08/31/2014 An Interested Visitor Writes:

01/22/2014 An Interested Visitor Writes: My parents selected Westminster themselves to alleviate we children from the burden of chosing where they would go at this stage of life. My grandparents were also there until the end of their lives. My father died of internal bleeding after the dr at Westminster told him the blood in his mouth needed to be corrected by a DENTIST. My mother is in the rehab center now. She has been there for one month after a hospital stay. She was there for 3 weeks and only received one shower. She has never had her sheets changed. She takes physical therapy for chronic back pain but the nurse doesn't bring pain meds before therapy, she brings them when she feels like it. The food is horrible and they make a point of asking what she wants but bring her something else. She gets confused. When they were independent livers at WVN, activities, meetings, etc were great. It is the healthcare portion of this facility that is extremely lacking.

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11/21/2012 An OurParents User Writes: Westminster Village North Inc is an average sized, for profit, nursing home with 123 beds based in Indianapolis, IN. At last check, the facility had 99 residents indicating that it is 80% occupied which is about average within the state of Indiana. The provider accepts both medicare and medicaid programs, and provides resident counseling services.
This nursing home and assisted living facility, is located in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). As of November 2012, the medicare rating for Westminster Village North Inc, was 4 stars, which is a better rating than 85% of nursing homes in Indiana. Important to note that this facility has recently detriorated and has gone from 5 stars to 4 stars.
We have compared the detailed Medicare data for Westminster Village North Inc with other senior care providers in Indiana. When compare to the state averages for staffing, the number of registered nurse (RN) hours per resident per day is about average; Certified nursing assistant (CNA) hours per resident per day is higher than average; The number of licensed practical (LPN) or vocational nurse hours per resident per day is higher than average. The most recent health inspection was on 05/21/2012.
To view the full report for this facility, and to understand more about its Medicare rating, go to here

01/19/2013 An Family Member of Current/Past Resident Writes: My mother lived at Westminster for 9 years, and I thought they did a wonderful job of caring for her. My only complaint would be that the maids did a very cursory job of cleaning her apartment. General cleanliness in the public areas was very good. The staff was very kind and caring.

01/12/2013 An Family Member of Current/Past Resident Writes: Westminster Village North is a wonderful Independent Living Facility. Beyond that, it is horrible. The Skilled Nursing side is horrible and Assisted Living is not much better. Very disappointed with the care. Pulled out loved one out!

01/25/2011 An Family Member of Current/Past Resident Writes: We admitted Mom to Westminster Village Nursing Home. Mom emerged from hip surgey with some confusion. The effects never reveresed and along with her Parkinson disease, we decided a nursing home would be the best environment for her.

Without hesitation, I would classify this a disaster. I state this since we encountered Repeated and CONTINUOUS problems with safety, health and sanitation/cleanliness at Westminster Village. This occurred the entire 8 years Mom was at Westminster. The advertisements from Westminster in the Indy Star newspaper state the safety and caring for their residents. We experienced the opposite.
We paid Mom’s rent every month to Westminster so Mom would stay in her same room and not in be a Medicaid room. We did not move Mom as the move to a different room/facility/environment/ could have damaged her mentally due to her Parkinson's Disease. This was discussed with her Neurologist as well. Over an 8 year period, we paid monthly from 2002 through 2010. So we paid a lot of money and received the following problems. I will list here in brief form, several problems that occurred as well as background information. These problems began in 2003 and continued until we moved her in October 2010. This is only a sample of the problems we encountered. The Indiana State Board of Health and the Indiana Attorney General have recently opened investigations into Westminster Village North regarding these problems. I will soon be starting a web site to show additional info on these following problems. This will include the history of E-mails and Letters to Westminster Village North’s Executive Director, to the Health Center Administrator and to several nurses. On this web site, I will display the E-mail exchange between the Westminster Staff and myself. It will show the continuous problems and the lack of care and correction of them. It will also include photos of my Mom’s condition and of the Wall Signs that I posted. The Wall Signs were to urge the staff to follow simple and common sense requests such as placing the Nurse Call Button within reach of Mom vs. it being under her bed or attached to the wall. This was one of many simple, yet important, actions that were often not completed. These problems occurred over most of Mom’s time at Westminster. I asked staff repeatedly for action and rarely received it. I asked in a patient, courteous and respectful manner without raising my voice or swearing. I visited Mom all but 5 days per year for 8 years. Mom rarely complained and was happy through the day she died. So I saw the activity here is as it actually happened. In brief, here is our experience with Westminster Village North. Notice that even to the last day we were at Westminster, they still demonstrated unwillingness and incapability to provide minimum care and safety:
1. September 2010: This is what ended Mom’s life and was preventable. Since the staff Repeatedly left Mom in bed in her urine and feces, she developed a skin tear on her leg that became infected. I complained repeatedly and posted large wall signs requesting she go to the restroom. The skin tear became a hole in her leg that grew to the size of a tennis ball. Mom was about 5 feet tall and weighed about 78lbs. The entire Westminster Staff, including the Wound Specialist, stated that “nothing could be done to correct it and could only treat it from becoming worse.” It became much worse. When a NEW Wound Specialist arrived, within 60 seconds of her seeing Mom’s wound, she asked me if we wanted to correct this wound. Short version: There was a simple treatment to remove the infected tissue and infected bone, along with antibiotics, to Reverse this problem and to HEAL this wound. There was no pain to Mom from this procedure. We moved Mom to the hospital where the leg Did heal. However, due the level of antibiotics Mom had endured over the last 3 months (see point #2), her kidneys could not endure and she died.
2. August 2010: Continuing with the point on the antibiotics. Westminster Failed Twice to notice Mom’s Infections, Severe Dehydration and Pneumonia. I took Mom to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist for a swallowing problem. He immediately told me that before he does anything, I should place Mom in a hospital THAT DAY for IV fluids as she is very dehydrated, has rapid breathing and an elevated heart rate. Westminster noticed None of this. Community North Hospital stated she had Pneumonia, was severely dehydrated, had a urinary tract infection and a bladder infection and should have been on oxygen.
3. July 2010: Staff dropped or “improperly transferred” Mom. When I arrived that morning, Mom complained that she hurt very badly. I told the staff and they said “it was just the strain from her being improperly transferred and was not a leg break.” I expressed my concern as Mom rarely complains about pain or anything. They said they would monitor her condition. Again one of few times she ever complained about anything in 8 years here. The following day when visiting the dentist, she moaned continuously. I then noticed that her leg hung very oddly. At 11:00am, I Demanded that Westminster x-ray her. At 9:15PM, Westminster called to tell me Mom was being sent to Community North Emergency as the x-ray showed her leg was broken. The surgeon stated that “her Femur was shattered and splattered.” So for nearly 2 DAYS, Mom endured the Pain of a Broken FEMUR with no pain medicine. And it Required ME, the family member (Not the Westminster Staff) to NOTICE the Broken Leg and then ME to ORDER the x-ray.
4. Mom’s call button repeatedly not near her. So no way to alert staff to emergency or for need to use restroom. I requested this probably 50 – 70 times over these 7.5 years.
5. Mom’s Blood Oxygen Levels were always low. The ambulance staff and the hospital staff asked me why Westminster did not have her on oxygen. When Mom was on continuous oxygen the last 2 months of her life in the hospital, her mental and physical health hugely improved. This also corrected her swallowing problem. 6. On 3 occasions, Staff did not inform me of Mom’s weight loss until it dropped to 67lbs. Staff then said her lack of appetite means End Stage Parkinson’s and that we should discontinue treating Mom and let her die on her own. REALITY: Mom did not like the food. We changed the food and she ate fine and regained her weight. This happened at least 3 times over the last 2 years. 7. In 2003, a male resident repeatedly entered Mom’s room and touched her. He would also approach her when she was out of her room. I strongly complained. The Westminster Staff DEFENDED him by stating that “he has a right to move freely in the Westminster facility.” I replied that my Mom has a right to safety and protection, especially from a mentally unstable male who enters her room after he has repeatedly been told to stay away from Mom. Westminster’s solution was to place obnoxious Barriers on My MOM’s doorway to keep him from entering. So nothing was done to correct the male resident’s dangerous behavior. He removed the barriers and entered anyway. Finally, I had to raise my voice to him and aggressively move toward him to scare him from returning. I am still amazed at the amount of time and activity I had to invest to keep my Mom safe. Every problem to this staff was treated as a simple error that an internal paper report would correct. Then it was Forgotten! THERE WAS NO SINCERE CONCERN TO THE PAIN AND INJURY TO THE RESIDENT. If there were, they would have CORRECTED these REPEATED PROBLEMS. And of course I was given the rehearsed line of how much they care and how they will improve. It NEVER happened. Even on the last day we were there, Mom had a fever and infections. When I would point to Mom's clothes that were wet with perspiration and her fever, they merely gave her Tylenol, which was their solution for every problem. No one checked to Determine the Cause of her perspiration and fever. And she only weighed 75lbs so it was not due to body size.
I could provide more examples of their negligence and injuries but I will stop here for now. I hope the above information is helpful in making the decision toward a nursing home. I wish there was a service like Angie’s List in 2002 when we had to select a Nursing Home.