Isabella Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care — Local services in New York

If I could give zero stars I would. My dad was there for two years due to falling twice and breaking both hips and other medical issues. As his health deteriorated, that is when I noticed how badly run this place is. When he really needed their care, I could see the neglect, indifference and apathy of this place. If you have three nurses on the floor, you are lucky to have one that is kind. The administrative staff are clueless and nurses are mean. We tried getting him to leave but because of his dementia he refused because he didn't like change and we didn't want to upset him. Patients roam around urinated and with vomit on their shirts and nobody bats an eye. They sit for hours by the elevators in their wheelchairs neglected. If your loved one needs help being fed, good luck. My dad lost thirty pounds in a matter of months. We were finally convinced by a doctor at Columbia to give him hospice services because it was too late to do anything for him at that point and when we did, my dad was gone in a matter of two weeks. Yet even after signing the Do not hospitalize paperwork, Isabella still sent my dad to an "appointment" and then the ER. I only knew because when I went to visit, he wasn't in his bed. Nobody called to tell us. They promised they would bring him back that evening, but he wasn't returned until 6 am the next morning. Even though the social worker called me and said he was on way back to Isabella at 7 pm. I would have gone to the hospital and sat with him. They also didn't call to say, you should come because he is not looking good today. We all work and relied on Isabella to take care of him. When we called during the day, they would say he is fine, he is talking and eating. The least they could have done was call and say come sit with him. He passed at 2:38 pm and they called me at 3 pm to notify me. At 4:30 pm, the social worker came into the room while we were all there grieving over his body and asked if we made arrangements that his body needed to be picked up that day. They dialed the Ortiz funeral home for me and put me on the phone. Ortiz told me they were on way out and that he can stay at Isabella that night since they have a cooling area. Isabella wanted him out. As we were leaving someone we have never dealt with stopped us to talk about my dad's account with Isabella and to tell us he didn't have any money in the account. My mom said, that is not true, she replied oh well, I wouldn't know about that. I couldn't understand why this woman was talking to us and what was the purpose of the conversation. So we left him there and made arrangements with another funeral home other than the Ortiz for his body to be picked up on Sunday morning (Riverdale Funeral Home are wonderful by the way). Isabella called me on Sunday around 4:30 pm that he needed to be picked up. I called the Riverdale funeral home furious and they assured me that my dad was picked up that morning and was in their care and that I didn't need to deal with Isabella anymore. I called Isabella back and said my dad is no longer there and she said "ohhh I am sorry, I was following up on an email I received last night." Why wouldn't you check before calling me! I am furious at myself for putting my dad in that horrible place and leaving him there. He was only 66 years old and was shuttled back and forth from Isabella to Columbia hospital 5 times in one month. He was like a ping pong ball that nobody cared about. He passed away on 5/17/2019 and I am still raw and sad and now angry on how these past two years played out. The cause of death was not even clear on the death certificate. They basically listed all his ailments. I feel it should say NEGLECT. Please DO NOT PUT YOUR LOVED ONE IN THIS PLACE!! DO YOUR RESEARCH! I feel bad for all those left behind...

ISABELLA KILLS and DESERVES A MINUS ZERO!!! PLEASE don't send your loved ones here. It's a HORROR SHOW of neglect and abuse. They drug their patients into submission on the regular.

Isabella staff on the Dementia floors almost killed my mother TWICE! She was once overdosed with a drug called Dylantin and hospitalized for a month. Most recently she was being starved, literally in spite of the presence of myself and my family up to 6 times a week. My mother, a flight risk that disappeared on the family 3 times, could not be kept at home so we made the difficult choice of placing her in a nursing facility after tons of research.

Isabella shows up with 5 stars on some sites because they supposedly have a stellar adult day care facility and residential facility for assisted living but their DEMENTIA UNIT is a nightmare! My mother went from fully awake, interacting, walking and dancing to a deep sleep she could not come out of. Isabella Nurses and Social worker insisted SHE WAS SIMPLY TIRED. They also insisted she was eating at least one meal a day even though we never saw it in spite of visiting at all hours of the day. Against their advice, we rushed her to the ER. SHE WAS DYING! Admitted with severe malnutrition and dehydration along with bruises on her body, another common problem at Isabellas... the doctors did not think she would make it. Its been two months and she is still not fully recovered.

My mother is in an advanced stage of Dementia but was very active. Not in need of wheelchairs or walkers. We didn't move my mother sooner because Dementia patients need stability. We thought if we were there frequently, we could watch over her care... We were wrong. My mother spent two weeks in the hospital in critical condition with no response. She was hydrated and given vitamins through IV.

The higher ups DON'T CARE! I complained to them endlessly. Not just on behalf of my mother but others... they did nothing. They made excuses time and again with no real lasting changes.

My mom had very prominent and often specific bruising to grabbing, showing up throughout her body many times to no answers. We started taking pictures but were unable to prove how they were happening but absolutely certain it was NOT another resident. I've attached some here.

Residents with no family support have no chance of surviving this evil place.

Visit during the late shift and you'll be hard pressed to find an aide or nurse on the floor. The residents are left soiled for long periods of time and roaming the hallways unattended. We've arrived at all hours of the night with no one even aware we had been there.

Please share this! #IsabellaKills

UPDATE: Isabellas attempt to kill my mother took two months of suffering to overcome. My mother is in another facility where she has awakened from her coma state and is trying to communicate and eat. USABELLA SHOULD BE CLOSED FOR GOOD!!! Complain to the government hotline or website and report any and all elderly abuse!!!...

DONT. My father was transferred there after finishing rehab at White Plains. He still needed some moderate therapy before going home and this place had a bed and approved him right away. But from the moment we arrived, I was horrified.

No one even knew we were coming. We waited long before anyone acknowledged us. They finally rolled us into a dining room with no food no water no welcome. Then they started bringing in elderly patients and just left plates in front of them with no supervision. What if someone choked? I was walking around trying to find a social worker or someone to talk to and there was no one around.

The smell was unbearableee mostly strong, urine. Every single room had its door open, and the smell was pouring out. It was horrible. They told me it was because they were doing a “deep clean,” but nothing about that place felt clean. If you’re doing a deep clean, why does the entire floor smell like that? How can you clean but the place is still dirty? And why is it even open during that process?

They showed us a room they said was “ready,” but it took forever for them to clean it. Everything in there was outdated.. old equipment, dingy furniture and soaked curtains that looked like they had just been washed and hung up still wet. It felt like a neglected nursing home, not a rehab facility.

The hallways were a disaster. Dim lights, clutter everywhere, wheelchairs, garbage bins, random equipment just left out. Hallways should be clear, especially in a medical setting. On top of that, it was obvious that both rehab patients and nursing home residents were mixed in together. Shouldn’t those be on different floors? The vibe was chaotic and depressing

I expressed my concerns and was met with attitude. One staff member even made a phone call right in front of me talking trash, saying I was difficult and “there’s no communicating with her.” Really? Because I was advocating for my dad? They told me since he wasn’t admitted yet, there was nothing they could do and I’d have to call 911 and take him to the ER to get a transfer trying to push me to just leave him there. But I wasn’t going to let my father stay in those conditions. They clearly just wanted the insurance money

I ended up calling 911 myself to get him back to the hospital. When the EMTs arrived, security treated me like I was kidnapping him even though they had just told me he wasn’t technically a patient. It was humiliating and stressful. All I wanted was for my father to be safe and comfortable.

Isabella Rehab is disgusting, outdated, understaffed and full of neglect. I couldn’t even look at the patients they all seemed so sad and lost, and it absolutely broke my heart. We left there the same day thankfully… emotionally drained and heartbroken. My father and every patient deserves better. I read the reviews after the fact, and they all said the same thing. I wish I had seen...