Life Care Center of Collegedale

Life Care Center Of Collegedale sits at 9210 Apison Pike in Collegedale, Tennessee, and you'll usually find about 109 people living there out of the 124 beds they're allowed to fill, with just about 14 open beds as of June 2025, and the building itself is a fully sprinklered, non-hospital, for-profit skilled nursing facility run by a corporation and going under the name Life Care Centers of America, Inc., with a long business history that goes back 48 years and a current executive director named Ms. Emily Colbaugh. The community gets recognition for its high inspection grade, holding steady with A and A-plus marks, and people have called it one of the better-rated nursing homes in the country, giving it an overall grade of A-minus in most recent evaluations, and that's partly thanks to them providing a wide range of post-acute and rehabilitation care, inpatient and outpatient rehab, and both long-term and short-term skilled nursing care, and folks find medical, dental, mental health, and podiatry services available here too. If you look at the staff, you'll see a mix of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, therapy aides, a doctor, dietician, social worker, pharmacist, feeding assistants, and others, and to be specific, residents get an average of 130 minutes of CNA care, 39 minutes from LPNs, 37 minutes from RNs, and 5 minutes from physical therapists each day-coming out to a nurse staffing level of about 0.68 RN hours, 0.92 LPN hours, and 2.46 CNA hours per resident, all together getting about 1.6 staff hours per resident. They run a clinical lab, do diagnostic X-rays, have onsite dietary services, offer plenty of therapy-including physical, occupational, and speech-and you'll find pharmacy services, wound care, IV therapy, medication management, diabetes management, and even pain assessments, while the building itself is set up with private bathrooms, cable TV, kitchenettes, telephones, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and furnished rooms. Activities are a big part of life there, so they encourage folks to write through their "We Want Mail" program, have scheduled daily activities, a resident council, music programs, community-sponsored outings, exercise in the fitness room, walking paths, gardens, a movie theater, a game room, a library, activity rooms, a spa or wellness area, and even a space for resident-run groups, so people have lots to do or can just sit outdoors. They provide help with moving in, housekeeping, laundry, dry cleaning, family support, transportation and parking, emergency alert systems, concierge services, and things like 24-hour supervision, call systems, and help with transfers, bathing, dressing, and medication, covering the basics of daily living for those who need a little more. They serve meals in a dining room with restaurant-style service, including all-day dining, allergy-sensitive and diabetes-friendly options, and have a professional chef on staff. Health and safety practices include 100% pneumococcal vaccinations for both long- and short-stay residents, flu shots for most, rules banning anyone with a history of abuse from working there, and strict reporting of any suspected misconduct, so most families find comfort in this. About 43% of residents lose bowel or bladder control even though they're low-risk, 8% have urinary tract infections, and 1% lose too much weight, with around 2% feeling more depressed or anxious, and the same number are physically restrained, which are all fairly common across similar nursing homes, and pressure sores show up in about 11% of those at higher risk, while only 6% are needing more help with daily living as time goes on. They're certified by Medicare and Medicaid and accept both, but they're not a hospital nor a full continuing care retirement community, even though people can move between different levels of care as needs change, and they're owned as part of a bigger multi-nursing home group but keep a local connection by inviting the surrounding community to send mail and come for tours. There's a clear attempt to keep residents connected to the outside world and to each other, and while no family council is currently active alongside the resident one, families still get support services if they ask for it. The main things most people notice about this community are the steady high standards for care, reliable nurse staffing, a fair number of services and amenities, and the effort to make daily life as safe and enjoyable as possible for both long- and short-term residents.