Overall sentiment: Reviews for Carnegie Post Acute Care at Princeton are highly mixed, with a pronounced polarization between very positive experiences—especially around rehabilitation services and many compassionate staff members—and very negative, sometimes severe allegations of neglect, poor sanitation, and safety failures. A core theme is inconsistency: multiple reviewers praise outstanding PT/OT, dedicated nurses, and a warm, family-like culture on certain units (notably the third floor and the subacute unit), while other reviewers describe egregious lapses in basic care, hygiene, and emergency response. This split suggests that quality and safety may vary substantially by unit, shift, and whether care is provided by regular staff or agency personnel.
Care quality and clinical concerns: Rehabilitation services are the most consistently praised element. Numerous families and patients reported excellent, effective physical and occupational therapy resulting in rapid improvements and safe discharges home. Rehab leadership (several mentions naming Stella) and individual therapists received repeated commendations. Concurrently, serious clinical concerns appeared in multiple reviews: long delays responding to call bells, failure to assist residents to the bathroom (leading to prolonged soiling and distress), improper catheter care, medication administration problems (missed doses, delayed medications, and at least one named missing medication), and an alleged failure to respond appropriately in an emergency (choking incident with delayed 911 and inability to use suction equipment). These clinical reports point to gaps in training, supervision, and staffing that, in some cases, resulted in harm or near-harm.
Staffing, professionalism, and culture: Many reviewers singled out individual staff members and managers for exceptional care and compassion—names such as Muni, Amanda, Rowena, Yohana, Gilchrist, and others recur as trusted, attentive staff. Families often described a warm, personal culture where staff "go the extra mile," help with personal items, and provide emotional support during restricted visitation. At the same time, multiple reports detail understaffing, aides being overworked (one aide covering an entire floor), agency nurses described as dismissive, and some staff accused of rude or abusive behavior. This indicates that staffing shortages and reliance on agency personnel correlate with lower perceived care quality and family trust. Several comments also note improved responsiveness and positive change under new management, though not all reviewers agree the improvements are universal or complete.
Facility, housekeeping, and safety: Reviews about cleanliness and maintenance are sharply divided. A substantial number of reviewers describe the facility as clean, well-maintained, and immaculately kept in common areas and activity rooms. Conversely, other reviewers report extremely troubling sanitation issues, including fecal matter on floors, dirty toilets, urine smell, and rooms not being cleaned. Reports of broken or unsafe equipment (walkers, wheelchair wheels), items misplaced or locked away, and slow maintenance responses add to safety concerns. These contradictions again point to variability by unit and raise concerns about infection control and consistent housekeeping protocols.
Dining and activities: Food quality is another recurring pain point: many reviewers complain that meals are cold, inedible, or poorly prepared, with limited variety and inadequate accommodation for vegetarian diets. However, some families reported good food and praised the dietician/menus. Activities are generally described positively when available—classic movies, live music, Bingo, outdoor time, and outings such as Trader Joe’s trips were enjoyed—though pandemic restrictions reduced activity frequency for some residents.
Administration, management, and operations: Several reviewers report accessible, responsive leadership and credit recent management changes with meaningful improvements. Names like Amanda and administrative staff are identified as approachable and helpful; specific staff members in admissions and therapy are praised for smoothing transitions. Nonetheless, there are recurring mentions of billing disputes, Medicaid coordination problems, lack of prompt callbacks to families with concerns, and an inconsistent accountability culture. Reports of alleged medication or personal-item theft and inadequate documentation escalate the severity of administrative concerns for some families.
Patterns and takeaways: The dominant pattern across reviews is inconsistency: exceptionally good rehab results and caring individualized nursing on some units contrasted with reports of neglect, hygiene failures, medication lapses, and understaffing in others. Positive reviews cluster around rehab outcomes, named staff who provide remarkable, personalized care, and recent management efforts. Negative reviews cluster around emergency response failures, prolonged waits for basic needs, sanitation issues, and personnel variability (agency vs regular staff). Families considering Carnegie Post Acute Care should weigh the facility’s strong rehabilitation reputation and several standout staff against the documented variability in daily nursing care, housekeeping, and safety practices. Visiting in person, asking about staffing ratios on the specific unit your loved one would occupy, confirming medication and emergency protocols, and checking recent inspection or regulatory records would be prudent steps.
Final recommendation summary: Carnegie Post Acute Care at Princeton appears to offer top-tier rehabilitation services and many compassionate, skilled caregivers—many patients benefit and recover well. However, there are multiple, credible reports of severe lapses in basic care, sanitation, and emergency handling that cannot be ignored. Prospective residents and families should perform careful, targeted due diligence (unit-specific observations, staff identification, review of incident/survey history, and explicit discussion of staffing and nursing coverage) before committing, and they should maintain proactive communication with administration to ensure consistent standards of care.
