Overall sentiment across the reviews is deeply mixed, with a clear pattern of strong rehabilitation and therapy services set against significant concerns about routine nursing care, management responsiveness, safety, and dining. Many reviewers praise the therapy team—and a number of individual clinicians—calling therapy a real strength of the facility. At the same time, several detailed complaints describe dangerous lapses in daily nursing care and patient safety that suggest systemic staffing and management problems.
Care quality is uneven. Multiple reviews describe the initial rehabilitation experience as positive, with therapists performing well and producing good outcomes. Conversely, there are numerous reports of poor or unsafe ongoing care: residents left NPO with ice chips (creating aspiration risk), patients laid flat while being fed, feeding tube management issues, residents not dressed or assisted with activities of daily living, and delays in changing/turning that led to rashes or skin breakdown. These accounts indicate inconsistency between the therapy unit’s strengths and the quality of routine nursing and personal care.
Staffing and staff performance are recurring themes. Several comments note that some CNAs and other staff are exceptional—caring, competent, and compassionate—while other comments describe CNAs as overworked, fewer in number, or even bullying toward residents. Reviewers frequently attribute poor care to inadequate staffing and high workload, and some attribute declining morale and quality to corporate decisions. There is mention of the dismissal of an admired Occupational Therapist (Charles Jordan), which several reviewers cited as symptomatic of poor management choices and declining morale.
Facilities and atmosphere receive generally positive remarks: the building and rooms are described as clean and attractive, clinical and hospital-like (which some families appreciated for clinical needs and others found sterile or prison-like), rooms are large but mostly shared (two residents per room) with no private rooms noted, and the site has secure, buzz-in entry and an Alzheimer’s unit. The therapy unit and clinical spaces are singled out as strengths; reviewers describe the campus as well-maintained and sprawling rather than resort-like.
Dining and nutrition drew substantial criticism. Multiple reviewers described the food as processed, poor in quality, and dictated by corporate meal plans rather than individualized nutrition. One review contrasted the excellent therapy with a poor dietary program, and others linked corporate control of meals to an unhealthy diet for residents.
Management, corporate oversight, and responsiveness to complaints are significant concerns. Reviewers repeatedly describe generic or dismissive responses from administration and corporate, express doubt that substantive improvements were being made, and perceive a bottom-line mentality shaping decisions. Several reports assert that complaints go unheeded and that administrative leadership shows insufficient concern. Financial issues were also raised: one or more reviewers warned of monetary exploitation or lax safeguards for self-pay residents, suggesting a risk of financial abuse alongside care concerns.
The reviews include several severe, specific adverse-event allegations that merit attention: a report that a resident’s antibiotics were not continued leading to sepsis and eventual amputation, a report of an unsafe discharge leaving a vulnerable resident alone and found days later who then died weeks afterward, and other claims of treatment lapses with serious consequences. These are singular but grave accounts and they amplify the broader themes of inconsistent care, risky operational practices, and lack of adequate oversight.
In summary, Highland Manor of Mesquite appears to provide strong inpatient rehabilitation and skilled therapy, supported by some very dedicated clinicians and clean, secure facilities. However, repeated and serious concerns about routine nursing care, staffing shortages, management responsiveness, food quality, potential financial vulnerabilities, and several alarming adverse-event reports create a pattern of risk. The overall picture is one of high variability: families may encounter excellent therapists and caring staff, but they may also encounter understaffed shifts, management indifference, or care lapses with serious consequences. Prospective residents and families should weigh the facility’s therapy strengths and facility cleanliness against reported safety, staffing, and management weaknesses; they should ask specific, documented questions about nursing staffing levels, supervision, incident history, discharge procedures, and safeguards for self-pay residents before deciding.
