The Gardens at Scranton

    824 Adams Ave, Scranton, PA, 18510
    3.4 · 45 reviews
    • Assisted living
    • Memory care
    • Skilled nursing
    AnonymousLoved one of resident
    1.0

    Excellent therapy but severe neglect

    I had a mixed experience. The building, views and rehab/therapy team were excellent and several nurses and activities staff were genuinely caring, but the facility is severely understaffed, often dirty and foul-smelling, with repeated hygiene neglect (soiled sheets/diapers, delayed care), bedsores/UTIs, medication and communication errors, unprofessional behavior and even theft. I can't recommend it unless you confirm reliable staffing, cleanliness and competent management first.

    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

    3.44 · 45 reviews

    Overall rating

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

      2.9
    • Staff

      3.0
    • Meals

      2.8
    • Amenities

      1.0
    • Value

      1.0

    Pros

    • Caring and compassionate staff (many individual praises)
    • Friendly and kind nursing aides and therapists
    • Attentive and supportive rehabilitation/physical therapy department
    • Therapists described as nice and professional
    • Activities program with engaged staff and varied entertainment
    • Family-like atmosphere for some residents
    • Staff who go above and beyond and keep families informed
    • Wheelchair-accessible transportation available/recommended
    • Clean, beautiful building and scenic views reported by some
    • Safe neighborhood and warm environment according to some reviews
    • Prompt readiness for appointments and enthusiastic responses to requests
    • Special meals and social opportunities that include families
    • Good communication and respectful greeting reported by some families
    • Residents described as happy and well cared for in many accounts
    • Rehab and care praised as excellent by several reviewers

    Cons

    • Severe and chronic understaffing across multiple shifts/floors
    • Uncleanliness and filth (dirty floors, filthy lounge, accumulation of filth)
    • Foul and persistent odors including urine smell
    • Poor incontinence care (delayed diaper changes, dirty briefs, poop-stained sheets)
    • Bedsores/pressure ulcers reported, including large/unexplained sores
    • Poor wound care and medical management
    • Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and other infections reported
    • Medication mismanagement and not following medical orders
    • Unattended or neglected residents left in waste/soiled linens
    • Inconsistent staff competence — some untrained or uncaring employees
    • Staff rudeness, yelling, lack of compassion, and abusive behavior reported
    • Theft or missing personal items (television reported stolen)
    • Phone unavailability and poor communication/record keeping
    • Locked doors and restricted access that family members found concerning
    • Unsafe conditions leading to hospital transfers in some cases
    • Poor and inconsistent food quality reported by some reviewers
    • Bad check-in/admissions process and administrative issues
    • High bills and billing disputes referenced (e.g., hospital error/large bill)
    • Inconsistent cleanliness reports (some say clean, others say horrible and dirty)
    • Staff turnover with nurses quitting, leading to continuity problems
    • No orientation for new residents or families in some reports
    • Facility aesthetics sometimes described as prison-like or outdated
    • Insurance/contracting changes affecting placement (removed from approved lists)
    • Mixed quality of staff (some caring, others perceived as collecting a paycheck)
    • Reports urging corporate/CEO contact imply unresolved escalation issues

    Summary review

    Overall sentiment across the review summaries is highly polarized, with a substantial number of reviewers offering strong praise for specific staff members, therapy and activities programs, and the facility's environment in certain instances, while an equally large set of reviews report severe problems with cleanliness, staffing, medical care, and resident safety. The pattern suggests inconsistent performance: pockets of very good care (especially in rehabilitation/therapy and with certain compassionate staff) coexist with recurring reports of neglectful conditions and operational failures.

    Care quality and clinical management: Many reviewers praised individual nurses, therapists, and rehab staff, noting effective physical therapy, attentive therapists, and nursing staff who 'go above and beyond.' These positive accounts highlight meaningful rehabilitation outcomes, prompt readiness for appointments, and staff who keep families informed. Contrastingly, numerous serious clinical concerns are repeatedly mentioned: poor wound care, untreated or developing bedsores/pressure ulcers, UTIs, medication mismanagement, and failure to follow medical orders. Several reviewers described residents left in soiled linens for extended periods, delayed incontinence care, and inadequate bathing — all of which point to lapses in basic clinical and personal care. There are also reports of hospital transfers due to unsafe conditions and at least one account of billing disputes after a hospital transfer.

    Staffing, training, and behavior: Understaffing is a dominant and recurring theme. Reviewers consistently attribute many of the care problems—unattended residents, delayed toileting, inconsistent cleaning—to insufficient and unstable staffing levels. Some accounts note that compassionate nurses eventually quit, exacerbating continuity and quality issues. Reviews describe a mixed workforce: some staff are caring, communicative, and family-oriented, while others are described as rude, unprofessional, untrained, or even abusive. Incidents of staff yelling, lack of compassion, and alleged theft of personal items (a television) further erode confidence. The uneven staff performance suggests variability by shift, unit, or management oversight rather than uniformly good or bad care.

    Facility cleanliness and environment: There is a stark contrast in perceptions of the physical facility. Several reviewers describe the building as beautiful, clean, with lovely views and a safe neighborhood, praising an inviting, home-like atmosphere. However, an equally strong set of reviews report serious cleanliness and sanitation problems: foul odors (notably urine), filth buildup, dirty lounges, stained gowns and sheets, and rooms that appear outdated or 'prison-like.' These opposing views suggest inconsistency in housekeeping standards or episodic lapses—possibly tied to staffing shortages or variability between different areas/floors.

    Activities, social environment, and meals: Activities and social programming receive generally positive mentions: residents are described as engaged, entertainment and programs are available, and the activities director has advocates among families for advocating for residents' wishes (for example, arranging hair-dying). Some reviewers specifically note special meals and inclusive events that invited families. Food quality is mixed: while one reviewer praised soup, others described poor meals (one described 'ground hot dogs'), indicating inconsistent culinary quality or subjective experiences.

    Communication, management, and escalation: Communication receives mixed reviews. Several families report strong, helpful communication and staff who reach out during COVID visitation restrictions, helping to ease anxieties. Conversely, many other reviews call out poor record keeping, phone unavailability, lack of orientation for new residents/families, and inadequate updates on clinical status. Multiple reviewers asked for corporate or CEO contact information, signaling unresolved complaints and a perception that local management did not adequately address serious concerns. Reports of being removed from insurance-approved lists and billing disputes further point to administrative and contracting issues.

    Notable patterns and overall impression: The dominant pattern is inconsistency. When staffing, management oversight, and individual caregivers align, residents appear to thrive: engaging activities, effective rehab, warm communication, and a family-like atmosphere. When staffing is insufficient or when particular employees fail to meet standards, the consequences are severe—poor hygiene, pressure injuries, infections, med errors, and neglect. Given the frequency and severity of negative reports (soiled linens, delayed incontinence care, bedsores, wounds mismanaged), these are red flags that warrant investigation and corrective action by management or corporate oversight.

    Recommendations based on review themes: prospective residents and families should seek up-to-date information about current staffing levels, infection control and wound care protocols, and complaint resolution procedures before admission. During stays, families should monitor skin integrity, incontinence care, and medication administration, and escalate promptly if standards slip. For management and corporate leaders, the reviews suggest the need for consistent staffing, better training and oversight, improved housekeeping and laundry services, clearer communication channels for families, and more reliable record-keeping and clinical adherence to orders. Until there is evidence of systemic improvement, the facility may be suitable for those primarily seeking strong rehab/therapy services (with careful monitoring), but families should weigh the risk of inconsistent basic care and cleanliness reported by multiple reviewers.

    Location

    Map showing location of The Gardens at Scranton

    About The Gardens at Scranton

    The Gardens at Scranton is a 139-bed skilled nursing facility that provides both long-term care and short-term rehabilitation services, so you'll see people working on recovery as well as those living there for the longer haul, and staff members help with things like physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, using tools like Nautilus Therapy Equipment, Electrical E-Stim, Diathermy, and Ultrasound. The facility welcomes all residents without regard to disability or language, and they offer free aids and services for those who might have trouble communicating or getting around, plus they make sure to comply with federal and state civil rights laws to try to prevent discrimination, so people from many backgrounds feel included here. Care covers medication management, help with bathing, dressing, and other daily needs, and there's incontinence management, palliative support, behavioral services, hospice care, and respite care, along with clinical features like wound care, dialysis care, TPN, trach management, IV therapy, and isolation services, and around-the-clock supervision means nurses or other staff are available all day and night, with a 24-hour call system. The building has a homelike feeling, offering private bathrooms, kitchenettes, cable TV, free WiFi, telephones, and air conditioning, making it comfortable, while basic cable and free laundry make life a little easier for residents, and if you walk outside you'll see walking paths, a garden, and outdoor common areas like a deck and even a brick fireplace to sit by if the weather's right. Residents can dine together in a dining room where a professional chef works up restaurant-style meals, and they do their best to offer choices for people with allergies or diabetes, so no one has to worry much about their diet, and food's prepared all day if someone's hungry off schedule. For everyday living, services like housekeeping, laundry, dry cleaning, move-in help, and a concierge exist, and you'll see plenty of places for activities, with arts rooms, a library, fitness and activity rooms, music and movie nights, wellness programs, a spa, and even a snack shop. The place has daily community-sponsored activities and programs run by residents, with encouragement for volunteers to help out, visit, play games with residents, write letters, or even decorate bulletin boards, and volunteers go through background checks and orientation to learn safety and resident rights before they get started. Medical care gets planned around each person's needs, and skilled staff are present to help with anything from transfers to pain management and stroke recovery, even special wound therapy with a Wound Physician and a Wound Vac. The Gardens at Scranton accepts various insurance types like CarePlus, GHP, Highmark, Humana, Medicaid, Medicare, UHC, United Healthcare, and UPMC, so families have plenty of payment options, and the staff there tries to keep the place safe, well-supervised, and as welcoming and calm as possible for both residents and their visitors. There's not much available about unique programs or service names, but you'll find basics like 12-16 hour nursing care, strong ventilation, non-ambulatory care for those with mobility needs, and a full orientation for anyone new to the community.

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