Huntington Hills Center for Health and Rehabilitation — Local services in Town of Huntington

If I could give this rehabilitation center zero stars, I would. I do believe that the lack of care is due to the employees being underpaid overworked and the facility being understaffed in its entirety. However, when you trust a center to care for your loved one, you expect that. Disappointed is not the word to describe how my family and I feel about this facility. We were confident in sending my grandmother here for rehab as my grandfather was here 5 years ago and he had a great experience. However, much to our disappointment, things have gone downhill drastically since then. My 97 year old grandmother, (who has heart failure, kidney failure and sepsis from a gallbladder infection) has been at this center since for two days. She was sent here to work with PT to work on walking independently. She has full mental capacity and is very aware of her needs.

My grandmother entered this rehabilitation center with strict dietary instructions for a low sodium, low cholesterol and low potassium diet. Not only did they give her a loaded baked potato full of potassium, cholesterol and sodium, but they also gave her a banana for breakfast. Luckily, she is aware of her health issues and refused it.

In addition to completely disregarding her dietary needs, she told the staff she had chest pain and they offered TYLENOL. This woman has congestive heart failure, alerted medical staff she had chest pain, and was offered acetaminophen. Not only did they brush off her chest pain, but they neglected to give her the time sensitive medication that is necessary to keep her blood pressure at an appropriate rate. Both nights she has been here, her blood pressure has plummeted to the point where she became lethargic and could barely keep her eyes open. In order to get her care, I had to search for 20 minutes for a nurse to take her blood pressure and administer her medication.

The neglect in this facility is inexcusable. The hallways are like a ghost town. I arrived at Huntinton Hills rehab at 4:40pm. On my walk to my grandmother’s room, I noticed her neighbor’s call light was on, at 7:35pm it was still on. There are eloper patients roaming the halls because they are being left alone because there is not enough staff to care for them. In the four hours during my visit, I witnessed family members roaming the halls asking for medical attention for their loved ones. I can truly say, I am worried to leave my grandmother’s side because being here feels like you are waiting for a death sentence.

Aside from the grave medical mistakes we have experienced in only 48 hours, she was woken up at 4:30AM, was half changed and was left until 10AM. She yelled and rang for help numerous times, and not single soul came to check on her.

Someone from our family has had to be by her side the entire time she has been here to ensure that she is getting the proper care, diet and medications necessary for her survival. We have not only needed to be on top of her medications and diet, but I have had to help myself to change her soiled linens because their is no personnel to be found anywhere.

My grandmother was left to use the commode by herself (she needs help walking) and was left for quite some time. I had to search for a nurse and found multiple nurses in an office behind the nurse’s station with the door closed. Why are nurses not talking care of their patients?! Every staff member I have spoken to is very nice, but it is abundantly clear that this facility is incredibly understaffed and does not have the man power to be caring for their patients as they should. I would not send my worst enemy to...

Simply put, DO NOT bring anyone to Huntington "Hell"s for rehab.

SHORT REVIEW: No respect. Bare Bare Bare Minimum Care and Observation Impersonal Patient Staff - regularly - to patients and family. Expect some ATTITUDE. Apparently it's contagious. DON'T DARE approach Nurse Susan. You will be dealt with firmly. This was observed several times- to many other patients and other families as well. If the patient is able to manage their own care, they might be ok. If they are in need of assistance, a family member NEEDS to be there with the patient daily. On Ringing the call bell from the room - expect a 30-60 minute response. If a wheelchair bound patient doesn't mind sitting in the hall staring at the often empty nurses station for hours at a time, they should be ok. If you lodge a complaint, expect shock and promises, but nothing will change.

LONG REVIEW: In addition to the above short review... They don't respect people, both patient and family. While you might come across a few nice people, (there are a few), there are enough major players that are downright NASTY, indifferent, incompetent, or frankly just don't care. A fundamental problem that exists at Huntington Hills Rehab is there is no communication between departments or levels. Everyone in management seems to think things are running smoothly. When you point out any shortcomings, their immediate response is one of surprise and semi-outrage, with promises to get to the bottom of it and fix it. This is downright disingenuous because this reaction is consistent and repetitive, yet NOTHING changes. My mother was admitted here straight from the hospital in December 2018. She signed all the admitting papers herself, but by the time she was discharged, her health declined to the point of having to have a proxy sign her papers. Due to neglect and being IGNORED day and night, she became confused and disoriented. On many occasions, we found her disconnected from her OXYGEN with the tubing still in her nostrils. Other times, we found the tank was simply EMPTY! (Thankfully, now back in her home, she's lucid and progressing wonderfully.)

She was in a double room, and her first roommate was somewhat self sufficient. Thank goodness, because her roommate told us of many occasions that my mother needed help, but they just wouldn't come to the room. My mother was less self sufficient and needed help with ambulation and physical therapy. If she resisted PT, they simply stopped trying and left her on her own. Unfortunately this went on for weeks and her health suffered for it. Though she needed a walker, she didn't get one in her room for the first 20 days! This was all like a terrible nightmare. As mentioned, thankfully my mother is back home doing very well, no thanks to this horror place. WITHOUT QUESTION, this is the worst experience my family has EVER had with any hospital or rehab facility. At all costs, I suggest you search for a different facility, even if the location is less convenient.

I held off for months before I decided to post this review, for two reasons. I wanted to make sure it was well thought out and digested, and I wanted to make sure she was out of there for a while in case there were attempts at retribution. I expect the cookie cutter "We're sorry for your experience" response to be written, basically trying to save face, but with no real plans to improve the place.

Bottom Line. Don't risk your loved one's health and well being here, unless you can be with them EVERY DAY for most of the day until they get discharged....

First Day - The grounds are impressive inside is amazing. Rooms very well organized each side is identical so no one has more than the other. TV Speaker is from the TV not from the remote like in hospitals which does not make sense when you're in a room with someone who could be hard of hearing. Seems like you can have a volume war and the speaker on the remote would be a simple fix. (no big deal)

When you are coming out a hospital and into a rehab center the attention of care drops considerably. The attention you get is different less intense than if you need round the clock care. Keep this in mind.

My wife is in this rehab center after her bout with pneumonia. Prior to this she has had many other issues relating to her two strokes in the last 8 years. She uses a walker but needs to be retrained in it's use again and can't be left alone. She needs assistants in everything she does. Last night I received a call from the rehab center and I went over everything with the staff member making absolutely sure they know what to expect from her and What I expect from them. I told them about the reviews I've read and what people are saying about patients falling. I will continue to place comments here on the progress. My wife has 6 sisters one of them called to see how she was she was not received properly on the phone and phone edicate was not executed properly. The person on the other end was so glib on what Mary's status was she didn't seem to care. This did not bowed well with her sister nor with me and I did mention it to the staff person calling me that night. This is two stars for the first day. Update - Feb 13 2018 - It's been awhile since we last stepped out of the rehab center . I have to say out of all the places my wife has been (and she has been in many centers on long Island) I would have to say I would come back to Huntington Hills Center For Health & Reb. Looking back at the whole experience she had the best care from here. Nothing is perfect so don't expect this from anyplace you go to. We had very attentive people working with my wife not only in making sure she was clean and feed but the staff for the rehab was able to make her strong to walk up the stairs (with help) so he could get into our hiranch home. The key is not stopping the rehab once you are home for my wife this is an ongoing thing that will last into her later years. Some nice key features of the this center was the Dining Room very nice almost formal looking but they would not allow you to eat with your loved one in it. They told me they didn't want the other patients to feel left out or lonely if nobody come to see them. So they move you into the rec room. Here you can go outside in the courtyard (Very Nice) I remember they had fish in a pond too! If you feel up to it you can go to the top floor where you can eat under an awning terrace it was so nice up there. I hope this helps but remember depending on what you have will also determine what place is available to you. Not all rehab centers take in every type of condition....