09/16/2013 An Interested Visitor Writes: This place is a sewer and is critically mismanaged. My grandmother is being terribly neglected, and they say she is in hospice. She is starving to death and dehydrated because no one will assist her with feeding. They drop the tray off in front of her, but she cannot feed herself. When we are there, we bring in soups and she eats it all up and drinks fluids like she hasn't eaten or drank for days. She soils herself through her diaper and clothing, and it takes one of us finding her like this on our visits, to bring it to the staffs attention for them to change her into dry clothes. How long does she sit like this between visits? She has fallen twice in the past 5 weeks, cut her head so bad that her face was bruised all over, and then they leave her covered in blood with the open wound for days...stating they want it to close up good before they bathe the blood off of her....Are you kidding me. The mat to signal that she has gotten out of bed is ignored...I know, because my Aunt, my fiancé and I have all knelt on it during visits and no one came to see why it was going off. My aunt finally went out to ask the staff what the noise was, because she had no idea what it was for. Then they were speechless as to why they hadn't come to her room for that hour it was going off. She was covered in blood, her rotting foot had no bandage on it either, and she was wet through to the chair, and my aunt was visiting, setting off an alarm for over 40 minutes, and no one came to her room to see what the alarm was going off for. Really! They put on a dog and pony show when the family brought in a Ombudsman from Lifespan. They painted the wall that my Grandmother had peeled the paint off of with her fingernails, said they would look for her bottom dentures that went missing and give her Ensure to supplement her diet since she couldn't chew the meals they were giving her (ie. Chicken breast, roast beef, pizza etc.) but, they never found or replaced her teeth, continued to bring the same foods, and never brought a single can of Ensure to her to date, that any of us have witnessed. She is starving to death, literally. Yes, she is dying. But, if this is a hospice situation, shouldn't someone be feeding her, giving her sustenance and meeting her basic needs? This is a horrible facility full of incompetent personnel and needs to be reported for neglect and inappropriate protocol. As soon as the family isn't around, they go right back to ignoring the patients needs. I go in unannounced, I don't sign in at front door deliberately, so I can drop in unexpectedly at all hours. One nurse I deal with smells like she drinks alcohol 24/7, the cleaning staff are all foreigners who don't speak English and carry on like school girls outside her room, making a horrible racket. Much of the staff contradict each other constantly because they aren't in sink with one another, and not just during shift changes either. Then there are the times when alarms are going off all over the place, and there are no staff to be found, or they are in groups laughing it up and screwing around instead of working. I am retired from the US Air Force, Medical Hospital Squadron, Mental Health Technician...I know how a ward is suppose to run. I know how things are suppose to run efficiently and this place is a so poorly operated it should be condemned, or at least have the administrators replaced with people who genuinely care about the elderly, and know how to facilitate proper operating procedures and delegate authority. I am currently trying to find a way to report my complaints to higher authorities, but I am not having much luck. It appears that it takes an act of Congress, (ie. and we know what that is like!) to get anyone to look into this place. They probably get the same dog and pony show/snow job when they show up to inspect this place. Although, I see from this site that Medicare has given this place the grand score of 1 Star overall, 2 at best and yet this is acceptable? I am at the point that I am just going to wheel my grandmother to the front door and call 911, have her picked up by ambulance, and taken to the nearest emergency room, and while I am waiting, I should call the local news networks to the front doors of this dump and let them see my grandmothers condition for themselves and give them the whole story, ...blow by blow accounts of the past 3 years she has suffered at their hands, along with her roommates and some of the other patients I have witnessed being neglected there. My relatives and I shouldn't dread going to visit her, but we have and that is so sad. Our hands have been tied because of a piece of paper she signed, ill advised may I add, giving my aunt full authority over her care, thus giving the Hurlbut free reign to do what ever they please with regard to my grandmothers care, or lack of I should say. My Aunt says she complains and makes requests to have changes made, and they say to us that they can't do anything without her authority. Who is lying and how do we get anything done for grandma? What the hell is going on and how do we get around the bureaucratic nightmare of the Proxy games these people are playing. I want my grandmother to die without pain and suffering, in a peaceful, caring environment...and this isn't it! She is in horrible pain with her foot literally dying and rotting without proper bandages half of the time, falling and injuring herself to the point of serious head injuries (and those are what we can see without undressing her), and she is being starved to death and deprived of fluids, sustenance because she can no longer hold a spoon or cup to feed herself. Someone from the State of New York needs to intervene and put these people out of the nursing home business all together. I hear nothing but bad things from the general public when I mention the name Hurlbut. Complete strangers and former employees begin ranting about all sorts of horrible accounts and recollections when they over hear me discussing my dealings with the Hurlbut. Why hasn't someone done something then? Why does this place get away with this neglect and abuse of the elderly?! How do I put an end to this, once and for all for future seniors who deserve better than to be dumped in this facility because they are poor and cannot afford better accommodations? Is there anyone out there listening, who cares, who can do something to help these people?

11/21/2012 An OurParents User Writes: The Hurlbut is an average sized, for profit, nursing home with 160 beds based in Rochester, NY. At last check, the facility had 137 residents indicating that it is 86% occupied which is about average within the state of New York. The provider accepts both medicare and medicaid programs, and provides resident and family counseling services.
This nursing home is not located in a hospital or a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). As of November 2012, the medicare rating for The Hurlbut, was 2 stars, which is a lower rating than 62% of nursing homes in New York. Important to note that this facility has recently improved and has gone from 1 stars to 2 stars.
We have compared the detailed Medicare data for The Hurlbut with other senior care providers in New York. 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 about average; The number of licensed practical (LPN) or vocational nurse hours per resident per day is about average. The most recent health inspection was on 04/25/2012.
To view the full report for this facility, and to understand more about its Medicare rating, go to here

08/05/2010 An OurParents User Writes: The Hurlbut is a clean facility, but tend to work short-staff with nurses.