WhiteStone: A Masonic and Eastern Star Community

I am so impressed with WhiteStone and it has been a life changer for my senior sister. She has an amazing "cottage" with a vast array of support services available. She is able to participate in a variety of programs, such as exercise classes, and has great dining services and more. The whole WhiteStone complex promotes independence in a caring, supportive and nurturing way and it has been great for my sister over the past 3 years. To anyone who is reading this and is unsure, I would encourage you to check WhiteStone out!

Moving to WhiteStone was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It is a lovely community with so many activities and options to enhance your life. But above all, the people are friendly, warm, and welcoming, both staff and residents. I was made to feel at home even before I moved. I would recommend WhiteStone to anyone who wants to live in a friendly and caring community.

I give them two only because they did have a couple of good people. (Care and Wellness Center) Changing meds adding meds taking away meds without discussing with family. Even gave meds after being told not to give. Taking heart meds away when not supposed to. This was a couple of years ago and I doubt it has changed because I could not get a change for nearly six years. I know you think why did I not move well the answer is I could not find anywhere that was better. They were the third place I was at and same management for several years. Complained to State and that was a joke! If you will go down further to a complaint by the name NURSE and you will get a good idea of what goes on there. If you read the nurse also read the answer from Whitestone. Their response says they would like to speak to the nurse about their concerns and it gives the number of the Executive Director. I did speak to the Executive Director and he did the same as everyone else NOTHING!

My family has had a long term relationship with Whitestone since it was The Masonic Home. I had 2 grandparents live their final years with a good level of professional care. The staff were reliable and attentive. More recently my father moved into skilled nursing care for nearly 2 years. At first we were very pleased with some of the changes. The facility had a re-do and the common spaces and rooms were appointed at a very high level. Despite a warm welcome, we quickly found the care not adequate. The staff that was there was overworked and unable to meet basic patient needs. We hired sitters and found that caused the staff at WS to completely stop checking. After great frustration we moved my father to a different skilled nursing center. While it is a more basic facility, already we are shocked to see how lacking the care was at Whitestone. In the 2 years that my father was in their care, many families on his hallway were unhappy. Complaints were brought forward and marginally addressed. Communication with both nursing staff and management is poor. My fathers medication administration was regularly wrong or inadequate. The staff is supposed to make notes in the portal so a family can follow along but it was not regularly updated. A member of our family is a nurse practitioner and she was dismayed. My family asked for regular care plan meetings, we hired sitters and still the care was inadequate. My mother spent a couple of hours everyday checking on him, asking questions, speaking with staff. Its hard to fathom why Whitestone could not better address basic needs. My guess this is a top-down problem starting with the Director. The areas I would highly suggest people look at before choosing Whitestone- 1- how often will the patient be changed? We often found my father with dirty diapers and would press the call button only to wait close to an hour to have him changed. 2- how much time will staff spend assisting with feeding? They rushed or skipped meals when too busy 3- how often with patient be bathed? Assisted hygiene like shaving? 4-despite having "state requirements" of staff to patient ratios, the hall was understaffed. There is large staff turnover especially with RN and head of nursing. 5-ask to see a record of complaints- I know we were not the only family to experience poor care Honestly- this is a poor choice for skilled nursing care. Do not be enticed by a lovely setting or friendly people at the front door. It does not matter how many activities they provide if you are bed bound and unable to advocate for yourself. We should have moved him sooner but he was vulnerable and suffering. I am not sure people read reviews on Google or if they make a difference when you are desperate and making choices for elderly and frail people. But having had such a poor experience, I feel compelled to share my truths. I would NEVER place a loved one there.