NHC HealthCare, Bluffton

"Their long-term care is horrible. My mother-in sits in her diaper 4 long time . The call lights are lit up and ignored"

"My dad was put in here,when he became sick. He was very well aware of his surroundings but I had to work to try and help take care of him and I had a baby as well to care for so my uncle placed them here. He said the food was awful it wasn't cooked properly no season let alone wasn't cooked all the way through. Provided him with very little drinks he was very capable of walking and very alert of his surroundings head all his mind frame. Well he called one day for hours and hours and no one came to help him and next thing you know he fell and hit his head. We went to see him he was purple and blue and no one could explain us why we immediately discharged him. Years later I work there and I understood why no one came to his rescue. The pcas while on the floor it disconnect the phones so they won't have to listen to the beeping at the desk and they rarely check on the people and stay wet up and pooped up around the clock and only get changed when people feel like 10 into them. They barely have any supplies I have to borrow from other residents let alone some of the nurses don't even know how to do catheter care.if I had enough knowledge back then I honestly would have probably took other precautions for the neglect of my father but I went and tried to work there because I heard it was a nice place and tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and forgive them in spite of but after I work there and honestly found out what was going on I can say I wouldn't put my dog in there.."

"NHC HelathCare, Bluffton is a great center! Everyone is engaging and responsive to the care needs of the residents. Communication with the family is excellent as well. Therapy is provided and is state-of-the-art. The food is great and they offer a variety of options. Housekeeping is done daily. Activities are provided on an ongoing basis. I would absolutely recommend this facility to friends and family. NHC HealthCare, Bluffton is an excellent choice if you are in need of skilled nursing or rehab services."

"My 93 year old father-in-law was there for 2 months. His very basic minimum needs were not being met there. He did not get breakfast every day, He was left in bed till 10:30 or 11:30 multiple days, that we saw. We got there 11:30 one day, breakfast tray there, untouched, (when I was previously told he had eaten) he was laying in bed in dried feces. He used a wheel chair there. They normally put 2 pull-ups on him with another one or a pad folded over inside. It was common for him to be drenched. I have photos of his outer pants being wet up to almost his waist band and down to the back of his knee. He developed macerated marks on his bottom from being left to set in soiled pull-ups. They couldn’t find the menus we filled out, didn’t tell us and filled out their own for him, and chose to give him shrimp, where it’s clearly marked he has a shellfish allergy. Fortunately we found out before they gave it to him. With the dementia he has, he had developed certain fears. We went over these in detail at our intake meeting and what we did to help avoid or minimize those, unfortunately, most of those who worked with him tried to handle him like everyone else, not as a dementia resident. He was quickly labeled “combative”. He was just afraid. We thought we were putting him in a memory place. He was in Edisto. They have memory care there, but also other residents. We were advised everyone there was trained to work with memory care/dementia patients. This was not reflected in our experience there. One day a CNA came in to help get him off the toilet. She asked me, “does he have dementia?” Anyone who had anything to do with him should have known he had dementia. The day after we took him there, we were advised they had to feed him because he couldn't feed himself. He lived with us for the 2 1/2 years prior, and we never once fed him. We cut his food up, put some food on the fork, handed it to him and he fed himself. He had to be redirected some, but he fed himself. He had a really good appetite and usually he ate everything on his plate. We advise this to the staff. Nothing changed on their end that we could see. Our experience was there was not good communication at all between the staff, and between staff and management. What you said to one person did not seem to get passed on to anyone else. The entire two months he was there we had trouble with them putting his hearing aids in correctly, and/or putting them in the right ears. Most people there did not know that the red dot on the hearing aid meant right ear and the blue dot meant left ear. I even went as far as to take pictures of his hearing aids in his ears, the right way, and wrong way, and hang them up so they would know. Up until the last day he was there, they had problems with them putting his hearing aids in correctly. We were told a few times they were short staffed. My father-in-law could not speak up for himself. The social worker there was great as well as the activities lady. The therapists he had were good also, but the problem was they would advise the staff that was there how to assist him, and it seemed that never got passed on to anyone else or they just didn't do it. We were very unhappy with the treatment and care he received there. It seems they are very short staffed however, it also seemed that they were accepting new patients/residents the entire time. But the problem was not just with the immediate workers with my father-in-law. In one of the meetings we had there in which there were two ombudsmen present, we discussed all the problems that we were having with the staff and how my father-in-law was being treated. We asked the administrator if she was satisfied with the care he was receiving, and she said “yes.” When that was said, we knew right then that we had to move him out, nothing was going to change."

"My aunt is currently in this facility and it is horrendous. We are exploring other options but it's not easy to find. Hospice requested she be on a liquid diet over a week ago and they haven't put her on it yet! She's only eats when my parents bring her soup. She's so week she can hardly get to the bathroom and when she requests help no one responds. It's inhumane how she is being cared for!"