Longhouse Care Center

    711 W 11th St #1-W, Spencer, IA, 51301
    3.2 · 6 reviews
    • Assisted living
    • Memory care
    AnonymousLoved one of resident
    2.0

    Grandfather's care was mixed, concerning

    My grandfather died here (RIP Gramps) and I have mixed feelings. Staff like Chey and Lily were caring and parts of the building were clean, but I also saw disturbing neglect - loved one unkept, residents left sitting alone with no music/TV and 40-minute waits for help. Overall conflicted, but leaning thumbs-down.

    Pricing

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    Amenities

    3.17 · 6 reviews

    Overall rating

    1. 5
    2. 4
    3. 3
    4. 2
    5. 1
    • Care

      1.0
    • Staff

      3.7
    • Meals

      3.2
    • Amenities

      3.2
    • Value

      3.2

    Pros

    • Great staff noted by multiple reviewers
    • Specific staff praised (Chey and Lily)
    • Clean building
    • Friendly to family members
    • Longstanding positive view (
    • Nice for years

    Cons

    • Reports of poor cleanliness or unkept loved one
    • Residents left sitting alone/unattended
    • Lack of activities or stimulation (no music, no TV)
    • Long response times for assistance (40-minute wait reported)
    • Worrisome or disturbing experiences described
    • Mentions of resident death
    • Mixed and inconsistent experiences across reviewers
    • Some reviews are cryptic or lack detail, making assessment difficult

    Summary review

    Overall sentiment across these summaries is mixed and somewhat polarized. Several reviewers express clear appreciation for the staff and the facility — calling it a "great place," singling out specific employees (Chey and Lily) for affection, describing the building as clean, and noting that staff are friendly to family. At the same time, other reviews raise serious concerns about care, supervision, and environment, using words such as "awful," "worrisome," and "disturbing." The juxtaposition of strongly positive comments about staff and facility cleanliness with troubling reports of neglect and slow responses creates an inconsistent picture of the center’s day-to-day operations.

    Staff: The most consistent positive theme is staff-level praise. Multiple reviewers specifically name staff members (Chey and Lily) and offer warm sentiments, suggesting that certain caregivers make a strong, positive impression on families. That same theme includes statements that staff are friendly to families, which indicates at least some strength in family communication and interpersonal rapport. However, some reviews either do not comment on staff or imply poor caregiving through reports of long waits for assistance and residents left unattended. This contrast suggests variability in staff performance or possible staffing-level issues at certain times or shifts.

    Care quality and safety: Important safety and care concerns appear in several summaries. Reports that residents were left sitting alone and a specific account of a 40-minute wait for help point to potentially inadequate supervision or slow response times in urgent or routine needs. There is also at least one mention of a loved one being "dirty/unkept," which raises questions about personal care standards. Additionally, one review references a death (phrases like "mentions death" and "RIP gramps"), which, while not providing context or causation, increases the perceived seriousness of the negative reports. Taken together, these items suggest that while some families felt well cared-for, others experienced lapses in timely, attentive caregiving.

    Facilities and cleanliness: Reviews include both praise and criticism regarding the environment. Several reviewers explicitly call the building clean, which is a meaningful positive. Contrastingly, the concern that a loved one appeared "dirty/unkept" suggests possible inconsistencies in hygiene or personal care practices, or that cleanliness is not uniformly maintained for all residents. The disparity between a generally "clean building" and isolated reports of unkempt residents indicates that facility-wide upkeep may not directly translate to consistent resident-level personal care.

    Activities, amenities, and daily life: Multiple reviewers mention a lack of stimulation, specifically noting "no music, no TV." That indicates activities and recreational programming may be sparse or not consistently offered, which can impact residents’ quality of life. There is no consistent positive commentary about activities or amenities, and in fact the explicit mention of absent common entertainment options is a notable negative theme.

    Dining and other services: The available reviews provide no substantive or consistent information about meals, dining quality, or other support services. Several summaries explicitly lack comments on meals, activities, amenities, care quality, or value. Because of that absence, no reliable conclusion about dining or ancillary services can be drawn from these summaries alone.

    Management, consistency, and patterns: A prominent pattern is inconsistency — some reviewers describe a warm, clean, family-friendly facility with exceptional staff, while others recount neglectful or troubling situations. The presence of cryptic or detail-poor reviews (for example, short comments like "awful" or symbolic remarks such as thumbs-down icons and "RIP gramps") makes it harder to interpret the scope and severity of problems. These mixed signals could reflect variability across shifts, differences in individual resident needs, or a small number of serious incidents amid generally acceptable care. They also highlight the need for clarifying information: dates, specifics of incidents, and whether concerns were raised with management.

    Conclusion and implications: The reviews point to real strengths in staff members who form positive relationships with families and maintain a clean facility, but they also raise substantial safety and care concerns in several accounts. Because the feedback is polarized and sometimes vague, anyone evaluating Longhouse Care Center should seek more detailed, recent, and specific information: ask for staffing ratios and response time policies, inquire about activity schedules and entertainment options, review inspection and incident records if available, and arrange an in-person visit to observe conditions and staff-resident interactions. The mixed nature of the reviews means the facility may meet expectations for some residents and fall short for others; deeper, facility-specific investigation is warranted before drawing firm conclusions.

    Location

    Map showing location of Longhouse Care Center

    About Longhouse Care Center

    Longhouse Care Center sits in Spencer, IA, and provides a variety of care services for seniors who need help with daily activities, so you'll find assisted living, nursing home options, and even specialized memory care for those with Alzheimer's or other memory concerns, and the place tries to make things easier with personalized care plans for each resident. The center offers help with things like bathing, dressing, medication, and moving around, and you'll see 24-hour supervision and non-ambulatory care, all while giving folks options for both short and long-term stays. The rooms come furnished and have telephones, and they let residents bring pets, which is nice for anyone who doesn't want to be apart from a furry companion. Meals are cooked every day, with choices for allergies, diabetes, and special diets, so everybody can eat safely, and meal service happens on a regular schedule. For social time, there are movie nights, walking paths, gardens, community activities, and devotional programs to meet spiritual needs, including both on-site and offsite activities for those who like to get out now and then, with transportation and parking made available too. Housecleaning and laundry get handled by staff, and the emergency alert system helps keep everybody safe. The building has communal areas for socializing, as well as congregation living options. Skilled nursing and rehabilitation are there for those coming from a hospital or needing recovery, and caregivers speak English with support for other languages as needed. Longhouse Care Center says they treat everyone like family and want residents to feel comfortable while staying independent as possible, focusing on well-being and a smooth transition whether going home or settling in for a longer stay.

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