Not in Nova, but close: a friend recently was discharged from Inova Fairfax to GW Hospital's rehab facility. GW got her up and moving and she was satisfied with the care she got there. I don't have a lot to compare it to but it seemed fine. Agree that having frequent visits can help improve quality of life and quality of care.

My parents have each been to SNF at The Fairfax at Belvoir Woods, run by Sunrise.

You need to hire a private duty nurse and plan to visit your family member often too.

I’ve seen patient call bells ignored. Staff arguing loudly with each other. Ant and mice infestations in common area and patient rooms.

Do not use Manor Care in S Arlington.

Cherrydale Rehab is supposed to be much better, but its hard to get a bed there.

Although this is not a recent experience, my Mom had two stays at the NRH — and they truly work miracles. They gave my Mom her quality of life back following a problematic recovery from a difficult surgery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am assuming you are talking about inpatient rehab at a SNF for the purpose of recuperation and PT/OT. If not, then ignore my post!

There is a difference between acute inpatient rehab which is more intensive than SNF rehab. OP should clarify what type of rehab the person qualifies for.

I am the person you're responding to, and I agree there is a difference. I am not sure the distinction needed to be made in my response since we, at that point, weren't even sure what type of rehab the OP was asking about. For our loved one, we purposefully chose to avoid the acute inpatient rehab. Their needs were better met by the longer program at a slower pace.

Anonymous wrote:I am assuming you are talking about inpatient rehab at a SNF for the purpose of recuperation and PT/OT. If not, then ignore my post!

There is a difference between acute inpatient rehab which is more intensive than SNF rehab. OP should clarify what type of rehab the person qualifies for.

What type of physical rehab?
If it's post stoke I highly recommend the inpatient program at Virginia Hospital Center.

Vinson hall here too. It is great EXCEPT I echo the above. The food service should be fired instantly. Feeding pancakes to diabetics with Alzheimer’s is so incredibly irresponsible and unnecessary. Every single day they did things like that. Basically poisoning people. Everything else was wonderful.

Great experience for my mom in the SNF at Vinson Hall in McLean VA. She was there 3 weeks post spine surgery.

But I agree that daily visits if at all possible to advocate for the patient are key. There are a lot of transitions -- i.e., hospital takes over prescriptions, then SNF doctor takes over prescriptions, and it's possible for mistakes to be made. My mom is a Type 2 diabetic and we had to push like hell on both the dietitian and doctor to get them to realize that a) no, pancakes are *not* a diabetic-friendly breakfast and b) yes, when the blood sugars are dropping like a rock, you *do* need to reduce insulin. We advocated in the nicest possible yet also firm way.

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean drug/alcohol rehab or physical rehab after injury/surgery/illness?

Physician rehab….sorry for not clarifying!

I am assuming you are talking about inpatient rehab at a SNF for the purpose of recuperation and PT/OT. If not, then ignore my post!

Our experience at two different facilities was that our loved one received MUCH better care than other patients because we were there a lot and at infrequent intervals. One facility was rated so low it probably was in the negatives and the other is regarded as the best in the DMV.

Our loved one had great experiences at both. And I know people who have had relatives at both and they had miserable experiences. In my opinion, what made the difference for our loved one, though, was that there were three of us who took turns visiting (yes, visiting, but really there to show staff that our loved ones had a tribe who would speak up).

We literally choreographed our visits each day: sometimes they were independent, sometimes they overlapped. And sometimes one of us would purposefully arrive during PT or OT (obv the person was out of the room and down in the PT or OT facility) and just sit in the room. It gave us a chance to gauge what was happening with other patients and how staff was interacting with patients and other staff members.

Having someone in rehab is much easier on family and friends than when the person is at the hospital. A lot of the patients' days are spent in PT and OT. I was surprised at how much easier my days where with our loved one in rehab and not at hospital.

Do you mean drug/alcohol rehab or physical rehab after injury/surgery/illness?

I found that the rehab (temporary) section and support in facilities are much different than those there for long-term care. Much better, overall.

This may be due to the facts that much of it is covered by insurance, more support staff (OT/PT therapists), lots more family visiting, and the people themselves are better able to advocate for themselves (food choices, asking that their needs be met, etc.)

I don't have any recommendations for DMV facilities, but I'd suggest taking a day, going in person to see them and also calling the State ombudsman's office to see if they have any recommendations.

Rehab for what?

There are a lot of negative reviews for inpatient rehab for parents or other loved ones. Please share if you had a positive experience at one in the NOVA region.

Thanks