Overall sentiment across reviews is mixed but leans positive with important exceptions. Many families praise the facility for its dementia-focused care model, compassionate staff, strong leadership under Director Roger, and an environment that feels home-like and family-oriented. Multiple reviewers highlight individualized attention — staff knowing residents by name, personalized resident bios posted outside rooms, and holiday/personal recognition — which contributes to peace of mind and a high degree of satisfaction for many residents and families. The small-facility atmosphere and consistent social engagement are repeatedly cited as strengths; reviewers report residents becoming more socially active, gaining weight with improved nutrition, and enjoying a variety of activities.
Care quality and staff competency are frequently praised: reviewers mention an excellent Director of Nursing, a proactive Nutritional Manager, a reliable Maintenance Manager, and dementia-trained staff who handle behavioral needs with patience. The facility’s physical design also receives strong positive remarks. Several reviews emphasize that the layout is purpose-built for memory care — circular hallways, safe walking spaces, and thoughtful lighting — which supports mobility and safety for residents with Alzheimer’s. Dining and activities are commonly described as superb: nutritious meals, improved appetite/weight gain, and a broad activity program including reminiscence-focused events, bingo, exercise, manicures, weekly volunteers, and outings that provide meaningful engagement.
However, recurring operational and safety concerns temper the positive impressions. Multiple reviewers report chronic understaffing and high staff turnover; these issues are linked to inconsistent caregiving, rotating staff assignments, and breakdowns in coordination. Several families describe missed hygiene care and other basic tasks when staffing is inadequate. Weekend coverage by temporary staff has been criticized for reducing continuity of care — one review notes that management shifted weekend staffing to in-house employees to address this issue, which some families viewed as an improvement. Laundry errors (missing or mislabeled clothing) and occasional urine odor were also reported by some families, indicating variability in housekeeping and laundry processes.
A particularly serious cluster of comments centers on a tragic safety incident described by one reviewer: an allegation that a resident was dropped during a transfer from a wheelchair to a bed, suffered a skull fracture and brain bleeding, and died within 24 hours after entering hospice. That reviewer also alleges delayed or withheld records and a suspected cover-up, which has left their family devastated. These are allegations reported in the reviews and signal an acute and severe concern about resident safety, communication, and record-keeping for at least one family. Separate, less extreme communication concerns appear elsewhere: a few reviewers mentioned unresponsiveness from the director or disrespectful behavior from an administrative assistant.
In short, Hickory Hills Alzheimer's Special Care Center receives strong, consistent praise for its dementia-centered programming, compassionate and attentive caregiving (when staff are present), purposeful facility design, varied activities, and improved nutrition. These strengths produce measurable benefits for many residents — increased socialization, improved appetite, and an overall sense of being at home. Nonetheless, the facility shows patterns of operational strain: understaffing, staff turnover, occasional lapses in hygiene and laundry, intermittent odors, and notable communication failures. Most importantly, the singular but grave allegation of a resident being dropped and subsequent problems with records and communication represents a serious red flag that prospective families should investigate directly.
Families considering Hickory Hills should weigh the widespread positive comments about specialized dementia care, activities, and leadership against the documented operational issues. When evaluating the facility, ask specific questions about current staffing ratios (including weekends and night shifts), turnover rates, staff training/certification in transfers and fall prevention, incident reporting and records access policies, laundry management, and how management has addressed the previously reported problems. The balance in the reviews suggests a facility capable of excellent, personalized dementia care, but one whose quality may vary depending on staffing stability and management responsiveness in addressing serious incidents.
