Capistrano Beach Care Center

i am not just saying this for no reason: my godmother was dreading going to any care facility october 2013, the only person more fearful than my godmother going to a care facility: was myself! needless to say in 1 day all of these nightmares/worried vanished! my godmother was beyond loved every day she lived, and beyond blessed & loved - especially for the final 7 years she lived on earth @ capistrano beach care center. the employees here = 1 & all, give 100% of themselves, any shift, any hour of every day, and they do so with little thanks from most visitors, vendors and the like. the patients are all well-cared for, their is so much that is done for all the residents @ this location, and though it is small, it is filled with love, mighty strength of heart and tireless effort carried out by each/every staff member. i would see them working 12 hour shifts, never arguing with their colleagues, never neglecting residents, never on their personal mobile phones, other than to call/text doctors and to call each other to have help in a room as a team for the residents of the capistrano beach care center! i never once in 7 years encountered any employee who never once smiled at me, greeted me by name, "hi, how are you?" every single employee would inform myself, the moment upon entry, "she is awake. she is asleep. she needs her insulin. we just gave her insulin. let us know if [name removed] will be dining in the dining room or if she would like her meal @ her bedside." and when she needed to call me, they would walk a mobile phone to my godmother immediately! in 7 years, my precious godmother who raised me, who means as much to me as my 3 children = never once, had to wait more than 5 minutes to contact myself! as she lay dying, [name removed] called/texted me with updates, as did [name removed], [name removed], [name removed], [name removed] and so many other employees on staff @ this facility that i am not naming by name! my god, [name removed] the activities director, got a priest to come within the hour of my godmother's passing! [Name removed] checking on us in between meetings, the entire floor staff whom i am not naming, including the dietician, cooks, housekeeping, everyone taking time on their very own breaks/lunch hours to check on us in room [removed]! please forgive me for sounding like a sentimental idiot, but this is priceless to myself, because it was the one respected request my godmother had, besides myself being @ her bedside & holding her hand when she passed. and most of all, after she had passed, i too, was surrounded by whom now i consider extended family, comforting myself, my sister & were as grief stricken, as we ourselves were. all of whom i just named above, thank you all! ourselves & our family/friends forever endebted to you! [name removed] and [name removed].

If you can manage to keep your loved one OUT of these Skilled Care Nursing facilities, trust me, do it!! I checked out 3. Palm Terrace in Laguna Woods which was so horrific I had a few choice words on my way out telling them they should be ashamed of themselves. I asked about 4 separate people if they were happy there and they all said NO!! One told me in secret, and the others right out loud. They said they were dealing with people with attitudes and that it was not a good place to be. Their occupational therapy room was dinky and crowded and no one was doing any occupational therapy and there was certainly no place to put proper equipment that would help your loved one out. And in dealing with the staff, they were extremely rude. They have around 100 beds? They make you fill out a form before seeing the facility. For what? They won't have any records if you don't choose them, and PLEASE TRUST ME....DON'T CHOOSE THEM! Covington in Aliso Viejo. 24 beds, single person to a room, nice furniture it seemed and the menu looked nice. I wasn't able to ask people here what they thought personally cause they weren't scattered all over the place and in the halls like at Palm Terrace and Capo Beach. But...my Mom has two friends that went there and claim it was pretty good. But it's hard to get in there! It was a relaxing environment and their occupational therapy room looked great. Couldn't get my Mom in as they were full. Capo Beach Care Center in Capistrano Beach. Well, this is an old facility and quite frankly DISGUSTING! Most of the staff were very friendly, so I'll give them that. A few were bad. I asked a nice lady who had been there 6 months and she said the food was horrible, the facility was old and not the cleanest, but the staff had been good to her. I asked a man who had his Mom in there and he agreed with what the lady had said. I kept hearing that the occupational therapists were really good, so we decided that was most important and went with this one. No other choice really. so my Mom got transferred on a Friday night. This was the first lesson....NEVER let the hospital kick you out on a Friday night when getting transferred to these facilities! We were then STUCK in the "system" having to wait until Monday when she finally saw the facility doctor to ask to be released. Nothing happens on the weekends, so if you find you hate it there, you are there for three very unhappy nights minimum. And I found out certain doctors, such as Dr. Guu, only come in once a week. Think about that one. The food was even more horrible than we imagined and were told. My Mom got what we thought was Chinese food, with a pile of mysterious crap on top. Turns out it was supposed to be spaghetti with burned toast. Needless to say, we ran out and got her every meal during her scary 3 days. Why scary? Oh. Let's start with a nurse changing my Mom's bandage and a blood curdling scream came from a lady across the hall and down one. The lady kept screaming for help, and no one was flinching!!! I finally got up myself and walked in to make sure she had not fallen. She hadn't, and was needing her medication badly. A nurse finally walked in. Another lady sitting in the hall lost her bladder and they just threw a nasty towel over it and left it there on the floor for at least an hour that I know of before I left. Three nurses told my Mom that she really needs to watch her things because everything can disappear and be stolen, including underwear. She was so paranoid and scared. She thought she heard someone in her closet when she was in the restroom. Nothing seemed to be missing this time. She had her iPhone and iPad with her, in a purse, around her neck as she walked with a walker. She broke her knee and fractured her back and is there to re cooperate and has to worry to this degree? She didn't sleep the entire time she was there, and it was crazy loud in the halls all night long. She was boiling up (as we all were) all the time in there and we found out there is no AC. She was so miserable inside, that she sat outside at a table, which wasn't great, morning, noon and night, both Saturday and Sunday. And that's the only place where her cell phone would work. My Mom was one of the few that had her mind in tact. Everyone else there pretty much had lost it, so as we tried to visit on the patio, you can hear a long term resident doing crazy lady screams for hours. It was a nightmare come true. The halls had been renovated supposedly, but don't be fooled!!! Walk in to a room and see how horrible and disgusting the closet is where you are supposed to keep your clean clothes. It's like dirty wood is the bottom of the closet. Look at the toilet area. Really? Can't they put a little money into this crap hole to make people more comfortable? If the cooks are so damn bad, fire them and hire good ones who care. Ask to see where they shower, which they only get 2 per week. It's dirty. My Mom thought the rest of the place was so bad, she decided to go without a shower and wait till we rescued her. The bed was very uncomfortable for my Mom too. She had fractured her back, so soft comfort is important. The TV is small and old. There is a fan on the wall, but good luck if you have a roommate who doesn't want it on like my Mom's roommate. Then, when it came to discharging her, Janet was in charge and said Amy from a company who would coordinate what my Mom needed, would come to discuss with us. We were on the patio forever, and finally went in to ask and they said she wasn't coming and we needed to call Janet when we got home. What? We needed these things BEFORE she got home, or at least the same day. Well, I called Janet who had nothing to say but that Amy would call me before she went home for the day. I told her I needed to talk to someone NOW. I proceeded to get hung up on and got the run around saying James was out of the office, Amy was not free, and I had to call back about 10 times due to them answering and hanging up, playing games. I was just about to drive back down there when Amy called. I found out Dr, Guu did NOT do what he was supposed to with the paperwork for ordering a semi-electric bed and commode, which the bed is covered by Medicare. So Amy, from Seacrest, was kind enough to put me in touch with a supplier, Randy from Elixiar, who is great. We had to bring my Mom home to her own bed, which is a horrible situation for someone with a broken knee and fractured back. She needs a hospital bed. We are now going through her surgeon for the paperwork and will hopefully have a hospital bed in a few days. This is so wrong on so many levels. Our system sucks.....and it sucks really bad. If there is any way to hire trusted help at home, do it. There are senior transportation services that you can use to get to a physical therapist instead. Home health would even be ok, but they can't travel with the necessary equipment that you really need to get better fast. Getting to a PT is much better if you can manage for rehab. Don't even consider a Skilled Nursing Facility. If you have to, try only Covington. If they are full, you need to come up with a better plan than we did. Your loved one is way better off at home!!!! And if they've exhausted all financial resources, you may want to check in to taking care of them yourselves if they qualify for Medical, and get paid to take care of them. We don't qualify for that, but you might.

It was pretty good. My mother was in there for rehab. The doctor kept in touch with my sister which was really good. They really seemed to care.

At 94, my Mom still lives a fairly independent lifestyle, and, for her age, is generally healthy. She recently had an incident wherein she was hospitalized due to a severe staph infection in her foot. She was in hospital for a week and was ok to be released but not well enough to go home. So my sister and I had less than 24 hours to find her "a place". Several skilled nursing facilities names were given to us by the hospital's discharge planning. When I checked with the State as to their rating, all were given a below average grade. So I had remembered a television advertisement about A Place for Mom and gave then a call. Not only were they quick to answer but they put me in touch with a REAL person, who was familiar with facilities in the area in which I was looking. The A Place for Mom representative was empathetic, knowledgeable and also gave me some questions to ask the facility(ies) when I contacted them. She was terrific! Luckily there was an immediate availability at Capistrano Beach Care Center and they answered all of my questions directly and satisfactorily, and Mom was accepted. She was a resident in their short term care part of the facility for approximately three weeks. During that time my sister and I visited her each and every day. Each time we came she was happy and in good spirits. She was called by her name by all of the staff; they were very courteous and kind to her and checked in on her frequently. The response time when she rang her call button was usually less than a couple of minutes and someone always appeared shortly thereafter. The rooms were clean and well kept and the bathroom facilities were well cared for. Even the guest bathroom facilities were clean and tidy. Meals were varied and prepared appetizingly and could be served in the Dining room, in the patient's room or, weather permitting, out on the patio adjacent to each room. If I could have one complaint, in regards to my Mom who is a small eater, it would be that they put too much food on the plate and overwhelmed her. The staff also had no objections to us bringing in food, snacks, and treats that they kept in the fridge at the nursing station for her should she so desire. Personal hygiene for her was well taken care of several times a day, with an attended shower (& shampoo, should she so desire) twice a week. Her attendants; nursing staff, aides, physicians, physical therapy, and occupational therapy just to name a few, were wonderful. Kindness and thoughtfulness seemed to be the order of the days. The Director of Services/Administrator even stopped by to see how she was doing and to see if she had any concerns. Discharge Planning was coordinated with my Mom and my sister when it came time for her to go home and was a most pleasant experience for both. All in all I would have to rate our experience with Capo Beach Care as exceptional - all I would have hoped for for a short term stay. With all the horror stories that one is fed about nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities - I'd have to say they were wrong in our case. I was impressed. So was Mom; so much so she said that if she ever had to go back to a SNF, which she hopes she never has to do, she would put Capistrano Beach Care Center at the top of her list. As an added note, we met several residents who were there on a permanent basis and they were happy to be there and liked the facility.