This is a terribly mismanaged facility that operates at any given time with about half staff. The turnover rate for important positions, such as the Executive Director and Director of Maintanance is only a few weeks. There are supposed to be trips for the residents, but there is only one bus rather than two so only a handful can go when there is a trip and frequently that trip is cancelled as ""the driver is sick"" or "" the bus needs repair"". The ""Activities Director"" is not well liked by the residents or their families and is often ""on vacation"" sometimes for a month at a time. I can only assume they keep him on as ineffective as he is so they don't have yet another position to fill. The marketing people will tell you all sorts of things when you are considering the place, that once you have your loved one in Salem Lutheran home, are just not true and don't happen. The cleaning staff is lazy and untrained and try and get away with as little as possible. If at any time, one is lucky enough to get a good housekeeper, that person leaves. We are always told that person is "" on leave"" but they never come back. Residents apartment doors are frequently left unlocked with no regard for the resident's belongings. There are thefts from the apartments from people who have keys with no recourse. There is no one on staff that seems to have any idea what elderly people eat and that most have diabetes or other dietary needs. The food is geared to an entirely different age group and relies heavily on pre packaged processed items. The amount of junk snack foods that are provided daily is head spinning. Things like Goldfish, peanut butter crackers, Cheese Its, packaged plastic cups of fruit cocktail, and packaged cookies such as Snackwells, fill a large part of the daily diet. Someone obviously thinks what is considered ""healthy"" snack for a kids soccer team is appropriate here. They are dead wrong. My mother has lived at Salem for a year and a half and has diabetes and has gained almost 20 lbs eating this junk. The phone system is antiquated and although one is provided with a list of numbers, it is a pointless list as no one answers most of these numbers at any given time and the voicemails are almost always full so one cannot not leave a message. When a message can be left, it appears the staff is unable to get the messages. I've been told by several staff people they don't know how to get their messages and in more than a few cases there are messages left on staff voicemail from folks that haven't been there for over a year. It is remarkable this facility can function at all. Now it is "" being sold"". As everything else, family members are given very little information about this and what it might mean to them. If I could pick the very worst thing ( and there are many) it would have to be the unbelievable lack of communication between the facility and the family members of the residents as well as the lack of communication between the administration on site and the staff. It is painfully obvious there has been poor leadership here for years.
more