Overall impression: The reviews for Lakewest Rehabilitation & Skilled Care are highly polarized, with a mix of strong praise for rehabilitation outcomes and particular staff members alongside numerous and serious complaints about understaffing, neglect, cleanliness, and safety. Multiple families describe excellent therapy services and compassionate individual caregivers that enabled successful discharges and recovery; conversely, many other reviewers describe experiences that they characterize as neglectful, unsafe, or even harmful. The result is a facility with a wide variance in reported quality that appears to depend heavily on staffing levels, individual caregivers on shift, and management responsiveness in specific cases.
Care quality and clinical safety: Several reviewers highlight very good rehabilitation outcomes, praising the therapy department (physical, occupational, speech) and reporting that loved ones regained function and returned home. Individual nurses and CNAs are frequently singled out for exemplary attention, responsiveness, and competence. However, an equally strong theme is inconsistent and unsafe clinical care: missed night medications, delayed or unstarted physician orders, failure to change catheters (with at least one reviewer reporting sepsis), ignored call lights, rough/incorrect handling (e.g., blood pressure taken incorrectly), and delays placing patients in rooms after hospital discharge. These serious clinical lapses are described as causing or nearly causing harm, and in some reviews are associated with hospital readmissions and legal/police involvement. Multiple reviews explicitly warn others not to send vulnerable loved ones due to safety risks.
Staffing, communication, and culture: Understaffing is one of the most frequently mentioned issues. Reviewers report only two nurse aides per hall at times, few dependable CNAs and nurses on shifts (especially nights and weekends), and staff that are overextended. Understaffing is linked to residents being left unattended, delays in assistance, and emotional distress (e.g., patients yelling for help and crying). Communication problems appear on multiple fronts: poor handoffs between hospitals and the facility, staff not communicating who took report, administrators or staff being slow or unresponsive to family calls, and occasions where the facility refused admissions or delayed care pending hospital communication. While some families describe management that is proactive and easy to reach, others report unprofessional handling of complaints or staff who hang up on callers.
Facility environment and hygiene: The building’s physical appearance receives mixed feedback. Some reviewers describe a stylish, hotel-like facility (built in 2011) with pleasant common areas, dark wood finishes, and family-friendly spaces. Yet numerous reviews contradict that image, reporting filthy rooms and common areas, pervasive urine and other unpleasant smells, cockroach infestation, dirty toilets, clothes not washed, and instances of AC flooding and general disrepair. These environmental problems are frequently tied to neglectful care practices and poor infection control in reviewers’ accounts.
Staff behavior and management variability: There is substantial variability in staff professionalism reported. Several reviewers rave about particular staff and administrators (nurses like “Zackary,” certain CNAs, and some administrators who know residents personally and follow up), crediting them with attentive, family-like care. At the same time, other reviews describe rude, inattentive, or unprofessional behavior — including staff fighting in front of residents, watching videos on phones instead of responding to alerts, harsh bedside manner, and staff who refuse to take appropriate responsibility. Some reviewers report good relationships with management and rapid problem resolution; others recount being ignored, having belongings lost, or feeling mistreated by administration. This inconsistency suggests uneven training, supervision, or turnover.
Outcomes, incidents, and allegations: Several reviews report severe outcomes and alarming incidents: alleged neglect leading to sepsis, falls with serious injury, near-fatal deterioration requiring hospital transfer, and even allegations of resident deaths and attempted cover-ups. Some families describe filing police reports or moving their loved ones immediately to other facilities. These are serious allegations and, while reported by reviewers, they highlight a pattern of critical safety concerns that prospective residents and families should investigate further.
Dining, activities, and other services: A subset of reviews report good food, active programming, and enjoyable visits, with staff organizing activities and providing social engagement. Therapy and rehab services regularly receive praise for helping residents regain independence. Financial and admissions assistance is also noted positively by some families.
Patterns and recommendations for prospective families: The reviews collectively point to a facility with pockets of excellence (notably rehabilitation and certain individual staff/administrators) but with recurring systemic problems—chiefly staffing shortages, inconsistent clinical practice, serious hygiene and maintenance concerns, and variable management responsiveness. The most reliable pattern is that outcomes depend heavily on who is on shift and how management is functioning at a given time. If considering Lakewest, families should conduct thorough, in-person tours at multiple times of day (including nights/weekends), ask about staffing ratios and recent staffing shortages, request specifics on infection control and laundry practices, inquire about how the facility handles hospital handoffs and missed medications, check references on key staff (therapy leads, nursing managers, administrators), and maintain regular monitoring and communication while a loved one is there. Given the range of accounts—from excellent rehabilitative success to reports of neglect and harms—due diligence and ongoing oversight are essential if choosing this facility.
