Overall sentiment across the reviews for Island Lake Center is highly mixed, with strong and repeated praise for individual staff members and specific services contrasted by persistent and serious concerns about staffing, communication, and safety. Many families and residents emphasize the compassionate nature of nursing assistants, therapists, activities staff, and front desk personnel. Numerous reviewers singled out named employees and teams for exceptional, hands-on care that provided peace of mind to families. The rehabilitation/therapy program receives repeated positive mentions as effective and recovery-focused, with multiple accounts of successful PT/OT outcomes. The facility is described in many reviews as clean, modern in parts, pleasant-smelling, and well-maintained, with attractive dining spaces, a courtyard, and options for private or semi-private rooms. Hospice and palliative care transitions are also portrayed positively by several reviewers, and the memory care/dementia options and security features were highlighted as strengths by some families.
Despite these positives, a dominant and recurring theme is understaffing and its downstream effects. Many reviewers report being in situations where call bells go unanswered for long periods — in some cases described as up to two hours — and where aides and nurses are overwhelmed or slow to respond. This staffing pressure is frequently cited as the root cause of inconsistent care: attentive and compassionate care when staff are present, but lapses when they are not. The inconsistency extends across shifts and departments; reviewers often contrast excellent experiences with certain caregivers against very poor experiences with others, suggesting variability in quality and reliability.
Clinical and safety issues are among the most serious concerns raised. Several reviews allege medication errors (wrong medications given, medications removed without proper monitoring, ran out of critical meds), missed or withheld medications, and poor medication-timing practices. There are reports of severe outcomes attributed by families to these issues, including hospitalization and deterioration after discharge. Additional safety-related complaints include falls, bedsores, dehydration, malnutrition, and allegations that staff failed to recognize or act on worsening clinical signs. A small but significant number of reviewers explicitly accused the administration of covering up or minimizing incidents rather than proactively addressing them.
Facility- and environment-related feedback is largely positive but not unanimous. Many reviewers praise the cleanliness, bright spaces, and well-kept dining areas; the chef and meals are praised in multiple entries and special meals/events (like Thanksgiving) are noted as well-executed. At the same time, some reviewers reported unclean rooms, water marks on ceilings, flies in bathrooms, bad odors, and an old or dreary wing. Parking is mentioned as limited or “atrocious” in several reviews. Room options are flexible — ability to bring furniture and some private-bath configurations — but shared rooms are common and noted by multiple reviewers.
Activities and social programming show a split in experiences. Numerous families applaud an active recreation director, stimulating programming, non-forced activities, table games, live entertainment, and a caring approach to dementia stimulation. Conversely, several reviews say there were zero activities or that residents seemed understimulated. This inconsistency again aligns with the staffing theme: when activity staff are present and supported, programming is lively; when staffing is short, activities suffer.
Administration, communication, and billing are other areas with mixed reports. Some reviewers found the administrator pleasant, open, and helpful and experienced smooth admissions and clear communication. Others describe administrators as unresponsive, defensive, or ineffective — with specific billing disputes and ongoing, unwanted charges after discharge cited. A few families recounted disastrous transitions between facilities and poor handling of belongings during transfers. These mixed administrative reports suggest uneven management practices or inconsistent customer-service experiences depending on staff or timing.
In summary, Island Lake Center appears capable of delivering genuinely excellent, compassionate, and effective care — especially in rehabilitation, hospice transitions, and through many individual staff members who go above and beyond. However, systemic problems described in multiple reviews (notably understaffing, slow call responses, inconsistent clinical oversight, and medication errors) raise real concerns about safety and reliability for some residents. The pattern is one of high variability: families may experience top-tier care under certain staff and shifts, while others may experience neglectful lapses with significant consequences.
For prospective families, the reviews suggest important due diligence: ask specific questions about current staffing ratios and turnover, call-bell response metrics, medication management protocols, incident reporting and resolution, clinical oversight (how and when physicians and DONs are involved), and billing/discharge procedures. Visiting at different times of day and speaking directly with therapy, nursing, and activity staff can reveal consistency. The facility has many strengths that families value, but the documented safety and communication concerns mean that monitoring and active family advocacy will be important to ensure a consistently safe and positive experience.
