My elderly friend has been staying at Saunders House for the past 2+ weeks after breaking her hip. She has been absolutely horrified by the place and I've seen some of what she's experienced first hand.
As others have said, the wait time for a RN to come when you ring is 20+ minutes. Her roomate was a very ill woman who was ringing and screaming for help and no-one came. Eventually my friend had to actually get out of bed - bad hip and all - to summon help! Unacceptable.
My friend reports the food is awful. A friend brought in a pizza for her to enjoy but the microwave on the 2nd floor was not working, so she sent it to another floor to have it heated. It never came back. GONE.
Similarly, items of hers have ""gone missing"" aka stolen. Small things but gone none the less - comb, deodorants...
None of the phones in the rooms have worked for the past 2 weeks and NO effort at all is being made to have them repaired. It is totally UNACCEPTABLE for patients to not have any way to call family/friends or to receive calls. Not everyone has cellphones!!! I find this totally unbelievable!
Some of the staff speak NO english and look at us blankly when we ask about meds etc. For two nights in a row, my friend was told they had no ativan to give her - this was prescribed for her to help her sleep. So she didn't sleep for 2 nights.
When I was there last weekend, a nurse arrived and insisted my friend go to get weighed. My friend had just been weighed - 90 minutes earlier! When she told this to the nurse, the nurse didn't believe her and insisted she get out of bed immediately and go get weighed. It was very very distressing to my friend to be made to feel like she was a liar. My friend might be elderly but she is sharp and with it.
The whole place is depressing. The furniture is 1960's. The hallways are dark and awful. Everyone says the same thing, that prior to 2008 it was the best rehab facility in Philly. Now it seems to have gone to rack and ruin.
The only positive thing we have to say about Saunders House is that the rehab is very good that is why it gets ONE star. Otherwise it is a disgrace!!! If you have a beloved family member or friend in need of a rehab facility -- possibly after surgery at Lankenau - do not choose Saunders for them despite how close it is to Lankenau - it is not the kind of facility you want a loved one in.
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