Overall sentiment about Cedar Haven Healthcare Center is strongly mixed: many reviewers praise the facility, staff, rehabilitation services, and community events, while a notable portion of reviewers describe significant operational and safety shortcomings. Positive reviews emphasize a compassionate, family-like atmosphere, strong individualized care from particular staff and units, successful therapy programs, and a clean, renovated environment with attractive grounds. Negative reviews highlight chronic understaffing, inconsistent staff quality, sanitation failures, meal service problems, overcrowding in some rooms, and concerning safety or reporting issues. Both positive and negative themes are frequent, so prospective families will find experiences vary widely depending on unit, staffing at the time, and individual expectations.
Care quality and staffing: Many reviewers report highly skilled, compassionate, and attentive staff who go above and beyond—nurses, therapists, and specific named employees received repeated praise for personalized care, clear communication, and advocacy. The rehab and PT/TR departments get consistent positive mentions for improving mobility and providing effective walker training. Several units (notably 3F and 3C) are singled out for strong dementia care and consistent staffing. Conversely, a recurring and serious concern is understaffing: reports include no nurse on site, only one aide on the floor, aides unable to answer questions, and staff stretched thin. This shortage is tied to delays in treatment, inconsistent feeding assistance, and a sense that some residents are not properly cared for at times. Some reviews attribute these problems to management, hiring practices, and low staff morale.
Facilities, cleanliness and safety: Numerous reviewers praise the facility’s renovations, clean rooms, private bathrooms in some units, well-kept grounds, courtyard and picnic areas, and a welcoming, home-like environment. However, other reviews report striking sanitation issues — dried urine puddles, dried stool, and strong smells — and describe slow or inadequate cleaning responses after complaints. There are also reports of overcrowding in places (four-person rooms), which contributes to concerns around privacy and infection control. A small but serious subset of reviewers report safety concerns including alleged staff abuse, unqualified staff, incidents not reported, and calls for shutdown; these represent strong negative sentiment and warrant careful inquiry by families.
Dining and daily living: Feedback about food and dining is mixed. Some residents and families say meals are good, there is a nice cafeteria and snack shop, and dining is an appreciated social outlet. Others describe frequent meal service problems — trays arriving late or cold, missing items, incomplete tray sheets, and a dining area that is small or crowded. Meal timing and quality appear inconsistent across shifts or days, which contributes to perceptions of poor value for money when families are paying for higher-level care.
Activities, community events and communication: Cedar Haven receives consistent praise for its activities program, social events, and community outreach. Arts and crafts, bingo, old movies, snack shop visits, vendor fairs, wellness fairs, and special events (car shows, themed parties) are highlighted as strengths that keep residents engaged. The facility’s outreach and communication channels (wellness fairs, an active Facebook page, Zoom visits during COVID) were positively received and helped families stay informed. At the same time, communication problems are cited in specific clinical contexts (for example, a cardiogram miscommunication and extended quarantine/visitation restrictions during COVID), creating occasional frustration and distrust among families.
Management, variability and patterns: A clear pattern is variability — some units and staff consistently earn high praise, while other areas suffer from poor staffing, inconsistent care, and cleanliness concerns. Several reviewers named specific staff (Crystal, Elizabeth, Tammy, Kirstie, Cat, Lynne, Joyce, Theresa) as exemplary, and social work and admissions staff were repeatedly commended for support during placement and crisis. Conversely, anonymous reports of poor hiring, unqualified employees, and management being blamed for short-handed conditions indicate systemic issues in workforce stability and oversight.
COVID impact: Reviews indicate that the pandemic affected consistency of dementia care, visitation, and quarantine policies. Some families appreciated Zoom communication and other efforts to keep them connected, while others were upset by extended quarantines and visitation limitations. The pandemic appears to have exacerbated staffing and continuity problems for some residents.
Recommendation-oriented observations (based on review themes): Prospective families should tour multiple units, ask about current staffing levels, nurse coverage, and recent sanitation/inspection records, and inquire specifically about dementia units and meal service procedures. The facility’s strong points are its therapy programs, community engagement, renovated environment, and many individual staff who provide compassionate care. The most significant risks reported by reviewers are understaffing, inconsistent cleanliness, meal service failures, and a minority of reports alleging safety or abuse issues. Collectively, the reviews suggest Cedar Haven can provide excellent, family-like care in many cases but that quality is uneven across units and shifts; families should verify current conditions and ask for references from long-term residents or families when possible.
