The Grand at Guilderland

Dear Dr. Ali and Facility Management, We are considering having our father admitted to your facility for Palliative long term care. However, after reviewing numerous negative reviews and noticing similar responses provided each time, we have serious concerns. Could you please clarify what specific actions have been taken to ensure the safety and well-being of patients? Understanding these measures is critical for us before making any decision. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Nurse/Supervisor LaToya at The Grand Rehab in Altamont was the reason I had my sister removed from the facility. If the rest of the staff is anything like her, no one is safe there.

Very short of help. Not clean enough and residents aren't taken care of properly.

My mother died a year ago- she had a stroke, a very bad fall, multiple fractures, and was supposed to go into Hospice. A last minute decision- a very bad one- by the hospital Hospice senior social worker- she changed her mind and sent my mother to The Grand on a Friday. Mom was deemed "deaths door ajacent" because she suddenly rallied one day at the hospital and was talking to my siblings. So to The Grand was the decision of the social worker, where she would get "almost ready for actual Hospice" care. We appealed it, venumently, but were denied. Mom had been hospitalized a month, hallucinating, in and out of consciousness, unwilling and mostly unable and not coherant enough to speak to OT PT and Speech specialists. Bedridden, not eating, in pain, not moving. My siblings and our spouses all had been there, at The Grand- met with staff, including the care manager overseeing moms care. My mom could not move, barely spoke, wasn't eating, and had significant pain medication management plan in place. Moms fractured ribs, hip (left side specific), collarbone and left shoulder were useless. The Grand staff left a nurses call button on Mom's left side, her left arm immobile in a sling, and out of reach- they never gave her pain medication between Friday night and Monday morning. They never changed her out of her hospital gown she arrived in on Friday. They never "heard her ask for help," because well #1 she was completely out of it, dying, her roommate had endless loud coughing (respectively to her own illness), but 24/7 had the TV on nonstop at full volume. Mom also had what appeared to be dried blood that came out of her mouth and ran down her face and on the bed. No explanation. Between Sunday night and Monday, mom developed significant cellulitis/ facial swelling and clearly had an infection and or sepsis. We had mom removed immediately back to the hospital, where after 2 days she was finally placed in Hospice. The Hospice staff were everything mom and us as a family needed this entire time. They were angels, and they actually cried when they changed mom and saw how neglected she had been at The Grand- mom had an actual *hole* in the bend of her elbow. Our mother died after 2 peaceful, calm, clean, CARED FOR days with Hospice. I cannot express enough how you should NOT make anyone you love, go to The Grand. I waited a year to write this post. I am still so upset about this entire experience with all these agencies and "care professionals"- most in charge of every day support / maintenance did not deserve the positions they had (IMHO). We were all there, every day, every morning noon and night. I know what we experienced. I don't want anyone else to be blindsided, as we were -especially at The Grand - they clearly and completely ignored and neglected our mother. Often there were residents wandering about, sharing bathrooms with no locks on them, being loud, rude, and unsupervised. No staff to be found. EDIT: I tried to attach MY photos of the nurse call button hanging on the wall on the left sidw next to my dying mother- with her fractured left side of her body hip, ribs, collarbone and left arm immobile in a sling. I also tried to attach the photo of the soiled linens that sat all day and night in the chair by her bed, with the room divider curtain separating mom from the loud roommate whose bed was by the door. This review would not allow me to post those pictures, OR the video clip where you hear the blaring TV the roommate refused to turn down - no staff around- we couldn't even hear ourselves talk while we sat with my dying mother. If staff had walked by the room, they couldn't see mom let alone hear if she was even capable to whimper she was in pain.

If you're looking for a facility where wound care instructions are ignored and blood-stained socks are the epitome of perfect hygiene, then congratulations, The Grand is for you! But me? I wouldn't trust them to care for a houseplant. My grandfather was admitted to The Grand following a foot surgery he received from Albany Med. While at The Grand, not only were they supposed to help him regain his strength to walk again, but they were also supposed to help with wound care. According to the instructions of Albany Med, my grandfather's wound dressing was supposed to be changed twice a day, every twelve hours. Numerous times, my grandmother had to request that his wound dressing be changed due to blood seeping through his socks. This was a result of his dressing not being changed regularly, as it was supposed to. At one point, a nurse even admitted that 2 days had passed since his dressing was last changed. The nurses were also incredibly disorganized. Some nurses would say his wound dressing needed to be changed twice a day, others would say once a day. Some would say it’s meant to be changed in the morning, others would say at night. My favorite is when a nurse told me his wound was to be changed as needed while we both stared at his foot with a blood stain on his sock. So then, tell me… when is it needed, if it wasn’t needed then? After requesting his foot be rewrapped after it was left exposed following a doctor visit, the nurse at one point even tried to claim it was my grandfather's responsibility to notify them when his wound dressing needed to be changed. How is it the responsibility of your elderly patient, especially given his vulnerable status? My grandmother had to make his bed numerous times after nurses gave her the run around for hours about coming to change his soiled sheets. At one point, we even expressed concerns regarding the color of his urine, which were met with dismissal. Following my grandfathers discharge, he was home for 3 days before he collapsed and was rushed to the ER. We are now being told that he has a severe form of pneumonia, and nurses are expressing concerns regarding sepsis. The kicker? Upon a Google search, I came across a lawsuit on behalf of Laura Hallenbeck, who died in 2021 from pneumonia and sepsis following her care at The Grand. This is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern! According to the Times Union, The Grand has received 88 citations for violations of the public health code between 2018 and 2021. How is this place still open?! As stated, my grandfather was home for 3 days! You do not develop severe pneumonia with concerns of sepsis in 3 days! He got this while at The Grand. This place deserves to be shut down!!!!