Harris Health Care Center North

Harris Health Care Center North sits in Central Falls, Rhode Island, as a small 32-bed, for-profit skilled nursing and rehab home, and folks say it's earned awards like "Top Nursing Home in Rhode Island" and "Best Nursing Home in Central Falls" in 2019, which tells you someone appreciates the care, even though it's had its share of deficiencies like issues with pressure ulcer care, some infection controls, and medication errors, according to government reports, but that's how these places go sometimes and they're watched pretty close by the state and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The place takes both Medicare and Medicaid, and it's managed by Chad Harris-Charles Harris owns it outright-since back in 2004, and you'll find 10 private rooms and 11 semi-private spots, with resident rooms including cable TV, telephones, and Wi-Fi, plus a big TV in the common area and a movie night on a 7-foot screen, which helps folks pass the time. Nurses here, from RNs to LPNs to CNAs, give about 3.19 hours of care per resident each day, and you get all kinds of therapy-physical, occupational, speech, and even recreational-along with rehab after surgery or injury, and they do palliative care too. There's no Continuing Care Retirement Community program, so it's not one of those places where you can age in place all the way through, but they do offer respite stays, memory care programs, and help for people with pressure ulcers, plus IV and inhalation therapies when needed. The dining room tries to make meals feel special with tablecloths and fresh flowers, and you can pick from a full menu during longer breakfast, lunch, and dinner windows-residents can choose when to eat within those times. Activity runs daily from morning until nine at night, with everything from Wii Bowling and group games to outings like sporting events, zoo or park trips, barbecues, and family days, with staff working to keep things lively using resident choices as a guide. Residents get assigned to the same caregivers as much as possible, and there's a full-time social worker for one-on-one visits, which some folks appreciate when they're feeling down or need help. There's both a resident council and a family council so people can give feedback or air out concerns, and the management says they keep a family-like tradition focused on meeting residents' needs in a "Culture Change" home-like setting, where people get some say in their daily life. The facility got a B+ rating for long-term care and an A-minus for short-term care, which suggests care is steady but not perfect. Harris Health Care Center North runs 24/7, provides both private and semi-private rooms, and does its best to offer comfort, routine, and therapy to folks who need help with daily living or complex skilled nursing care.