Howell Care Center

This review is for the rehab at 3003 W Grand River, not to be confused with other facilities in the chain. This is my dad's second rehab stay and drastically different from his first stay at a bougie facility we handpicked but had serious issues with staffing, neglect, and communication. Ryan the administrator, is friendly and accessible. He runs a tight, and well organized ship. Every person my dad has encountered has been compassionate friendly and helpful. He does not have to wait hours for assistsnce to the toilet. Staff not assigned to him will help him if they see him in need. The therapy contracted for the facility is top notch. They have done wonders for my dad already. His care team communicates well with our family. Don't let looks fool you. The building is old, but clean and maintained. They seem to put their investments where it belongs: to the staff and patients. His former facility was very upscale but lacked staffing and organization with high turnovers. We trust his team, and know they will do everything possible to return him to his baseline. These people are so compassionate and really work hard. We feel very fortunate to entrust my dad's recovery with Medilodge of Livingston staff.

If your loved one is high needs due to disability, this is absolutely not the place for them. Staff is stretched so thin here and the quality of staff is overwhelmingly disappointing. There are great players on the team and they know who they are, but the rest.... I question why they are in healthcare at all. Medilodge needs to staff appropriately so that residents needs are addressed quickly. There is no reason residents are paying that much to stay in the facility and Medilodge cannot pay enough to attract a decent staff and keep them so they are not consistently short staffed. And the fact that they recently changed working hours for CNAs from 8 hour shifts to 12 hours is ridiculous. You are going to burn your workers out! All of the CNAs that I spoke to regarding this change are unhappy either because of longer daily working hours or less pay because their weekly hours are shorter. Capitalism at its finest. I wonder what sort of car the owners of Medilodge drive while their employees can't even afford anything beyond the basic. I have sat in the room when my loved one pushed the call button requesting assistance and waited with them over an hour before anyone even answered. Or there were numerous times when someone did answer, but we had to wait hours for the need to even be met. There were times when I had either been on the phone or in the room unbeknownst to some of the staff and I've overheard rude or negative attitudes. I get being stressed, but that is no way to treat any resident, much less one that is mentally confused due to disability. Quite saddening, actually. The rooms themselves are bad. As far as I can tell, there are no private rooms. So residents are forced to bunk with someone. But the rooms are also really tiny, so if a resident has visitors, there's barely enough space for one person to bring a chair and sit, much less have multiple visitors at the same time. The one window in the room doesn't allow much natural light and if the curtain that seperates bunkmates is drawn, the person away from the window is left in darkness with only lightbulbs to illuminate them. There is no decor and no room for decor, so the rooms are overwhelmingly depressing. Far different from what Medilodge's website shows. There are two tvs per room, but the channel selection is very limited because Medilodge cannot afford a decent cable package, I guess. Considering the average age of residents there, setting up a streaming stick is kind of out of the question. The public wifi is also slow and laggy so even if your loved one knows how to navigate streaming services, it often doesn't do well due to the volume of devices on the available channels. As far as getting in touch with someone regarding your loved one: good luck. The receptionist will always answer the phone, but they know next to nothing about any resident there. They will transfer your call to whoever you ask to speak with, but that call will never be answered. And very likely, if you leave a voicemail the call will not be returned. How wonderful it is to not be updated on your loved one's condition if you cannot stop by daily. Believe it or not, I have seen worse nursing homes, but Medilodge can do so much better. I would not bring a loved one here even if the stay was free.