Overall sentiment across the review summaries is highly mixed and polarized: several reviewers praise the staff, community feel, available medical visits, and value, while a substantial number of reviews describe serious cleanliness, safety, staffing, and management problems. This creates a pattern of uneven quality where some residents and families experience reliable, compassionate care and others report neglect, unsanitary conditions, and operational failures. The themes below summarize the most frequently mentioned strengths and concerns and highlight areas families should investigate further when considering New Hanover House.
Care quality and resident hygiene: Many reviews report troubling lapses in basic personal care and medical attention. Accounts include residents not being bathed or shaved, being left unclothed or with urine/feces on clothing, pills left in beds, and overmedication concerns. Families reported ignored POA directives and delayed medication communication. Conversely, other reviewers felt their loved ones received capable care, and some noted that the community could handle medical and cognitive issues adequately. The contrast suggests inconsistent care delivery, possibly tied to staffing levels, leadership, or unit-specific practices (particularly in memory care).
Staffing, management, and culture: Staffing and leadership emerge as a central dividing line. Negative reviews emphasize high staff turnover, understaffing, unresponsive or uncaring behavior (including a named director perceived as uncaring and a leader referred to as “Lisa” described as ineffective), improper clock-in/out practices, and front-office/customer-service problems. Positive reviews, in contrast, describe hardworking, long-term, caring staff who make the place feel like family and new leadership that appears attentive and sincere. This inconsistency points toward management instability or uneven training/oversight across shifts or units, meaning families may have markedly different experiences depending on timing and staff assignments.
Facility cleanliness, pest control, and maintenance: A major cluster of negative reports concerns facility cleanliness and pest control. Specific allegations include roaches in kitchens, rooms, microwaves, and activity areas; bedbugs; dirty, dingy or yellow sheets; sticky floors; urine odors; and rooms that are disintegrating or poorly maintained. Laundry problems are repeatedly cited: dirty laundry and linens, an insufficient number of washers (one machine for 30+ residents), and improper handling. Several reviews describe the dining area as unsanitary. Offsetting these complaints are reviews that call the facility spotless with hardworking housekeepers, indicating significant variability in housekeeping standards or enforcement.
Safety, incidents, and environment: Some reviews raise safety and unusual incident concerns: reports of marijuana on premises, COVID spread among residents, and a dramatic account of an abrupt eviction related to an alligator on the property with poor communication about danger. Other reviewers describe a welcoming, peaceful environment with opportunities for socialization. The presence of such safety-related reports suggests either occasional lapses in on-site risk management or isolated incidents that were not well handled or communicated to families.
Dining, activities, and social life: Activity programming and companionship are commonly praised: many daily activities, a small-community atmosphere, and positive mentions of service dog visits. Several reviewers appreciated the socialization and felt the community provided peace of mind. Food quality receives mixed feedback—some reviews say the food is good and value fits the budget, while others say food needs improvement and residents can be left hungry at night with no snack options.
Medical and administrative services: There are positive notes about weekly doctor visits and 24/7 help being available, and some families appreciated the all-inclusive pricing and perceived value. However, administrative and billing issues were raised, including disputes or confusion over billing and inconsistent application of care-level increases. Limited nursing staff (reliance on CNAs and medication technicians) is cited as a constraint for residents with higher medical needs.
Patterns and recommendations for prospective families: The aggregate pattern is one of inconsistency—some residents flourish and families report trust and peace of mind, while others experience neglect, unsanitary conditions, and leadership failures. Repeated operational complaints (pests, laundry shortages, lack of supplies, medication handling, and management instability) are serious and repeat across multiple reviews, indicating systemic issues that should be probed carefully.
If considering New Hanover House, prospective residents and families should: (1) tour multiple units at different times of day and speak directly with current residents and their families, (2) ask for specifics on pest control protocols, housekeeping schedules, laundry capacity and policies, and how basic supplies are provided, (3) review staffing ratios, turnover rates, and qualifications of clinical staff, (4) get written policies on medication administration, incident reporting, and POA/directive honoring, (5) request recent inspection reports and infection-control measures, and (6) clarify billing practices and how care-level changes are handled. The mixed reviews mean that while the facility can be a good fit for some, there are credible and repeated reports of serious problems that warrant thorough due diligence.
