The Hillcrest of North Dallas — Attraction in Dallas

I just spent a month here after having back surgery that required me to receive IV antibiotics through a PICC line. If you're coming here with very short notice you may have temporary "continuity of treatment" issues as they use a pharmacy in Tyler that needs at least a day's advance notice to ship out your medications, but in my case they accommodated that one-day gap (which was arguably my fault anyway) by extending my stay by one day at no extra charge. The facility is well-maintained and aesthetically pleasing, which I think has an effect on mindset and healing - no bare white cinder block walls or other features more appropriate for a jail setting. The lobby is so pretty that I'd sometimes go hang out there at night when my pain medication kicked in just to take in the prettiness - it complemented that oxycodone vibe. The food is actually pretty good but the portion sizes are, understandably, perhaps more appropriate for elderly patients, but they have a refrigerator with freezer and a microwave so if you can have family or friends bring you some TV dinners and snacks you may want to. And make use of Uber Eats / DoorDash! There are normally leftover trays at meal time from residents who aren't hungry or don't like what's being served, so you can usually double up on food if you don't have anyone who can bring you anything. I think the nutritionist can have an order for double portions entered for you but I didn't take the extra steps required so that's on me. They have single and double occupancy rooms, and having the extra space and privacy is worth the extra $$$ for a single - the rooms are the same size. For a facility that is surprisingly cheap for cash pre-paying residents, the staff are all very professional and the nurses are skilled and experienced. They all treated my family very kindly. The "front of the house" staff are helpful and available during regular hours - Misty being especially helpful even with stuff that I probably should have done myself. The head nurse Derrick could probably practice as a doctor in just about any field, and when he tells you he's going to do something or have it done, it gets done every time in my experience. The frontline nurses became such fixtures in my life that I miss them and actually miss just being there. It was comfortable and became "home" for me. "T," Miss Ivey and Agnes stand out in my mind, and I actually plan on volunteering up there soon so I can be around my friends. There was one especially difficult resident there, an elderly man who had actually been sent there from the Collin County Jail, and he was just a mean, nasty and needy person with not a nice word to say to anybody EVER. Screamed constantly, and hurled all sorts of insults (including racist ones), but there is a nurse's aide there named Miss Shawn who could deal with him and actually get him to mellow out, stop screaming and be something approaching nice. Amazing patience, she deserves a raise just for being able to withstand his avowed racism and for getting him to act like a human. There are activities every day to keep you occupied, bingo, crafts etc., and TVs in every room with local channels and streaming. Bottom line, this isn't some dreadful "home" that we all hope we or our loved ones never end up in, it's actually a pretty pleasant place with lots of caring hands to look after you. This isn't a fake review, I was...

REPORTED THEM FOR ELDER ABUSE!

My mother-in-law went to this place for rehab after having hernia surgery to fix an obstructed bowel. First of all, the place is disgusting. We witnessed one man strapped to a bed, screaming his head off with no one around. The nurses regularly ignore the alarms when the patients call for help.

Our personal experience lasted not even three days. They put my mother-in-law in a bed that was a deflated air mattress. (Picture attached) No nurse came to see her her first morning, which meant she didn’t get her meds. The administrator said the nurse was a no show but didn’t see her until we raised a stink.

The most important incident here was this. My mother-in-law began throwing up bile. A VERY serious situation given her recent surgery. My husband rushed up there and told them to call an ambulance to take her to the ER. After waiting 20 minutes with no ambulance, he went to the front desk to ask where it was. The nurse said they never called one because they were “waiting to hear from her doctor”. My husband turned around and immediately called 911.

If you are told to call for an ambulance, you call an ambulance. You don’t say you will and then wait around for a doctor who isn’t in the office on a Sunday. She’s been in the ICU ever since.

Do NOT leave your family member here if you care about...

I would not recommend at all. My grandmother was here for a couple days and had various complaints. Before the complaint I planned on moving her to a different facility anyway. Releasing they were cleaning floors with sheets and even urine off the floors with pee, my granny had the same sheet on her bed for 5 days, an at night her blood pressure dropped and she was shaking, no one answered the call light so she had to find a way to move and get someone to help her. When I requested something from the nurse it was not done. When it was time to move her to a different facility, they became very unprofessional not answering the phone and even hanging up on the other facilities(admission) face, they did not want to discharge her nor did they care for her before leaving (she was not prepared or giving a bath). The only helpful people were the Admissions, Front Desk Receptionist, and Nurse Director. I am a CNA myself I work for a company in Carrollton Texas. I understand the difficulty and struggle with keep up with residents, but it's not about keeping up it is about the way the facility handled their care with my grandmother, the residents and...