I'm a 44 y/o male who stayed in catalina 3 weeks for a broken leg. This place was a disaster. Briefly, the nurses are great but the nursing assts. who do most of the work are awful. Most of them are very lazy and rude. They get upset when asked to do the slightest thing. They spend lots of time yelling up and down the hall at 7am about their past weekend and personal life. (yo, wat u do dis weekend girl) etc. When asked to keep the noise down, they replied ""you need to ask your doctor to order you some earplugs. This is one classic example of dozens. If a sick resident presses a call button, a loud alarm goes off and a door light flashes...they will ignore it sometimes for up to 30 minutes because they are so understaffed and/or busy fixing medical problems they let get out of control. The alarms go off all night long and when i complained, i was told ""well, what are you doing in a nursing home"".\r
Catalina was constantly running out of crucial medications and i knew a terminally ill cancer patient who went without his pain medication for 7 days. \r
In the 3 weeks I was there, I only saw the doctor for one minute, then he went on vacation. It would take 2 days to get him by fax, and when I requested for him to sign my discharge papers, it took 6 days.\r
There was always a constant shortage of towels. I know of many people who sent clothing to the in-house laundry only to see it disappear forever. (wonder why the employees have been seen loading up clear trash bags of clothes into their car at the back dock.\r
Bottom line, don't be fooled by the daytime tour when the professional staff is working...after 5pm the place turns into a nightmare. When you tour the place, just go out to the smoking area and privately speak with several people and they all will tell you how much they hate it there, but they do not have the resources to move as most are on medicaid or have no family. \r
I transfered to a place a few miles away and it was the exact oppisite of catalina.\r
Good luck
Pros: Great nurses, some great nursing assts
Cons: Everything
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