Elmora Hills Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center

    225 W Jersey St, Elizabeth, NJ, 07202
    3.5 · 72 reviews
    • Assisted living
    • Memory care
    • Skilled nursing
    AnonymousCurrent/former resident
    3.0

    Excellent therapy, mixed overall care

    I had a mixed experience at Elmora Hills. The rehab team, therapists and many nurses were outstanding - caring, family-like staff helped me regain mobility in a spotless, welcoming facility with great activities - but I also experienced (and witnessed) serious issues: rude/unresponsive staff at times, poor food, missed meds/call lights, hygiene and safety lapses, and unhelpful management. I'd recommend it for focused rehab because of excellent therapy, but only with close oversight and clear expectations if you're considering a longer stay.

    Pricing

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    Amenities

    Healthcare services

    • Activities of daily living assistance
    • Assistance with bathing
    • Assistance with dressing
    • Assistance with transfers
    • Medication management
    • Mental wellness program

    Healthcare staffing

    • 12-16 hour nursing
    • 24-hour call system
    • 24-hour supervision

    Meals and dining

    • Diabetes diet
    • Meal preparation and service
    • Restaurant-style dining
    • Special dietary restrictions

    Room

    • Air-conditioning
    • Cable
    • Fully furnished
    • Housekeeping and linen services
    • Kitchenettes
    • Private bathrooms
    • Telephone
    • Wifi

    Transportation

    • Community operated transportation
    • Transportation arrangement
    • Transportation arrangement (non-medical)

    Common areas

    • Beauty salon
    • Computer center
    • Dining room
    • Fitness room
    • Gaming room
    • Garden
    • Outdoor space
    • Small library
    • Wellness center

    Community services

    • Concierge services
    • Fitness programs
    • Move-in coordination

    Activities

    • Community-sponsored activities
    • Planned day trips
    • Resident-run activities
    • Scheduled daily activities

    3.47 · 72 reviews

    Overall rating

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

      3.3
    • Staff

      3.4
    • Meals

      1.2
    • Amenities

      3.7
    • Value

      1.0

    Pros

    • Strong rehabilitation outcomes and effective physical/occupational therapy
    • Devoted, compassionate, and attentive nursing staff (many individual praise)
    • Supportive, helpful and professional admissions staff (e.g., Tamara, warm receptionist)
    • Family-like atmosphere reported by multiple families and residents
    • Clean, well-lit, and fresh-smelling facility in many reports
    • Inviting common areas, decorations, and family seating areas
    • On-site parking and easy access
    • Varied, engaging activities and entertainment programs
    • Hands-on, proactive administrators and directors praised by some
    • Staff make an effort to know residents and greet them by name
    • Spotless building entry and hotel-like presentation cited by some reviewers
    • Therapy teams and rehab directors repeatedly described as excellent
    • Residents reporting regained mobility, independence, and readiness to return home
    • Warm, friendly, and welcoming environment according to many reviews
    • Some employees described as going out of their way to make residents comfortable
    • Positive experiences with social and recreational programming
    • High marks for certain nurses, aides, and therapists who provide personalized care
    • Professional admissions process and welcoming first impressions
    • Overall recommendations and testimonials from many satisfied families

    Cons

    • Highly inconsistent care quality with reports ranging from excellent to neglectful
    • Reports of staff rudeness, yelling, disrespect, and unprofessional behavior
    • Dirty rooms, soiled/urine-stained sheets, and hygiene lapses in several accounts
    • Strong odors (urine/feces) and inadequate cleaning after incontinence events
    • Repeated meal errors, misserved food, and failure to follow diet plans
    • Undercooked or unappetizing food reported; residents skipping meals
    • Medication errors and alleged denial of medication (named nurse incident)
    • Safety incidents including falls, injuries, spinal fracture, and delayed transfers
    • Second and third shift staffing problems and unresponsive night staff
    • High staff turnover and presence of inexperienced or uncaring new hires
    • Maintenance and security lapses, broken call lights and phone system issues
    • Management unresponsive, poor communication, and billing/insurance disputes
    • Allegations of elder abuse, patients left unattended for long periods
    • Regulatory complaints and references to health department/OSHA involvement
    • Family concerns ignored and lack of follow-through on complaints
    • Inconsistent standards: spotless reports versus reports of a 'pig sty'
    • Language barriers and admissions/process problems for some families
    • Perception of money-driven administration and decline under new management
    • High monthly cost contrasted with reports of poor care for some residents

    Summary review

    Overall sentiment across the reviews for Elmora Hills Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center is strongly mixed and highly polarized. Many reviewers provide glowing accounts of exceptional rehabilitation, compassionate nurses and therapists, a welcoming admissions experience, and a clean, hotel-like environment. At the same time, a substantial number of reviews report neglectful care, safety incidents, unhygienic conditions, and poor administration. The most consistent theme is extreme variability: experiences range from “top-notch” rehab and attentive bedside care to instances of neglect, abuse allegations, and systemic operational problems.

    Care quality and rehabilitation: One of the clearest strengths is the facility’s rehabilitation program. Numerous reviewers describe significant, measurable progress—regained mobility, ability to climb stairs, and readiness to return home or work. Therapy staff and directors are repeatedly praised for being tough but effective, encouraging, and instrumental in recovery. Conversely, other reviewers describe nursing and clinical care as inadequate—missed/mishandled wound care, medication denial, delayed hospital transfers, and even severe safety events (falls resulting in spinal fractures). These conflicting reports suggest that while the rehab teams can be excellent, clinical quality and safety may depend heavily on which staff members or shifts are involved.

    Staffing, culture, and interpersonal care: Reviews repeatedly identify standout individuals by name (positive mentions for staff such as Tamara, Yehuda, Mr. Drew, Olga, and others), reflecting pockets of strong leadership and compassionate caregivers. Many families describe a family-like atmosphere, greeting by name, and staff who go above and beyond. At the same time, many accounts detail rude, distracted, or abusive behavior from other employees—staff talking on cell phones, yelling at residents, ignoring call lights, or being outright disrespectful. Several reviewers highlight poorer performance during second and third shifts and express concerns about high staff turnover and the impact of new, less experienced hires. This inconsistent staff quality and shift-based variability is a dominant pattern and a major driver of differing experiences.

    Facilities, cleanliness, and environment: Multiple reviews praise Elmora Hills for being clean, well-lit, and welcoming with attractive common areas, decorations, family seating spaces, and on-site parking. Several reviewers emphasize a fresh smell on entry and hotel-like presentation. Yet there are strongly contrasting reports of dirty conditions—soiled bedding, unclean rooms, and failure to clean up after diarrhea—with some reviewers describing rooms as a “pig sty.” This contradiction suggests uneven housekeeping practices and that cleanliness may vary by unit, wing, shift, or time.

    Dining and dietary management: Dining is another polarizing area. Several reviewers report proactive correction by leadership when diet errors occur, while many others cite repeated meal mistakes, meals misserved that ignore dietary restrictions, undercooked or unappetizing food, and residents refusing to eat unless family is present. These consistent complaints about dining safety and quality (including special-diet noncompliance) are significant because they affect nutrition, wound healing, and overall health for vulnerable residents.

    Safety, incidents, and regulatory concerns: Safety-related complaints are serious and recurring: falls (including a fall with spinal fracture), patients left unattended for hours in wheelchairs, delayed hospital transfers, alleged physical abuse or punching, and medication errors. Several reviewers mentioned reporting incidents to regulatory bodies and references to health department investigations and OSHA complaints. These allegations elevate concern about systemic quality and require prospective families to seek up-to-date regulatory and inspection records.

    Management, communication, and administration: Administrative experiences are split. Some reviewers celebrate proactive, hands-on administrators and strong admissions teams that make families feel comfortable. Others portray management as unresponsive, financially motivated, or dismissive of complaints, with poor communications, phone system failures, and billing/insurance disputes. There are multiple reports of families being forced to escalate complaints externally (Medicare, the health department) to achieve action. The mix suggests that leadership presence and responsiveness vary over time and by which administrator or shift is on duty.

    Patterns and notable specifics: Several recurring patterns emerge—(1) high variability by staff member and shift (day vs. night), (2) outstanding rehab/therapy outcomes frequently paired with inconsistent nursing/housekeeping performance, (3) named staff who consistently receive praise alongside named incidents of poor individual care, and (4) multiple reports of regulatory complaints and external escalation. Specific incidents (lost dentures, broken call lights, denied medication, misserved diets, and failure to clean after incontinence) appear often enough to indicate operational weaknesses rather than isolated events.

    Overall assessment and guidance: Elmora Hills appears capable of delivering excellent rehabilitation and can offer a warm, professional admission experience and attentive caregivers—particularly during daytime shifts and in specific units. However, the frequency and severity of negative reports (safety incidents, neglect, poor hygiene, dietary failures, and unresponsive management) are substantial and cannot be ignored. Prospective residents and families should perform thorough, current due diligence: visit multiple times including evenings/nights and weekends, inspect rooms and bathrooms, ask about recent inspection reports and any ongoing investigations, confirm staffing levels for nights and weekends, inquire about diet and wound/medication protocols, and request references from recent families who had stays similar to the expected level of care (short-term rehab vs. long-term custodial care). If a decision is already in place and problems arise, document incidents, escalate to named administrators, and be prepared to involve regulators or ombudsmen if necessary.

    In short, Elmora Hills has many well-documented strengths—especially in rehabilitation and where strong staff and leadership are present—but it also has recurring, serious concerns in hygiene, safety, staff consistency, and management responsiveness. Outcomes at this facility appear highly dependent on the specific team and shift caring for the resident, so careful, ongoing oversight by families and verification of current performance are essential.

    Location

    Map showing location of Elmora Hills Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center

    About Elmora Hills Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center

    Elmora Hills Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center is a skilled nursing facility at 225 West Jersey Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with space for up to 200 residents and an average daily census of about 181. This privately owned, for-profit center is part of Ocean Healthcare and is managed by Nursing Facility Administrator Yehuda Goldberg and Director of Nursing Costin Vintlescu. Various owners, including Soffer Family Associates LLC and several individuals, operate the center.

    The facility provides short-term rehab, long-term nursing care, post-hospital recovery, post-surgery rehab, Alzheimer's and dementia care, respite, palliative care, and specialized cardiac and wound care. Elmora Hills supports memory care, behavioral and psychiatric needs, and manages devices like G/PEG tubes and tracheotomies. The staff run programs such as SMART Rehab, heart SMART, and home care. Certified nursing assistants, therapists, skilled nurses, a chef/music instructor, activities assistants, and a full recreation team support care and activities every day.

    Residents get physical, occupational, and speech therapy, post-stroke care, nutritional services, and support groups for Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, and bereavement. The center has a clean, well-kept interior with pleasant accommodations, hotel-like amenities, and no reported odors. There's a dedicated recreation team leading group activities, crafts, and celebrations. The facility also holds community and health advocacy programs and is part of the Health Care Association of New Jersey.

    Nursing staff provide 3.53 nurse hours per resident each day, but the nurse turnover rate is 38.1%. The center has been cited in inspections, with 26 documented deficiencies to date, including an infection control issue (with no actual harm but potential for harm) and an administration-related assessment issue. CMS inspects the facility regularly, and inspection reports are on record. Elmora Hills isn't accepting new patients right now.

    Parking is available, but the lot needs care when using it since it's not in the best condition. Staff speak English, but there's no information about other languages spoken. The facility runs various walking and health programs to keep residents active and offers social services and follow-up care. Elmora Hills posts facility details and updates on its website, where there's also a form for questions or job interest.

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