While this happens, others are forced to use the stair case, which is no problem for me, except for the fact a password is required to open and exit the staircase, so you need to flag some staff member down in hopes they’ll give you a hand — inefficient and annoying. Patients are left next to the elevator for transport like traffic and the aids have to scramble to prep a certain number of patients for their hour of PT all at the same time. also inefficient. This place is also old looking. The TVs differ not by room, but by patient. Some patients have a modern flat screen monitor w/​a flexible arm, others have a blocky, heavy tv monitor most likely rented from Fred Flintstone attached to a squeaky, heavy arm placed in such a manner next to the beds that I’ve frequently banged my head against it trying to maneuver around the wheel chairs and tight quarters, typical letting out a few curse words under my breath. Luckily it only costs $ 2 a day for TV and the TV and phone are charged separately, unlike holy name hospital which charges u for the package at a whopping $ 12 a DAY. thank goodness there’s free wifi! Even though I don’t work there, there’s something about the facility that gives you a feeling like you’ve worked there for years and you’re tired of your surroundings. all the talk around convinces me the west orange location is significantly much better and more efficient. on a different caliber altogether.
The cafeteria. in general. delivers sub par food. with few exceptions. Their lunch salad bar is good. I also enjoyed their omelet station that came w/​ingredients like sauteed onions and spinach. Other than those exceptions. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the food. I don’t know how, but every pasta dish (including mac and cheese and excluding veggie lasagna) had that orangy, oily film you get from ground meat. how that happens w/​mac n cheese i’ll never know. but you can feel that film of oil on your lips when you eat the pasta… The soup’s so heavily starched it’s really hard to eat. Soup changes everyday but they don’t normally represent what they’re supposed to be. they’re all just different colored starchy water. ie: wonton soup had no wontons. it was yellow water and starch. potato leek soup wasn’t even white. saw no leeks or potatoes, it was green watery starch. what gives? The patients are served usually the same thing and sometimes the orders are so random. i remember once they offered imitation crab meat stuffed in tomatoes, there was another dish that was called «modified fish» ?! Their hours mimic other hospitals, low budget system. They’re only opened for lunch till 130 and open at 5 — 6:30 for dinner, small window that’s easy to miss.
Staff:
Staff on the other hand, are very impressive and truly make this facility what it is. Everyone — nurses, aids, physical therapists, occupational therapists, head nurses, physiatrists, case managers, etc. All the aids are super friendly and you can tell they build relationships w/​their patients. Both nurses and aids are super patient with visitors and answer all questions and needs. Our case manager was very on top of our case and worked very hard at making sure we were being taken care of after our discharge. The physical therapists truly care about their patients and build caring relationships around them. They looked forward to when my family member returned, grabbing ‘dibs’ on him. The days they dont’ have him, they make sure he’s taken care of. Our physiatrist was great. She showed compassion, sympathy and truly knew how to talk to patient families, showing intelligence in her field with a sense of how to talk to patient families by thoroughly explaining the situation and her personal recommendation on what should be done. From the people cleaning the garbage, to all the staff down in the cafeteria who monitored my family members progress whenever I stopped to grab a bite, to the secretaries in the front who always wished us the best and knew our names, all the staff members truly impressed me and made a difficult situation easier. I truly felt the love when we were discharged and everyone came to wish us all the best before we left with hugs, hand shakes, etc.