ArchCare at Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center — Local services in New York

Be aware if you are putting your loved one in Caramel. My mother was on the 3rd floor for rehab and it wasn’t a good experience. There are some hard, dedicated workers there but they are extremely short handed ( staff told me this and I observed it) . Do to being under staffed expect your loved one to sit in the cafeteria from morning to night in a wheelchair sometimes right under air conditioning blowing out of the ceiling. I went to see my mother everyday, 2 times finding her in the cafeteria soaked in urine. On one of those occasions she was in a wheelchair with her diaper so full the urine was running along the floor under her wheelchair ( I have pictures). My mother developed a urinary track infection ( they said Ebola) and was treated with anti biotics. At some point after that , on a Monday I spoke to a nurse who told me my mother had a second infection but they wanted to do more tests to confirm. They discovered the 2nd infection on a Friday and this was a Monday, so I said are the results in yet? The nurse told me it was the weekend and they forgot to do it but they will start treating her with more antibiotics in case. I told her I visit my mother everyday and they have my #, why didn’t they advise me of the 2nd infection? She told me she didn’t know why but they would have someone , possibly the Dr. call me that day. Never happened. I went to visit my mother at night (around 8pm) and all the patients were lined up outside the elevator ( a nightly practice) with a nurse sitting facing them. My mother was hanging over the right side of the wheelchair and not making sense when I talked to her. One day I felt my mother was deteriorating and decided I wanted to move her to the hospital, I asked them to have the Dr. call me when she came in that night. Dr. never called so I kept calling until I got the Dr. I asked the Dr. what is going on with my mother and there were no solid answers so I had them call an ambulance to move my mother to a hospital. I also asked the Dr. why she works overnight while all the patients are sleeping and she can’t speak and interact with them, the Dr. told me she works overnight to read test results.( your loved one will have little to no interaction with a Dr.). My mother was moved to the hospital in the middle of the night where we were told she had pneumonia ( Caramel never knew or never mentioned pneumonia to us). By the time my mother got to the hospital she was out of it and pretty much unable to talk. She passed a week later. I realize my mother was 92 and a broken hip is tough to recover from but she was a strong 92 and the surgeon who performed surgery on her hip thought she was a strong candidate because of her fitness and being mentally sound ( my mom was sent from Caramel with me to the surgeons office while she was being rehabbed and he was pretty surprised of her condition). The employees working the rehab are good and work hard, I will say that. Just a word of caution if you are thinking of putting a loved one into...

"We have other patients; we don't have nurses"

If I could give negative starts I would. This is the place people are sent to be discarded!

The case management in the Staten Island hospital forced my mom to go there "for short term rehab" and they gave her no rehab no attention, total and utter neglect, and had no clue how to take care of her. Yesterday I found them trying and failing to stick an IV in my totally dehydrated mom, I demanded they call 911 and take her to hospital where it turned out she has full blown pneumonia, a UTI, and fever that the nursing home never checked.

She gets tired and needs to lay in bed for a couple of hours - only if I stay with her, because nobody there to watch over her.

In the dining room she sits for hours on end, her oxygen tank is empty, nobody checks

In the dining room she sits without water and aid doesn't care.

Food comes and nobody would help her eat so she doesn't eat anything

Anytime she needs to poop she has to wait for hours because there are other patients

Physical therapy is for short time and the rest of the time she is not allowed to get up because she needs help with it but there are other patients.

Sometimes she is not even allowed to get up to go to the bathroom

As the result her muscles atrophy and her butt hurts and she is developing bed sores, and she is worse than before she came here. The mattress under her that protects against bed sores is deflated. Total neglect!

I call the supervising nurse and always sent to voicemail, and she calls back in two days

In two weeks, she never went outside

She has difficulty breathing and nobody understands what she complains about. But Saturday was there, and mom told me it was difficult to breathe, and I had to go to the nurse five times before she found the time for mom, because she was very busy. And when she finally came she dismissed my mom’s complaint as something not to worry about - and this was in fact the sign of pneumonia 😡

She has her regular nephrologist who knows her kidney disease and can see her when she gets high creatinine but here it takes five days to be seen.

Always dehydrated! She can't find the water even when she has it by her bed. Nobody offers her water because they are all busy. Total neglect!

As a result of the 12 days of rehabilitation she was taken to emergency room with pneumonia AND the UTI from the catheter they put in. Nobody cared when she was running...

I have a family member at Carmel Richmond rehabilitation center, and I have to compliment all the people who work there, for everything they do, each and every day, for the residents and rehabilitation patients that come into their care. The entire staff is nice, welcoming, competent, and patient. From what I’ve witnessed, each member does the work of four people on a daily basis, to make sure the residents and rehabilitation patients are given the level of care that they need to get back to a better quality of life. Carmel Richmond is a well run facility which is currently undergoing a renovation ( while remaining open) to better serve their residents, patients & families. The PT department works with each patient’s abilities & is not a one size fits all facility. The PT staff is kind, professional & motivates their patients which leads to steady improvement & progress. Communications between doctors & families are facilitated by the excellent nursing staff which diligently enters notes for the doctors from the families. Resulting in effective communication for all. Arch Care runs the Carmel Richmond site and they are accommodating to residents’ ,patients’ or families’ concerns. Care & safety of the residents is top priority. My family member is making steady progress and we are grateful for the many individuals who work together to achieve what’s best for their patients. Special thanks to the aids( wear grey) who have the most contact with the residents & patients. The aids have tremendous patience and lead with competence and kindness. As I stated earlier, Carmel Richmond is a well run facility, both medically & operationally which benefits the patients’ care.

Matthew 7:1-2; Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes"; this proverb encourages empathy by suggesting you consider another person's experiences before forming an opinion. Thank you to the team at Arch Care’s Carmel Richmond Rehabilitation Center for making a positive contribution & difference in so many ways for so...