The reviews for St. Barnabas Nursing Home present a sharply mixed picture, with several families describing exceptional, compassionate care and others reporting serious safety and neglect concerns. Positive reviews highlight dedicated clinical staff, effective rehabilitation outcomes, a clean and pleasant environment, and strong hospitality elements such as good food and active programming. Negative reviews describe alarming incidents ranging from poor communication and medication mishaps to physical neglect, bedsores, abusive interactions by staff, and dangerous operational shortfalls. Taken together, the feedback indicates substantial variability in the resident experience that appears to depend on unit, shift, or specific caregivers.
Positive themes: Many reviewers praise nurses, CNAs, and rehab therapists as attentive, patient, and skilled. Several specific examples note successful rehabilitations, coordinated lab and medication management, staff who go above and beyond, and administrative personnel who are supportive and communicative. The facility receives compliments for food quality and variety and for offering a wide array of entertainment and wellness activities. Some families describe very personal, compassionate moments (for example, staff bringing a resident a preferred tea) and peaceful end-of-life care. These accounts portray St. Barnabas as capable of delivering high-quality clinical care and a comforting environment when staffing and processes align.
Negative themes and safety concerns: A number of reviews describe serious and recurring problems. Several families reported unkind or abusive behavior by staff, including yelling and rough handling, and described residents being ignored or roughly fed. Multiple reports cite bedsores and failures to inform families about wounds. Medication management problems appear in the reviews as adverse interactions, delayed problem-solving, and a lack of transparency about medications given. Response times to call lights and requests for assistance are criticized as slow or inconsistent; examples include hearing aids left uncharged, failure to offer basic oral care, and residents left in unsafe positions (a resident described as 'almost vertical'). Operational issues are also highlighted: reviewers report only a single Hoyer lift for the facility with batteries often uncharged, creating major safety and transfer risks. There are reports of falls with serious consequences (a fall resulting in contusion, vomiting, confusion), delayed ambulance response, and even being taken to the wrong hospital; one family reported a subsequent death and ongoing distrust and PTSD related to the experience. There were also notes of insurance/coverage problems that affected the ability to continue rehab services.
Patterns and implications: The most salient pattern is inconsistency. Many reviewers experienced exemplary caregiving, clean facilities, and successful rehab, while others encountered neglectful or abusive behavior and significant lapses in safety and clinical oversight. This split suggests variability by staff, shift, or unit and points to systemic weaknesses in training, supervision, staffing levels, equipment maintenance, and communication protocols. Praise for administrative coordination and some standout staff members shows the facility has strengths to build on, but the recurring reports of medication issues, bedsores, equipment shortages, and poor incident communication indicate areas that require attention.
In summary, St. Barnabas Nursing Home elicits strongly polarized experiences. Prospective residents and families should be aware that while many families report excellent care, dignity, and successful rehabilitation, others report serious neglect, safety lapses, and traumatic outcomes. The reviews recommend careful, specific inquiry into unit-level staffing, wound and medication management practices, equipment availability and maintenance (especially lifts), emergency response protocols, and family communication processes when evaluating this facility.
