The Wealshire and The Ponds

I would not recommend Wealshire. My mother was sent here after a brief stay in the hospital. When we arrived we were informed of her room number and pointed in the right direction. We found the room. There was someone else’s stuff in the room We told a tech and he removed the previous patients items. We weren’t greeted for an hour and 15 minutes. Her medicine was messed up No one took the time to explain anything to her. The remote control for her bed was disgustingly filthy and the bed tray looked like something that had been salvaged from the trash. The next day we complained and the staff was apologetic but I was not comfortable leaving her at Wealshire. We moved her to Sedgebrook and it is amazing!

I have mixed feelings about The Wealshire. Overall, if this place is an option for you for rehabilitation, yes, I’m comfortable recommending it. I think you should definitely look at other local places as well, and explore your options, but if this one is covered (insurance or whatever), then yes this is a nice option. I had a family member stay here who I had to help a lot, so we were here visiting and helping out quite a bit.
The first thing I noticed is how cold her room was (cold in a sense of sterile). White walls, very basic furniture, etc. There was nothing «homey» about it. To me, I’d think they’d try to make the rooms a bit nicer because it would brighten folks outlook and maybe help them heal better/​faster. But, it had a night-​stand, an armoire, a bathroom (which didn’t have a door, i’m guessing since she was in a wheelchair this room was handicap accessible because other rooms had bathrooms with doors), and one of those hospital tables that goes over the bed that they can put food trays and stuff on. It also had a hospital bed with all the controls (up/​down/​etc), and a few extra chairs for visitors.
The place seems really nice upon first walking in. Decorated very nice. Almost fancy. Nice furniture. Several different little sitting areas for people to go. You have to check-​in at the front-​desk. They’ve got a little coffee/​tea/​cocoa area which is always popular/​busy.
After a certain time (8pm?), they lock the doors. So if you’re visiting after 8, you have to ask someone to walk you out and manually unlock the doors so you can leave. They do this so that the folks with Alzheimer’s cannot escape. Apparently that was an issue in the past. A couple folks seemingly got out, so now they’ve got this security system in place.
In terms of the staff (nurses), I’d say it’s just like a hospital: You get the folks who are TRULY meant to be nurses and who are meant to help and nurture people. And then you get the people who are just there and doing their job, which is the basics. In addition to the nurses, they have techs, or assistants, who are supposed to help out with a lot of the work. I’d say half are great, and half are horrible. You can just tell the difference in the people who love helping people, and who have an attention to detail — and those who are just there to collect a paycheck and have to be TOLD every little detail of what to do. TASHA is one who stands out — amazing!
The rehab folks were great. They knew what they were doing and were very insightful. My family member was having therapy like twice a day, every day. She always had GREAT things to say about what they were doing, how they treated her, the pointers they gave her, general info and knowledge shared, etc. Very positive things to say about Rehab. Which is good — since that’s what people are there for!
Apparently there’s a pool — but she never got to go in it (had surgical woulds & wasn’t allowed in a pool) — but it would’ve been great if she could’ve! Nice option!
The food was pretty bad. Every day there’d be some things that were great & some things were downright horrible. We actually ended up eating there for Thanksgiving — some things were fabulous, like the turkey. But the sweet potatoes tasted like flakes with lots of water. Very watered down and inedible. This was basically how it was every day. Again, some stuff was good and other stuff was horrible. BUT the positive thing was they always had options. If I recall correctly, there was at least two things to choose from all the time. And if you weren’t in the mood, you could just get a PB&J or something.
There’s a common little kitchen area which is super-​handy. My person was able to stock up on their Snapple tea they drink and keep it stored in a common fridge so that she always had some (and it was cold). You can store things in the fridge as long as you put your name on it so folks know who’s is what.
One negative that to me was kind-​of a big deal was the medicine schedule. Nobody really paid attention to the timing of the drugs in terms of spacing them out, nor if they were supposed to be with food, or two hours after food, etc. So basically, there was one medication my person was supposed to take 3 times a day. Normally spaced out about every 6 hours or so. There were days where they’d bring it to her 3 hours after she last took it — and it’s like «hello! i just took this!». Or there’s one that’s supposed to be taken two hours AFTER a meal, and they’d just give to her whenever. To me, this was kinda scary, but I noticed this happened in the hospital too. There’s just too much going on, and you always have to be your OWN advocate, and make sure YOU are keeping track of your own medications in terms of timing and such.
My other BIG complaint was that nobody every came to her when she first got there to let her know HOW THINGS WORK. There was no formal «check-​in» process. This should be STANDARD process for every person. EVERY TIME.

How fortunate I feel that my wife and I chose The Wealshire for her rehabilitation.
Dennis D.